2018 NASCAR Discussion threadNASCAR 

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Auto Owners (8) and Bass Pro Shops (24) will be sponsoring Truex for 32 races this year. I can't help but wonder if there may be something to the theories that Visser was forced out by Gibbs as it seems like the announcement was made rather soon when they were only short 6 races. :odd:
I dunno about that much, but Auto Owners and Bass Pro attaching themselves to Truex isn't too surprising since they know he can get results, and most likely will get guaranteed TV time through the early part of the season as everyone yaks about what happened.
 
Has anyone here ever been to Bristol, specifically the night race? I'm thinking about crossing an item off my bucket list this year. :mischievous:
 
Has anyone here ever been to Bristol, specifically the night race? I'm thinking about crossing an item off my bucket list this year. :mischievous:

I did, in 2011. It was pretty good, even though that was in the low point of the quality of racing there. Plus with the crowd size nowadays you should have lots of room in your seats. There seemed to be a decent amount of places to park, it’s probably changed since then though.
 
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First NASCAR season i haven`t really been jacked up for. The 2019 rules package is something I have tried to be positive about but I just can`t. 550 Hp on tracks over a mile isn`t exciting to me. Id rather watch the best driver muscle beasts of cars instead of low power high downforce cars. The argument of "you would rather see single file? Or They are going to be able to run closer" is irrelevant to me. I want to watch a race where the faster car and driver combination can pull away because of speed. I don`t want to make things easier for drivers. From who I have spoken too in the NASCAR community they don`t seem very positive about this either. I think this will be another failure attempt to gain fans that will result in them losing their current fans.
 

Yuck. It’s just so busy and...aesthetically displeasing. Just plan purple with white stripes would’ve been fine. Or almost any of the fan made designs that come up when you search on google.

Of course his 2018 scheme was bad as well, as have been quite a few of the Lowe’s schemes over the years. The original, all of the blue ones from 06-09, and 16 (blue with yellow numbers) were the good ones
 
In a way he did. Gibbs decided to jack the prices up on the affiliation to the point Barney couldn't afford it. He wouldn't have been able to keep competitive cars on the track without the affiliation. Gibbs knew exactly what they were doing.

Nobody has any proof that Gibbs "jacked the prices up" for the alliance. What was said by FRR is that the costs associated with it were continually rising to stay competitive and it didn't make sense anymore to keep the doors open. Barney ran that team without any major sponsor but his own company for years without a Gibbs alliance. If Gibbs was "forcing him out", Barney could have done a lot of things to remain competitive like, switch manufacturers, form an alliance with another fast organization like SHR, Penske etc. I'm sure they looked into that and recognized it's just as or possibly more expensive. Barney had a choice, he chose to close the shop and dissolve the team.
 
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Nobody has any proof that Gibbs "jacked the prices up" for the alliance. What was said by FRR is that the costs associated with it were continually rising to stay competitive and it didn't make sense anymore to keep the doors open. Barney ran that team without any major sponsor but his own company for years without a Gibbs alliance. If Gibbs was "forcing him out", Barney could have done a lot of things to remain competitive like, switch manufacturers, form an alliance with another fast organization like SHR, Penske etc. I'm sure they looked into that and recognized it's just as or possibly more expensive. Barney had a choice, he chose to close the shop and dissolve the team.

From Apex Off
"Furniture Row Racing cited “the rising costs of continuing a team alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.” Joe Gibbs Racing reportedly DOUBLED the cost of the alliance FRR had with the team.

Financials in NASCAR are impossible to come by unless someone forgets to pay their bills and goes to court so we don’t know what FRR was paying. However, doubling the cost of anything will almost always have ramifications."

To me its not as easy as saying,"well lets just switch alliances".
 
From Apex Off
"Furniture Row Racing cited “the rising costs of continuing a team alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.” Joe Gibbs Racing reportedly DOUBLED the cost of the alliance FRR had with the team.

Financials in NASCAR are impossible to come by unless someone forgets to pay their bills and goes to court so we don’t know what FRR was paying. However, doubling the cost of anything will almost always have ramifications."

To me its not as easy as saying,"well lets just switch alliances".

"Reportedly doubled" but no facts or numbers because nobody will ever get those. Speculation. If it's true, Barney didn't have to continue the alliance and chose to close the shop. They were plenty competitive without a Gibbs/Toyota alliance. Barney had options. You are making it sound like he had no choice but to either pay Gibbs fee or go belly up.
 
"Reportedly doubled" but no facts or numbers because nobody will ever get those. Speculation. If it's true, Barney didn't have to continue the alliance and chose to close the shop. They were plenty competitive without a Gibbs/Toyota alliance. Barney had options. You are making it sound like he had no choice but to either pay Gibbs fee or go belly up.

Changing alliances ultimately meant spending money on cars, engines, etc. I believe Gibbs did raise prices based on the highly credible reporters who said so. They could have stayed open I am sure but after a cup title he felt if they couldn`t stay at the level they were at then it wasn`t worth it.
Per Bob Pockrass - FRR`s alliance with JGR was to triple in price in 2019 from 3-4 million to 10-12 million. Also reported by Adam Stern. Both are two of the most accurate reporters in the sport.
 
Changing alliances ultimately meant spending money on cars, engines, etc. I believe Gibbs did raise prices based on the highly credible reporters who said so. They could have stayed open I am sure but after a cup title he felt if they couldn`t stay at the level they were at then it wasn`t worth it.
Per Bob Pockrass - FRR`s alliance with JGR was to triple in price in 2019 from 3-4 million to 10-12 million. Also reported by Adam Stern. Both are two of the most accurate reporters in the sport.

I don't think you get what I'm saying, he had a choice and chose to close the shop. Not a force out.
 
I don't think you get what I'm saying, he had a choice and chose to close the shop. Not a force out.
Of course he had a choice but Gibbs forced them into that decision. They basically decided it would create less competition for them without Furniture Row Racing. Its not as simple as saying "Lets get another alliance going". They could have tried that and maybe nobody was interested. Typically teams don`t want their alliance team to be on par or better than the main team. So essentially yes, Gibbs forced Barney to make a decision and he chose to get out of the series because it would have effected their performance.
 
It’s like I said before, without Gibbs, Visser knew they would be back to being a 10th place car every week, and he didn’t have any interest in going backwards and having to spend the money to get back to the top, and I’m sure the sponsors they still had (Bass Pro and Auto Owners) didn’t want to see that either. He already had a health scare once so it was time to get out.

About the only option that seemed like it could’ve been a possibility would be hiring a pay driver like Suarez.
 
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Well, judging by the "latest post" section, I'll be missing the entire 2019 NASCAR thread this year. :lol:
 
Auto Owners (8) and Bass Pro Shops (24) will be sponsoring Truex for 32 races this year. I can't help but wonder if there may be something to the theories that Visser was forced out by Gibbs as it seems like the announcement was made rather soon when they were only short 6 races. :odd:
A major sponsor for the race doesn't guarantee full sponsorship for the entire car, though. Last year, Truex had 30 races covered by a combination of 5-hour and Bass Pro/Tracker Boats, meaning that both sponsors essentially covered half the cost each for those races. Both sponsors shared the major advertising real estate.

martin-truex-jr-2018-paint-schemes-625x340.jpg

(https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/10/15/martin-truex-jr-2018-sponsorship-lineup/)

It could be that with Gibbs increasing his base cost for support and 5-Hour Energy walking away from the sport, they simply couldn't get enough money to keep it going. Think of how many cars have 3-4 different sponsors on the same car in a weekend now. Gibbs can easily float his other sponsors around to help cover the cost of half of Truex's car each weekend, probably providing better value for his existing network of sponsors.

Visser's remote location and single car effort also meant that he couldn't share overhead costs across multiple teams the way that Gibbs can. Other than a few races per year that take place out west, you have to think that Visser's travel costs were also higher because of the extra distance traveled each week.
 

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