All is ridiculously well

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – What has changed about NASCAR in 20 years? There’s a Chase. The cars look alike. Some old tracks have been eliminated and new ones added. Dale Earnhardt’s gone, and his son isn’t feeling so great, either.
 
But here’s the main change: Everything is so convoluted and interconnected. A fairly common term in life, “conflict of interest,” doesn’t seem to exist in NASCAR. More accurately, it’s so prevalent that it has become acceptable. The phrase doesn’t exist in a negative sense, at least not here in “bizarre world.”
 
The principal owner of the Boston Red Sox owns a stake in a NASCAR team, hence the name Roush Fenway Racing. John Henry and his partners have now acquired their very own soccer team, the one in Liverpool, England, that was formerly owned by a partnership that included another NASCAR owner, George Gillett.
 
But wait. It gets better.
 
The man who owns one team, Richard Petty (in name only) Motorsports, apparently owes another team lots of money. The figure being quoted in the garage area at Martinsville on Friday was $10-15 million, but that’s probably exaggerated because, well, nothing is publicly disclosed in this sport so, generally, every monetary figure winds up getting doubled and tripled in the scuttlebutt that inevitably spreads in any setting where secrecy is perpetuated.
 
So call it $5 million, tops. Still a lot of money.
 
The team to which the money is allegedly owed has the name Roush Fenway Racing, which is quite the coincidence.
 
Almost every press conference regarding these all-too-common coincidences can be summed up in three words: “All is well.”
 
RPM’s most valuable property, one Kasey Kahne, jumped ship this week. He is being replaced by Aric Almirola, who isn’t a very valuable property, for the remaining five races, beginning with Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500. One would think the team’s sponsor, Budweiser, would be concerned.
 
Don’t be ridiculous. All is well.
 
Asked about the financial situation at the team he just left, Kahne said he had been paid and, regarding rumors that others haven’t, ““I’ve been able to stay out of it and start working on the Red Bull (new team) side.”
 
Don’t be ridiculous. All is well.
 
Asked about the interests of Budweiser, Kahne said that contract was with RPM, not him. Asked if he had any personal-services commitments, Kahne said he would continue to make appearances in the (former?) sponsor’s behalf until year’s end.
           
Don’t be ridiculous. All is well.
 
Team Red Bull general manager Jay Frye said Team Red Bull didn’t have any business with Budweiser, so he didn’t’ know about any of that.
 
Don’t be ridiculous. All is well.

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