Minor-league expectations for a major-league sport?

As usual it was regarded as the best race of the big NASCAR weekend up at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a place that doesn't just remember its developmental-series roots, but twice a year shows them off to the world. The finish had fans standing, the public-address announcer screaming, and vehicles ricocheting off the inside wall. Exiting the final corner, a somewhat forceful and ultimately unsuccessful overtaking attempt by one of the circuit's top drivers left cars grinding against concrete and trailing white smoke as they passed under the checkered flag.

Seven cars failed to finish the New Hampshire 100 with accident status.

It was another New England afternoon with the Whelen Modified Tour, whose cars seem custom-made for just that kind of action with those nerf bars protruding from the front and sides. The finish left fans awestruck, and at least one competitor angry. But Ed Flemke Jr. expressed his dissatisfaction in the most eloquent of ways.

"What's wrong in racing today, and it's my opinion and my opinion only, is you're rewarded for doing the wrong thing," Flemke said, despite benefiting from the accident, which helped him to finish second. "You go in there and knock the guy out of the way to win, good job. You get the money, you get the girl, you get the trophy. If you lift for the guy, you don't even get a pat on the back. So we need to change the merit system somehow ... in all racing, from the top level right on down to quarter-midgets. You've got to be rewarded for doing the right thing, for speaking up when you should speak up. Like right now."

Commendable words. Still, it was a race and a finish that the folks in the grandstand clearly enjoyed. It was also one of those weekends when the differences between NASCAR's regional and national levels came into sharp focus, and made it a little easier to see why some race fans love racing, but have so many issues with the Sprint Cup tour. Regardless of what you think of leadership in Daytona Beach, there's no question that NASCAR has crafted a premier division that -- as the crowded garage area at New Hampshire will readily attest -- allows its fan base a degree of access that's almost unprecedented in other major sports. But sometimes, that access isn't enough. Sometimes, fans want a hair-raising finish like the one in the modified race, too.

• Whelen Modified Tour | More NASCAR regional racing

And therein lies the disconnect. To a certain degree, NASCAR tries to be all things to all people, which just isn't possible. Slam-bang races like those in the modified ranks happen in the modified ranks for a reason, and expecting similar action on the Sprint Cup tour -- where the drivers are much more talented, the cars are much more expensive, and the sponsor investment is much greater -- is unrealistic. Sure, it happens sometimes, and when it does it usually prompts a barrage of finger-pointing (think Dale Earnhardt "rattling the cage" of Terry Labonte at Bristol, or Brian Vickers spinning Jimmie Johnson to win at Talladega). But NASCAR's highest level is the face of the sport to most people, and its drivers are held to a higher level of professionalism as a result.

Still, it's natural for many race fans to want a little bit of everything -- the drivers to be the stars they're paying to see, the action something to remind them of the short tracks they might have grown up with. That's a difficult compromise, given that stars are a little more reluctant to put the fender to one another, while weekend short-trackers are more apt to mix it up precisely because they're not stars, and less likely to face difficult questions from reporters or sponsor representatives about why they put so-and-so into the wall. They compete on tours that are very different, yet they share the same sanctioning body and to a certain degree the same fan base, so it's easy to see why the lines between them can get blurred.

Baseball offers an interesting comparison. The fans who follow Minor League Baseball are often a different breed, drawn by wacky promotions or 50-cent draught beer or a chance to get to know young prospects who might be in the majors some day. And then there's the big-league game, where the beer is $6, and the promotions are sanitized to ensure they won't provoke another Disco Demolition Night, and nobody without the right credential around his neck is getting anywhere close to Albert Pujols or Chipper Jones. What it does have, though, is the best in the world in action every night, and that's what fans are paying to see. They're two different games played in two different atmospheres that attract two different groups of fans. Nobody goes to a Major League Baseball game hoping to see minor-league action, although to a certain extent that's exactly what happens every weekend in NASCAR.

Despite the clearly voiced concerns of some drivers who competed in it, the wild finish to this past weekend's modified race at New Hampshire evoked a somewhat predictable reaction -- how come we don't see this kind of stuff more often in the Sprint Cup Series? After all, racing is racing, right? Well, not quite. Jump from the Nationwide Tour to the PGA Tour, and golf courses get better and scores get lower. Move from the National Basketball Development League to the NBA, and play gets crisper. Go from NASCAR's regional touring circuits to its premier level, and the racing is inherently cleaner. That's the norm for any minor-to-major progression, not just because the competitors are more talented but because they have so much more at stake.

Still, running the Whelen Modified and Sprint Cup tours on consecutive days on the same race track makes for an interesting comparison, not to mention a treat for those of us who don't get to see the nerf-bar crowd compete very often. Just don't expect the same kind of race. The big show means star drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and action that's naturally going to be more finesse than physical. Expecting it to be anything else is unrealistic, like expecting the same amount of brawling in the NHL that you see in hockey's minor leagues. Not your preference? That's fine. The Whelen Modified Tour next competes July 11 at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.