2017 NASCAR Thread

[93henfan]

Well, what did you mean then? Seems like an odd way to say you think it's doing well.

Please fanboy, GMAFB. I think I posted that same tagline 4-5 times on the 2016 NASCAR thread. The better question is why did you post..

]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.

If you didn't mean they weren't losing attendance.

I realize you're being purposely obtuse, as you always are (it's your shtick and the reason everyone thinks you're an arse here), but when did I ever say NASCAR wasn't losing attendance?

I think I've said that more than anybody.

[89Hen]

Please fanboy, GMAFB. I think I posted that same tagline 4-5 times on the 2016 NASCAR thread. The better question is why did you post..


If you didn't mean they weren't losing attendance.

I realize you're being purposely obtuse, as you always are (it's your shtick and the reason everyone thinks you're an arse here), but when did I ever say NASCAR wasn't losing attendance?

I think I've said that more than anybody.

This is how I read it...

89: NASCAR is losing fans.

93: Oh yeah, then why did they get a huge TV contract?

[BDKJMU]

89 and 93 need to get a room lol...

Meanwhile, I went to the Loudon race this past weekend.1st race at the pretty flat 1 mile Loudon running the low, low downforce package. The VHT (or PJ1, or simply the sticky shit) made for better racing at the single groove and harder to pass tracks (esp ones with recent repaves). Also wears the tires a little faster. Cars racing 3 wide at Loudon is something I don't remember seeing before. 11 green flag passes for the lead. Probably the best of the 4 Loudon races I've been to. That need to use that sticky shit at more tracks (was used earlier this year at Bristol and Charlotte).
-Hamlin wins the race, JGR's 1st win of season.
-Kyle Larson gets his 7th 2nd place finish of the season. After 2 races ago at Kentucky:

Larson couldn't get through pre race inspection in time, missed qualifying, and had to start from the rear. Made his way to the front, then got a pit road speeding penalty, back to the rear. Made his way to the front again, and finished 2nd. Passed a whopping 90 cars. Well, this might explain it some. Post race inspection was found to have an illegal rear brake cooling assembly.
-2nd place finish at KY is encumbered.
-Penalized 35 driver points
-Gnassi penalized 35 owner points
-Crew chief Chad Johnston suspended three races & fined 75k.

Larson sweept qualifying at Loudon, would have started on the pole, but fails post qualifying inspection due to an unapproved rear deck fin lid. So starts from the rear and passes 38 cars to finish 2nd..So he's passed about 130 cars in the last 2 races. Probably the 2nd-3rd fastest car during the race behind Truex, and possibly Kyle Busch.
-Truex was 2nd fastest in qualifying to Larson & started on the poll & was probably the fastest car overall during the race. Won the 1st stage, his 14th stage win of the season ,led the most laps, but was done in by a final stage flat right front with 83 to go, got off pit sequence, finished 3rd.
-Kyle Busch had a top 3 car, led the 2nd most # of laps, won the 2nd stage, might have won, but took himself out with 2 pit road speeding penalties, finished 12th.

Junior led on the restart with 35 to go, but was on old tires, when at least 1/2 the field behind him had 2 or 4 tires. Knew Jr was going to get eaten alive. Ran most of the race around 10th-15th. Finished 18th.

[BDKJMU]

Right now the 2 biggest names in near must win situations in the final 7 reular season races to make the 10 race playoffs are Junior and Logano.
-Junior is 21st in points.
-Logano is 13th, but since 4 behind him have wins, he's 17th as far as making the playoffs are concerned. He came into his home track 7 points behind the cutoff, but suffered a broken trackbar, had to go to the garage, finished 37th, and is now 52 points behind Kenseth (the irony) for the final playoff spot. Since the encumbered win at RIR in the 9th race, the #22 has gone from great, to fallen off a cliff:
1st 9 races: 8 top 6, encumbered win at RIR.
last 10 races: 1 top 6, 7 finishes outside the top 20, 4 outside the top 30..

[BDKJMU]

The 2 guys I just happened to be parked right next to..
http://www.unhwildcats.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6181
http://www.unhwildcats.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6139

The defensive end said he had an uncle or something who worked for JGR, Hamlin's team (who ironically won the race btw). They had 'Hot Passes' (garage & pit passes) for the entire race weekend, so were there for Saturday's Xfinity race in addition to Sunday's Cup race- said it was about a 45 min drive from UNH. So I talked to them for a little bit about UNH & JMU football. They seemed nice enough, though I remember the de end, who's bio indicates could be potential future All CAA, saying several times "I hate JMU"..I should have said you're going to hate them even more come Oct 28 (when JMU hosts UNH for homecoming)..

[BDKJMU]

Kasey Kahne gets his 1st win since 2014 at the Brickyard in a 6 hr+ marathon wreckfest.
-3 red flags that combined for close to 3 hours (close to 2 hour rain delay, 2 red flags that were both close to a 1/2 hour to clean wreck debris)
-14 cautions (competition caution, 2 stage cautions, I think 8 of the other 11 due to wrecks).
-Majority of the field finished with damage. Reported only 23 of the 40 cars finished the race.
-2 best cars by far were Kyle Busch (won 1st 2 stages, led most laps) and Truex. Early in final stage on a restart Truex had the lead, Busch was 2nd. Going into turn 1 Truex got loose underneath Busch and took them both out.

3 wrecks on the lap before the white flag, last 2 of those were OT attempts.
-The 1st OT attempt the leaders, Kahne & Keselowki, hadn't hit the OT line. Kahne was in 1st. Kahne elected to go late in the restart box (his perogative) & Keselowski sleightly beat Kahne on the exit of the restart box & then beat Kahne into turn 1 to take the lead. Commentators were like thats a judgement call for NASCAR since Hamlin had shoved Kahne hard, lifting his rear tires. Not a judgement call IMHOP- Keselowski beat Kahne out of the restart box- cut and dry. Keselowski should have been penalized.
The 2nd OT attempt with Keselowski in 1st/Kahne second Kahne got a great restart and took the lead coming out of turn 1. On the backstretch the wreck happened. I think NASCAR delayed throwing the caution flag on the 2nd OT attempt until Kahne & Keselowki crossed the OT line). If NASCAR had thrown the caution before they had hit the OT line there likely wouldn't have been time for another red flag to clean up all the wreck debris and do a 3rd attempt at OT before darkness.

Highlighs. Best starts at about 1:45:

phpBB [video]

[SuperHornet]

Nice summary, BDK. That's pretty much the way I saw it, too. Those wrecks near the end were crazy. I was thinking that it was going to come down to Trevor Bayne winning due to pit strategies, up until he got taken out in one of those mass wrecks at the end. I thought Danica had a bit of a shot until she started falling back just before those wrecks started. I have no idea what was up with that.

Happy for Kahne, though. He's a great guy who's suffered from victory drought for a long time. He deserved a win.

[CID1990]

This would be a sport if they would announce the rules on the day of the race

For example...

"Today we will go counterclockwise, and radios aren't allowed"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BDKJMU]

-2 best cars by far were Kyle Busch (won 1st 2 stages, led most laps) and Truex. Early in final stage on a restart Truex had the lead, Busch was 2nd. Going into turn 1 Truex got loose underneath Busch and took them both out.

For the 1st nearly 80% of the race the quasi teammates had been working together on restarts, playing the back and forth, with whoever was in 1st giving who was in 2nd the preferrred lane for the restart, then whoever was in 2nd letting the other one back in front. Well, with the restart with 49 laps to go they decided it was time for every man for himself..and then the big wreck..After the race fireworks between Busch's crew chief and several crew members of the 78..
https://twitter.com/NASCARONFOX/status/ ... 4477631488

[CAA Flagship]

Truex wins at Watkins Glen.

As dominant as he has been this season, it will be a shame when he doesn't with the championship.

[SuperHornet]

Just saw that somehow, even after winning a race a couple of weeks ago, Kasey Kahne is OUT at Hendrick Motorsports after this season. SMH....

[BDKJMU]

Truex wins at Watkins Glen.

As dominant as he has been this season, it will be a shame when he doesn't with the championship.

Yep. If this system had been in place last year, then I think he would have accumulated enough playoff points to survive the blown engine at Dega and advance to the final 8. And a decent chance at making Homestead. He was the most dominant car for much of last year, despite all the bad luck. He now has 34 playoff bonus points (4 wins + 14 stage wins), and is so far ahead in the regular season point that he is a near lock to get the additional 15 bonus playoff points. And I'm sure in the last 4 regular season races he'll have a couple more stage wins (in 22 races he's won 14 of 45) if not another race win, so he's likely to be entering the playoffs with 50+ playoff bonus points.

Kyle Busch has had the bad luck title this year, but he finally won over a week ago at Pocono. I was there- that track pretty much sucks to watch from most of the grandstands But I went since the gf had never been there, and it was Junior's last Pocono race..That and the perfect weather boosted the grandstands to 3/4 full and the infield to near full. I won't go again unless its the infield..

The way things look now I'm betting Homestead be the #78, #42, #18, with the 4th to be determined..

[BDKJMU]

Just saw that somehow, even after winning a race a couple of weeks ago, Kasey Kahne is OUT at Hendrick Motorsports after this season. SMH....

Well, that was his 1st win in 3 years. 1 win in the last 104 races. If you're a guy running in top equipment you're held to a lot higher standard than someone with 2 tits and a slit..

[BDKJMU]

Watkins Glen reportedly sell out their grandstands and infield for the 3rd year in a row (only other race that I know of that has sold out this year is Daytona for the 500). Granted Watkins Glen's grandstands seat only 38k, but their infield allows for upwards of 60k, so they are reportedly getting about 95k. With Nascar's attendance woes, maybe only Daytona and Aug Bristol night race getting more. Other tracks attendance is dropping, while The Glen's is going up.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/sto ... 104211140/
I said it a couple years ago on here, I used to not like wathchig road racing, but now its kind of grown on me. Been to something 11 NASCAR Cup tracks, but not yet Watkins Glen, which is only about a 5 1/2 hr drive for me. I said a couple of years ago it was on my bucket list. Well, it still is. I think I'll make it it next year.

[BDKJMU]

So if the playoff were seeded today it would be
1. Truex 49 playoff bonus points (+15 for being 1st in regular season points)
2. Kyle Busch 24 playoff bonus points (+10 for being 2nd regular season points)
3. Larson 21 playoff bonus points (+8 for being 3rd in regular season points)
4. Keselowski 18 playoff bonus points (+5 for being 6th in regular season points)
5. Johnson 16 playoff bonus points
6. Harvick 15 playoff bonus points (+7 for being 4th in regular season points)
7. Hamlin 13 playoff bonus points (+6 for being 5th in regular season points)
8. Stenhouse 10 playoff bonus points
9. Blaney 8 playoff bonus points
10. Elliott 6 playoff bonus points (+4 for being 7th in regular season points)
11. Kurt Busch 5 playoff bonus points
-- Newman 5 playoff bonus points
-- Kahne 5 playoff bonus points
-- Dillon 5. playoff bonus points
Kenseth 4 bonus playoff points (+ 2 for being 9th in regular season points)
McMurray 3 playoff bonus points (+3 for being +8th in regular season points)

Bowyer, 10th in regular season points, would be the 1st one out..

[89Hen]

Wait, no Danica?

[CID1990]

Wait, no Danica?

I think this ranking is for actual racecar drivers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BDKJMU]

Yep. 32 drivers have run all 22 races. 24-26 could be considered to have somewhat 'Top Equipment'. She, running in top equipment, is in 28th. In other words she's dead last among the drivers running in top equipment, and behind several drivers who aren't..

[SuperHornet]

So being in the playoffs isn't good enough to guarantee a ride for next year? Will they hold to that if Kahne ends up winning the title? Is Hendricks Motorsports actually crazy enough to make Kahne = Trent Dilfer?!? That's pretty dumb.

[89Hen]

24 car is eerily the same with a new driver. Leading in points for non-winning cars. Didn't Gordon do that a couple times before retiring?

[BDKJMU]

So being in the playoffs isn't good enough to guarantee a ride for next year? Will they hold to that if Kahne ends up winning the title? Is Hendricks Motorsports actually crazy enough to make Kahne = Trent Dilfer?!? That's pretty dumb.

Kahne isn't going to win the title. He's likely not even going to make it to the round of 12. No chance in hell he makes it to the round of 8.

Not dumb when you can sign the future to replace him. Byron:
-7 wins in Truck last season at age 18 (by far the most # of wins in that series last year). Only a wreck at Phoenix the week before kept him from racing for & winning the championship at Homestead (he won that race).
-Of the 20 Xfinity races, Cup drivers have won 15 of them. Byron has won 3 of the 5 traces won by Xfinity drivers, and leads the X-finity playoff standings.
http://www.nascar.com/standings/xfinity ... n/playoff/
Nearly won a 4th when Denny Hamlin passed him on the last lap at Michigan

At 19 years old that is RIDICULOUS.

https://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2017/8/ ... 018-season

[BDKJMU]

Lot of driver changes changes announced so far for 2018, with more to come:

Chevy
Hendrick
-Earnhardt retiring. Alex Bowman will be driving the #88
-Kahne being let go. William Byron will be driving the #5. Kahne currently doesn't have a ride for next year.

RCR:
-Paul Menard, currently the driver of the #27, leaving to drive the #21 Wood Brothers Ford next season. #27 currently doesn't have a driver announced for next year, or a sponsor.

Ford:
Penske:
-Ryan Blaney: will be moving from the Wood Brother's #21, who have an alliance with Penske, to a new 3rd Penske car.
Wood Brothers: Menard will be moving over from RCR to drive the #21.

Stewart-Haas:
-Kurt Busch currently not under contract for 2018. SHR has stated they plan on Busch driving for them next year. Are waiting to see if Monster Energy will renew their sponsorship contract with SHR
-Danica Patrick status with SHR next season is up in the air. Currently doesn't have a sponsor. My guess is she won't be racing next year.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 542649001/

Toyota:
Joe Gibbs Racing
-Eric Jones moving over from the Furniture Row #77 to drive the JGR #20 currently driven by Matt Kenseth. --
-Kenseth, 45, doesn't yet have a ride for next season. Possibility is he could swap places with Jones and drive the #77.

[BDKJMU]

Drivers who's status is unknown for next year in terms of if they will be racing/who they will be racing for:
-Kenseth
-Kurt Busch
-Patrick
-Kahne

Cars without a driver set for next year, none of whom have a primary sponsor lined up for next year
#77 (Speculation that FRR, may sell the 77's charter and go back to being a 1 car team).
#27
#41?
#10?
A # of other cars without primary sponsors lined up for next season. RCR just announced a sponsorship for Newman & the #33 next year with Kraft/Velveeta at 175k per race. Top teams used to get 500k-1 million per race.
Scuttlebutt on one of the NASCAR boards is that if Kenseth wants to drive next year he'll be looking at a salary cut of up to 80%..Similar with Kurt Busch.

Junior on why veteran drivers better get ready for HUGE paycuts:
http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/08/05/ ... it-to-you/

[dbackjon]

Watkins Glen reportedly sell out their grandstands and infield for the 3rd year in a row (only other race that I know of that has sold out this year is Daytona for the 500). Granted Watkins Glen's grandstands seat only 38k, but their infield allows for upwards of 60k, so they are reportedly getting about 95k. With Nascar's attendance woes, maybe only Daytona and Aug Bristol night race getting more. Other tracks attendance is dropping, while The Glen's is going up.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/sto ... 104211140/
I said it a couple years ago on here, I used to not like wathchig road racing, but now its kind of grown on me. Been to something 11 NASCAR Cup tracks, but not yet Watkins Glen, which is only about a 5 1/2 hr drive for me. I said a couple of years ago it was on my bucket list. Well, it still is. I think I'll make it it next year.

The whole area is great - Watkins Glen State Park is beautiful, Corning is interesting, the whole Finger Lakes region is worth a visit.

[BDKJMU]

Over a week ago Kyle Larson won Michigan. The Toyota’s were the best cars, and the 2 Furniture Row cars were the class of the field. Truex had it in the bag until a late caution forced overtime. On the lap 200 OT restart it was the 2 Furniture Row Toyota’s on the front Row. Truex had 40 lap old tires, while Larson, starting in 3rd only had a doz on his. After a red flag to clean up debris, Truex wasn’t able to get heat in his older tires and spun them on the restart. Larson, who didn’t have a top 5 car, made a great move to split Truex & Jones to take the lead and win the race.

On Sunday Kyle Busch completed his sweep of the 3 Bristol races, winning Trucks, Xfinity, and the Cup race. Furniture Row rookie Eric Jones, who started on the pole, was 2nd. Hamlin was 3rd, and Kenseth 4th. If Truex hadn’t had pit road issues, the Toyota’s likely would have swept the top 5.

Since after the Daytona race on 7/1, Toyota’s have won 5 of the last 7 races. The only 2 they didn’t win were Kahne winning the wreckfest at the Brickyard (Kyle Busch was on the pole), and Larson at Michigan.

Playoff standings after Bristol:


Next weekend is an off week for Cup, followed by the last 2 races of the regular season, the Labor Day Southern 500 throwback race @ Darlington, and Richmond.