^^ indycar race was pretty good. Felt bad for Will power there

They put another layer of VHT down this morning







[Edited on April 24, 2017 at 11:40 AM. Reason : Page harvick]

4/24/2017 11:37:48 AM

Jimmie Johnson wins at Bristol. Larson and Truex did their normal. They led their share of laps, but didn't win.

4/24/2017 8:19:17 PM

Looks like Jr just drove the final nail in the coffin for NASCAR

4/25/2017 10:43:52 AM

^ naw man. Shits going to be on TV for long time. The network that doesn't have NFL needs something to try to sell ads with. Hell, indycar has horrible ratings and they still run

4/25/2017 12:37:23 PM

Yeah, it'll be on TV. Plenty of shit no one watches is on TV. The France family has to be a little worried right now.

4/25/2017 12:57:29 PM

RIP NASCAR
RAISE HELL PRAISE DALE

4/26/2017 3:06:29 AM

Relax guys! NASCAR still has Jeffrey Earnhardt.

4/26/2017 8:20:14 AM

I always thought that when Earnhardt died NASCAR were so unbelievably lucky that his son was already racing in Cup, it provided an easy transition for his fanbase. Auto racing and other individual sports key difference from team sports is the team never goes away unless it moves. In auto racing, if a guy dies or retires, there's no ready-made transition to other drivers that ensures those fans stick around.

NASCAR has become IndyCar from the early '90s. Indycar in the early '90s saw the following people retire in pretty quick succession: A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Sr., Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Johncock, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva. Some of those are bigger than others (Johncock and Sneva would be on the low-end of stardom), and some of those were like Richard Petty in the early '90s long past their sell-by date, but that was pretty much everyone that the fans from identified with and followed, and their only domestic replacements were an elder Bobby Rahal, two legacy kids, Mario's son Michael and Al Unser Jr., and a young Robby Gordon.

The foreign invasion Indycar experienced that led to its eventual downfall through no one the fans could identify with and cheer for getting an opportunity won't occur in NASCAR because the series is so different, but in very short order NASCAR has lost Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., I suspect Jimmie Johnson is not long for this world, and while she is not successful she has a following, Danica Patrick isn't either. That is a ton of fan favorite retirements. NASCAR at this point are in cross your fingers pray to God mode that Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, go a few steps further and become drivers that can carry the sport. If you're a young guy in the sport with the capability to do so, the time is now if you want to be the superstar of the sport.

[Edited on April 26, 2017 at 1:38 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2017 1:31:03 PM

Dr. Jerry Punch let go by ESPN.

4/26/2017 10:00:24 PM

^ that sucks. Glad they kept pockers, McGee and Smith tho

4/27/2017 10:58:01 AM

Quote :

"Dr. Jerry Punch let go by ESPN."

I would think he could get back into pit reporting for races. Fox and NBC have the rights to pretty much every motor sports league you can think of plus college football.

4/27/2017 4:29:55 PM

damn cautions

[Edited on April 30, 2017 at 5:24 PM. Reason : lol orange box of commitment gets little douche]

4/30/2017 5:18:37 PM

man i love watching kyle busch lose and get pissed about it

4/30/2017 5:36:42 PM

I hardly watch Nascar anymore after watching a lot of it during the Gordon/Jarrett/Mark Martin years. I think the sport is hurting right now due to a lack of star power, and the fact that Jimmy Johnson who should be their biggest star simply isn't enough to get you to turn the TV on.

I also don't love the Chase. Now that we've had enough time with that format(in one shape or another) what are people's thoughts? I think the intent of getting drivers to push more for the win actually the opposite has happened. The format has lent itself to simply being win one race and you are in. The points don't matter enough toward the Chase to have to keep winning more races once you win one or two especially early in the season. I think it has had the opposite impact in that drivers can take races off, save equipment, save money, and we see less dominating drivers now.

I wonder what it would be like if they got rid of the chase and went back to their old format, and just adjusted the scoring to make it simpler / more beneficial to win. I think what exists right now is the worst championship format in any sport that exists. Complicated, and doesn't encourage the best weekly performance. It is the most extreme version of the NBA where teams take some games off, except here you can take the entire season off if you manage to win a race.

Maybe get rid of the qualification part of winning a race and just go by points for the chase? You are already rewarded greatly now for winning segments and the race, why also get an "automatic qualifier" for winning 1 race. I get that it can be cool to be struggling all year and pull out one win to get in, but at some point the regular season should mean something in terms of consistency. I guess you could point to something like college basketball and say a team could lose every game win their conference tournament and get in but at least there you'd have to win several games not just get hot and win one game.

5/1/2017 7:23:23 AM

^ Nascar fixed the win and not care anymore with addition of playoff bonus points that carry all the way through 9th chase race

5/1/2017 11:38:41 AM

Yeah, now after you win one you will go to even greater lengths to win races and stages.

5/1/2017 1:34:01 PM

Alonso going 222mph today in an indycar got me thinking what if a guy that never ran an oval before was testing for the brickyard 400. he would be 5 seconds off the pace or some crap

there's going to be an MMA fight before all star race. ooohh kay

[Edited on May 3, 2017 at 7:01 PM. Reason : d]

5/3/2017 6:59:11 PM

I don't think Alonso's pace in a car that's set up for ROP is indicative of much.

5/3/2017 10:23:15 PM

I remember once there was a broad testing session for NASCAR Cup and Buddy Baker, who was long into his retirement and broadcasting career, recorded the fastest speed.

It's practice.

5/4/2017 10:40:03 PM

^buddy baker was a badass tho

5/5/2017 7:57:11 AM

congrats stenhouse on first win. last couple laps were nuts there. dont know how jamie mac didnt crash everyone

i got lucky in draftkings today. decided to pick 6 guys starting 20th or worse and turned $3 into $200. boom.

5/7/2017 7:23:00 PM

Carl Long and NASCAR came to some agreement to settle his unpaid illegal engine fine from 2009, so he says he's taking a car to Kansas.

[Edited on May 7, 2017 at 8:19 PM. Reason : Cup car, that is]

5/7/2017 8:19:12 PM

^cool, that fine was excessive. wasnt even his motor, he was leasing it

5/7/2017 8:59:28 PM

i guess nascar figured with the empty spots they better let anyone willing to field a car do so

5/8/2017 8:01:55 PM

^What is up with that anyway? They reduced the size of the field and now they can't even get a full field.

5/8/2017 8:12:51 PM

costs a lot to go racing and no one watches cause it's boring, so no one wants to be a sponsor.

5/8/2017 8:48:54 PM

Let it die.

they need to let Little E win it all this year and retire and then the sport MIGHT come back for a few years.

Otherwise it'll start losing sponsors left and right soon.

5/8/2017 8:52:41 PM

Start?

5/9/2017 11:55:47 AM

Kyle Bush won the truck race after Ben Rhodes blew an engine with 7 laps to go.

5/13/2017 8:52:15 AM

Racing always has been and always will be a personality-driven sport. Sure there's stuff like manufacturer loyalty, technology, the thrill of the actual racing, and "race tourists" (it's how I'm describing the F1 people that go and have no idea a race is taking place) in the various forms of the sport drawing people in, but the surest way to create fans of the sport is to have drivers make people care about how they perform, whether for or against.

[Edited on May 15, 2017 at 10:08 AM. Reason : .]

5/15/2017 10:07:51 AM

world 600 going to be not 3 but FOUR stages so this race going to count more than the other 25 regular season ones because they can i guess

5/15/2017 7:44:07 PM

^completely rediculous

5/15/2017 9:27:24 PM

Quote :

" the surest way to create fans of the sport is to have drivers make people care about how they perform, whether for or against."

This! Like someone said in another thread, racing is different from other sports. We'll watch NC State even when the roster changes because it is still NC State. When you are a fan of Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon, etc and they retire then why should you watch? Your team doesn't compete anymore. It would be great if NASCAR could get some more likable/hateable drivers.

5/16/2017 12:09:45 AM

I've been going to the 600 to camp/tailgate with a crew for nearly the last decade, but we stopped going to the race itself a couple years ago cause none of us give a fuck about the actual race. The party beforehand is the event for us. I've talked to several other people out there that pack it up and head out Sunday morning too.

5/16/2017 8:00:21 AM

super soft tires were a dud. you cant pass the leader in only 10 laps at charlotte. move the all star race to a short track like bristol or martinsville dangit

5/20/2017 10:21:23 PM

open was good. all star race was boring.

5/20/2017 10:24:57 PM

^true

day races are way better at charlotte, glad they moved the fall race to daytime. when they paved it last time they made it to last too long perhaps, its still pretty dark and too grippy for night racing to work well there

[Edited on May 20, 2017 at 10:34 PM. Reason : a]

5/20/2017 10:33:03 PM

Quote :

" move the all star race to a short track like bristol or martinsville dangit"

Not gonna happen. Being in Charlotte gives most of these guys a break from traveling.

Also i think Kyle Busch has the most punchable face the history of mankind.

5/20/2017 10:51:02 PM

charlotte putting VHT sticky stuff on upper groove this week. apparently the big dummies put it down on lower groove before all star race last week but didnt make it known

i like to watch this once a year...
https://youtu.be/5q3JwcV9YKo?t=3m27s
Dale Jr Fan Vs Kevin Harvick Fan

5/23/2017 12:07:55 PM

Beginning next year the October Charlotte race is on the riad course.

5/24/2017 1:28:16 PM

^and it's a chase cut off race. Going to be wild. There are 4 braking zones where cars could get moved if you can catch them

[Edited on May 24, 2017 at 1:59 PM. Reason : G]

5/24/2017 1:58:32 PM

Kinda weird. People want less 1.5-mile cookie cutter races, okay, good. Was anyone clamoring for the Charlotte roval? There's some big important discussion between NASCAR and SMI here that the public are not privy to, because I don't believe Bruton Smith woke up one day and decided "let's have our October race be on the road course."

Other changes:

-Chicagoland moves to early July, first race NBC broadcasts.
-Richmond's fall race moves to Chicagoland's old spot in the Chase/Playoffs/Whatever
-Indianapolis moves to Richmond's old spot in September as last race before the Chase starts (positive reaction up here because past few years it's been smoking hot in Indy that weekend)
-the 2nd Las Vegas date which was taken from Loudon becomes the Chase kickoff race
-Richmond's spring race becomes a Saturday night race

[Edited on May 24, 2017 at 3:30 PM. Reason : .]

5/24/2017 3:14:29 PM

Quote :

"Was anyone clamoring for the Charlotte roval?"

i think there is a "lets put a road course in the chase" faction. the tracks are pretty much set through 2020 so charlotte road course was the what we got because watkins glen and sonoma like their dates and indy wants to stay on oval

5/24/2017 5:15:38 PM

who gives a fuck? crazier the better. throw a caution at halfway of the daytona 500, let the pace car pull a U turn on the backstretch and run the second half in reverse.

5/24/2017 9:32:42 PM

lol even the fox radioactive clip for the all-star race was boring

5/24/2017 10:18:44 PM

^^ There are track safety concerns. Running race courses backwards has led to deaths in the past for places that didn't take the necessary precautions beforehand.

[Edited on May 24, 2017 at 11:11 PM. Reason : /]

5/24/2017 11:10:43 PM

Twas a joke

5/25/2017 7:16:54 AM

i'm a big fan of aj foyt and robin miller

https://youtu.be/aZ5tXsdvIXE

Indy 500: AJ Foyt Indy Museum Exhibit Pt 1 of 3 by robin miller

5/25/2017 8:54:39 PM

They should run the firecracker 400 on the daytona Road course

5/25/2017 10:23:32 PM

The Daytona Road Course isn't much of a road course outside the International Carousel.



The 7-8-9 complex is just creating corners for the sake of creating corners. There's no real flow there. Rest of it is not that bad.

5/25/2017 11:01:26 PM