NASCAR calls mandatory driver meeting

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NASCAR calls mandatory driver meeting: NASCAR has called a mandatory meeting for all Sprint Cup drivers for Tuesday [May 26th] morning at the Research and Development Center in Concord. Officials would not reveal the nature of the meeting. Speculation in the garage was that it is to clear up the confusion created by Jeremy Mayfield's indefinite suspension for violating the substance-abuse policy.(ESPN)(5-21-2009)

hopefully it is about the substance-abuse policy. They really need to clear this thing up.

...everyone does seem a little baffled on this one.

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UPDATE: The shape of Tuesday's big meeting between NASCAR officials and Sprint Cup teams is slowly becoming clearer: And it is now sizing up as a day-long series of small meetings, rather than any full townhall scene. Each of NASCAR's top Cup operations will have its own individual face-to-face with NASCAR executives, to discuss ideas and raise suggestions about what NASCAR could do to make Cup racing more compelling – for better TV ratings and for better ticket sales. All Cup team owners and their drivers are expected to attend the sessions at NASCAR's nearby R&D center. No specific agenda items have been listed, but one hot topic is expected to be the car-of-tomorrow, which has become an expensive engineering problem for crews, particularly small teams without the hefty engineering and computer. The Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski-Ryan Newman crash at Talladega could be another issue. NASCAR has said little about what it might want to do to deal with that issue of flying race cars, though Newman himself has said several times it is a major issue that needs to be attacked.(mikemulhern.net)(5-24-2009)
UPDATE 2: France said the mandatory meeting that NASCAR called for drivers and owners on Tuesday at the Research and Development Center in Concord was scheduled before the [Mayfield] suspension. "It's not related to the drug issue or the substance abuse policy, although we'll take questions on that," he said. France said the meeting will be a town hall atmosphere where a variety of issues will be discussed. "Including what the economy has done, the sponsorship component, what's happening with the manufacturers, the new car on the track ... a lot of different things," he said. France said the goal is to improve the overall quality of the sport. Under consideration will be double-file restarts by the leaders as used in the All-Star race but a part of point races. "There's many things we're going to look at, that being one of them, and see if we can make the sport better," France said. "It's to open up our communication lines with team owners and drivers. "It's just something we've wanted to do for a while."(ESPN)(5-24-2009)