2017 NASCAR Thread

[93henfan]

Dale Jr. has been medically cleared and will return for the Daytona 500.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/ ... ition.html

[BDKJMU]

And the gf and I will be there! Will be my 12th Cup track...

[93henfan]

And the gf and I will be there! Will be my 12th Cup track...

I last went to the Great American Race in 2008, Jr's first race in the 88 car with Hendrick Motorsports. Last 500 before that was in the 70s. We went to several in a row around 75-78 back before they televised them live flag to flag.

The new stadium style front straight stands are supposed to be great. My sons were at the track on Thanksgiving week and showed me several pictures. Each manufacturer has their own little shrines at the track. The museum was phenomenal when we were there (off-season) in 2004 and we also took a tour of the whole track. The Earnhardt Sr memorial is very moving.

[Baldy]

The Earnhardt Sr memorial is very moving.

[93henfan]

Wow. All-around good guy and 2016 Chase finalist Carl Edwards retires:

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ystery-now

[BDKJMU]

Wow. All-around good guy and 2016 Chase finalist Carl Edwards retires:

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ystery-now

Holy shit, that was out of nowhere. I don't remember hearing a peep about this before today. Only 37. I figured he would race into his mid 40s..

[93henfan]

Wow. All-around good guy and 2016 Chase finalist Carl Edwards retires:

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ystery-now

Holy shit, that was out of nowhere. I don't remember hearing a peep about this before today. Only 37. I figured he would race into his mid 40s..

I was listening to the local station on the way home and before they went to commercial they said "one of NASCAR's most popular drivers has retired" and I thought sure it had to be Jr.

Edwards retiring is almost as shocking as Nico Rosberg's was a few weeks back in F1. The mortality factor is real.

[93henfan]

One of Edwards' most memorable moments. The run to the finish is epic :

phpBB [video]

[BDKJMU]

I actually watched the whole thing.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty0eNCA7i0M[/youtube]

[BDKJMU]

-Said at banquet right after Thanksgiving about looking forward to competing for the Championship next season. Then calls Gibbs 3-4 weeks later right before holidays saying needs to talk to him (to inform him of retirement).

-Said something along the lines of being satisfied with his career and is looking forward to other challenges. When asked what those challenges are said he didn't know. I know he's got a farm and his pilots's license..

-Said something along the lines of living for the last 40 laps of a race going 190 into the corner competing with the best drivers in the world. Asked what he is has plans for that could replicate that there was nothing.

-1/2 hr+ press conference and talked about how time consuming the racing was yet never directly mentioned spending more time family, wife, or kids once. A # of times was directly but would deflect..

-Given a positive quote that someone said about him he started crying about wanting to be a good person.

Just a little weird..

[93henfan]

aaaaaaaaaand they just changed the point system again:

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ivers-race

This sounds like essentially the same as the Chase, but with more points awarded in-race based on stages. Guys who qualify better will be rewarded with stage 1 points. Guys will also race harder mid-race for stage 2 points, etc. Even with all those shenanigans, the model ran for 2016 showed the same four finalists and champion.

This seems stupid, but I guess we'll see.

[BDKJMU]

aaaaaaaaaand they just changed the point system again:

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ivers-race

This sounds like essentially the same as the Chase, but with more points awarded in-race based on stages. Guys who qualify better will be rewarded with stage 1 points. Guys will also race harder mid-race for stage 2 points, etc. Even with all those shenanigans, the model ran for 2016 showed the same four finalists and champion.

This seems stupid, but I guess we'll see.

As I have been saying for 3 years I think they should have just kept the 3 bonus points for regular seasons wins in the 1st round of the Chase to the round of 12 and round of 8. Including regular season and Chase wins maybe 2 points per win in the round of 12 and 1 point per win for the round of 8. That simple fix right there would be easy to understand and would make the chance of a driver without a win making the Final 4 incredibly remote. (Pretty sure would have kept Newman out of the Final 4 in 2014). If you can't get a win in the 1st 35 races you don't deserve to be racing for the trophy at Homestead IMHOP.

But instead NASCAR comes up with this convoluted mess.

[BDKJMU]

Dale Junior's Man Cave (really Man Building). Check out the college football helmet collection, 28 second mark.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0 ... 46043136-4

[89Hen]

Are they still having this?

[93henfan]

Are they still having this?

I see you've stopped pretending to be a NASCAR fan.

[clenz]

Fuck Buescher

He's gone. Now maybe Cassill will get treated right.

He moves from 38 to 34. That sadly marks the end of 38, nice.

Landon seems to be taking over the Loves sponsorship, rather than bringing SnapFitness along. Loves will get 18 races. I assume Snap gets the rest?

The way FRM shifted away from him to Buescher last year was ridiculous. Cassill finished 2016 with seven top-20 finishes, 15 top-25s, had a best finish of 11th at Talladega in the spring, and led 20 laps in the spring at Bristol, running inside the top 10 for almost half that race. He also had career-bests in average finish, lead lap finishes and points position. Those numbers also make him one of the most successful drivers in FRM’s history over the course of a season.

But, simply because Buescher lucked out because of a Thunderstorm, in a race he was about to drop like a rock in Landon was left behind.

[93henfan]

Fuck Buescher

He's gone. Now maybe Cassill will get treated right.

He moves from 38 to 34. That sadly marks the end of 38, nice.

Landon seems to be taking over the Loves sponsorship, rather than bringing SnapFitness along. Loves will get 18 races. I assume Snap gets the rest?

The way FRM shifted away from him to Buescher last year was ridiculous. Cassill finished 2016 with seven top-20 finishes, 15 top-25s, had a best finish of 11th at Talladega in the spring, and led 20 laps in the spring at Bristol, running inside the top 10 for almost half that race. He also had career-bests in average finish, lead lap finishes and points position. Those numbers also make him one of the most successful drivers in FRM’s history over the course of a season.

But, simply because Buescher lucked out because of a Thunderstorm, in a race he was about to drop like a rock in Landon was left behind.

It's a team, and one guy was effectively locked into the Chase after Pocono. They did what any two-car team would do, especially a lower budget two-car team. They basically move their best parts, people, and money to the team that's going to the playoffs.

[BDKJMU]

**** Buescher

He's gone. Now maybe Cassill will get treated right.

He moves from 38 to 34. That sadly marks the end of 38, nice.

Landon seems to be taking over the Loves sponsorship, rather than bringing SnapFitness along. Loves will get 18 races. I assume Snap gets the rest?

The way FRM shifted away from him to Buescher last year was ridiculous. Cassill finished 2016 with seven top-20 finishes, 15 top-25s, had a best finish of 11th at Talladega in the spring, and led 20 laps in the spring at Bristol, running inside the top 10 for almost half that race. He also had career-bests in average finish, lead lap finishes and points position. Those numbers also make him one of the most successful drivers in FRM’s history over the course of a season.

But, simply because Buescher lucked out because of a Thunderstorm, in a race he was about to drop like a rock in Landon was left behind.

Is he the #1 ranked metrosexual driver?

[93henfan]

Kurt Busch just married this. She's a Wilhelmina model, world-class polo player, and the daughter of a billionaire developer. Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) was their wedding singer:




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/fash ... -star.html

[89Hen]

Are they still having this?

I see you've stopped pretending to be a NASCAR fan.

Me and hundreds of thousands of others.

[93henfan]

I see you've stopped pretending to be a NASCAR fan.

Me and hundreds of thousands of others.

Yeah, amazing how they can get an 8-year $2.4B contract with Fox and a 10-year $4.4B contract with NBC when nobody watches anymore.

[89Hen]

Me and hundreds of thousands of others.

Yeah, amazing how they can get an 8-year $2.4B contract with Fox and a 10-year $4.4B contract with NBC when nobody watches anymore.

The FACT that viewership is plummeting has little to do with sports groups being able to hold networks hostage for big money.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup ratings are in the midst of another tumble. This past Sunday’s race in Dover scored a record low 1.5 rating on NBCSN and 2.6 million viewers, but that’s down a huge 21% from last year (1.9 rating and 3.2 million viewers). And when you compare it to ESPN’s last year in 2014, it’s even worse off 35% in rating and 32% in viewership (2.3 rating, 3.8 million viewers).

It marks the third straight week that a Chase for the Cup race has seen record low ratings.

[93henfan]

So ratings are now only about fifty times what they were when I first started loving the sport in the mid 70s. The sky is truly falling. Thanks for the alert.

[89Hen]

So ratings are now only about fifty times what they were when I first started loving the sport in the mid 70s. The sky is truly falling. Thanks for the alert.

Hey, the real answer is ratings and attendance don't affect your enjoyment of the sport. Like me with the NHL.

But in a way, the sky is kinda falling 93. Attendance is down. Viewership is down. Attendance at the NASCAR HOF is down. It's not a pretty picture.

[clenz]

So ratings are now only about fifty times what they were when I first started loving the sport in the mid 70s. The sky is truly falling. Thanks for the alert.

Hey, the real answer is ratings and attendance don't affect your enjoyment of the sport. Like me with the NHL.

But in a way, the sky is kinda falling 93. Attendance is down. Viewership is down. Attendance at the NASCAR HOF is down. It's not a pretty picture.

So you would also argue that baseball is on the verge of collapsing as well, right?

Over half the league was down vs 2015. Which was down vs 2014. Which was down vs 2013 and so on and so on back through about 2007. 11 teams down at least 100,000 fans.

Only 7 teams drew at least 3 million fans, and 4 of them are trending backwards.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the Cubs winning 100 games and the Blue Jays having no where to go but up with attendance numbers, it's be really bad looking charts.