TROUBLE OFF THE TRACK
The potential demise of Brian France and what’s next for NASCAR
Trey Campbell
Aug 7, 2018, 7:12 am
Brian France is in trouble, but that might be good for NASCAR. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
As we all know, TMZ Sports reported that monday morning NASCAR CEO Brian France was arrested in the Hamptons for driving under the influence and possession of Oxycontin. Due to these charges, it was announced that he would take an indefinite leave of absence from the sport. Brian’s uncle, Jim France will assume the position of interim CEO.
While this news really shocked casual fans of the sport, this comes as NO surprise at all for NASCAR’s loyal demographic. For example during last year’s Awards Banquet in Las Vegas, he was asked to present defending champion Martin Truex Jr with his championship ring, and after his speech, France gave Truex his ring and simply walked off stage. There was no embrace, no handshake, nothing at all. This extremely rude gesture was met with criticism by the NASCAR faithful including myself. How can someone who is in charge of a billion dollar organization have such disrespect for his sport's champion? Something was genuinely wrong and many assumed it was drugs or alcohol and alas this arrest all but confirms everyone’s suspicions.
So what is next? Obviously, it would appear that Brian will no longer be involved in the day to day operations when it comes to NASCAR. While it would appear that his days in charge are numbered it should be noted that the France family has always had a tendency to look after their own. In fact when then Grand-Am sports car racer J.C. France (nephew of Brian and son of Jim France) was arrested for cocaine possession and DUI in 2009, the charges were mysteriously dropped and JC was allowed to race again after a suspension. What makes this story even weirder is that the series he was racing in was founded by his dad and NASCAR’s new interim CEO Jim France. After getting his son out trouble, who is to say that he won’t go to bat for his younger nephew?
Personally, I think that the further you get the France family away from NASCAR the better. Over the last 20-some odd years that I have watched NASCAR, I have always been a critic of what they have done to the sport that I love. They have made many changes that a lot of its core fanbase have HATED, from changing the points system around almost every year to breaking the races up into stages.
Overall as a fan, it’s hard to really have any sympathy for France. During his arrest, he used the “Do you know who I am?” defense and even referenced his relationship and endorsement of President Donald Trump. This is truly nothing new; all throughout his tenure as CEO, France has had an ego the size of Talladega and has been next to impossible to work for so hopefully this arrest is a humbling experience for him and he can get over the disease that is addiction.
While I wish him all the best in recovery, I still think a new CEO is absolutely essential to NASCAR getting back to where it was in the past. Some fans have suggested maybe going in the direction of a retired driver being in charge like Tony Stewart or a Jeff Gordon. While this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, Gordon has gone on record and said that he has no interest in the job if he was offered and Stewart already has his own team to worry about with Stewart-Haas Racing.
One name that I could see potentially be suggested is former driver and current NBC Broadcaster, Jeff Burton. All throughout his career, Burton has been nicknamed “the Mayor of the garage.” He has always been sort of a mediator around the garage area and he is a name that drivers can trust to look after them and the teams. Not only was he one of the more admired guys in the garage area but he is also a name that fans can rally around due to his popularity when he was racing. While Burton also wouldn’t be a bad choice, again it will come down to whether or not he even wants the job and I am sure that Jeff is more than happy to stay put where he is at NBC as lead analyst.
While a lot of people are optimistic about Jim France taking over, at the end of the day he is still a France and I very highly doubt that he would make any major changes when it comes to racing. Only time will tell what is next for this sport but regardless, Monday was a sad day to be a fan of NASCAR.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.