Drivers admit NASCAR’s racing is fake

UPDATE A reader adds, One thing that NASCAR has forgotten as they've moved further into the world of staged entertainment: Race drivers are still race drivers. They want to race and compete against each other straight up. Most race drivers I know would rather compete and finish second than win and know that their victory was hollow or not earned. Mika Malehorn, Annandale, Virginia

05/05/07 NASCAR driver quotes on NASCAR's fake cautions to make the race finishes more entertaining. Is this a sport or the Barnum and Bailey circus? Real race fans are beginning to see through NASCAR's charade and turning off the TV set in disgust, which probably accounts for NASCAR's continuing TV rating plummet.

Matt Kenseth: "There's for sure entertainment cautions, there's no doubt about that, but we're in the entertainment business and you're going to get some of that and group the field every once in a while."

Jeff Burton: "I think at times that we have cautions in the interest of better racing."

Kyle Busch: "Most of them are imaginary, so I'm not really a fan of some of the cautions that come out, you know, there's some that really don't need to be, but um, they think there's something on the race track they throw it."

Kyle Petty: "We're in the entertainment business, if they want to throw a caution every 40 laps to keep everybody bunched up, so the fans have a better experience, more cautions, the better."

Denny Hamlin: "You got to make the race exciting one way or another."