only 44 more days until the 500!

the big news of the day:

Quote :

"Steve Letarte, one of the youngest crew chiefs in the Sprint Cup garage at 34, will spend one final season as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief before moving to NBC in 2015."

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-01-09/dale-earnhardt-jr-crew-chief-steve-letarte-move-nbc-tv-2015?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

1/9/2014 4:45:03 PM

The unloved Hendrick crew chief.

1/9/2014 5:37:30 PM

well this is some bull crap:

Quote :

"NASCAR bans tandem drafting for Nationwide, Truck series Pemberton said the ban will be strictly policed. Drivers can be black-flagged for tandem drafting, NASCAR officials said. “You can pull up and bump a guy and hit him, but you just cannot stay (there), you can’t connect,” Pemberton said. “So far what we’ve seen on the track today has been pretty good. … The drivers like the fact that we’re helping with that. The vast majority don’t want to hook up.”"

push drafting is way more fun to watch than pack drafting and it's safer for the drivers, lets them get away from each other.

[Edited on January 12, 2014 at 7:57 AM. Reason : t]

1/12/2014 7:56:36 AM

so 3 in a row is ok, but 2 in a row is banned? What is this going to solve?

1/12/2014 8:00:15 AM

^what its going to solve is that too many nascar fans want to see big packs and big wrecks. this will give them that.

when they tried this in cup a few years ago the drivers protested by riding single file for most of the race. i hope they do that this year in NW and trucks

[Edited on January 12, 2014 at 8:13 AM. Reason : e]

1/12/2014 8:12:31 AM

did find it pretty neat to watch Chase Elliott draft with his dad in testing yesterday.

1/12/2014 8:53:26 AM

so far for this season I have tickets to the Darlington Sprint Cup race in April and the Nationwide race at Charlotte in May!

1/12/2014 12:31:18 PM

I have tickets to richmond, I'll pass on the truck daytona race. Thanks nascar

1/12/2014 3:06:05 PM

if you hate the chase now, just wait, it could get worse

Quote :

"NASCAR is considering a radical change to its points system, one in which a 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup would be whittled down to four drivers who would all be tied going into the final race."

i like the current chase format, but i dont think you should be champion because you beat 3 other guys in one race

kinda looks like they are trying to come up with ways to keep the 48 from winning it by making it more random

[Edited on January 18, 2014 at 6:40 AM. Reason : a]

1/18/2014 6:36:14 AM

the chase sucks dick and thats proven by the lack of fan support since its inception. This new format would suck even more dick and would make them lose even more fans. Idiots if they choose this shit, the lot of them.

1/18/2014 4:54:22 PM

LOL I'm ready for the elimination format. Can you imagine how much this will bring in advertising.



I don't understand the way every form of racing has decided to manufacture close championship races. If a guy kicks ass all season and wins the championship by 1000 let him. Resetting points at the last race is like changing a NFL score at half time. DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

1/18/2014 6:24:56 PM

they're turning a SEASON championship that is already dumbed down to a 10 race sprint into 1 race, winner take all horseshit. If this somehow sticks, I'll sell my tickets and won't watch any of this shit this year.

1/18/2014 10:05:21 PM

^yeah, nascar wants to be the NFL so bad its turning their brains to mush

1/19/2014 6:02:21 AM

holy cow, they actually changed something for the better

Quote :

"At tracks measuring 1.25 miles in length or larger, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of three rounds: • The first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap from the first qualifying round will advance to the second round. • The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order. • The second qualifying elimination round will be 10 minutes in duration and the 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time will advance to the third and final round. The fastest remaining cars/trucks earn positions 13th through 24th based on their times posted in qualifying in descending order. • The third and final qualifying round will be five minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order. • There will be a five-minute break between each qualifying round. At tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of two rounds: • The first qualifying elimination round will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time from the first qualifying round will advance to the second and final round. • The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order. • There will be a 10-minute break between the two qualifying rounds. • The second and final qualifying round will be 10 minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time posted will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order. The new qualifying format does not apply to the Daytona 500"

1/26/2014 10:12:49 AM

well that is quite interesting. Will make qualifying more interesting.

1/26/2014 10:24:14 AM

^yep

only one set of tires allowed also. so there will be lots of stretergy going on.

could create some drama if unsportsmanlike conduct happens like guys messing up other guys laps by getting the way

and of course you dont want to go out there when danica is running and get caught up in her spin

1/26/2014 11:03:44 AM

Pretty much a copy of the F1 and Indycar road course qualifying procedures.

Qualifying for Talledega and the Firecracker 400 will be a little odd.

[Edited on January 26, 2014 at 11:49 AM. Reason : /]

1/26/2014 11:49:09 AM

^you'll see teammates going out together and drafting. one car teams will have to pair up to keep up.

1/26/2014 12:37:17 PM

the way to cut the quickest lap around Daytona and Talladega is to be a hundred yards or so behind the draft and you catch up to the draft over the coming lap

my point being no one would want to lead the draft to cut the quickest possible lap

1/26/2014 1:26:22 PM

New Chase Format:

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/1/30/chase-for-the-nascar-sprint-cup-championship-format-changes.html



Go straight to hell NASCAR. This is bullshit.

1/30/2014 1:46:37 PM

1/30/2014 2:59:34 PM

nope nope nope

1/30/2014 3:56:27 PM

Mr. Pockrass of the Sporting News:

"The problem is that NASCAR is not football. Never will be. Football is a great game with hometown allegiances and great personalities and a feeder system that breeds new, fresh talent that allows for parity.

NASCAR’s problem isn’t the Chase. It’s an economic model that requires teams to hire not the best talent, but the best sponsored talent, with limited vendors for equipment that stunts competition, coupled with the inability to create an exciting game thanks to a mechanical exercise in the hands of engineers instead of drivers.

Those problems are harder to tackle. Instead, it’s easier to think up gimmicks. Congratulations, NASCAR, on doing so."

1/30/2014 4:37:37 PM

Quote :

"Sixteen drivers will now make the field based on whether or not they've won a race — not their points totals. The 16th position will go to the points leader after the Sept. 6 race at Richmond International Raceway, the regular-season finale."

not a fan of the champ only having to beat 3 guys on one day but i think i like how they determine the 16 drivers.

Screw points racing, i want to see guys slamming doors for the lead. I can also see how this could backfire though because the daytona 500 winner basically has 25 "test sessions" now and will just be logging laps as the team's test car

basically there is no more "points racing". if you aint first, youre last

[Edited on January 30, 2014 at 5:09 PM. Reason : tn]

1/30/2014 4:55:58 PM

I'll be the first (maybe the only) one to say it. I love it. How many times has the final race come down to the points leader needing to finish in lets say 20th to win the championship. That way he doesn't have to beat anyone. Just log laps and finish 19th and you're the champion. This way, as long as the other three guys are still racing, the only way to assure a championship is to win the race. Yea, it may be a gimmick, but I think it will be more interesting. I'm for it and look forward to watching.

1/30/2014 7:06:44 PM

Quote :

"That way he doesn't have to beat anyone. Just log laps and finish 19th and you're the champion."

he has to beat folks THIRTY FUCKING FIVE other times

1/30/2014 7:18:22 PM

I am unsure of your hostility or your yelling. The person I was responding to said:

Quote :

"not a fan of the champ only having to beat 3 guys on one day but i think i like how they determine the 16 drivers."

[Edited on January 30, 2014 at 7:35 PM. Reason : ]

1/30/2014 7:27:30 PM

I don't know that I like this either.

1/30/2014 9:39:41 PM

I'm on an auto racing board and a handful of us came up with about a dozen loopholes that weren't answered in the press release.

For instance, if I win the Daytona 500, I don't have to show up to a race for the next 6 months and could still win the title?

Apparently you have to be a full-time driver. Allright, what is a full-time driver? Is a start-and-parker full-time? Was Denny Hamlin last year who missed 6 races due to injury full-time?

If you win two races early, you have absolutely nothing to race for for five months other than to keep your sponsors happy.

1/30/2014 10:41:10 PM

^Don't you still accumulate points that you start with entering the round of 16? So it would be an advantage and in theory enough to motivate you to keep racing hard even if you win the first race.

Also with only 16 getting in you can't only assume that a single win will get you in because their are more than 16 races. So if somehow you won the Daytona 500 and then just cruised in the back of the pack all season and 16 other racers won races you would probably then get knocked out on a tie-breaker.

Defining what a full time racer is isn't that hard either.

So I don't see anything you mentioned being an issue. Doesn't mean I like the system, but I guess it could be exciting.

1/31/2014 8:36:09 AM

Quote :

"Don't you still accumulate points that you start with entering the round of 16?"

No. They'll do what they've always done for the Chase, reset everyone on the same score.

Last year 17 drivers won races. Of those, Keselowski, Gordon, McMurray, and Hamlin all only won races after the Chase began, so we're down to 13 qualifying drivers winning races at the Chase cutoff. Of those 13, Tony Stewart was out injured and could not compete, and so we're down to 12. So four drivers would've made it that hadn't won prior to the Chase starting.

It's very likely certain drivers will win multiple races when you look at past history so you're probably not going to get 16 winners in the first 26 races.

Quote :

"Defining what a full time racer is isn't that hard either. "

Do you consider Joe Nemechek a full-time racer? You could argue "he's not winning". But as much of a clusterfuck as Daytona and Talladega is nowadays where talent has zero relevance and it's just who survives the wrecks, anyone can win those races...and does, and if you're a person like Nemechek you can run all of the restrictor plate tracks and just finish 41st the other 22 events. (Then you have the guys in the back of the field doing fuel mileage or luck into a win via rainfall.)

Do you honestly think a worthless piece of crap like David Ragan should have a 1-in-16 chance of winning the championship with 10 races to go, as he would have last year under these rules?

And do you also consider Denny Hamlin in 2013 a full-time racer?

For the record, here is NASCAR's rules on it:

Quote :

"The top 15 drivers with the most wins over the first 26 races will earn a spot in the Chase Grid -- provided they have finished in the top 30 in points and attempted to qualify for every race (except in rare instances). The 16th Chase position will go to the points leader after race No. 26, if he/she does not have victory. In the event that there are 16 or more different winners over 26 races, the only winless driver who can earn a Chase Grid spot would be the points leader after 26 races. If there are fewer than 16 different winners in the first 26 races, the remaining Chase Grid positions will go to those winless drivers highest in points. If there are 16 or more different winners in the first 26 races, the ties will first be broken by number of wins, followed by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver points. As was implemented in 2011, prior to the start of the Chase, all Chase Grid drivers will have their points adjusted to 2,000, with three additional bonus points added to their total for each win in the first 26 races."

"Jimmie, you have won 3 times already this season and we're only in April, what are you trying to accomplish in the next 3 months"

What Jimmie will say: a bunch of dithering public relations politically correct bullshit

What Jimmie will think: "nothing except not get injured"

[Edited on January 31, 2014 at 10:56 AM. Reason : /]

1/31/2014 10:54:21 AM

One of the winners pre-Chase cutoff last year was Brian Vickers, who was ineligible to score points, so 11 of the 13 winners would've qualified.

last year under these rules:

down to 16:

Quote :

"Kenseth 2015 Kyle Busch 2012 Harvick 2006 Kahne 2006 Biffle 2003 Logano 2003 Truex 2003 Newman 2003 Ragan 2003 (yes, according to Brian France, David Ragan last year up to the Chase was a better racecar driver than Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon; way to go Brian, what a great way to attach value to your races) non-winners: Bowyer 2000 Earnhardt Jr. 2000 Kurt Busch 2000 Gordon 2000 McMurray 2000"

the 3 people in that weren't in last year are Truex, McMurray, and Ragan

down to 12:

Quote :

"winners that advance automatically: Kenseth, Johnson 4 eliminated drivers: Edwards, Logano, Kahne, Ragan (wow, who'da thunk it?)"

down to 8:

Quote :

"winners that advance automatically: Harvick, McMurray 4 eliminated drivers: Biffle, Kyle Busch, Truex, Newman"

down to 4:

Quote :

"winners that advance automatically: Gordon, Johnson, Harvick last remaining driver in the last race with a chance to win: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the best out of the 5 remaining drivers, including Kenseth"

results at Homestead:

Quote :

"3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9. Jimmie Johnson 10. Kevin Harvick 11. Jeff Gordon"

So under these rules, your 2013 Sprint Cup Champion is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Does anyone think he was the best driver last year?

1/31/2014 12:24:51 PM

so it's like the all star race - rigged so Jr can get in without winning a single goddamn race

1/31/2014 12:32:12 PM

i guess they'll actually strip the win if you fail post-race tech now, right?

1/31/2014 12:41:21 PM

I thought they were trying to make it where drivers had to try and WIN to win a championship? SO you're telling me that the winner of last years championship would have been a guy that didn't win 1 mother f'ing race??? bahahahaha...nascar is a joke

1/31/2014 12:58:00 PM

This is some stupid shit.

But I like going to F1 qualifying format.

1/31/2014 1:35:28 PM

Quote :

"Does anyone think he was the best driver last year?"

No but the best team/person in sports isn't always the champion. In fact it happens quite often where it is more about being hot at the right time or being more equipped for the playoffs than the regular season.

Quote :

"No. They'll do what they've always done for the Chase, reset everyone on the same score."

With 3 more points for every win as well. So there is your motivation to keep winning. It will be much easier to advance out of the first 16 if you have several wins.

In regards to full time racer, it has nothing to do with what I consider to be a full time racer, just that it isn't hard to make parameters for what a full time racer is.

Also be realistic, what sponsor will be happy with someone winning a race or two and then just putting around the track for the next 3 months? You get money for winning. You get bonus points for winning. Pick at the system all you want but seems to me the motivation to try is plenty. I could say the same about the old system where once a driver had a huge lead going into the final races all he had to do was finish for 5 or 6 weeks.

Also it is sorta dumb to say who would have won under last year's system with this year's system because it would have played out totally different in regards to strategy and trying to win races etc.

Feel free to hate the system because it is dumb, but I just don't see some of the things mentioned as real issues.

1/31/2014 1:51:02 PM

Quote :

"With 3 more points for every win as well. So there is your motivation to keep winning."

Oh please. That's the difference between finishing 16th and 19th. (And that's only for the first 3 races of the Chase, your wins after the cutoff from 16 to 12 aren't carried over to your new points from then on.

Quote :

"No but the best team/person in sports isn't always the champion."

Yeah.

Racing was not that way. The champion was determined by a cumulative performance metric.

Why do you want to make the champion someone that is not championship material? Dale Jr. in 2013 was not championship material, and I went and did the math, he'd've won last year under this system. Did anyone at the end of the year think "ya know, Junior had a really great year and could've won it all"? It's a cheap stupid gimmick to make being champion worth less than it currently is.

Perhaps the Daytona Beach Brain Trust are upset Jimmie wins all the time and want to make sure he doesn't win 8 titles to stop him from having more than Earnhardt or Petty. That's the only plausible conclusion I can reach for why they want to make the championship less based on merit and more a crapshoot.

[Edited on January 31, 2014 at 5:03 PM. Reason : /]

1/31/2014 4:53:41 PM

if you're going to have one final championship race, at least have it somewhere better than Homestead

1/31/2014 5:07:29 PM

^ well they're not going to do that, Homestead is owned by ISC

how Junior would be champ: http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-01-31/dale-earnhardt-jr-new-chase-rules-2014-champion-2013-chase-kyle-busch-jimmie-johnson

1/31/2014 5:15:28 PM

So is the championship now Jimmie proof?

I wonder what happens when Ole 6 time gets 7

1/31/2014 11:32:04 PM

^^ I get why Earnhardt would be champion if this year's system was provided to last year.

But that is a illogical thing to say, because if this year's system was in use last year you can't just say "well Jr. would have won how stupid!" because sports aren't played in a vacuum. The whole chase would have played out differently with teams all using different strategies, setting up their cars differently, using different pit strategies, drivers racing differently, etc. To just assume that with a totally different set of rules everything would have played out exactly as it played out last year is unrealistic.

Please tell me you understand that...

Also for what it is worth it isn't like Jr. had the worst year ever last. Wasn't like he was 30th in points and would have ended up winning it.

Quote :

"Oh please. That's the difference between finishing 16th and 19th. (And that's only for the first 3 races of the Chase, your wins after the cutoff from 16 to 12 aren't carried over to your new points from then on."

Which maybe over the course of an entire season doesn't mean much but in a 3 race series those points can be a big difference. If I win 6 races and you win 1, I get to start off at 2018 and you at 2003. That means I have a 15 spot advantage over a 3 race period vs. you? That is huge for my chances to advance out of the first round of 16 especially if I get a DNF or poor finish. Every point in only a 3 race series matters. If I manage to win 8 or 10 races the chances of me not advancing out of the top 16 are almost impossible.

[Edited on February 1, 2014 at 7:30 AM. Reason : .]

2/1/2014 7:11:51 AM

Of course.

But the only reason this exists is to create artificial drama and make who becomes champion a clusterfuck so the person that was best does not win. They're trying to make it like Daytona and Talladega which have almost entirely ceased being races because talent plays almost zero role in who wins there anymore. Three races for elimination periods? If a guy runs into you and crashes you, you're pretty much fucked. Regardless of how well you did the previous 31 races of the year. That line of reasoning for how to determine a champion has zero place in the sport of auto racing.

What was the flaw with the last Chase that made them think they had to increase it to 16? Bearing in mind that there's only 30 or so drivers that seriously compete in every race, so you've made it so more than half of those people now qualify. Did anyone look at last year after Richmond and honestly think "David Ragan should have a chance to win the title?"

I think the Chase is beyond stupid, but if you're going to have it, the way to make it mean more is to decrease the drivers in it and decrease the number of races. Say 6 drivers in the last 6 races. With the current poor quality of the back half of the grid, having 16 is ridiculous.

The reason they settled on 16 is because sports like basketball and hockey I bet have 16 playoff teams, and the reason they're having elimination rounds is because every stick-and-ball sport in North America does. If that's the case, Brian France should be fired tomorrow for not understanding the sport of auto racing. But he's not going to be fired because the Board is made up of his family members, and so attendance and viewership will continue to decline with him running the sport.

[Edited on February 2, 2014 at 10:28 AM. Reason : /]

2/2/2014 10:21:45 AM

the best we can hope for now is for ratings to go down by 20% next year so they will realize they screwed the pooch and ditch this hairbrained scheme



[Edited on February 2, 2014 at 4:20 PM. Reason : h]

2/2/2014 4:11:22 PM

less than one week til the bud shootout!

2014 eligible participants include:
· Denny Hamlin (4 poles)
· Kyle Busch (3 poles)
· Joey Logano (2 poles)
· Jimmie Johnson (2 poles)
· Matt Kenseth (2 poles)
· Ryan Newman (2 poles)
· Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2 poles)
· Jeff Gordon (2 poles)
· Carl Edwards (2 poles)
· Marcos Ambrose (1 pole)
· Kurt Busch (1 pole)
· Kevin Harvick (1 pole)
· Brad Keselowski (1 pole)
· Mark Martin (1 pole)
· Jamie McMurray (1 pole)
· Danica Patrick (1 pole)
· Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1 pole)
· Terry Labonte (past winner: 1985)
· Ken Schrader (past winner: 1989 and 1990)
· Tony Stewart (past winner: 2001, 2002 and 2007)

Race Format: Number of laps in each race segment (Voting ends at 6:00pm/et on Saturday, February 15)
Option A: 30 laps/35 laps/10 laps
Option B: 30 laps/30 laps/15 laps
Option C: 30 laps/25 laps/20 laps
Starting Order: How drivers will line up to start the race (Voting ends at 7:30pm/et on Saturday, February 15)
Option A: Most Career Poles (most to least)
Option B: 2013 Driver Points Standings
Option C: Final Practice Speeds (fastest to slowest times)

Restart Order for Final Segment: How drivers will line up for the final segment (Voting ends at the conclusion of the second segment)
Option A: Fastest lap in the race (first and second segments both count)
Option B: Most laps led (first and second segments both count)
Option C: Mandatory pit stop (drivers lineup how they come off pit road)

2/9/2014 2:39:49 PM

Labonte and Schrader? Really?

2/9/2014 5:31:33 PM

Anybody with a ride is eligible, right? Labonte definitely has a ride; I thought Schrader said he was retiring for everything but modifieds.

2/9/2014 5:41:13 PM

^

Quote :

" eligibility requirements for The Sprint Unlimited will consist of the previous seasons pole winners and past winners of The Sprint Unlimited who have attempted to qualify for at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race during the 2013 season"

[Edited on February 9, 2014 at 8:52 PM. Reason : a]

2/9/2014 8:52:29 PM

I really hope they do something about this single file wall riding crap before the 500

2/15/2014 8:43:07 PM

It's never good when the pace car is on fire.

2/15/2014 10:18:09 PM