NASCAR has a way of fueling buzz, but it’s missing here

Before we get to the WWE-ification of NASCAR, it’s imperative that we lodge a formal protest over how Dale Earnhardt Jr. has sneakily taken the unofficial title of NASCAR hip-hop icon away from Jeff Gordon.

Gordon was first, getting shouted out by Nelly in the song “E.I.” in 2000. Lately it has been Earnhardt showing up in the rap world, even in a Jay-Z video. These should be Gordon’s spots.

“I know, man,” Gordon said, shaking his head at Earnhardt’s new role. “He’s in the [Chevy] commercial with T.I. He doesn’t even know who T.I. is.”

How about if we hook Gordon in a video with Snoop Dogg?

“Oh, I love Snoop,” Gordon said. “That would be the ultimate. Or Ludacris.”

OK, Luda and Snoop D-o-double-gizzle. Get on it. This should be much easier to resolve than the issues facing NASCAR, which seems to be overly reliant on controversy and contrived crises.

The problems facing the California Speedway with the Auto Club 500 Sunday: There weren’t enough violations beforehand, and there was no controversial finish.

That’s what had everybody talking before and after the Daytona 500 a week ago, when five teams were busted for cheating and then officials delayed dropping the yellow flag while Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin dueled to the finish line.

But the NASCAR buzz died down this week -- how could it possibly compete with the weeping judge in the Anna Nicole Smith court proceedings? -- and as a result, there were impossible-to-ignore sections of empty seats in the grandstands at the speedway Sunday. I’m sure it didn’t help the television ratings that the ever-popular Earnhardt literally bowed out on Lap 120. After his car blew the engine and spun out into the infield, Junior calmly undid his steering wheel, climbed out and took a dramatic bow.

We know NASCAR thrives on its stars, but I think it also likes controversy, just as it doesn’t mind a few fisticuffs in the garage or big crashes, as long as everyone walks away unscathed. Those things get the mainstream media coverage that chief executive Brian France craves. They stretch the discussion beyond a minute of Sunday night highlights.

Meanwhile, veteran NASCAR reporters can usually predict when the next yellow flag for “debris on the track” will magically appear, the field will be tightened for a dramatic finish, and/or a big name will rejoin the lead lap. It’s known as “a NASCAR yellow” in racing circles and it’s as convenient as a referee’s being distracted in wrestling. Sunday, it was on Lap 225, of 250, when Jimmie Johnson had a 2 1/2 -second lead. Suddenly, a yellow flag came out. You guessed it, debris.

“If anyone did see the debris, I’d like to know where it was,” Johnson said.

He looked over at Gordon, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Gordon shook his head to indicate he hadn’t seen any either.

This is like the NBA, in which even the players are convinced that the league and its referees slant things in favor of the marquee teams and to stretch out playoff series.

Asked about the predictable nature of the yellow flags, Johnson said, “It did seem like there was one coming.”

When pressed for explanation, Gordon motioned to the NASCAR trailer and said, “Go over there to that truck and ask.”

The yellow wound up hurting Johnson. He lost the lead to Jeff Burton on Lap 227, before Matt Kenseth took the lead for the last 12 laps, all the way to the checkered flag. This ending was nowhere near as dramatic as Daytona’s. Everything came to a halt on a red flag with six laps left after David Reutimann crashed into the wall. On the restart, the second-place Harvick caught a flat tire, ensuring he couldn’t repeat last week’s drama.

On the crime and punishment front, Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition, wasn’t quite so busy this week. The stock car racing Elliott Ness knows that more teams spending more money for the same fixed number of spots every week means a greater temptation to cheat.

“It’s getting more complex on both sides,” Pemberton said. “Our guys have to be on top of their game.”

He has more than 100 staffers on the track on race day. They digitally record 18 pit stops and play them back, frame by frame. “We do our best,” he said.

But it’s almost a given that every crew will do something to gain an edge.

NASCAR is just fortunate that cheating doesn’t prompt the same outrage as it does in baseball. I doubt that there will be any drivers or crew chiefs hauled before Congress to appease politicians looking to score points with the public. No citizens will form advocacy groups to point out the impact these cheaters will have on the American youth.

Cheating will continue in NASCAR, and so will mysterious yellow flags. These aren’t new developments -- unlike Earnhardt’s hip-hop status.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more by Adande go to latimes.com/adandeblog.