Jeff Gordon’s retirement, driver safety, lack of passing highlight NASCAR’s first half of 2015

An all-time great embarks on a farewell tour and drivers speaking out regarding how difficult it is to pass, while an emphasis on safety becomes pervasive when a star suffers serious injuries. That’s the cliff notes version of what transpired during the first half of the 2015 regular season, but there was much more.

Jeff Gordon begins final season

For years there had been speculation when Jeff Gordon might call it a career. Few, however, thought it would come following a year where he won four times, accumulated the most points during the regular season and came within a whisker of advancing to the championship playoff round.

But a desire to spend more time with his wife and two young children prompted Gordon to announce in January that 2015 would be his final full campaign. The four-time Cup Series champion tried to downplay the news and stated he didn’t want this season to be about saying goodbye. That hasn’t happened. Each and every week fans have paid tribute, while tracks have shown their respects via gifts and public messages of thanks.

As for Gordon, who’s spoken openly about wanting to capture a fifth title in his final season, that quest continues. Through 13 races he remains winless and much work remains if he’s to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

A shortage of passing

Since rolling out a new car in 2013, NASCAR enacted various rule changes designed to enhance the on-track product. This past offseason saw a decrease in engine horsepower and downforce, which was supposed to make it easier for drivers to pass and race side-by-side due to the lower speeds. Despite the good intentions of the sanctioning body, the opposite has occurred.

Because of minimal deceleration, drivers can carry more speed into a corner -- upwards of 20 mph at some tracks -- and the lessened horsepower has made the cars actually easier to handle, it’s actually made it even harder to pass than before. As nearly every car is equal, track position is even more critical than before with drivers frequently lamenting their inability to pass once behind another car.

“Whoever gets the clean air with this format and this rules package is gonna drive away,” Brad Keselowski said last month. “We’ve seen that for the last three years and with this particular car it’s probably even more so.”

Compounding the frustration within the garage is NASCAR backing away from what were supposed to be further aerodynamic modifications for the 2016 season. Officials have said on record the current rules package is likely to be carried over to next season, something that hasn’t sat well with drivers who’ve grown disenfranchised with a form of racing not predicated on having the faster car but who can get in clean air.

Safety takes center stage

Since Dale Earnhardt Sr.‘s death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR has made great strides to protect its most valuable asset. Every track is now required to have SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers in the corners with many installing energy absorbent walls elsewhere and drivers must wear a head-and-neck restraint apparatus.

But as demonstrated by Kyle Busch breaking his right leg and left foot in a February crash at Daytona International Speedway, greater vigilance is needed. As it should’ve been, a SAFER barrier didn’t cover the wall Busch impacted and knocked one of the sport’s marquee drivers out of 11 races.

If a positive can come out of a preventable misfortune, it’s that every track has reevaluated its safety measures. Additional protective barriers have been installed industry wide and an issue that once seemed on the backburner has come to the forefront. And yet the week following Busch’s accident, Gordon crashed and smashed into a bare concrete wall at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“Everybody knows we have to do something and it should have been done a long time ago,” Gordon said. “All we can do now is hope they do it as fast as they possibly can.”

Say what?

“Pretty convenient to c that SAFER Barrier end just before (Gordon) pounds wall. Hope he’s healthy! When will this end @NASCAR.”

-- A Busch tweet shorty after Gordon’s violent Atlanta crash.

“Aero means so much with these cars nowadays that the person out front just has a huge advantage.”

-- Denny Hamlin after winning the All-Star Race, whose car wasn’t as fast as second- and third-place finishers Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.

“You did the same f***ing thing in practice and this happened. You did the same thing.”

-- Danica Patrick to Hamlin on pit road following the second incident between the two in as many days during Daytona 500 Speedweeks.

“Everyone on the outside can tell me I’m crazy, but I lived it on the inside. Sorry I’m the last one to the party.”

-- Kurt Busch testifying ex-girlfriend was a government-trained assassin.

“I thought long and hard about my future this past year and during the offseason, and I’ve decided 2015 will be the last time I compete for a championship.”

-- Gordon’s retirement statement.

“I love when we go to victory lane because I feel like I add to his legacy here. All I ever want to do is make him proud. I feel like when we win at those tracks where he was successful, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

-- Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the euphoria of winning in May at Talladega Superspeedway, the track where his father had won a record 10 times.

Noteworthy first half stat

Harvick has finished second in all four of Jimmie Johnson’s victories this season.

Surrealist moment

Instead of the three-wide frenetic racing associated with Talladega, the Geico 500 featured drivers running predominantly single-file, with most either unwilling or unable to pass over the final 22 laps.

Second half questions