NASCAR Thread.

[TS]

Crash in the NASCAR Mexico series that killed driver Carlos Pardo, just goes to show that even with safer cars (maybe less so in regional series that gets second hand cars from nationwide/cup teams) it's still very dangerous.

 

[mwoodski]

Those aren't secondhand cars. They look more like a cross between a NASCAR Late Model, and a NASCAR Sportsman car, both of which are designed for short tracks, and never to go at the speeds they achieve at Peubla.

The cars are designed to be built and purchased for well under $30,000.

 

[CodeRedR51]

That car just disintegrated, and the edge of that wall was not in a very good spot. Sucks.

 

[Ian Poole]

Predictions for Sonoma:-

Juan Montoya to get the victory. The man is due one after all of the good results he has been having recently and some of his best results have come on tracks that are ovals but act like road courses.

David Gilliland - Now all of you might ber wondering why I picked this guy because has been nowhere this season but on the road courses last year, he excelled and even though his team have been acting like a complete donkey this year, he should get a strong finish at Infineon

Marcos Ambrose - As much as I will stand up and say that I am a fan of Juan Montoya, The Earnhardt Nation and The Old Man, I will willingly stand up and say that i love this loveable Aussie. Last year at Infineon, he would have taken victory from some guy named Busch if he hadn't have had his coming together with Montoya and he took third at Watkins Glen so look for him to have a good race

Sonoma is a great track and it sorts the men out from the boys with its challenging turns and elevation changes, F1 should come here but know they wouldn't.

NASCAR should have more road courses in their season and less of going to the same track twice!

 

[CAMikaze]

Marcos Ambrose - As much as I will stand up and say that I am a fan of Juan Montoya, The Earnhardt Nation and The Old Man, I will willingly stand up and say that i love this loveable Aussie. Last year at Infineon, he would have taken victory from some guy named Busch if he hadn't have had his coming together with Montoya and he took third at Watkins Glen so look for him to have a good race

If he does win, you think he'll add a "hello" to some of his fellow V8 Supercars drivers during his Victory Lane speech?👍

I plan to watch this race after the F1 race concludes on Sunday.

 

[Ian Poole]

I think it will be more likely a g'day mate, sdtick aznother on the barbie

Good weekend for motorsport, British GP, Iowa Indy and Sonoma Nascar, brill

 

[Earth]

Marcos Ambrose blew an engine in practice, instead of starting 3rd he will start 43rd.

Normally this would be a death blow in most motorsports, but in NASCAR road racing he's still in it

As usual I'm not putting money on any of the road course ringers, if you're not use to success on the ovals you will usually make a mistake when having success on a road course.

Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon will win

 

[Ian Poole]

Marcos Ambrose blew an engine in practice

are you sure it was an engine and not his barbecue?

Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon will win

No, no, no and even more...no

 

[CodeRedR51]

No, no, no and even more...no

Sadly, he's probably right.

 

[TS]

Marcos Ambrose blew an engine in practice, instead of starting 3rd he will start 43rd.

Normally this would be a death blow in most motorsports, but in NASCAR road racing he's still in it

As usual I'm not putting money on any of the road course ringers, if you're not use to success on the ovals you will usually make a mistake when having success on a road course.

Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon will win The new double file restarts make it difficult to choose who will win

Fixed.

Stewart and both Gordons are always favorites, they're the only Cup regulars that can outpace the ringers. Kyle Busch got lucky last year IMO with good strategy and some cautions sprinkled in to move him up through the field.

I think somebody you should watch out for tomorrow is AJ Allmendinger he didn't qualify that well but he's been pretty quick in all the practices this weekend.

 

[JohnBM01]

For novices of NASCAR who think NASCAR races only ovals, this is your chance to see these stock cars turn left AND right. I've always been a fan of Sears Point/Infineon Raceway. Sears Point is one of the best tests for these guys so used to going left.

The NASCAR Nationwide race at Milwaukee is about to start up at 8:30 PM EDT, but any predictions for Sonoma?

 

[Earth]

Fixed.

Stewart and both Gordons are always favorites, they're the only Cup regulars that can outpace the ringers. Kyle Busch got lucky last year IMO with good strategy and some cautions sprinkled in to move him up through the field.

I think somebody you should watch out for tomorrow is AJ Allmendinger he didn't qualify that well but he's been pretty quick in all the practices this weekend.

Kyle Busch swept both Cup road course races last year, including pulling away from Montoya at Infineon to the tune of 5 seconds

He also beat Marcos Ambrose head to head in Mexico 2008

He definitly has these road course races figured out.

I watched the entire cup qualifying session. They have a tracker where you can see how far ahead or behind a driver is throughout his entire lap

Kyle Busch was up .4 after the first few turns on Ambrose's lap and by turn 11 he was up .7 but gave away .3 in turn 11. That's why I think he will be strong.

Jeff Gordon was almost as good as Busch but got very conservative and slowly gave away alot of time. Stewart through it all away in turn 11 IIRC

Ambrose was a demon through turn 11 though, he was .2 faster then anyone through that corner, which leads me to believe he will have little trouble passing cars


Ambrose is going to have his work cut out for him starting 43rd. That hurts his chances of winning.

In 2007 Juan Montoya started 35th or something and won, but he was greatly aided by cars running out of fuel and having to pit. That's why I think Ambrose is pretty much out of it. There is only one passing turn at this track unlike Watkins Glen, so even though Ambrose started deep in the field at watkins glen last yea rand finished 4th sonoma is a whole different story. Watkins glen has 2 or even 3 great passing zones compared to sonoma's 1.

That leaves Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Juan Montoya

From watching qualifying and from past experience I put the driver most likely to win in this order:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Tony Stewart
3. Juan Montoya
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Marcos Ambrose

EDIT: One more thing, in practice Marcos Ambrose bumped Jimmy Johnson in turn 11, so Johnson brake checked him, destroying Johnson's rear bumper and damaging Abrose's splitter and who knows what else.

 

[Metar]

If they finish in your predicted order, that'll be even better. Absolutely perfect.

 

[Ian Poole]

Sadly, he's probably right.

I is always right, I is known throughout the world as the all-pwerful, all-conquering, all-knowing Zen Master

There is only one passing turn at this track unlike Watkins Glen,

There are three passing places at Infineon, turn five, turn six and the last corner

 

[Earth]

I is always right, I is known throughout the world as the all-pwerful, all-conquering, all-knowing Zen Master



There are three passing places at Infineon, turn five, turn six and the last corner

You're not going to pass a top 15 car in turns 5 and 6.

Marcos Ambrose will get into the top 20 rather quickly, but once he reaches the top 10 his progress will slow down

If they finish in your predicted order, that'll be even better. Absolutely perfect.

Now that you mention it, I would not be surprised at all if that was the finishing order of the race.

It's going to be an intersting race. Hopefully fuel mileage does not play a role in the outcome.

 

[Ian Poole]

You're not going to pass a top 15 car in turns 5 and 6

Kyle Busch, David Gilliland and Jeff Gordon did last year and plenty of them

 

[Earth]

Kyle Busch, David Gilliland and Jeff Gordon did last year and plenty of them

Your 3 picks are Montoya, Ambrose and Gilliland

Mine are Jeff Gordon, Stewart, or Kyle Busch

Let's see who gets it right

 

[Ian Poole]

Let's see who gets it right

You're on, loser buys the winner a drink

 

[mwoodski]

I is always right, I is known throughout the world as the all-pwerful, all-conquering, all-knowing Zen Master



There are three passing places at Infineon, turn five, turn six and the last corner

Turns 5 and 6 don't exist on the NASCAR layout.

 

[Ian Poole]

My apologies, i missed out a corner, i meant to say 6 and 7, six being 4a

 

[Metar]

Well, using this map... 11 is the best spot, and 7 seems... possible. But passing at 4a would require a very good drive out of 3&3a.

 

[zed300]

Hows the height off the ground in turn 9, left front has got to be 200mm(8") of the track without hitting any ripple strips!!!


Drive of turn 11 would be the likely place to make a pass in or outside coming in to 2.

 

[CodeRedR51]

If they finish in your predicted order, that'll be even better. Absolutely perfect.

👎

I really dislike kyle busch. He's the biggest whiner in this sport in a long time, and he throws a fit if he finishes in second place. Acts like he finished dead last. I have respect for his driving skills, but he needs to grow up.

 

[Metar]

So at last, a guy that tries his best to win every single time, and truly lives by the motto of "If you ain't first, you're last" - and now that's bad, too?

He makes things interesting and entertaining on the track - to me, that's all that matters.

 

[CodeRedR51]

On the track, yes. I can't disagree with that. He just has a VERY poor attitude.

Edit: can't wait to hear his "interview" after today's race...

 

[Austin343]

Congratulations to Kasey Kahne for an impressive win at a road course, a track type at which he had never before earned a top-ten finish. Also notable is Marcos Ambrose's run from the back of the field up to third, and impressive finishes by A.J. Allmendinger, Elliott Sadler, Patrick Carpentier, and especially Max Papis in twelfth in an underfunded car.

Jimmie Johnson's driving really annoys me sometimes. I can't watch this run of twelve races on TNT and ESPN because I don't have cable, so I can't say for sure whether he was at fault, but he seems to have been the initiator of three spins, those of Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte (edit: it turns out that lap-by-lap got this wrong and it was Ambrose that ran into him coming out of the pits), and David Reutimann. It reminds me of the race at Talladega two or three years ago, where he singlehandedly caused two "big ones." Of course, these things aren't intentional, but they are the result of overaggressiveness and poor judgement in passing. And somehow, he always seems to avoid damage when he starts a crash and goes on to finish well, with a fourth place here.

Also, it seems like at every Sprint Cup road race, the "ringers," particularly Boris Said, are kept from winning by overdriving their cars and making lots of mistakes, which is what is happening to Said here: a spin, a speeding penalty, and finally two takeouts of other cars after attempting extremely ambitious passes. He ended up all the way back in 24th, and no ringer made it to the top ten.

 

[Earth]

I shouldn't be surprised that Kasey Kahne won, he did sit on the pole here last year.

But that was some race, NASCAR knows how to put on a show. Passing, spins, beatin' and bangin'. Great race

I think Ambrose used all his brakes up getting through the field. Montoya certainly used all his brakes up and faded late

Race went a little differently then I expected, I didn't think so many contenders would take themselves out. Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon and Kyle Busch all had top 5 cars but got taken out early.

Tony Stewart probably could have caught and passed the 9, but he had 15-20 laps older tires

However I dont agree with double file restarts with less then 10 to go. Now that so many tracks are two groove there is no real advantage to starting to the outside or inside

Also, it seems like at every Sprint Cup road race, the "ringers," particularly Boris Said, are kept from winning by overdriving their cars and making lots of mistakes, which is what is happening to Said here: a spin, a speeding penalty, and finally two takeouts of other cars after attempting extremely ambitious passes. He ended up all the way back in 24th, and no ringer made it to the top ten.

I think this also applies to alot of the roadcourse guys, even the regulars to the series. If you're not use to running mistake free races and finishing up front it's hard to just turn on a switch twice a year for the roadcourses

Thats why my 3 picks were Gordon, Stewart, or Busch, because these guys are use to running up front and winning

 

[TS]

Great run for Kahne and for 3 of the RPM cars that finished in the top-10. I was expecting Tony Stewart to go by Kahne on one of the restarts but Kasey really did better than I thought.

Kyle Busch swept both Cup road course races last year, including pulling away from Montoya at Infineon to the tune of 5 seconds

Only because the strategy he had worked perfectly, there wasn't a chance in hell he would have won there starting that far back the way he drives.

He also beat Marcos Ambrose head to head in Mexico 2008

I'll give him that one and the cup race at Watkins Glen, he won both those times because he had good track position.

 

[Earth]

I wish people would get off Dale Jr's back. He's having a tough season. And no, he is not a bad driver. For whatever reason he is struggling, but it's not talent. Let's not forget all the success and wins he had with DEI

He had a good run today before someone spun him out

He'll pick it up, just needs to correct whatever is wrong

Montoya is 12th now, in the chase

 

[JohnBM01]

All I can say is (in regards to Dale Jr., because I didn't see all of the race)... Dale Jr. is going to win a Cup championship, like his late father did seven times. But part of being in a sport is that if you're great, there are great expectations. I don't hate Dale Jr., but I'm not a serious fanatic of his. Even the best players and teams of any sport have their rough seasons. Again, I usually equate Dale Jr. as the MLB equivalent to the New York Yankees. When winning, they make everyone [mostly in the New York City market] happy. But when struggling, it's the opposite.

From one of NASCAR's best courses they race on... to one of the most boring tracks on the calendar. The left-and-right boys will now return left by going right to New Hampshire International Speedway. Make your early predictions or just talk a little more on this race at Sonoma. Also, congratulations to Kasey Khane.