Smack: Some rough Cup seasons could get rougher (cont'd)

3. Another of NASCAR's crown jewels has been shortened by rain. Really, there's nothing series officials can do in these situations -- right?

Raygan Swan: I have no right answer or even a good idea on this one, but perhaps a uniform rain policy is a good place to start. Maybe when the fans go home, everyone else should be able to go home.

David Caraviello: OK, I know race fans pine for fantastical rain tires, or domed tracks, or some sort of tarp that can be pulled down over the asphalt once it starts racing. But really, none of those options are realistic, at least not right now. Rain is an unfortunate part of the deal. It happens. Everyone has to come to grips with it.

Weekend Washout

The 24 Hours of the Coca-Cola 600 finally came to a wet finish Monday at 6:25 p.m. ET, with the end anti-climactic to all but a few.

• Complete story
• Rodman: Still a success
• Menzer: Thoughts during delay

Joe Menzer: Listen, I think they did all they could to get the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 in. (Sorry, I've been writing that so often for the last month that it's hard to stop cold turkey.) If anything, speaking for all of us who waited it out the entire two rainy days, I thought they should have called it earlier on Monday. It was obvious they weren't going to get back out there at least an hour before they made it official. In fact, several of the drivers changed out of their firesuits and into street clothes long before it was called. Word on the street is that some of them might even have left the track, although I find that a little difficult to believe.

David Caraviello: But Joe, I'd rather them wait too long to call it than call it quickly and have the rain stop -- which is what happened in the case of this year's Daytona 500. NASCAR looks better waiting a little longer than not waiting long enough. The latter feeds conspiracy theories that TV is making some of these rain calls.

Raygan Swan: I will say that I wish the broadcasters would just go back to regular programming instead of staying at the track. Really, who wants to watch Carl Edwards talk about eating a ham sandwich?

Joe Menzer: David, there you (and NASCAR) go again, worrying too much about what people might think. Just do the right, sensible thing and get on with it. There was no way they were going back racing after about 45 minutes of the final rain delay. And they made everyone suffer through almost another hour and a half before finally letting poor David Reutimann relax with the victory.

David Caraviello: Hey, perception is everything, baby. You have to worry about that. And the right, sensible thing is to wait. Hey, I know it stinks. Everybody loses. I waited out three days of rain at Michigan two years ago. But what are you going to do?

Joe Menzer: Spoken like a guy who was strolling down Bourbon Street at the time, probably half drunk out of his mind! I was stuck there at the track, man! It was pure misery!

Raygan Swan: Yeah, sorry Joe. I pulled the pregnant card, David, and went back home to Indiana! Did I mention that I love Duane Cross? But I served my rain time in Fontana this season and last. Rain delays are miserable, and the calls are not consistent. They need a written policy.

Joe Menzer: You should have been at the town hall meeting to bring that up. Unfortunately, I think writing up some kind of policy to uniformly handle rain delays is impractical and won't happen. Baseball doesn't have one, do they? As for racing, it depends on how hard the rain is falling and for how long and other variables, like the type of track it is and so on.

David Caraviello: And another thing -- enough e-mails about rain tires. Anyone who saw the rainy Montreal race last year knows that racing in the rain isn't feasible because of visibility reasons. Not to mention impossible on high banks. I know everybody wants it. It's not going to happen. I'm not a tire guy, and Goodyear may have some super-secret rain compound they're working on, but for now, please, let's put that old canard to rest once and for all. I mean, guys in that Montreal race were traveling at highway speed on a road course and still spinning out. And people think racing in the rain is viable on a high-speed oval? Talk about having one too many on Bourbon Street!

NASCAR's solution to rainouts? "It's like a shammy, it's like a towel, it's like a sponge. It's SHAMWOW! You'll be saying wow everytime."

Joe Menzer: Unfortunately, in this case, I think the sport is at the mercy of Mother Nature. But if they can do anything, maybe they can say once the race is more than halfway, they shouldn't make anyone -- fans, competitors, media -- wait more than an hour before either making the decision to get back out there and calling it for good. Then everyone can head home at a decent hour.

David Caraviello: I don't agree with that Joe. As big a part of this as the fans and everyone else are, this is ultimately about determining a winner in the fairest way possible. And if that means you wait, you wait. Competitors come first. Like a lot of things in NASCAR, you have to take rainouts on a case-by-case basis. It stinks that the two biggest races of the year thus far have been impacted by weather. Just stinks, no question. But until the guys at the R&D Center invent some giant fan to blow rain clouds out of the way, we're all going to have to deal with it.

Raygan Swan: What about that ShamWow thing I see on TV? It could be the officially shammy of NASCAR. Holds 12 times its weight in liquid!

David Caraviello: That's kind of how I felt last week, now that you mention it.

Joe Menzer: I realize the competitors come first. But when it becomes obvious there is no chance to get the race started again, they need to call it. Period. Sort of like this Track Smack. When Raygs starts talking about "that ShamWow thing" she saw on TV and loving our boss, I'm out.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writers.