GTP NASCAR SPRINT CUP S3 Champs: RFLX_Niop, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota

[Niop]

Congrats to ACDC on the win.

I thought we at SGR could make the 5 stop work, but the 4 stop pack was able to maintain more pace than I anticipated.

We still managed a 3-4 finish so it wasn't a bad day.

Now I have nearly a month of down time. I'll see you guys back on track for the Coca Cola 600. I'll find replacements for the races I miss.

 

[Furinkazen]

I'm currently working on the technical side of my internet to sort things out. IROC tonight will be a test as well. However on a good side my bandwidth has gone back up.

Joe, Tom, PM me and lets try to get something sorted please.

 

[MustangRyan]

Reminder, there is no Sprint Cup race this weekend. Racing resumes on April 7th at Indy.

 

[Acorner123]

Congrats AC. I officially hate my G27..

Yeah I've been meaning to tell ukulele gastric, that during the beginning on the race I hit the clutch and without looking the shifter was in second so when I let the clutch out it popped into second so it seemed like I brake checked you.

 

[DrifterJoe]

Yeah I've been meaning to tell ukulele gastric, that during the beginning on the race I hit the clutch and without looking the shifter was in second so when I let the clutch out it popped into second so it seemed like I brake checked you.

Spellcheck strikes again? >_>

Though it does explain where my ukulele is....

 

[fastfox400]

Yeah I've been meaning to tell ukulele gastric, that during the beginning on the race I hit the clutch and without looking the shifter was in second so when I let the clutch out it popped into second so it seemed like I brake checked you.

Its cools AC. I managed to get my wheel way to hot.

 

[Knelly]

Other than Furi's lag, I thought we had an excellent race last night. No real incidents and certainly no 'coming together' between cars that caused concern. For 200 laps.

Niop and I were confident that our 5 stopper would be fast enough to secure the win, but rightfully so we were always worried by JGR. Still SGR getting the most team points last night, is a good thing, and we worked through 200 laps very well together. Don't seem to recall that we lost the race, or any positions due to errors but will discuss this in the de-briefing session with The Champ at some point.

Therefore, happy with my fourth, gutted I missed a podium but that was the deal struck with my Team Owner.

Congrats to AC, great to see the #18 doing what it does best.

And great run Mule, you stepped it up a notch last night as another Daytona contender after this and other previous results.

And having three different teams in the top three, is a great thing to have.

We will be naming Niops replacement driver for Indy in the next week or so, but will leave to Niop if he wants to gain points from Indy or Monza later down the road.

Will be leaving Daytona Beach in a day or so before returning home for the first time since Speedweeks started.

 

[kenkwilinski]

I just had an idea about reducing the field. How about we don't officially reduce teams. Instead we use qualifying. So top 12 times qualify to race. It wouldn't even have to be even, just straight up top 12 qualifiers. So if you're a two man team and one of drivers didn't make the cut. They simply can't race this weekend. And will have to work on qualifying setup for next week. To try to gain entrance into the race. Just like real life, kinda. This could apply to both NW and SC. Is this worth debating?

 

[cgr-10]

I just had an idea about reducing the field. How about we don't officially reduce teams. Instead we use qualifying. So top 12 times qualify to race. It wouldn't even have to be even, just straight up top 12 qualifiers. So if you're a two man team and one of drivers didn't make the cut. They simply can't race this weekend. And will have to work on qualifying setup for next week. To try to gain entrance into the race. Just like real life, kinda. This could apply to both NW and SC. Is this worth debating?

Disagree, it benefits the people who are good in qualifying and screws over anyone who only has decent race pace.

 

[Müle]

Maybe for next season, but not this season, since we've already started.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Disagree, it benefits the people who are good in qualifying and screws over anyone who only has decent race pace.

I agree with you somewhat as you make a valid point. But ideally everyone should be good at both. And to be good at both you truely have good understanding of tuning and the limits/capabilities of your car. This truely secures good tuners and skilled drivers are at the top of the competition. Which is something I hope we all strive for.

 

[MustangRyan]

My nationwide car was one full second off of the pole time at indy because I didn't care to tune for a pole I knew I couldn't win. I qualified slowly in race trim, and moved up the starting grid past the drivers that had to exit the track to change out of their qualifying setups.

I started mid-pack, got to the front quickly, ran my race, and won.

Should I have not been in the race because I didn't qualify fast enough?

 

[Mudd]

Good point, but obviously you would have used a better qually setup had it been required. I think the qually-to-race format is good for some series, but I don't think it fits here. We've already ran it for too long without it to change now. Plus, with the team format we use, setup sharing would lead to full teams being left out, instead of just the 'slower' single qualifiers.

 

[Mudd]

Sorry for the DP, but if any of you are not watching the race, Tony Stewart just pulled a 'Knelly' on Hamlin and faked him into the pits.

 

[Knelly]

Sorry for the DP, but if any of you are not watching the race, Tony Stewart just pulled a 'Knelly' on Hamlin and faked him into the pits.

Niiiiiiccccce

 

[Niop]

I just had an idea about reducing the field. How about we don't officially reduce teams. Instead we use qualifying. So top 12 times qualify to race. It wouldn't even have to be even, just straight up top 12 qualifiers. So if you're a two man team and one of drivers didn't make the cut. They simply can't race this weekend. And will have to work on qualifying setup for next week. To try to gain entrance into the race. Just like real life, kinda. This could apply to both NW and SC. Is this worth debating?

I think it's a great Idea, I'm all for it. It gives people a chance rather than just being cut from the team. But it's not my call. I wouldn't complain either way though, as I'm already on a 2 car team.

 

[Knelly]

Second that. I see the races in two parts. One winning the qualifying point if I feel it's in my grasp, and two being the race.

Points are increasingly becoming more and more important in this field, no getting away from that, and so should grid position be on road courses in particular.

I see it working, but happy either way.

 

[kenkwilinski]

And btw just because one team has a great setup it doesn't 100% mean that if they share that tune with their teammates, that it will gaurantee domination in qualifying. As we all know what works for Bob doesn't always work John. This could open up the field to more true, diehard tuners (such as Joe). IMO its good to practice tuning for hot laps as well as race setup. It really highlights what certain settings do for your car under certain circumstances. And would give a new and true meaning to qualifying. And to rebuttle what if a whole team doesn't make the cut? Then that team obviously didn't do their homework and would need to step up their game to compete with best drivers, who have their cars dialed-in for every race aspect. Which once again is reflected IRL. Just another thought to add to the debate for those doubting this system. I know we don't want to change rules. But reducing our field from 16 to 12 is also changing rules. In which we spent long trying to fill our team cars. And could make for better quality racing as a whole.

In all I don't care eitherway, its merely a suggestion. But seems to be a better idea than telling four drivers to go home, especially when we know some drivers won't male every race. That would make for ten driver fields later into the season. If we kept qualifying open. No one will go home and can try to race whatever days they are available. Kinda works out better as a whole.

 

[funkyDucks]

What if you have two identical series running together but with a divided grid so both have good turnouts. These series are run like it is now until the start of the chase, where the top four of each series go forward along with a wildcard from both.
Otherwise I would go with drops suggestion.

 

[Knelly]

Not bad

 

[MustangRyan]

We already had just 14 cars, with two reserves running the fourth car on the two largest teams due to a lack of stability. There were other drivers missing as well, that were being replaced by reserves.

Ideally, we trim down the league to 12 cars, the same drivers show up week-to-week, and we get more consistency out of the guys in the race, instead of scrambling to fill four seats just for the sake of having 16 cars on track.

We can put more drivers full-time in the Nationwide Series, and get the Sprint Cup regulars out of those cars. Both Nationwide races so far have been won by Sprint Cup drivers.

If it all works out just right, we could have as many as 24-27 drivers racing across our two series. I think we almost have enough interested drivers to make this happen.

 

[kenkwilinski]

I see where you are going with this droptop. You are saying keep it simple and eliminate the chaos. Making it very transparent and no rush trying to fill seats. So overall we have 12 commited NW drivers in each NW race and 12 commited drivers in SC races. No SC drivers in NW and vise versa. I think if we go this route we will need to make it further transparent and eliminate 2/3pt reserve drivers and adhere mirrored regulations in NW and SC. Thus all drivers being able to drop one race instead. This is a simple format and is identical in both series. It would make quality of racing better and give a better understaing and less complicating of our rules n policies.

 

[MustangRyan]

We will not be dropping a race. We reset our points after 10 races, so having a bad day or missing a regular season race isn't nearly as punitive to a driver. You can miss a race or two and still make the Chase (rflx/acdc/joe/stall all did it last season).

Once in the Chase, anyone can win, and your attendance in the Chase is very important to winning, as it should be.

We will continue to allow the substitution for a one-time emergency situation, so that a driver can get 2/3 points for one race they absolutely can't otherwise attend.

In the NW, there is no Chase, and there are a lot of races. The driver that shows up to all ten races likely wins over a better driver with only nine starts. Without a late season points reset, missing a race early in the season absolutely costs you a championship. That's why they are dropping one race, and we are not.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Ok you explained why our current format serves its purpose from one series over the other. I'm cool with that 👍 I just like explainations, rhyme n reason. As long as you approach these changes logically, I think we all have a better understanding and become more excepting to these rules/policies. So now that is clear do we still eliminate drivers. Because you said we had 14 drivers n two reserves or something like that. To be fair, just because drivetheguard or any other driver didn't race doesn't mean they are not commited and therefore shouldn't be automatically dropped. What if we used your reasoning on a day that niop doesn't race. Would it be fair to drop him then? No, so to be a fair host and series, you shouldn't be able to decide such drastic changes without a vote. Good example, drivetheguard has shown commitment as I have raced with him the last two weeks at our specs, refining his settings and strategy. Idk if he would care to be dropped personally. But my point is, its not to fair as to who would be eliminated. And IMO you would suggest keeping your crew here over anyone elses.

 

[MustangRyan]

We were on the verge of adding a fourth JGR car for the remainder of the season. Am I disappointed that we can't do that? Absolutely. But, a better league overall for the twelve that run is more important than having 16 drivers upset over an inferior product on the track.

 

[Knelly]

To be fair to Drop, he did verbally say in the room after last nights race, that he would be putting to a Team Owners vote.

 

[kenkwilinski]

We were on the verge of adding a fourth JGR car for the remainder of the season. Am I disappointed that we can't do that? Absolutely. But, a better league overall for the twelve that run is more important than having 16 drivers upset over an inferior product on the track.

I agree but I don't want to have to cut someone, so I'm trying to find alternatives.

 

[MustangRyan]

I agree but I don't want to have to cut someone, so I'm trying to find alternatives.

Do you still have an open Nationwide seat? Give the guy a full time ride there, and let him show that he's worth a full time sprint cup seat for next season. Obviously, he could still sub in for your regular three drivers any time, as needed.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Do you still have an open Nationwide seat? Give the guy a full time ride there, and let him show that he's worth a full time sprint cup seat for next season. Obviously, he could still sub in for your regular three drivers any time, as needed.

I wish he could do that but the start time is too early for him on Saturday. And dude he's worthy. He has hosted races with Mudd, dowhat, homeslice, mstall and I. Very worthy, has nothing to prove.

 

[Carbonox]

I just had an idea about reducing the field. How about we don't officially reduce teams. Instead we use qualifying. So top 12 times qualify to race. It wouldn't even have to be even, just straight up top 12 qualifiers. So if you're a two man team and one of drivers didn't make the cut. They simply can't race this weekend. And will have to work on qualifying setup for next week. To try to gain entrance into the race. Just like real life, kinda. This could apply to both NW and SC. Is this worth debating?

I'm against it for the very reason that my quali pace is way slower than the race pace.