This is the Statt Mann, Baby. It’s time to Scatt a Little Bit…

Never fails. I pay close attention to a NASCAR race and it ends in a hail of controversy and nonsense.

I’m talking about the end of the Chase to the Championship decider Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia.

It’s bad enough that the Chase format changes periodically to create drama where there may be none. Now we end up with the specter of the Chase entrants being determined by a driver’s teammate.

We’d order a national investigation if it happened in a Presidential election. No wait…

Here’s the issue: a suspicious spin by Clint Bowyer near the end of a race opened the door for teammate Martin Truex to get into NASCAR’s playoffs on a tiebreaker of all things. It was that close. If the race would have continued as it was being run Truex probably would have missed out.

Of course some are arguing that team integrity would forbid such shenanigans. But this is the team that showed up at Daytona, at its first ever race, with an illegal substance in its intake manifold. How’d that work out for them?

Of course no one knows for sure. Apparently nothing’s a given in NASCAR.  Not even fair competition.

Peace.