Plate Racing, Blocking, and the Whole Big Mess...

(Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

I believe if you ask Carl and Kyle if they could have their decisions to do again, they might have considered holding their groove and hoping for the best.

If Kyle had held his ground after Tony bumped him, the worst he would have finished would likely have been fifth place. With no drafting help close for Busch, the race was lost before Stewart even gave him that bump.

But this pattern of finishes will no doubt continue, until NASCAR makes some changes.

As Tony Stewart said in his downbeat post-race news conference, "you just don't want a race to be decided like that...it just is what it is."

What could be done to change plate racing for the better?

One would be removing the plates altogether. Restrictor plates were first used by NASCAR in 1971 to eliminate the advantage of teams using the larger Chrysler Hemi engine.

The plates were eliminated in 1974 when NASCAR banned the larger engines, reducing the engine size to 358 cubic inches.

Today the plates exist to curb some of the speed the cars would have if left unrestricted.  Bobby Allison blew a tire and crashed into the frontstretch fence at Talladega in 1987, injuring fans and nearly going into the stands. 

The following year, restrictor plates returned to racing at the superspeedways. 

Speed reduction and safety are the reason plates are used, but there are other ways to reduce the car's speeds. 

From adding weight, to reducing engine size and compression, options have been considered to give the drivers' better throttle response and keep speeds down.

All have come with their own set of problems.  So we continue this dance of destruction.

But just think, if we could remove the plates we might be able to return the superspeedways to an era of the shotgun-style passing of the late 1970's.

Anybody who says superspeedway races are boring without plates should look back to the 1979 Daytona 500. That was a race for the ages. 

If it could be done then, it can be done now.

Tight bunched packs and breakneck speed make the plate races exciting, but I find it sad to hear a driver like Tony Stewart not celebrating a win like Saturday night as much as he should have.

There are some things that could be done, besides eliminating the plates, to make these four races better.   

Now don't even get me started on the yellow-line rule...

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