Thread: I watched the NASCAR race yesterday....

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Yep-I watched the race.Honestly I do understand very well the reasons behind the rules.It does make it fair for everyone.I was kind of disappointed in the race through.A winner straight up from racing is something I enjoy much more............over a winner by default.

HUH??? Let's see, Carl Edwards choked and broke the rules with an early start, pay a penalty.. Then Smokey's team has a problem in the pits costs him the lead... Kyle's crew changes 4, adds fuel and resets their previous adjustments and get's him out in under 13 seconds!

Where is the default? The WHOLE TEAM won that race! IMHO...

Well what I was talking about is Jimmie gets a penalty for a crew member rolling a tire(wouldn't it be enough just he losing time on the pit stop because of the error?)Carl's early start was really kind of close and by no means didn't have NASCAR communications confusion involved as far as his position in the race on the restart,and Smoke was kind of ticked by a caution over a mere plastic bottle on the track that I agree with him.

The restart issue aside,man just let them race to decide the winner.

put them in a 4k lbs galaxy with a working cigar light then let them race nascar

Amen!!.

Well, take the '64 season for example then. Big cars and minimal rules... Joe Weatherly and Fireball Roberts were both killed. Petty was running the new Hemi and wrapped up the Grand National Championship with 7 races still to go. If I recall, one of them was the old track in Augusta where he won by a full lap over Ned Jarrett who finished second!!!! At any given race in the 60's there was maybe a dozen cars capable of winning the race, and another 40 cars just out their running with much lesser quality equipment and financing. The Hemi cars ruled, with the Ford 427's about their only competition till Smokey came along with the big block Chevy in his 7/8 scale Chevelle!!!! At most of the races when the checkered flag fell there was maybe 7 to 10 cars even on the lead lap.... The cars with Factory backing, be it up front or out the back door, were the dominant cars, and the others were not even close on horsepower...Petty won his first of seven championships.

Having been following NASCAR since the early 60's, IMO the last 5 years have been some of the closest, most competitive racing ever. Points battles coming down to the last race of the season, even a bit of push and shove among driver's and crews at various races. Qualifying speeds are often less then a few tenths difference from 1st to 43rd!!! If a car has 5 more horsepower, or the tiniest bit less drag it becomes the "dominant" car that day, sometimes leading by as much as a full straightaway.... The rules are approaching zero tolerance on interpretation, the driver's are the cream of the crop from throughout Motorsports, and the winning car is the best prepared and most efficient team come race day. Sure, it's become a rich man's sport, what hasn't? It takes big bucks and big sponsorship to show up with a car every week that is capable of winning, but the same is true and most any dirt track throughout the country!

In 1964 we were racing Karts, had two of them. One for dirt and one for asphalt road courses. Probably a total of $2,000.00 investment. Today, to put one Outlaw sprint car on the track capable of winning would require a minimum of $100.000.00 and that would barely cover the cost of one of everything and a few spare shocks, bars, and wheels. The money is crazy, but it's what you have to spend to be competitive and have good racing, if you don't have that you have no fans, no money, no sponsors, no racing. Running with today's technology and yesterday's rules would have cars going 250+ mph, and probably result in a dozen or so dead driver's a year.

Having been around racing these years, IMO things are progressing just fine and the racing has never been better!!!

I just think that on the longer races they should race longer--too many pit stops now and I remember when Nascar made the fuel cells smaller to get more pit action--now they have the late cautions for debries on the track that makes it a circular drag race with restarts for green white checker until somebody runs out ta fuel, somebody else crashes 10 cars up front---oh yeh, with the restartys they are all upfront---watching biscuits brown thru the glass door on the oven is more exciting----

Crazy as it sounds,NASCAR has road courses,short tracks,super speedway tracks,and should include each yr one clay track to be sure no one ever,ever, forgets their roots................

I wonder if the Paul Menards teem got penalized for the tire getting loose and going onto pit lane. I did not see or hear that there was a penalty for that.

Paul was sent to the back of the lead lap cars for the loose tire---the idiot pit dude who ran after it got a good talking to by the NASCAR official who was there...

As for NASCAR Sprint Cup running on dirt--yeah, another couple million in setting up a few dirt track cars for one race a year wouldn't exactly be cost efficient!!! There are a number of NASCAR Divisions that run on dirt on tracks across the country. If you want to see how these guys do on dirt, watch Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream race at Eldora!!!!

This weekends races, including Denny Hamilton's race on Thursday night were good races!!! Thursday and Friday's events were decided on the last lap with cars bouncing off each other and off the wall, and Saturday's Cup race was 2 and 3 wide racing from green to checkers.... If that's not good racing, I guess I don't know what is! As for bigger fuel cells, I like the fact that a really red hot crew knocking off a low 13 second stop can move their car up a few positions--and vice versa! Pit crews have long been overlooked for their importance in getting a car in the winner's circle, I like the attention given the crew for both good and bad stops! Somebody running out of fuel during a couple of green/white/checker's is a result of poor strategy on the crew chief's part, bigger fuel cells would also tend to promote fuel mileage racing which IMO isn't exactly edge of your seat excitement, either! Winning in NASCAR is no longer just a matter of having the best driver or the biggest checkbook, it has become a team sport, takes a heck of a good team to win!!!!

Thanks Dave, I did not see that. But wonder why the different penaltys. A run through the pit lane under green is a lot worse than going to the back.

Also, at one point I thought that Kyle had been caught a lap down when a caution came out so he got the lucky dog. But he started back up with the leaders instead of behind the whole line. Did they change that rule?

Originally Posted by Bug

Thanks Dave, I did not see that. But wonder why the different penaltys. A run through the pit lane under green is a lot worse than going to the back.

Also, at one point I thought that Kyle had been caught a lap down when a caution came out so he got the lucky dog. But he started back up with the leaders instead of behind the whole line. Did they change that rule?

Don't know for sure on that one, didn't see the whole deal....The one thing that could account for KB starting up with the leaders is that a bunch of cars took a wave around to catch up????

From NASCAR website;

Lap 318: Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch lead the field to the green.
Lap 315: Kyle Busch pits a second time. He was a lap down as most of the field had pitted under green, then got the free pass - which allows him to pit and hold position. Several drivers will take the wavearound as they had already pitted as well.
Lap 314: Carl Edwards pits from the lead.

Part of the lucky dog rule is this

“The rule allows the driver of the next lapped car or truck behind the leader to gain back a lap during a caution. The driver is called to move to the end of the longest line of the cars at the end of that caution period.”

The problem that I see is that KB brought his car way up front into the first 3 or 4 rows and not behind the longest line. I understand about the wave around cars, but I am sure that there were not 20 or 30 of them.

Who knows. I guess we will see if there is any mention of it this week. I might also have been remembering a different caution period.

Well, I'm certain the other 42 teams who's scorers also keep track of each car including their own would be howling if it was wrong!