“Some of the worst conditions I’ve ever been a part of,” said Jeff Gordon.

“I almost spun out on the straightaway, that’s how hard the tires were,” said winner Jimmie Johnson.

Indeed, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen this level of griping from Cup drivers. But we knew Sunday’s race at Las Vegas was going to be this way, particularly after a disastrous Busch race on Saturday: The 12 cautions (one every 17 laps, on average) were four more than the previous track record; after wrecking out, Greg Biffle compared it to driving on black ice.

And this is with the Busch cars, which are more forgiving than Cup cars.

With such low expectations for quality racing, we tuned in to see the main train wreck on Sunday. And we weren’t disappointed. Robby Gordon, who hasn’t always endeared himself to his fellow competitors, didn’t make any new friends with a careless pass that took out two other cars. Bobbing out of the treacherous Turn 4 seemed to happen to at least one car on every lap.

All of the wrecks, the impossibility of door-to-door racing and the countless near-misses left us with this: a Johnson win in which he was never threatened during the final few laps.

All that in the name of better racing?

If you want to point a finger of blame, you’ll basically need your whole hand. Was track owner Bruton Smith ill-advised in ripping up a newer facility that was, by most accounts, fine as it was? Did Goodyear drop the ball, bringing an especially hard tire to what is essentially a new track — even after it did the same thing at Charlotte last year with equally ugly results? Did the testing sessions, regulated by NASCAR, fail to accurately mirror race conditions?

Yes on all accounts, but with a few caveats. The consensus among drivers is that once the track surface as a year to cure in the desert sun, the racing will be more palatable next year.

Goodyear may not have known what to expect from the track, so it brought the hardiest tire it could — knowing that making such a tough tire would also substantially reduce grip.

In his post-race comments, Johnson gave Goodyear a pass and put the blame on NASCAR’s testing procedures.

“To show up and not test what you’re going to race, is where all the frustration comes from. I do understand that Goodyear wants to build a strong and safe tire and not everybody is going to agree with building a hard tire. But if we can test it, I think we’ll find a way to be comfortable,” Johnson said. “On Friday when we were out there, I was afraid to hold it wide open down the straightaway. I could spin the tires ... even today in the race, I was inside of the No. 01 car and we were racing real hard. With the side drafting he did pulled me sideways and I almost spun out on the straightaway. That’s how slick the combination of the new track and tire is. We need to get some data on that so I don’t feel like I’m going to bust my butt out there.

“I know Goodyear is working very hard, but we’ve got to bring the right tire. I don’t know how we get there — if it’s more tire testing or bringing more cars to the track for tire testing. Right now they bring three cars to the track. Something needs to be addressed to where we know we’ve got the right tire. The sport is too big to be making last-minute changes. We need to focus on getting it right for the new surfaces.”

We knew this was going to be a rough weekend. Hopefully, it will be the last of its kind and we can get back to some more normal racing.
Hopefully.

“Somebody said that Goodyear might bring a harder left side tire to Charlotte,” Jeff Gordon said, “[and] I am going to have a long talk with those guys or take them to dinner or something.”