Page 20 - ATD 27OCT,2015

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SPORTSTuesday 27 October 2015
Earnhardt only bright spot after Talladega ending
BY JENNA FRYER
AP AUTO RACING WRITER
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP)
-- Thank goodness Dale
Earnhardt Jr. showed dig-
nity in defeat after he was
bounced from NASCAR’s
playoffs.
The class shown by NAS-
CAR’s most popular driver
in not criticizing the out-
come was the one take-
away from a disastrous
ending to Sunday’s elimi-
nation race at Talladega
Superspeedway. At least
four drivers accused series
champion Kevin Harvick of
manipulating the finish, and
an overwhelming pro-Earn-
hardt crowd left dissatisfied the reigning series champi-
when a change to the rules
prevented him from racing
for the win.
It was a win he had to have,
too, to advance into the
third round of the Chase for
the Sprint Cup champion-
ship. But NASCAR said last
week that in an effort to
maintain some semblance
of safety, it would make just vick’s slowed car then tried
one attempt to finish the
race under the green flag
instead of the usual three
tries. Earnhardt supported
the decision before the
race, and didn’t change his
mind after Harvick hooked
Trevor Bayne on the restart
to trigger an 11-car crash
that froze the field before
Earnhardt had a chance to
chase leader Joey Logano
into the first turn.
“I feel like no matter the
rules, when the race is over,
I can live with the result as
long as everyone else is
going by the same rules,”
Earnhardt said. “Per the
rule book, it sorted out and
I finished second. I’m OK
France’s Adrian Mannarino returns a ball to Serbia’s Viktor
Troicki during their first round match at the Swiss Indoors tennis
tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, on Mon-
day, Oct. 26, 2015. 7-6 (4) in the Swiss Indoors first round on tried to survive in that second set and wait
Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick (4) drives past a wreck involving Sprint Cup Series driver erately turned right into
Tony Stewart (14), David Gilliland (38), Danica Patrick (10) Trevor Bayne (6) during the NASCAR Bayne to save his season.
Sprint Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, in Talladega, Ala. And even if NASCAR
wanted to punish Harvick,
Associated Press there’s no easy cleanup.
NASCAR can’t undo the fi-
with that.” car camera appears to shoved Jimmie Johnson, nal restart, in which Hamlin
His fans showered Logano’s show Harvick looking con- left without comment after was caught in the wreck.
car with beer cans. stantly in his rearview mir- running out of fuel at New NASCAR also can’t give
Their anger may have been ror in an apparent effort Hampshire and then was Earnhardt and Kenseth the
misdirected. to ward off any more cars. accused by other teams of chance to race for the vic-
Harvick knew he had a The replay, though, seems intentionally damaging his tory both needed to ad-
problem with his engine to indicate he turned right race-winning car at Dover vance.
and knew his car likely into Bayne’s bumper to to avoid a thorough NAS- A points penalty against
wouldn’t go on the restart. spin him and bring out CAR inspection. Harvick wouldn’t do much.
Had he forfeited his posi- the race-ending caution. NASCAR should be ex- All he has to do is win one
tion in the running order - a Among those question- tremely sensitive to accu- of the next three races -
move one would only do ing Harvick’s intent were sations of race manipula- and this stretch includes
as a courtesy to avoid a Bayne and David Gilliland. tion, particularly since the Phoenix, where he’s won
potential pileup - it’s likely Far more direct in their ac- 2013 fiasco at Richmond in four straight of five of six - to
cusation of race manipula- which Michael Waltrip Rac- advance to the champion-
on would have plummeted tion were Joe Gibbs Racing ing used a series of maneu- ship. But cleaning up the
in the standings and have drivers Matt Kenseth and vers to put a driver in the cloud surrounding Harvick
been eliminated from the Denny Hamlin, who were Chase. It took NASCAR al- is just one part of the prob-
Chase. both eliminated from the most a week to sort out all lem.Talladega under no cir-
So he was told over his team playoffs when the caution the shenanigans and it was cumstances should be an
radio to block as many cars flag came out. made clear by chairman elimination race because
as he could on the restart, NASCAR has so far said Brian France that manipu- it’s a crapshoot and simply
an attempt to cling to the only that its review of the in- lating races was a very seri- not fair to drivers racing for
best finish possible. Instead, cident showed Harvick did ous crime. the championship. With so
Bayne shot around Har- nothing on purpose. With MWR, there were sev- much on the line, their fate
Doesn’t matter, though. It’s eral smoking guns of intent. shouldn’t be so out of their
to cut back in front of him a bad look for the champ, This time, it’s impossible to control at the unpredict-
to get back in line. The in- who already this Chase has prove that Harvick delib- able, high-banked track.
NASCAR knew well before
Sunday that the chances of
the field successfully racing
to the finish without wreck-
ing were slim to none, so
it altered the green-white-
checkered flag rule for one
particular race - and even
that one attempt at finish-
ing under green was use-
less. Since everyone knew
a wreck was more than
likely, why even bother
with the charade? Just let
the race finish under the
original caution and save
everyone the post-race
headaches that seem to
be a Talladega staple.q
Nadal rallies from brink to
beat Rosol at Swiss Indoors
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Rafael Nadal “For me it was very difficult to adjust,”
rallied from losing positions twice to beat said the seventh-seeded Spaniard, who
Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 1-6, 7-5, played his first indoor match this season. “I
Monday. for an opportunity.”
Associated Press The 69th-ranked Rosol, who beat Nadal at Earlier, French qualifier Adrian Manna-
Wimbledon in 2012, served for the match rino, beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia, 4-6, 7-5,
leading 5-4 in the second set but lost sev- 7-6 (3), and Austria’s Dominic Thiem beat
en straight games. Dutchman Robin Haase 0-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
Nadal then trailed 3-0 in the decisive tie- In the late match, Donald Young of the
breaker before clinching a victory he cel- United States beat wild-card entry Henri
ebrated with vigorous fist pumps. Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.q