Did Robby Gordon get screwed by NASCAR in the inaugural Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?

Well, what do you expect when an oval series and its officials show up on road circuits subsequent to the establishment of new procedures under caution periods? What officials couldn’t see with their own eyes from the front straight meant a knee-jerk reliance on timing and scoring, which showed Gordon in 13th after he was spun from the lead by Marcus Ambrose as the yellow flew. No wonder Gordon rode out the remainder of the race despite a black flag and spun the Aussie at the first opportunity.

Justice done.

Speaking of bad blood, it’s overtly evident that Fernando Alonso can’t handle second fiddle at McLaren-Mercedes whenever teammate Lewis Hamilton is faster. This will be constant fodder of marquee proportions for the remainder of Alonso’s tenure at McLaren. Who needs Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari in the hunt when there’s internecine guerilla warfare?

Perhaps team owner Ron Dennis might have explained to the Spaniard during contract talks that McLaren has always sought to have two fast drivers while pursing the Constructors Championship. In fact, he did. But Alonso figured neither Juan Pablo Montoya nor Lewis Hamilton would be any problem.

He figured poorly.

The biggest problem for the Spaniard may be the British press — as in print journalists. In a country where newstand sales still drive publishing profits, a British driver at the top of the heap in F-1 can do no wrong, doubly so if he sits in a British team’s car. Every twitch of the steering wheel is parsed in his favor, every controversy with his teammate an opportunity to drop a load of dung on the foreigner. Poor Alonso, whose responses to Hamilton have always been quite transparent, is feeding this antagonistic machine much like a knight errant attacking a windmill.

As for the stewards in Hungary disallowing any constructor points for McLaren after the team’s qualifying snafu, at least the NASCAR officials have the excuse of not being familiar with road racing when they come up with bizarre rulings. (Even the fact Alonso was penalized twice last year after Friday’s practice sessions due to antics in his Renault — including a run-in with Robert Doornbos — hardly justifies a ruling against the McLaren team this year.)

Could it be possible that in a world where F-1 races are increasingly moved away by the FIA to higher bidders that the brace of Hungarian stewards perhaps pandered to the idea of a closer championship between McLaren and Ferrari — a big hit with the FIA since the late 1990’s? Surely they were not working hand-in-glove on pre-race publicity with the promoters, who live and die by ticket sales after the FIA picks their pocket with exhorbitant fees, control of TV rights and sponsorship.

I remain dead solid certain the Hungarian stewards must have weighed all these consequences which affect the propriety of the stewarding system. And I am entirely confidant as well that the FIA’s representative among the three stewards guided the two locals through this, ah, gold mine field.

There was bad blood at the IRL meeting in Michigan long before Dario Franchitti went helmet over various rear wings on the back straight. Michigan decided to ditch the IRL from its schedule next year on the heels of a street race in Detroit being added to its schedule this year.

This falls under the what have you done for us lately? The France family members gladly welcomed Roger Penske to its hearth when “RP” sold them the Michigan track as part of the merger of Penske Motorsports and the International Speedway Corporation, owned by the Frances, in 1999. The France family, best known as the owners of NASCAR, gladly co-promoted the races in the Chicagoland Speedway with IRL founder Tony George when the opportunity to open a new oval near a major urban market arrived.

But when Penske and George decided to run a street race this year in a major urban market such as Detroit, not far from the Michigan track in the Irish Hills, the France family’s representatives elected to drop the IRL from its schedule next year.

Given the relatively small crowd at Michigan (a problem brewing since three fan deaths from a wheel and other debris flying into the grandstand in 1998), it can be understood why officials there would drop the IRL, especially if it had to compete with a race in nearby Detroit within a fortnight. So that’s hardly a conspiracy.

But it brings to mind another thought. Perhaps the IRL was ready to give up on Michigan as well. Could the IRL have in mind instead trying to steal a march on both NASCAR and Champ Car by moving into more major urban markets in the future?

To borrow a phrase from Bob Dylan, fortunately there was no blood on the track or in the grandstands at Michigan after the Franchitti flip. These guys — Andretti Green Racing, Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing — have been running close, hard and fast all season. Just as everybody wanted to be the first NASCAR winner in Montreal, so each of the open-wheelers wanted to be the last one to win on the high banks of Michigan. Alas, the guys without fenders almost invariably face greater consequences for a lack of precision.