Saw this about CARS tour

[arob]

Compelling CARS Tour racing product is close to crossing a line says drivers (msn.com)   Seems some are not happy.

[ron.brown11]

7 hours ago, arob said:

Compelling CARS Tour racing product is close to crossing a line says drivers (msn.com)   Seems some are not happy.

Arob, it is turning into a problem. Like I said after that Hickory race, I think that the officials were sending a message. The ST2 tire has been the cause of a lot of this, because they don't wear out. But, the team owners asked for a tire that would last longer, because their tire bills were getting out of control. Well, the ST2 tire has proved it can take the abuse. Those 35+ laps between Queen and Millington shows that in spades. If they was on last year's tire, they would have both wrecked or finished way down the running order. So Hoosier gave them what the teams wanted, for better or for worse.

With the new ownership, national sponsor, & streaming, the CARS Tour got what it wanted, more eyes on the series, more teams joining, new drivers participating, and more butts in the seats. But like it was said in that piece, there's a lot of youngsters that view the series as a step in their career ladder. There are some that have a real chance of that happening. But they are under huge financial pressure to perform, and daddy's money will only go so far. I would strongly suggest to the owners, that tires are a lot cheaper than chassis' are. Tires that wear out teaches you how to take care of them, and your car, if you want to win. As I was an owner & driver when I raced, I'd rather have to buy an extra set of tires a week, then have to replace 1-2-3 chassis' a season. Here was my one fear that I had, when it was announced that the current ownership group took control, and it got ratcheted up even more after ZMax came onboard. And that was the chance that the CARS Tour would start to look like the ARCA series. Where most of the teams would become a training series for NASCAR top 3 series seats. With an incredible amount of pressure to find the "next" Jeff Gordon, or fill in the blank driver's name. 

There's no doubt that the racing has been intense, and at times destructive. If they don't get a handle on it quickly, it's going to get out of control. If that happens, then the only teams you will see on the entry lists will be Cup affiliated teams, pushing out the regional teams, that can't afford writing off multiple cars a year. 

I've tried to give qualifying times, and the split between first and last, when I'm trying to give info for a race. That was my first indicator that these new tires were going to be an issue. Most races this season have had 1st to 15th place at less than .15 seconds split, and sometimes the cars in the 20s get into the same time bracket. Then to watch the races is really exciting, but nobody can get away from anybody. That's a problem. And tracks like Langley & Hickory, where tire wear has always been an issue, and all of a sudden it isn't. That's a problem. I expect that the Tour is probably going to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting pretty soon, and the penalties or DQs are going to ratchet up. I won't be surprised if the series goes to a different compound tire next season, one that will have some falloff like before. That's the reason that Queen, Hall, & others, that learned to race on tracks that eat up tires, have made to jump to the CARS Tour look easy. And now, without that impediment, they are racing really hard, and know that they can afford to race that way. But hey, Hall & Queen raced each other that way every week at Langley, before moving to the CARS Tour. It's been a great rivalry, but now, just like weekly racing at Langley, they don't wreck each other. I'm not saying that either one hasn't spun or roughed up each other, they just didn't wreck each other. And I've been watching them for about 5 years now. We'll see if things are sorted out, because this weekend will be at the smallest track they run this year. 

[24nomo]

Yes, Enjoy it while you can.  It is fun to watch, but the bullies with money eventually run off the rest of the guys.  It was the same way here in Texas, the track bullies won most of the races and the other guys just quit

[ron.brown11]

That's absolutely possible. Hopefully that won't be the case. ARCA didn't turn really bad until NASCAR bought the series. That's when it absolutely became the training ground for the top 3 NASCAR series'. We'll see how it goes.