Newman's Wreck Is NASCAR's Catch 22

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

Unfortunately for Ryan Newman, when it comes to Talladega, he's been both.

This spring, Newman got a load of Carl Edwards' car crashing into his windshield before Edwards went airborne into the fence. Yesterday, it was Newman who went flying into Kevin Harvick's windsheild in one scary wreck. It ended with Newman hanging upside down by his saftey belts - and then being cut out of the car before walking away.

Newman was visibly shaken when talking to reporters after exiting the infield care center. And you can't blame him -- he even offered to give NASCAR the benefit of his engineering degree if it would help them make the racing at Dega a bit safer and less free-flying.

And therein lies the dilemma. Lots of fans were bored at Talladega. In the grandstands (for most of the race), all I could hear were folks complaining about the "snoozefest of a race." And to be fair, the single file laps did seem to last forever and a day.

That said, even the most bored of race fans does NOT want to see a wreck like what we saw on Sunday. However, fans d0 want to see racing, passing and bump drafting - which at Talladega leads to flying race cars. It's a Catch 22.

Maybe NASCAR will take Newman up on his offer to help - cause somebody needs to do something. And that something doesn't need to be flattening the curves.