LGP NASCAR Thread

[TheHammer24]

Ughhhhhhhhhh. Denny definitely had the best car between him and the other title contenders. Darian makes the wrong call staying out and probably cost him the championshop.

Harvick is a deserving champion and probably had the best season.

[relantel]

Ughhhhhhhhhh. Denny definitely had the best car between him and the other title contenders. Darian makes the wrong call staying out and probably cost him the championshop.

Harvick is a deserving champion and probably had the best season.

He went for it. No shame in that.

Those late cautions definitely cost Gordon the race win. And had it gone green from 50 to go, I think also cost Hamlin the title. Grubb had called a good race, but by in large those that stayed out when others pitted got burned.

[dodint]

Late cautions in a NASCAR race? You don't say.

[Sigwolf]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

[relantel]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

[TheHammer24]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

Historically, aren't there two separate celebrations? I remember Denny and Johnson going burning out on separate ends of the front stretch last year.

[CBear3]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

Historically, aren't there two separate celebrations? I remember Denny and Johnson going burning out on separate ends of the front stretch last year.

Yes, its actually fairly rare for the winner of Homestead to be the winner of the title.

[relantel]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

Historically, aren't there two separate celebrations? I remember Denny and Johnson going burning out on separate ends of the front stretch last year.

Yes, but this is the first year we've had a system of this nature where it was a top finisher takes all. Last year I recall the champ winning Homestead was Tony Stewart in 2011.

[TheHammer24]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

Historically, aren't there two separate celebrations? I remember Denny and Johnson going burning out on separate ends of the front stretch last year.

Yes, but this is the first year we've had a system of this nature where it was a top finisher takes all. Last year I recall the champ winning Homestead was Tony Stewart in 2011.

Right. In one of the greatest races ever.

[Sigwolf]

The biggest disappointment is Newman failing to be named "champion" to further emphasize this farce that has become Nascar.

The way it played out on that final restart, Newman's only hope of winning the title at that point would have required winning the race, thus not being a winless champion. They put themselves in a position, that's all that could be asked.

Kind of fitting that the winner of the race won the title, prevented two separate celebrations. That would have been odd, if it had been same order among the eligible 4, but with Gordon winning the race...

Historically, aren't there two separate celebrations? I remember Denny and Johnson going burning out on separate ends of the front stretch last year.

Yes, but this is the first year we've had a system of this nature where it was a top finisher takes all. Last year I recall the champ winning Homestead was Tony Stewart in 2011.

Firstly, there are infinite ways that could have played out where Newman was a winless champion, right up to and including the final restart. There are countless times the sure-thing leader on the final lap in any given motorsport has not actually won the race. It is chance that the race winner happened to be the champion, not some benefit of this so-called system. The champion under this system "could" have finished 39th without a single win on the season. A system that allows for this possibility, whether or not it actually occurs, is nothing more than a complete farce and a joke to motorsports. This system also allows for a driver to finish 1st in 35 races, and 2nd in the 36th, yet lose the "championship" to a driver that wins a single race. This has nothing to do with racing, or who is the best driver. It's a further development of the reality-show horsecrap that has become NASCAR.

...and please do not revisit the lame comparison to football playoffs or any other team sport where a playoff system actually is necessary. In team sports, a given team does not get to play every single other team each week in the exact set of circumstances. They play different schedules under different conditions from week to week, thereby making the playoff system a flawed, but necessary, system to judge the best team. Motorsports, however, feature every car racing every other car in the same venue and same conditions every single week. This makes it very easy to determine the most deserving champion... the one that performed the best throughout the entire season.

But, but, Jimmy Johnson won too many, so we have to change the entire system to basically make it random so that Johnson doesn't continue to dominate. Oops, under a strict points system for the season, Johnson would have finished 7th. This whole charade was unnecessary from the start.

[TheHammer24]

The alteration to the Chase has little to do about Johnson.

Playoffs are not remotely close to "necessary." Soccer does just fine without them.

[dodint]

Sigwolf is my new hero. Thank you sir.

[relantel]

preaching to the choir, sigwolf. I hate the chase. Devalues the importance of every race from 1/36 to far less for most, and much more for some. The win/in thing is the all star race criteria, not a season-long champion.

[JS©]

Letting team know this will be my final year competing for a championship.

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[shafnutz05]

Unreal. Expected, but still a shock.

[relantel]

Going out on top. I like it. I think he's wanting to avoid the long slow decline that Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip had - both had 8 winless seasons to close out their careers.

[JS©]

agreed. I figured he'd do another 2-3 seasons and then maybe appear at the big events like Daytona.

By the sounds of it, he doesn't sound opposed to doing that after 2015, but I think he also said it wasn't in his plans right now.

"I won't use the 'R-word' because I plan to stay extremely busy in the years ahead, and there's always the possibility I'll compete in selected events, although I currently have no plans to do that," he said. "I don't foresee a day when I'll ever step away from racing."

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[TheHammer24]

Make room for chase Elliot in the 24

[Sigwolf]

Make room for chase Elliot in the 24

Ugh

[relantel]

Make room for chase Elliot in the 24

Ugh

I think what'll happen is they will become the 25 team for Elliott.

[relantel]

Duels on tonight. 88 wins the first one, followed by Gordon, Logano, Stewart & Bowyer.

Danica has to race here way in - finish top 15 or better - in 2nd race to make the 500.

[dodint]

Nice, I'll take in some of that action.

[dodint]

Is that a permanent ride for Hornish? Is Ambros out of NASCAR?

Really stoked to turn this on and have it red flag 2 minutes later. *yawn*

[shafnutz05]

Bad luck for Danica.....as the commentator pointed out, all of those drivers had made the race and for some dumb reason they got aggressive.

Edit: Hamlin was bump-drafting Danica into the corner. Stupid stupid stupid

[dodint]

haha