But wait a minute....that would open a door for Carl... He ain't no hack.... edit: And he's a real "A" lister.... "Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..." lorenzobandini
One word describes Nascar Boring. Any one here ever been to a sprint car race? Non stop action that does not last 3 or 4 hours
Prolly not. But they can for Danica? I presume they're already ramped up for the season, so why not for a proven winner as opposed to a proven loser. (don't even mention the luckout Japan)
I have been to multiple, it really depends on the race itself. I find that the Gen 6 car, they removed the ride height rule; is indeed very boring at my nearest speed way. As the team's have gotten better at setting up the cars, even qualifying itself was not very interesting when I was there last October. I'm a bit of an odd ball, I've done multiple 24 hr kart races as a driver, most people would find that quite boring, but I enjoy it. The slower speeds of the karts, tend to a lack of full course yellows or use of pace cars, your position at the end is without manipulation. Its the manipulation factor that is causing me to lose interest in NASCAR racing. I have not been back to the 600 at Charlotte, since they broke a long green flag run for a phantom caution. I was enjoying watching the leader put almost the entire field a lap down. I think only 5 or six cars were on the lead lap. The wave around was pretty silly, dang near the whole field took it. For sure there were less than 10 lead lap cars, I no longer remember the exact number. Casey Kane was the one in the dominating car for that run. A run like that should be rewarded, and not have it all given back to the others on a whim of a yellow for nothing.
Gibbs could have run a 4th car, which would have made more sense, *IF* Slim wanted a guy in so bad (which I doubt). Then, JGR would have 25% more income, as ownership is where the money is. Carl Edwards' wife is an RN (or a Dr.?), I think the concussion that Jr. suffered had a big impact on his decision, and as was said, Carl doesn't need the money.
The lights have come on in Daytonner. NASCAR rules makers (you know, that invisible committee that sits in their fake wood paneled walled offices in Daytonner spit-balling all sorts of insane ideas such as the new "Segmented Races" and "Timed Cautions", "Green-White-Checker Overtime", etc.) have finally come to their senses in releasing the new rule that if a car is severely damaged in an incident and have to return to the paddock for repairs are not allowed to return to the track effective immediately in all series. As anyone who's read my criticisms of NASCAR remembers, for me this has always been a sticking point as NASCAR loves to tout itself as being so safety conscious and holding true to keeping the cars legally within their templates, etc, etc. But, how NASCAR has walked this fine line has always been curious. They'll fine and/or suspend ("Dat dere is a finin and suspendin") a driver, team crew chief or owner points and money if a rear spoiler is 1/1,000,000th of a centimeter too high or low. But, they'd allow a car to go back out onto the track after suffering serious damage in one of the "Big Ones" to be little more than parts-dropping mobile chicanes that often times caused more serious incidents resulting in more cautions all so the driver may score two points. It has never made any sense. At least they've come up with a seemingly sensible new rule, one in 1,000. Let's see how it is ultimately implemented. NASCAR - NASCAR implements new damaged vehicle policy BHW
they also finally have committed to doing a traveling safety team, like Indy, F1, ALMS and countless other sanctioning bodies have done for years but yes, let's give NASCAR props for a couple of wise decisions.
Give them a little time though because we all know that they'll find a way to screw up something else this week. BHW
I get the feeling the NASCAR folks in Daytonner are reading this forum! And, no doubt, there will be one to three absurd new rules changes between now and the start of the Daytonner 500. But, this one is finally logical, correct and as pointed out, long over due. It would be interesting to go back in history to see how many times a race has been ruined by NASCAR allowing what amounts to junked cars back out onto the track. My guess is dozens. BHW
I remember an incident with Tony Stewart a few years back on a road course ? He got wrecked and went to the garage, ANY other car owner would have said "You are done park it" but Tony being Tony and being the owner spends ??? 30-45 minutes putting it back together. His only goal was get back out there and smash/crash the other guy, and he did. I just remember the end result was Tony with the back of his car 6' in the air on top of a tire stack...... I don't recall if NASCAR fined/punished him, but it was something you would only see in NASCAR .
NASCAR really started changing things after Dale Sr crash. Then a year or so later Dale Jarrett stalled on the front stretch at a super speedway and damn near got hit by a lap down car trying to get his lap back before the start/finish line. This gave us the lucky dog, freezing the pack, etc when a caution came out. It was the beginning of the end for me at that point. I remember when if you blew a tire so long as your not shredding things there was no caution. You swipe the wall, no caution. Now days, they throw a flag for anything. If they truly want to see how rating have declined look at the timelines of when they started doing this stuff and when tickets sales started to decline. Racing is a dangerous sport but they seem to have taken the sport out of it for safety's sake. As Dale Sr once said, if he gets killed on the track then that is the price he is willing to pay to do what he loves.
I never recall that happening with Tony bringing a torn up car out of the garage ending up with the back of his car up on the tires like you mention. I do however, remember in 2011, at Sonoma, Brian Victors doing his typical mentally unstable bone headed "payback" of real or imagined offenses; and it involved Tony Stewart's car ending up on the tires like that. Brian was I think a lap down, and just didn't brake into one of the hair pins, making a bee line with hard velocity difference into Tony's rear bumper. Its one of the few cases where Vickers actually retaliated on something real, often, he was just completely off the handle. I believe Tony was a lead lap car. I have seen real, "what the heck" in pretty much every series. NASCAR actually has a fairly low rate per race or per driver, however, because of the long calendar, and larger field size, it seems like its more prominent than it really is. Also, because of the name recognition, and size of the sport, the what the heck moments in other series simply do not make the new cycle. Where as when it involves a house hold name like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordan, etc, it makes the news cycle. I think the "if it has to go to the garage" rule, should only apply to bodywork damage. Changing a shock, transmission part, etc, let it go back out there. The thing is, most of the cases of things flying of the car, aren't from a car that went to the garage, but from a car that was fixed in the pit stall. Unless they address pit stall repairs, it really doesn't do a lot. Most of the incidents with torn up cars going to the garage, and going back onto the track, are the really short tracks. Typically, the fenders, and hood, are completely removed, and the car goes back out with a nearly naked front end. There isn't anything to fall off in this case, and the track isn't aerodynamically as intense, so with a great driver, it may be running at low budget team speeds even without the body. If a car can't hold up a safe speed, its black flagged.
