NASCAR

[24nomo]

Nascars first two events have been home runs man.  It looks like California loves Nascar.  Great job

[Josh42]

That race Sunday even my wife holding her breath watching the race and she doesn't really like watching the cup races. 

[RodneyRodriguez]

Sunday was a good one, hopefully, Fontana stays a bumpy 2 mile we need that on the schedule. Big test this weekend let's see what this new car produces on the dreaded 1.5 mile tracks.

[HiTech]

 THAT RACE KEPT ME WATCHING  ..the daytona was a bust for me .. .......

[24nomo]

The racing deal between Chase Elliott and Larson has me a little on the fence.   I think Chase spun out on purpose and if he did, that is crossing the line.  

[ron.brown11]

As I have never raced on any track as large as ACS, I can't say anything from experience. But I know what the best drafter and side drafters have said over the years. "To get the best result from a side draft, you have to break away sharply from the car you're drafting". I think that's what was happening, but only Larson knows that for sure. Larson's spotter said that he never told him that Chase had a run, because he was watching the car Larson was drafting. Again, only that spotter knows the truth. I think Dale Sr was one of the best side drafters ever (Hell, he may have invented it), and I've seen his car make very similar moves when breaking a side draft. I love Larson's incredible talent, and I haven't seen him do many head scratching moves. I know that Chase was pissed, as he should be. Will that turn into a situation like last season with Harvick? Rick Hendrick won't allow it. He's been able to sort through bigger issues than this, over the years of running a 4 car operation. He was the first to consistently run a multi-car operation, year in and year out. He also had a driver, I thing it was G. Bodine, that left because he didn't like the idea of 2 race teams under 1 roof. It was even in the Days of Thunder movie, as voiced by Harry Hogg. Hendrick's ability to manage these things, is why many people want work for him, and never leave. Both are too good of drivers, on a very good team, to let this become an issue. Heck, Logano & Kes have wrecked each other more than any other teammates that I can recall. Who knows, maybe that's why they aren't teammates anymore.. I'd be shocked if this is an issue today, as Mr H. will have already had them sit down together to make sure.

[24nomo]

Yes Sir,  great explanation.  I didnt see it as Larson did anything intentionally.    I can see how Chase could be pissed.    The sound of his conversation prior to the spin led me to believe he spun on purpose.  He asked someone to look at the replay before the said something he shouldnt.  The crew chief said he looked at it and he could say what he wanted.  A few laps late, the spin.     I hope it wasnt on purpose, but it sure does not look good.  But, I think Mr H will do the old milk and cookies deal and all will at least appear to be good

[RodneyRodriguez]

The Larson addition to HMS really came at a time when it seemed Chase was about to go on a great run in the series. To have these 2 in the same fleet I think is going to be very interesting, that was a great call out Larson has not made many boneheaded mistakes in Cup which speaks volumes about his ability from jumping back and forth from the flat out fast at times it seems out of control sprint cars.

The 5 spotter took blame immediately so I don't think this was intentional at all. BUT we never know and there are some hurt feelings.

[HiTech]

 IT WAS A FAST MOVE TO THE RIGHT THAT GOT MY EYE  .. but it would be stupid for larson to pull that stunt with his team mate .this isnt daytona ... i question chase spin  . ...  i can see chase not happy not  being the number one team  and that makes him work harder .. the run he had anyone would have taken that i wont question ..   but in racing  my  law was if i go outside it may not turn out right . those two will be fine someday chase will make that mistake larson did .. 

[ron.brown11]

Hurt feelings are going to happen. But I believe that both are respectful & responsible drivers. They'll work it out. Mr H will make sure of that. With this new car, I'm certain that it won't progress beyond last Sunday. Nobody, including Hendrick Motorsports has enough cars built. Plus, there is for the first time ever, a limit as to how many cars a team can have at one time. I believe that number is 7 per team. So in Hendrick's case that would be a total of 28 cars. Nobody is anywhere close to that yet, because not enough cars/parts have been manufactured yet. Look at Harvick's spin/crash in practice. Two things drove them to repair that car. First was the fact that they could remove the body, unbolt and replace the damaged bumper pieces. On the old car that would be 2 weeks in the chassis fab shop. They fixed that car in hours. The second reason was that SHR only had 2 spare cars, for 4 teams. I'm pretty sure that all teams don't have anywhere near enough cars yet. Several of the small teams had no spare cars. My understanding is that once a team reaches that magic number (like I said before I believe that number is 7), the team must turn in a chassis to receive another. Considering that the front & rear clips are bolt on, and a clip isn't a new car, the center cage will have to be damaged beyond the point of repair. And honestly I don't think that they are allowed to repair it. NASCAR is really trying to eliminate race team fab shops. Beyond the engines, there's not much to build anymore. That's why there are so many new teams getting started.

I'm not really a fan of spec race cars, but something had to change. NASCAR's business model dictated it. By any measure it was unsustainable. Nobody is going to see much profitability for 2-3 years. Teams that had made almost all of their cars & parts before, now have to sell off that stuff for pennies on the dollar, and build a completely different inventory. Not Cheap! But long term it does have a chance to keep the cost down. Probably the most important thing about getting this new car viable is this. NASCAR desperately needs new blood, and it's coming in. Childress, Penske, Hendricks & Roush etc, can't live forever. Two of those four addressed that in the last 12 months. Gordon for Hendricks, and Keseloski for Roush. Penske has had a succession plan for 5-6 years now, involving his sons. Not sure if Childress has a plan, but I'm betting it will involve the Dillon brothers & their dad. SHR has Tony Stewart. I would not be surprised to see NASCAR have to expand the 36 car charter limit in 5 years. If these new teams can sustain themselves for a couple more seasons beyond 2022, NASCAR's starting lineups will need to expand back to 42-44 cars. They are not going to want to turn away teams if they don't have to. Whether we like it or not, weekly racing needs NASCAR, and NASCAR needs weekly racing. And we need to figure out how to bring in more spectators to both for racing to survive.

[RodneyRodriguez]

yep! preaching to the choir. I love seeing Childress, Trackhouse, Kahlig, JTG, and esp Petty in the top 10.

[ron.brown11]

NASCAR also needs one other thing to happen. They desperately need 1 or 2 more auto manufacturers. I would be surprised if Stallantes (Chrysler) were to come back. Because Toyota is already there, I think NASCAR really wants a European company. I'd love to see BMW, MB, or Audi commit, I just don't see it happening. From what I've read, all of the NASCAR Europe series are 6th gen Cup cars. So if they won't build a car for a series that runs in their backyard?? Plus, any car manufacturer that wants to run CUP,  will have to design an engine (pushrod engine no less) that will only be used in CUP. Toyota was willing to run the truck series to try and eliminate some of the growing pains. NASCAR was very liberal with Toyota, when they submitted their engine for approval for Cup. Chevy was the first to redesign their engine, and Ford quickly followed. The Toyotas were making 25-50 more horses. The Toyota didn't win right away because of reliability issues and crashes. Once that was sorted, they've been winning consistently since. So any new manufacturer will have to be willing to shell out lots of money just to start, then probably suffer the humility of a couple of years of "issues". If you're talking about the Big 3 German companies, they don't like humility. They would dump enormous amounts of money into it, with the expectation of dominating the series in year 2. If that didn't work, they'd pull out, and we'd be right where we are now. Needing a new manufacturer. Nobody benefits from that.

As I said above, I hate the idea of a spec race car, but I think it's the only way NASCAR is going to survive. Weekly racing is directly tied to them. I grew up in Ohio, and graduated in 1975. I still remember the first time I saw Ed Howe show up, and cleaned the clocks of a lot of very good racers, that had very good cars. Even worse, he did it with a small block Chevy, while every body else was still running big blocks. Back then you could run any size engine you wanted, because the rules of pounds per cubic inch. More cubes, the more the car had to weigh. But that wasn't the only thing. Ed knew how to make a car handle, dirt or asphalt. He's the guy responsible for the beginning of the "off the shelf" race car chassis. Within 3 years, 60% of the late models were Howe chassis. We also had 2-3 Petty kit cars. I can't think of a single team that still ran a big block 3 years after Edd showed up the first time. Does anybody still build a now called Super late model from scratch? Not many that's for sure. So in a way, we are already watching spec racing at the Pro & Super late model series'. We'll see how it goes...

[24nomo]

I really dont think more manufacturers would be much help.  What is needed is for the new TV deal to trickle down to the teams.  We have new blood coming in buying the charters and building cars.  They, themselves attract sponsors due to their star power.   Michael Jordan and Pit Bull are already wanting to be paid for pimping Nascar.   There are numerous ways for that TV money to get down to the teams, someone needs to figure it out.  I can be done, there is lots of money being spent right now in Nascar.  The teams need a little of it

[txtom]

 “The sound of his conversation prior to the spin led me to believe he spun on purpose.  He asked someone to look at the replay before the said something he shouldnt.  The crew chief said he looked at it and he could say what he wanted.  A few laps late, the spin.”         
I could write a book on how much of this goes on in racing. Listen to enough scanners and you can pick the code words they use. Driver says “ I got a tire going down”  Spotter says “ We need a caution” Sound innocent enough?  Well, the drivers spins himself or someone else to get a caution. Heard it at every short track I’ve been to where radios are involved, and heard it at the Snowball Derby by some of the most recognizable names that run there. And, yes, I have heard it in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series in the few races I have attended at that level. Now  in no way am I bashing Elliott by this, but he is not above doing things  like creating his own caution. 

[HiTech]

  COME ON TOM  you know darn well  local racers are honest and would never pull that stunt ...  ..  I NEVER DID   except once or twice ,,, 

[24nomo]

I dont think him spinning out was crossing the line.  After all, everyone would wreck their mother to win.  I think he spun out to lesson the chance of his teammate winning.  That is crossing the line.