NASCAR mailbag: The controversy of pre-race prayers

Another week, another Kyle Busch victory. But the defending Sprint Cup champion winning a second straight race was overshadowed to some degree by what transpired during pre-race ceremonies Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

On to your emails, and as a reminder, if you have a question you can send it to jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

Is it really all that big of deal about what’s said during a pre-race prayer? I’m not all that religious and I took no offense with what Phil Robertson said. He said what I thought he’d say and I just tuned him out. Isn’t this just an overreaction?

-- Cathy

Why does NASCAR have this need to be political? OK, they didn’t pick the “Duck Dynasty” guy to give the prayer, but they could have stepped in and made the track have someone else give the prayer. Between this and Brian France endorsing Donald Trump, I’m about tired of NASCAR’s right-wing politics.

-- J.P.

The issue with Robertson’s invocation is multifold and highlights exactly why other sports leagues almost universally refuse to mix politics and religion. If you’re going to insist on having a prayer before every race, then it makes sense to recite a non-denominational version and not one that offends a large segment of your fan base -- in this instance women, non-Republicans and non-Christians.

By itself, no, Robertson’s words would not have been as big a deal had they not come on the heels of NASCAR’s CEO and Chairman publicly endorsing a divisive presidential candidate who routinely degrades women and minorities. Yet the fact is they did follow that, which makes it easy to construe recent events as a tactile acceptance that NASCAR is exclusive, not inclusive. This also undermines the considerable efforts made to overcome NASCAR’s redneck image in addition to only further perpetuating the stereotypes associated with stock car racing.

Following up on the Clint Bowyer question from last week, with Tony Stewart injured why isn’t Boyer already driving the No. 14 car? It would get Bowyer in some decent equipment and would give the 14 team the same driver every race instead of a rotation. Why wasn’t this the plan from the beginning?

-- Joe

Although seemingly idyllic Bowyer could just slide over to Stewart-Haas Racing and begin his tenure with the team a year early, the fact Stewart broke his back mere weeks before the season commenced complicated the situation greatly. At that juncture there were simply too many moving parts (i.e. sponsorship contracts) to facilitate Bowyer leaving HScott Motorsports to join SHR.

And for the sake of argument, say everything could have come together allowing Bower to drive the No. 14 car for the duration of Stewart’s absence -- what happens to Bowyer when Stewart returns? With SHR at the four-team limit, fielding a fifth car isn’t permissible, meaning Bowyer would have to find a different team for the remainder of 2016 be it HScott or elsewhere. That would require an organization with the flexibility and necessary resources to bring aboard a new driver and the sponsorship dollars to justify such a mid-season transaction.

Simply put, it’s best for all involved that Bowyer stick with HScott while SHR utilizes a combination of Brian Vickers and Ty Dillon depending on that week’s sponsorship arrangement.

You mentioned Kevin Harvick leaving Stewart-Haas a couple of weeks back, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen now. Does that mean Kasey Kahne is safe at Hendrick? And if not, who are the options to replace him?

-- Mark

As written in this space previously, the idea of Harvick leaving SHR to sign with Hendrick Motorsports was predicated on him putting his allegiance to Chevrolet above all else, which made the proposition a longshot at best. That notion was further dismissed when Harvick solidified his stance on remaining with SHR in an April 2 Twitter post: “Looking forward to driving the #4 car for many years to come. Never had more fun racing & love my team,” he wrote.

But Harvick being off the market doesn’t make Kahne’s status with Hendrick any less tenuous. A lack of consistency has been an issue throughout Kahne’s career, although that was generally offset by him reaching Victory Lane with some regularity -- except now that’s not even the case, as he’s winless in the past 54 races. And with teammates Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and even Chase Elliott all performing very well, the pressure is ramping up on Kahne to do the same.

So hypothetically where would Hendrick look if it elects to move on from Kahne? The pickings are slim with almost all drivers of note under contract and those who are available not seen as an upgrade.

One name that most certainly will come up is Kyle Larson. Long coveted by Hendrick, the organization tried courting him to be Jeff Gordon’s successor a few years back, but at the time the team had no Cup seats open so Larson instead signed with Chip Ganassi Racing. Could Hendrick finagle a deal ($$$) to lure the 23-year-old to the team his idol once drove for and still enjoys a close relationship with?