NASCAR VP tells dissenting drivers to ‘be careful’

NASCAR vice president John Probst wants to make it clear that drivers who criticize the rules changes the sanctioning body made in 2019 “should be careful.”

NASCAR has slowed down the cars at some intermediate tracks in 2019 in an effort to chase more entertaining racing by bringing cars closer together on the track. The slower cars lead to drivers being able to drive full throttle at tracks where they used to have to get off the gas and on the brake in the corners.

One of those tracks is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series began a two-day test on Thursday. Kyle Busch was one of the drivers involved in the test and he said that the slower cars lessened the impact of a driver’s skill level. Probst clearly doesn’t want to hear criticisms in that vein, even if they’re true. From Motorsport.com:

“These drivers, some or going to love it, some are going to hate it, no matter what we race. I was just encourage fans who are on the fence to give it a try, I think they are going to be pleasantly surprised at what they see at the race track,” Probst said.

“For the drivers we know who don’t like it, they are very good at what they do and they get paid a really good chunk of money to do things that take a lot of talent. If they want to spout off about (this racing) not needing a whole lot of talent, then eventually that will hit them in the pocketbook, too.

“They should be careful.”

While it’s true that it’s nearly impossible for NASCAR to create a set of rules that makes over 30 Cup Series drivers perfectly happy, it’s also nearly unfathomable that a vice president would go on record threatening those who dare dissent against the series’ radical changes. But that’s what happened here.

The Cup Series has always been the modern gold standard for American stock car racing because of the money involved and because the cars were so hard to drive. You need to be a really good driver to succeed at the Cup level. But with more downforce (added grip) and less horsepower (less need to manipulate throttle) on the cars in 2019, it’s easy to see why drivers believe the cars are much easier to drive than they used to be.

But NASCAR doesn’t want the truth being exposed here. Just listen to John Probst in the video atop of this column. He’ll tell you everything is just fine.

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As NASCAR’s television ratings and national appeal have cratered over the last five years, the series is desperate for any shred of increased relevance. That desperation has led to an attitude – exhibited by Probst in his quote above – that anything perceived as dissent or negative is unwelcome. Even if that perceived negativity has lots of truth to it.

In November 2018, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said “I believe that the racing product is as good as we’ve seen” and referred to the racing as “great” in the opening remarks of his season-ending news conference. Despite the “great” racing that was at an all-time high point for Phelps, the series went ahead and pushed forward with the most radical changes its made to Cup Series cars in a dozen years. The combination of the words and the actions don’t make any sense.

But don’t say that to NASCAR publicly. The series executives are clearly a little sensitive these days.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

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