LGP NASCAR Thread

[CBear3]

I'd like to thank ISC for putting up lights @ Kansas Speedway, then scheduling a day race with 95° heat. There's a reason the old Indycar race moved to April.

[shafnutz05]

Wish I could say I was eagerly looking forward to Daytona this weekend, but can't say that I am. This new 2-car drafting crap at the restrictor plate tracks has completely ruined what used to be my favorite type of racing. So boring.

[CBear3]

Better if they just put the trailer hitch on them...

[relantel]

Better if they just put the trailer hitch on them...

Yeah - the Spring Talladega race really made mince meat of the rule requiring running the white flag lap without help... though forget who it was but there was a driver in the NW race at Road America on Saturday that had help back on the white flag lap and was not scored in position but rather at the end of the lap. So selective enforcement at best.

The solution to the two car breakaways, aside from mandating no bump-drafting like they have in the past, is to open up the plates so they can't. I think that is the offensive part of the tandems is that one driver has to consciously give up position on the race track, instead of the old pack mentality where everyone was trying to get to the front. Last real cup plate race I can think of where the draft was pretty well broken up was the 2004 Daytona 500.

[CBear3]

It'll only become exciting if they have to lift. Although Daytona in summer is usually the best of the four races, the track is usually hotter and slicker and the cars have to actually handle.
The Nationwide race there last year was a gas.

[Point Breeze Penguins]

More bad news for NASCAR on the sponsorship front...

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/ne ... id=6713903" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[relantel]

Daytona/Talladega... ah to get back to the point where a car could pass another on draft alone and not need help...

[relantel]

"The Day" on SPEED tonight is focused on Petty's 200th win, at Daytona in July 1984. Very well put together, including Ned Jarrett's interview of Reagan during the race. Airing again at 11pm tonight, and I'm sure again in the future.

[shafnutz05]

Daytona/Talladega... ah to get back to the point where a car could pass another on draft alone and not need help...

Yeah man...it sucks. I used to so look forward to the restrictor plate tracks, when one driver could work his way up through the pack in a couple laps thanks to smart drafting and knowing how to race. Now it's pairing up, and the person in the back basically sacrifices winning. That happened before, but now it is a necessity. I hope to God they change it, but I'm afraid they won't.

[relantel]

In the words of PFiDC, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

That's about how I feel about the pairs racing. two big ones on the white flag lap because NASCAR didn't want to throw the yellow for the first one. Either do, or don't, but be consistent. Is that too much to ask?


Seems the 31 couldn't/wouldn't stay hooked up with the 88 on the last GWC. They both suffered for it, when they had a chance for the win. I suppose I need to be happy they were in it to have a chance coming to the white, and didn't suffer the fate the 21 or 99 or the 5 had, even if they were spun on the last lap.

I guess it is a good thing that the next race is at Kentucky on Saturday. One less day to wait for the next race than if it was on Sunday. At least there was a decent story in Ragan winning, though he rings more of a Greg Sacks than a Greg Biffle, previous first-time winners in the Firecracker 400.

[Point Breeze Penguins]

Junior Slamming NASCAR

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/m ... 6653.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pittsports87]

Junior Slamming NASCAR

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/m ... 6653.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like somebodies mad he hasn't won in a long time.

[Kaizer]

"It was a foolish freakin' race. I don't know what to tell you. You guys need to get your own freakin' opinions and write what y'all think about this, because I think it's probably pretty damn close to mine. So stop putting my damn foot in my mouth with y'all, and getting my ass in trouble. Y'all write what y'all think, man. Come on, y'all are good. Y'all got an opinion about it, I read y'all's [stuff]. Y'all are good."

I'm glad i didnt hear him say this, or my brain might have shutdown from redneck overload.
but he does have a good point.

[relantel]

Junior Slamming NASCAR

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/m ... 6653.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like somebodies mad he hasn't won in a long time.

Don't think that has anything to do with it - really comes down to the individual driver having no control anymore on the plate tracks. He may be frustrated from not winning in three years, but that frustration is unconnected to the tandem pairs racing.

At some point, NASCAR will realize that the costs and danger of the pairs outweigh the perceived closeness of the racing. Saw a tweet last night/this morning that those 11th-26th in the running order were all involved in a wreck. and that all told 30 of the 43 starters were involved in a wreck. It's as if it is Roulette on pavement. If they want to run a race where the first 150 laps don't matter, run a summer exhibition race. NASCAR has professed to want to spread the packs apart in the past - led to variations in the sizes of the plates, the sizes of the fuel tanks, the addition of a wickerbill, then the wing, back to a spoiler, and the better races on the plate tracks have seen the pack split up. Greg Biffle was the beneficiary of one of these, winning the July 2003 race during the smaller fuel cell era - think it was 13 gallons. The hope was more pit stops would break up the pack. By in large they tended to form back up, but that night some could make on fuel and some could not (15-8 being in the latter, despite being stronger cars), such that those who needed the extra stop could not catch up when it went green to the end.

As for Kentucky, think this might favor a driver who has driven the Busch/Nationwide car there...

[DMcGrew]

No different than 30 cars getting tore up in one massive wreck. The 2 car thing is a lot more unpredictable and exciting IMO.

[relantel]

sure hope the Kentucky race is better than the traffic. and that the finish isn't fuel-mileage like last night's nationwide race.

[relantel]

sure hope the Kentucky race is better than the traffic. and that the finish isn't fuel-mileage like last night's nationwide race.

Alas it was not. Would have taken Rockingham over that race in a heartbeat.

And now starting to think the 88 team, through run of bad luck the last four races, may be in line to repeat the slide of Summer 2010 when they were in the Chase after Daytona and faded badly. 3rd entering Sonoma, now 8th and only 21 up on 11th. Something tells me if they don't win a race, they aren't likely to make the Chase. If they don't win and make it, it will be because the others chasing him also failed to do so (kind of like Bowyer's late wreck at Kentucky). Would really suck if the high water mark was a late pass at Martinsville and then both ends of the fuel-mileage gambit at Charlotte and Kansas. One can hope that they break out like Harvick did in 2010, after a 115 race drought, going on to win 3 races. But it is just that, hope. The 88 is getting close to that mark that Harvick had, which lasted from the 2007 Daytona 500 to the 2010 spring Talladega race.

First time (or unlikely) Winners this season before the 88 (and 14 for that matter) - Bayne - Smith - Keselowski - Ragan. Even the 48 has looked ho-hum recently. NASCAR can have cruel twists of fate, just ask McMurray or Montoya on last year vs this one. And I wouldn't be surprised to see some others get there this year.

[TheHammer24]

My cousin is the PR guy for Hamlin. I am turning into a fan; I have been watching the races when I don't have anything else going on.

[relantel]

An interesting finish to a mostly boring race. Might have liked the results at the red flag than the full out, if only for the spots the 88 lost on the caution stop right after the red was lifted. They kind of held their own after that, clawed back just enough that the 11's late fall actually increased the margin on 11th, and Stewart's late rebound left him a point out of 9th. The gap to 8th in the points was narrow at the red, and much wider at the checkered with the 39 making up ground. All told, gap now 23 points, where it would have been 16 over Stewart at the red flag. I am still thinking the 88 needs a win to seal the deal - and they've only got Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond left. Bright side is Earnhardt has won at all those places, albeit with the Glen being in the Busch series back in 99. And perhaps even bigger were the two solid days they had at Pocono and Indianapolis to stop the downslide, something they could not do last year.

What a gamble the 2 and 22 took right before the red - the track position gained helped them to a 1-3 finish. And kudos for Keselowski beating Kyle Busch on a restart - not something many do of late.

[shafnutz05]

Yeah, Keselowski has impressed me lately. But man, Pocono has got to be the most boring race on the circuit (surpassing Fontana, no doubt). When the 15th place car is 45 seconds behind, then well, yeah.

[Malkamaniac]

Every time I see replays of what happens, Jimmy Johnson is having a tear fest.

[shafnutz05]

Every time I see replays of what happens, Jimmy Johnson is having a tear fest.

[Malkamaniac]

Every time I see replays of what happens, Jimmy Johnson is having a tear fest.

Whatever that dudes name is then. I think Nascar is more boring than golf.

[shafnutz05]

Jimmie.

I'm not going to lie, I've been very disappointed the last couple years with what has happened to some of my favorite races.

Bristol - Used to be a blast, but the repaving has basically turned it into a normal two lane track.
Daytona/Talladega - Went from giant drafting packs to lame two-car racing.

Martinsville is probably my favorite track now.

[Point Breeze Penguins]

I am hoping Iowa finds its way on the schedule.