NASCAR Thread.

[Ian Poole]

Truck motors are the outdated cup engines with an intake spacer like the Nationwide cars.

And for those of us that speak English?

 

[RACECAR]

This will probably be most of us after the race:

 

[LSX]

Wow, great job Nascar, because of the smaller restrictor plates, the cars need to bump draft to pass. In practice they were doing it all the way around the track. Now, Nascar said they would penalize a driver for bump drafting. Am I watching a race at Talladega or Fontana? Seirously, every car is strung out with almost a car length between them because no one wants a penalty.

They fixed the wrecking problem, now they have a racing problem. I really hope it heats up some... This is not how racing at Talladega should be.

Edit: That's better.

 

[Ian Poole]

This will probably be most of us after the race:

Already there bud

This is not how racing at Talladega should be.

Tell me about it.

YAWN!!!!!!!!

 

[LSX]

Wow Newman just took off like a jet, only in reverse... It's not on the wheels, he's alright, just waiting to get extracted from the car. Red Flag. The top has to be cut off the car sardine can style to get him out.

No luck for the ARMY car in Alabama.

 

[CodeRedR51]

On YouTube already?!? Damn people are fast.

Regarding the rule about bump drafting: There's no way they can enforce it. EVERYONE is doing it. What are they going to do, penalize everyone?

You know it's a boring race when a die-hard NASCAR fan (my dad) falls asleep during the race.

 

[LSX]

Did you hear Newman's interview? He was real upset, about the COT, the plates, yellow line rule Nascar thinking the drivers can't respect each other.

They can't penalize everyone, they are going to drive like that anyway.

Mark Martin joins the Flip club, big one. /race

 

[CodeRedR51]

Race is over, congrats to McMurry.

Might as well hand the trophy over to Johnson right now.

 

[Tornado]

Heavens, it sure is great that they made the restrictor plates smaller. I mean, it ruined 3/4ths of an already-traditionally-boring race, but hey: No more flips and Big Ones and final-lap crashes, right? Oh.


And hey, how about that Chase? NASCAR can go on and on about how 4 largely-uncontested championships in a row isn't bad for the sport, but its either their hypocrisy or the ratings that are going to give first; and I'm guessing the latter will cause the former.

 

[84SSccc]

I think Ryan pretty much summed up how I feel about NASCAR's current state in his interview outside the care center . Good to hear he was alright.

Congrats to McMurray but I hate it for Mark Martin and Truex.

 

[LSX]

Yeah, I think it was plenty of boring racing, mixed with more flips and typical Talladega, which happen regardless of plate size. I think like the announcers said, Newman's wing may have helped the car lift off. They need to just let them race, quit trying to be the nanny. The racing will be better.

I think Johnson and Mcmurry are the only ones happy after this race.


I dunno what the guy taking the video thought was funny, hope it was a little cough.

 

[Ian Poole]

I will now sum up Talladega in one hand gesture or less:

👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

AND THAT DAMN JIMME 🤬🤬 JOHNSON! HOW THE 🤬 DOES THAT LITTLE 🤬 GET SO 🤬 LUCKY!

NOWHERE TO START AND THEN GETS A 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 SIXTH 🤬🤬🤬 PLACE FINISH!

🤬🤬

 

[InsaneRacer]

Congrats to Jimmy for his 4th championship, but that has got to be so frustrating to know your fate is in the hands of the guys you're racing with. I thought for awhile there would be at least some challenge with Mark and Jeff finishing so far ahead of Jimmy, but that idea was soon crushed. It was fun watching highway traffic at 190 mph.

 

[Adamgp]

Guess the last minute rule change didnt work.

Happy for Macmurray, and glad Martin and Newman are okay though.

 

[RVDNuT374]

To end the misery of one of the most boring seasons in Nascar history (except Spring race @ Talladega and July race @ Daytona), they should just award Jimmie Johnson his 4th straight championship.

I know that's a repost from 2 weeks ago, but now it has even more credibility. 👎

 

[CodeRedR51]

Here's how we fix this:

- Keep Daytona in February for traditions sake
- Ditch Daytona and in July and Talladega all-together.
- Replace those races with road courses.

 

[InsaneRacer]

To add to that list:
- Mandatory ballast weight for 4-time consecutive champions.

 

[CodeRedR51]

To add to that list:
- Mandatory ballast weight for 4-time consecutive champions.

I've been saying that all along to my dad. Make it like some other motorsports, where they add weight to the car if you win too much. 👍

 

[TS]

And for those of us that speak English?

Them thar truck boys is using them thar Sprint Cup engines with one of them thar carburetor spacer deals.

This will probably be most of us after the race:

Regarding the rule about bump drafting: There's no way they can enforce it. EVERYONE is doing it. What are they going to do, penalize everyone?

This was one of those ideas that sounds good, but when it's put into place you realize that it sucks.

Here's how we fix this:

- Keep Daytona in February for traditions sake
- Ditch Daytona California in July the fall, shorten both Pocono races to 500k, ditch Talladega all-together.
- Replace those races with road courses.

Fixed and agreed.

I've been saying that all along to my dad. Make it like some other motorsports, where they add weight to the car if you win too much. 👍

This.

 

[Northstar]

Wow, is it just me or is Newman sounding more and more like his boss.

Glad he is ok though. NASCAR needs to get a hold of this issue before someone dies.

 

[RACECAR]

Like I said before, Jimmie Johnson is your 2009 Sprint Cup series champion. You guys might as well stop watching the Cup series because the racing is dead. Its more dead then WWE and damn, its pretty lifeless. On to Nationwide. Even though its a JGR blowout, at least someone else other then Kyle is actually gonna win some races.

 

[LSX]

The only thing that Nascar can do to alleviate the wrecks is to stop restrictor plate racing. Which I hope never happens, it is by far the best kind of racing that the Nascar series does.

Fix the cars, quit trying to fix a problem with the racing that can't be changed, and turn them loose. I doubt that ridiculous wing did anything to keep Newman's car on the ground, if anything, it helped it take off. Why do they need to run that when the N-wide COT will have a spoiler like they have always used?

Give the cars back their downforce and make them more aero dependent, that way no one will want to wrinkle up fenders because they will lose pace. I know the same is applied to the cars as of now, but they are bricks any way.

The COT roof of Newman's car crushed in to his helmet he said, so it's not like those are the be all end all of cars and safety, even though they are very safe, he did walk away fine. There is room for improvement obviously.

There is just no point to the restrictor plate races if it's going to be single file Fontana style racing, they are supposed to be pushing, let them decide how much to push, less horsepower just means they need to do more pushing to get some where. That's why there were multiple big wrecks per race when the cars had to use wickers and gurney lips, along with small plates. The only big ones I recall before this last minute rule change were just last lap checkers or wreckers driving, which I'm pretty sure even the drivers expect.

I'm sure I'm just whizzing into the wind with this stuff, because Nascar would not care what fans think, even Newman had said that.

Edit: ^^ Yeah, I'd agree the Nationwide racing has been good. I don't think it's a good think when the feeder series has better on track action than the main event. It's even called the Nationwide series, it sounds like it should be the main show, sprint cup makes me think they should be sprint racing, much like the last 15 laps today, a sprint race

 

[Ian Poole]

Whatever slim chance the rest of the Chase for the Sprint Cup field had of making major inroads into Jimmie Johnson's points lead pretty much ran out of gas in the closing laps of Sunday's Amp Energy 500.

Mired at the back of the pack with only a handful of laps remaining, Johnson was almost certain his conservative strategy was about to backfire in a big way. Instead, just before NASCAR officials threw the red flag to extricate Ryan Newman from his destroyed car on Lap 184, Johnson was able to duck onto pit road for a splash of fuel.

Once again, it was crew chief Chad Knaus who came to the rescue.

"To be honest with you, the strategies completely backfired," Johnson said. "The only thing that saved our butts was Chad's decision for fuel. We were in big trouble -- 25th or something on that red flag -- so all the credit goes to Chad and making us come down pit road and put some fuel in that thing. That was really the strategy that did it."

Fellow contenders Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Juan Montoya thought they had enough fuel for the remaining distance, but when the engines were refired, they found that wasn't the case. Up and down pit road, many crew chiefs realized the same thing, and several cars rolled or were pushed to their stalls for refueling. So when the race restarted, Johnson suddenly found himself in the top 10.

And when Kurt Busch was tapped by Brad Keselowski, setting off a 13-car melee on the frontstretch just as the white flag was unfurled -- collecting Martin, Gordon and Montoya in the process -- Johnson not only escaped Talladega's clutches, but piled up a bigger lead on his closest competition.

"I'm still in shock," Johnson said. "I can't believe that it worked out. I can't believe that many guys ran out of fuel and put themselves in that position. We almost stayed out."

Not bad for a guy who realized his wait-and-see strategy wasn't working to his satisfaction as the laps wound down.

"With about six [laps] to go, that's the last time I remember [Knaus] giving me a number of laps to go," Johnson said. "It dawned on me that we were in a bad position."

At that point, Johnson knew his options on the track were becoming extremely limited.

"They were three-wide in front of me, nowhere to go and you're just stuck," he said. "You hope that your lane moves forward a little bit. If it does, you pass four cars, five cars, that's about it.

"Then the inside lane or middle lane comes surging forward. And I knew I was in big trouble then. You could see guys pushing and shoving, and wondering if the big wreck was going to take place. But then I'm like, 'I can't be conservative now and try to miss it because if this thing goes green like it looks, we're in even more trouble.' "

At the finish, Johnson's focus was split between the points battle and making sure his Hendrick teammates were OK, especially Martin, whose car flipped before landing on its wheels.

"I do feel bad that the guys crashed coming to the finish and we've got wrecked cars," Johnson said. "I was really concerned for Mark, because when I looked in the mirror, I saw the No. 5 roof number tumbling and flipping and then it hit the outside fence. I hate to see things take place that way."

This was the race that Johnson and Knaus had targeted on their racing calendars well before the start of this year's Chase as a bellweather. On Friday, Johnson admitted he'd be happy to come away from Talladega Superspeedway with the same lead over Martin that he had coming in. Things couldn't have turned out much better, as he's now 184 points ahead of Martin, 192 in front of Gordon and 239 clear of Montoya with three races remaining. Still, Johnson isn't taking anything for granted.

"I'm not going to let up and lose focus to the job I need to do and allow the championship to be in the forefront of my mind until it's mathematically locked up," he said. "I can still lose 165 points next week if I miss a shift and blow the engine at the start of the Texas race and Mark has a perfect day.

"So with all that in mind, yes, I am feeling much better about things. I was so concerned about this race. I thought I was going to lose points with about three or four [laps] to go. So to have it turn around and leave with points, I didn't expect it.

"It's a very, very good situation we're in."

Is this not an interview from the luckiest man in NASCAR at the moment or what?

Ryan Newman admitted he was physically sore after a wild end-over-end backflip down Talladega Superspeedway's backstretch in the closing laps of Sunday's Amp Energy 500. But he was just as sore about several other issues, including the propensity of the current chassis design to become airborne, the decision to eliminate bump-drafting in the turns and the overall quality of the racing product.

And he wasn't alone in his frustration

Running in the outside lane, two-wide on the backstretch on Lap 184, Newman's No. 39 Chevrolet was bumped from behind by Marcos Ambrose, shot in front of Kevin Harvick, turned backwards and sailed through the air for several hundred feet, landing upside down on Harvick's hood. The car then skidded up the banking in Turn 3, hit the outside wall, and proceeded to do one more twist in the infield grass before coming to a stop on its roof, with Newman hanging by his shoulder belts.

"I'm just really disappointed," Newman said. "We had a race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now, ironically, I'm the guy who gets upside-down, have the roll bars down on top of my helmet and stuck upside down. I wish NASCAR would do something."

Safety crews were able to check on Newman's condition, and after a few minutes, turned the car over onto its wheels. Then using a cutting instrument, crews cut the roll cage away, freeing Newman, who was able to walk to the ambulance under his own power.

"When I hit the roll cage and landed on my head, I was a little worried," Newman said. "I was happy to be able to walk out of that, in a roundabout way."

Newman was out of communication with his crew for much of the time, but he had a good explanation.

"It knocked the antenna off the car," Newman said. "When they rolled the car back over, the antenna wire connected and I criticized what was going on. It's no fun, it's disappointing, there's no good part of it.

"It's not even a good race for the fans -- that's the bottom line -- that's who we're trying to service is the fans. They can stand up and cheer when there's three [laps] to go with a green-white-checkered [finish], but that's not racing. You're supposed to be racing all day long. And I think we've lost a little bit of that luster."

Newman blamed part of the problem on NASCAR's restrictive policing of restrictor-plate races.

"It's just a product of this racing and what NASCAR's put us in, in this box with these types of cars, with the yellow line, with no bump-drafting, no passing," Newman said. "Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other -- Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, all those guys have always done that. I guess they don't think much of us anymore."

In an effort to avoid being penalized by NASCAR for aggressive driving -- and to perhaps defuse the chances of a multi-car accident -- drivers went the overly conservative route. On at least three occasions, the field resorted to running nose-to-tail for multiple laps.

For what it's worth, NASCAR's sanctions against bump-drafting in the turns was well-heeded, as no one was penalized for that infraction. However, neither the accident involving Newman, or the one six laps later involving 13 cars directly in front of the main grandstand -- in which Chase contender Mark Martin also flipped -- was anything more than the result of typical close-quarters superspeedway racing.

The second major accident, triggered when Brad Keselowski got into the back bumper of Kurt Busch, also heavily damaged the cars of Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon and Juan Montoya. All of those involved, including Martin, were uninjured.

"It was just kind of a terrible race [Sunday] in general," said David Ragan, who ran near the front of the pack for most of the race, but was caught up in the white-flag wreck. "There was a lot of single-file racing. I know it's exciting there at the end, but what happens is NASCAR slows these cars down.

"They're too easy to drive and everyone just gets kind of crazy. It's a shame to tear up a lot of good race cars like that for kind of being stupid, but that's restrictor-plate racing. I'm glad we only have to do it three or four times a year."

Brian Vickers said he still isn't sure what the crackdown on bump-drafting was hoping to deter.

"If the intent was to prevent a crash, obviously it's not going to do that," Vickers said. "We crash as much in the straightaway here as we do in the corner."

But what's the alternative? Elliott Sadler honestly doesn't know.

"I think NASCAR and all the drivers should sit in a private room, lock the doors and have a discussion and try to fix this together," Sadler said. "That's what I'd like to see."

In any case, Newman was less than pleased, and expected that many in attendance felt the same way.

"It was a boring race for the fans," Newman said. "That's not something anybody wants to see, at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here."

Ryan Newman for NASCAR president!

And speaking of himn, here is what Mr. Helton said to the guys:

"We want to see sunshine between the cars," was NASCAR president Mike Helton's bump-draft warning to the field in Sunday's drivers meeting before the Amp Energy 500, particularly in instances where two cars are locked together in the turns.

"All of the way through Turns 1 and 2, and all of the way through Turns 3 and 4, you will not be allowed to push someone, to bump-draft them or to shove them through the turns," Helton said. "Remember the aggressive driving will still be watched very closely on the frontstretches and through the tri-oval. But we have seen the progress, particularly at Talladega, of two cars hooking up and basically locked up all the way around for a lap.

"You will not be allowed to do that in the turns. That's from the green flag all the way through to the checkered flag. So even on the last lap, coming through 3 and 4, you're not going to be able to push a guy hooked up in a two-car tandem like we've seen progress through practice."

For the first instance, NASCAR will require a pass-through penalty for the offenders. However, Helton went on to say the sanctioning body may reserve the right to take away an apparent victory if officials believe it was accomplished through extended pushing in the corners.

"Understand that we're not going to throw a black flag on with the checkered flag, because the rule book gives us the ability to adjust the finish order based on incidences that may unfold during the conclusion of the race," Helton said. "... We've got 2.66 miles to get the word to him. If the race winner or the guy who takes the checker has got that position by drafting up through the turns, and you could be the guy in front, then that's going to be an issue with us. The guy from the back will catch the penalty most all the time, but if you win the race by drafting through 1 and 2 with help, then you're going to have a problem, and the guy who pushed you is going to have a problem, too."

Juan Montoya then questioned whether the lead car in a two-car draft deserved the same scrutiny.

"The way I understand it, in order to do that, the lead car's got to play a role in this, too," Helton said. "We understand the guy in the back does the shoving. But it feels to me, the guy in front plays a role in this, too. That doesn't mean the guy in 1 and 2 can't get approached from the back and pushed, and if we feel he didn't have a role in this, that'll come into play.

"But it's going to be hard for us to do. We tried to avoid this all along because this isn't easy. And we're going to stay on top of this the best we can. That doesn't mean we're going to catch every one of them. But if somebody hooks up long enough, it's going to be pretty obvious. Obviously, it'll be more obvious to us on the last lap because we'll be watching pretty closely."

Carl Edwards said it's up to the drivers now to determine how much they want to possibly run afoul of NASCAR's watchful eye.

"We're all responsible for our front bumpers," Edwards said. "We can keep from running into one another. The hard part's going to be ... at the end of the race. Juan Montoya brought up some good questions in the meeting.

"Everybody's going to fudge a little bit. People are going to try and find the limits. Hopefully the penalties are not too severe, but severe enough to where people believe in not trying too hard, not pushing too much. It's going to be a little bit tough out there, as a driver, to decide how aggressive you want to be."

Please get me my gun now, shoot me now, because it is because of that 🤬 that I got extremely bored last night, so much so that I had to turn over to the X-Factor!

 

[CodeRedR51]

This says a lot from the Newman interview:

"Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other -- Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, all those guys have always done that. I guess they don't think much of us anymore."

 

[Ian Poole]

Absolutely, what would the likes of Petty, both Allisons, pearson, Earnhardt Sr. have made of that garbage that we saw.

 

[JohnBM01]

Big reveals! This is the Ford Mustang Nationwide car, in case you haven't seen it:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/13/mustang-stock-car-unveiled-for-nascar-nationwide-series/

And this is the recently-revealed Challenger stock car:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/31/dodge-challenger-nascar-nationwide-racer-unveiled


Unfortunately, I don't think there won't be a Camaro stock car. What do you make of these new cars for 2010?

 

[84SSccc]

I'm curious to see how they are going to do on some of the more aero-dependent tracks like Daytona or Talladega. Looks like it would be a brick compared to the Camry and Impala. The Mustang looks like it might have an advantage without that inset grille like the Challenger has.

 

[Northstar]

Absolutely, what would the likes of Petty, both Allisons, pearson, Earnhardt Sr. have made of that garbage that we saw.

I'm guessing they wouldn't be too happy.

It says something when more and more drivers are coming out and criticizing NASCAR. I think Edwards was right in the spring when he said someone is going to have to be killed before NASCAR does something.


Sadly they will now probably just shrink the restrictor plates more.👎

 

[RACECAR]

Love those cars, they just futher cement how much more fun Nationwide is gonna be.

 

[JohnBM01]

Make no mistake about it. While I do wish the Mustang and Challenger would have entries in Trans-Am (and maybe even Koni Challenge) than NASCAR, I don't like the Challenger stock car. I LOVE it! It would unfortunately mean that Toyota would need to come up with a mean car to contend along the Mustang and Challenger. Most people would (like us guys) would equate a Camry beating a Challenger or Mustang as being beaten by a girl.

To be honest... I'm starting to feel like I've only watched NASCAR just to see the FOX coverage. I do watch NASCAR, but I don't watch enough NASCAR to even get into any spirited debates on here. I feel that I need to watch more NASCAR races, watch more closely, and really follow some of the concern areas of races closer.