LGP NASCAR Thread

[relantel]

Larson is the real deal. Think Kyle Busch real.

[shafnutz05]

Another rough night for Hamlin...I've been following NASCAR loosely this year, I don't think I had any idea how bad of a year Hamlin was having. That's absolutely bizarre...only 4 top 10s all year?!

[relantel]

shaf, he missed 5 races due injury, and has had enormous bad luck. Last night, he was pole winner and simply caught up in it when the 55 of Vickers cut down a tire of his, leading him to take out Harvick and Truex and Keselowski among others.

The end story of this race is track position still matters, and that final pit stop occurs earlier and earlier for the leader. It's definitely NOT your old Bristol, where new tires mattered.

[shafnutz05]

Yeah I know he missed due to injury, I still didn't realize just how rough his season had been prior to that.

[relantel]

Kurt Busch done deal to Stewart Haas. Wonder how Ryan Newman feels now...

[sj?]

Kurt Busch done deal to Stewart Haas. Wonder how Ryan Newman feels now...

I can't stand Kurt B. .. I thought Kevin Harvick was going to Stewart-Haas ??

[DMcGrew]

Kurt Busch done deal to Stewart Haas. Wonder how Ryan Newman feels now...

I can't stand Kurt B. .. I thought Kevin Harvick was going to Stewart-Haas ??

They're both going to SHR.

[relantel]

Gene Haas apparently loves Kurt, which is apparently how this happened. Wonder how long the Hendrick association continues with them having 4 cars now.

[TheHammer24]

Gene Haas apparently loves Kurt, which is apparently how this happened. Wonder how long the Hendrick association continues with them having 4 cars now.

In terms of driving talent, you can make an argument that HMS is now the 3rd best team (if you ignore Danica and Denny returns to form).

Busch, Kenseth, Hamlin
Stewart, Busch, Harvick
Johnson, Kahne, Earnhardt, Gordon

[TheHammer24]

If I could sign any driver right now to win me a championship my list is definitely:

Johnson
Kenseth
Busch
Busch

[DMcGrew]

Kyle Larson to the 42. Will be announced this Friday.

[relantel]

Kyle Larson to the 42. Will be announced this Friday.

probably one of the worst kept secrets in the garage. Hope he is closer to Jamie McMurray than Reed Sorenson or David Stremme, though I suspect Larson ought to be far and away above any other rookie Ganassi has had, including McMurray.

[relantel]

Allmendinger to drive the JTG #47 next year...

Impending free agents still out there now that I can think of: Montoya, Newman, Martin. Still rumored that Austin Dillon will come up and take over the #29 team, with or without changing the # to 3. Jayski's full list of free agents:

Spoiler:

Aric Almirola
Marcos Ambrose
Dave Blaney
David Gilliland
Travis Kvapil
Bobby Labonte
Mark Martin [looking for part time]
Juan Pablo Montoya [will not be back with EGR]
Ryan Newman
David Ragan
David Reutimann

http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/ ... iver-Chart

[relantel]

Jeff Burton out at RCR for next year... citing lack of sponsor $$. Could be Ryan Newman coming over to the 31 and Austin Dillon taking Harvick's place?

[TheHammer24]

Jeff Burton out at RCR for next year... citing lack of sponsor $$. Could be Ryan Newman coming over to the 31 and Austin Dillon taking Harvick's place?

That is a pretty costly move, it would seem, given that they likely had to buy Burton's contract. Newman has sponsors; he will have a team next year. Dillon is in at RCR since they gave the NW 3 to Ty.

That leaves the two RPM cars as the legit teams with vacancies, but I think at least Ambrose will be back. Montoya is looking to go race for Gnassi's IndyCar team.

The 78 is available too. Essentially 3 RCR cars.

[relantel]

Jeff Burton out at RCR for next year... citing lack of sponsor $$. Could be Ryan Newman coming over to the 31 and Austin Dillon taking Harvick's place?

That is a pretty costly move, it would seem, given that they likely had to buy Burton's contract. Newman has sponsors; he will have a team next year. Dillon is in at RCR since they gave the NW 3 to Ty.

That leaves the two RPM cars as the legit teams with vacancies, but I think at least Ambrose will be back. Montoya is looking to go race for Gnassi's IndyCar team.

The 78 is available too. Essentially 3 RCR cars.

I think they already announced Almirola and Ambrose would be back

[relantel]

Brian Scott sure got cheated last night at Richmond. Led the first 239 of 250 - Keseloski was awarded the lead by NASCAR as yellow came out on the first lap of a restart, one where Keselowski as the 2nd place car beat the leader to the line and didn't give it back. (Usually penalized). Final restart, Keselowski went before the restart zone, and beat everyone by over a car length to the line, same type where Jimmie Johnson was black flagged for at Dover in the spring, yet no black flag for Keselowski. Scott finished 2nd, but really had the race stolen from him. NASCAR agreed with him after the fact on the restarts but wouldn't change the result.

[relantel]

2nd night in a row NASCAR blew a restart call. Edwards beat Menard to the line pretty handily and didn't give it back. Goes on to win. But everyone is talking about Clint Bowyer's intentional spin with 7 to go when it was clear Ryan Newman was going to win & get in as 2nd wildcard, putting Bowyer teammate Truex out of the chase. Also going to be out was Joey Logano, as Gordon had him beat by 2 points. Logano was able to take a wave-around to go from 2 laps down to 1 lap down, and beat Gordon by 1 point. Newman ends up losing out to Truex on a tiebreaker (# of 2nd place finishes) for the 2nd wildcard slot.

[shafnutz05]

Pretty Bush league move by Bowyer last night.

[shafnutz05]

http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/cup/story/_/id/9650624/nascar-investigating-clint-bowyer-spin-richmond

[relantel]

shaf, that to me sounds like NASCAR intimating they'll look into it just to get the media off of their backs. I seriously doubt they will actually do anything about it.

[shafnutz05]

shaf, that to me sounds like NASCAR intimating they'll look into it just to get the media off of their backs. I seriously doubt they will actually do anything about it.

Same.

[offsides]

shaf, that to me sounds like NASCAR intimating they'll look into it just to get the media off of their backs. I seriously doubt they will actually do anything about it.

Not even sure what they could do about it. If they had any *****, they would throw Bowyer out of the chase. Very easy to see he spun on purpose.

[relantel]

shaf, that to me sounds like NASCAR intimating they'll look into it just to get the media off of their backs. I seriously doubt they will actually do anything about it.

Not even sure what they could do about it. If they had any *****, they would throw Bowyer out of the chase. Very easy to see he spun on purpose.

Any penalty wouldn't help anyone affected by Bowyer's spin, just affect Bowyer going into the Chase. There is precedent for post-race penalty for intentional spin, though last time it was Earnhardt Jr publicly admitting it. Back then, I think it was a 25 point penalty in the old system, which has been 6 point penalties in the new system. In Jr's case, it didn't affect anyone else, and wasn't at the end of a race.

The other thing out there right now is the results and standings are still unofficial.

[offsides]

Any penalty wouldn't help anyone affected by Bowyer's spin, just affect Bowyer going into the Chase. There is precedent for post-race penalty for intentional spin, though last time it was Earnhardt Jr publicly admitting it. Back then, I think it was a 25 point penalty in the old system, which has been 6 point penalties in the new system. In Jr's case, it didn't affect anyone else, and wasn't at the end of a race.

The other thing out there right now is the results and standings are still unofficial.

If Bowyer was bounced, wouldn't one of the affected drivers replace him? At least to me, that is what should happen. Still don't think anything will be done by NASCAR.