Turn 2

NASCAR held a closed-door meeting Friday at Michigan Interational Speedway. Drivers and team owners were the only ones allowed to attend.

This is a Big Deal. NASCAR hasn't done this for several years.

And, based on the drivers' reactions afterwards, the meeting did its job.

The subject: Stop whining.

Especially about the new car, but also about the conditions of tracks and several other issues.

So Mike Helton held a mandatory meeting.

"He wanted to remind our drivers about their responsibility to the fans," said NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter. "He felt it has become a negative environment and reminded them to think about the fans, what they are facing, the rising cost of gas and the hardships, particularly in an area like this that has been hit so hard by the economy."

In other words, shut up.

Drivers interviewed afterwards sounded like whipped puppies. They all said, at least publicly, they'd been too harsh in their criticism. Or in Dale Earnhardt, Jr's, words, ""My interpretation was the drivers should be thankful for the position they're in and should be more positive about where this car is going to be in a year or two."

Imagine that. "Thankful for the position they're in." As if it was a gift, not something they'd earned through hard work.

Until Friday, drivers' complaints always included a message that they wanted to give the fans a better race.

But now, they've changed their tune after Helton's hand-slapping. "That's just Helton reminding us that we've got it pretty good," Carl Edwards said. "You've got to be careful when you start complaining and whining and acting like things aren't that great; it's detrimental to all of us and to the sport."

There it is, again "We've got it pretty good."

While the drivers might, indeed, have it good, I haven't heard much in the way of complaints that didn't focus on giving the fans a better race. I haven't heard whining from spoiled drivers. I have heard competitors who want to give their fans a good race to watch.

The fans are generally making the same complaints as the drivers about the quality of racing this year.

But Brian France and his minions can't stop them from expressing an opinion.

So when you've made a mistake, like the current car design appears to be, and can't go back, what do you do?

Tell the drivers to shut up. This, of course, is the opposite of what NASCAR said would happen earlier in the season, when we were told drivers would be allowed to speak their minds.

But when they all began to say the same thing--that the car and the facilities aren't up to par--France shut them down again.

That, it seems, a is a lot easier than fixing the problems about which they have complained.