Party In The Poconos 400: Rough Race For The Gen-6. Where did NASCAR Go Wrong?

The Gen-6 car did not put on the show that most of us fans thought it was going to put on this past Sunday. Many fans described the race as "boring", and I will admit that I actually had trouble staying awake during some portions of the event. Unlike most fans, I actually enjoyed the Daytona 500. The racing was at least tight and the cars had incredible speed going around the race track, but the racing we saw at Pocono was far from exciting.

Carl Edwards led the first 9 laps of the race that also saw Kasey Kahne's day get off to a rough start with a drive train issue on the very first lap. Kahne would come back to finish 36th thanks to drivers like Scott Riggs, J.J. Yeley for example who are driving for start and park teams.

While Johnson continued to dominate the race the real racing was taking place in the garage area on Lap 105. Which start and park hauler can make it out of the track first?? The winner was Michael McDowell's #98 hauler after dropping out on the 33rd lap of the race. McDowell drives for Phil Parsons Racing.

Ryan Newman has been famous throughout his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career for gambling with two tires or pitting off sequence, but Jimmie Johnson reeled him in rather quickly on Lap 113 to retake the lead. Newman led for 19 laps which accounted for the most other than Jimmie Johnson.

A caution came out for possible fluid from Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman was able to take the lead because he was still on a different sequence than the leaders, but Johnson took the lead back from him on the restart as the race hit 130 laps. We then proceeded to have 4 more yellow flags drop. Juan Montoya got loose in the tunnel turn and spun he and Matt Kenseth around. Montoya rebounded for a top 15, but Kenseth was relegated to 25th after starting in 4th.

Dave Blaney brought the yellow twice and A.J. Allmendinger shredded his left-front tire to bring out a yellow, but nothing was going to change the outcome. No matter how many questionable caution flags were called by NASCAR Jimmie Johnson was not going to be stopped on Sunday. The man led 80% of the laps. NASCAR did whatever it could to make this a close finish, but they didn't do the job. The Gen-6 was a disappointment on Sunday.

And ladies and gentleman, I want to be completely honest with you. The quality of NASCAR racing started going south in 2008. It wasn't so much in 2007 because the COT was not entirely in use and despite the fact that half of the races were won by one team that being Hendrick Motorsports, but the Generation 5 car should have never been made. It was the worst thing ever to be put on a track. It was just boxy and ugly from my view. What NASCAR should have done is kept the Generation 4 car and added more safety modifications. That is what they did initially. Did we see anybody get severely injured from 2002-2006? No. Have we with the Gen-6 car? Yes.

The Generation 5 car was only on the track for 5 seasons. Why? It sucked and it certainly wasn't because it matched the 5 on the Gen-5. Generation 1 and 2 combined were on the track for 31 years. Why? They were amazing products. The product that we have had since 2007 has failed to deliver. Until NASCAR gives the fans what they want, you'll never see NASCAR regain the fame it once had.