New Chase format delivers 'Game 7 moments' Brian France hoped for | FOX Sports have a go at this...game seven no less!
MWR isn't any worse than the others, they just got hit with a penalty for it because NASCAR decided to try to penalize something concrete, rather than Bowyers spin. They haven't enforced that 100% since, and I've seen a lot of laying back, and giving up spots all year. It was a case of we can't really for sure penalize you for a, so we'll lay the smack down for this other thing. At Richmond two championships ago, as soon as Jeff passed Hamlin, with 3 laps to go, Denny, well, "he came in for fuel" - ie, gave a spot to Kyle Busch. Preeeety darn obvious. If you can stay at the front, no shenanigans can take your championship race, but over a long race, thats pretty hard to do. Harvick has been some what of a checkers or wreckers driver this year, ferociously fast car, doesn't always bring it home. He'll likely either win the championship with a race win, or wind up with mechanical/pit failure/wrecked. And yes, Ford plays team orders, and they'll be briefing their drivers ahead of time with a "reminder", and probably a "bonus" to all Ford drivers if a Ford wins. This is also probably part of the reason Carl and Kenseth have left Ford for Toyota - they wanna race, and politics be darned.
actually I think MWR has proven to be more unethical than most other teams over the course of their existence. sure, everyone bends the rules and games the system, but they're either more intentional or less stealth about it. that "drive 100%" nonsense was completely unenforceable, that was the big farce about it. agree re: Harvick and the Ford teams.
And, there are those words "manufactured drama" again. Viewpoints - MILLER: NASCAR?s lame new Chase format, plus two very different ways to say goodbye? BHW
Unofficial Chase Standings using 2013 Sprint Cup Chase rules: [after Phoenix, race 35 of 36] 1) #22-Joey Logano [5 wins] 2368 2) #4-Kevin Harvick [4 wins] 2342, -29 3) #2-Brad Keselowski [6 wins], 2320, -48 4) #24-Jeff Gordon [4 wins] 2312, -56 5) #31-Ryan Newman, 2311, -57 6) #20-Matt Kenseth, 2296, -72 7) #99-Carl Edwards [2 wins] 2278, -90 8) #18-Kyle Busch [1 win] 2277, -91 9) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [4 wins], 2271, -97 10) #16-Greg Biffle [1 win], 2244, -124 11) #48-Jimmie Johnson [4 wins], 2239, -129 12) #5-Kasey Kahne [1 win], 2199, -169 BHW
irrelevant, all that matters now is finishing in front of the other 3. apparently bonus points are irrelevant at homestead too. I'm really hoping there's a "big one" five laps in and the chase contenders finish 40-43rd. with Newman finishing 40th of course what a joke.
Hollywood couldn't have come up with a better script than that sham of a race at Homestead yesterday. How could anyone have predicted that the top four contenders would be sitting 1-2-3-4 in the race with mere laps to go? What melancholy sorcery is this? The race was Jeff Gordon's to lose. He consistently ran at the front of the pack, emerged in first place after each pit stop only to mysteriously forego a pit stop at a critical caution period which put paid to his chances, an obvious call from above. The only other kink in the script was the Penske team letting Logano down in the pits after dropping the car off the jack, and what the hell was that anyway? That "race" was as tightly scripted as any WWE match with no one (NO ONE) other than Gordon even having a look-in. How this NASCAR qualifies as a sport is beyond me. If these races aren't permitted as "sports entertainment", they certainly should be. BHW
lol that was some pretty epic race engineering. what was great was the entire broadcast focused solely on those 4 cars....everyone else was window dressing. why not just have a four car shootout?
It was amazing how Gordon just disappeared? It's surprising that a seasoned driver and crew would make a decision like they did and completely screw up any chance to win unless they were prodded?
I wonder how big of a check Gordon/Hendrick got for that one I also wonder how blatantly illegal all the Chase cars were since NASCAR's long standing policy has been cheaters keep the win and take a points/$$$ penalty, and since finishing position determined the championship, I'd have had a supercharger and oversized tires on my car.
A little bit of that and a little bit of prodding from the locked box high above the track talking to everyone on the track on their split frequency radios telling them to get out of the way of the contenders. The whole thing is a farce. They've taken what once was a great tradition and made a mockery of it. BHW
serious question Barton...was there a time you were a fan of NASCAR? I was, but can't say I am now. I'm not so sure about you
this was an equally big area of concern for me... as much pure race talent as that darling lady has, she not being mentioned at least a dozen or so times is simply not acceptable by any measure! at least mention how she got her third lucky dog to help keep her on the lead lap...at least mention her during the mystery debris caution that always seems to come out as the leader is about to put her a lap down...just mention her for crying out loud!!!!
Whenever a championship is on the line - a team puts the micro machined months to machine parts together into a special engine. Watch how when it was between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, how there wasn't a car in the field even close. Teams also know the camera's won't be on them, so why waste a good race engine for a result that will simply be an "also ran". Combine the two factors, and the championship contending cars will have a huge performance gap to the non contenders. You don't have to script them to the front, the reward for being there does it on its own. Since I knew there might be 43 cars out there with only 4 getting TV time, I figured I'd rather read about the race than watch it. Especially given the end result of a stand up guy like Harvick winning.
so you're saying 39 teams showed up with a half assed effort? again, why not just make it a 4 car, 10 lap shootout? I dunno, but if I was a team owner and each race had a mid to high six figure budget, and I was contractually obligated to the sport and my sponsors to field a car, might as well go ahead and do your best....
Forget mentioning her, just keep showing her bikini pics and the Go Daddy ads with the heavy girl/girl overtones, that'll keep me coming back. Perhaps not an artistic way of putting it, but there you have it. BHW
The non-competing teams were told to stand down just as they were in the Stewart/Edwards finale. This is done by NASCAR race control via split frequency radio, all the cars carry the antennas. There must have been some very heated radio exchanges between Gordon's pits and race control, I'd love to hear some of that. Teams that would dare to interfere with the NASCAR narrative at their own peril in the way of sanctions and their t-shirt and trinket (where they're making their real money) sales closed for the day and foreseeable future. And, what about these teams running with the bodywork extenders fore the rear wheel arches? Logano's crew pulled his body work out away from the car a foot and a half and that is okay. But, have their rear spoiler 1/1,000,000th of an inch to high or low, that's a sanctionin', finin' and suspendin' the crew chief. Understanding NASCAR is like understanding how airplanes fly or sumthin. BHW