NASCAR/Auto Racing Discussion

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

Sad News out of NASCAR this afternoon. JD Gibbs, the cofounder of JGR and son of Joe Gibbs has passed away following a long battle with a neurological disease. He was 49 years old.

[LeafFerret 3,382]

13 hours ago, Thunderstrike said:

Sad News out of NASCAR this afternoon. JD Gibbs, the cofounder of JGR and son of Joe Gibbs has passed away following a long battle with a neurological disease. He was 49 years old.

I'm quite sad about this, I remember seeing an interview he did with ESPN back in 2008 and now he's no longer with us, it's very hard for everyone in the sport especially the Gibbs team.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

On 1/13/2019 at 5:51 AM, Chrysalis89 said:

I'm quite sad about this, I remember seeing an interview he did with ESPN back in 2008 and now he's no longer with us, it's very hard for everyone in the sport especially the Gibbs team.

It's hard when anyone associated with the sport dies. It is however inevitable.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

More sad news from NASCAR

Legendary NASCAR owner Glen Wood, one half of the set of brothers who own the legendary Wood Brothers team, has died at the age of 93.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

Buried under all the sad news as of late is the announcement of a joint venture between Spire Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing. They have formed a partnership to field the #40 McDonalds/Bass Pro Shops/ Cessna Chevrolet for what will likely be Jamie McMurray's final NASCAR start for the Daytona 500.

We are now officially less than a month away from the Daytona 500. With there still being a few open seats in the top touring series, more information should be incoming as we get closer to the season's start.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

The countdown is on for the official start to Speedweeks. LIttle over 6 days from now is the ARCA Daytona 250 on Saturday. Besides the 500, what is you guy's favorite event of Speedweeks?

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

NASCAR is back baby! On Sunday, we had qualifying for the front row of the Daytona 500, along with the Advance Auto Parts Clash

Before qualifying even started, the car chiefs of Austin and Ty Dillon, as well Chase Elliott, were ejected from the track due to the cars failing prequalifying tech inspection twice.

Starting with the qualifying, Hendrick Motorsports swept the top 4 spots, with William Byron and Alex Bowman taking the front row. The rest of the 40 car field will be set Thursday evening with the Daytona duel qualifying races.

Now on to the Clash. The race was mostly a snorefest, with Paul Menard leading most of the event. The race was red flagged three different times due to persisant heavy mist and light rain showers. The race ended following the final caution. Jimmie Johnson got a good run on Menard as they raced down the backstretch. Menard through a late block, triggering a large crash which effectively ended the race. Johnson would end up with the win, Kurt Busch in his first run with Chip Ganassi finishing second, Joey Logano 3rd, Ryan Blaney 4th, and Alex Bowman 5th. The rest of the top ten: 6th Austin Dillon, 7th Chase Elliott, 8th Aric Almirola, 9th Ryan Newman, and 10th Daniel Suarez. Other notables include Jamie McMurray finishing 11th in what is probably his last Clash appearance and Kevin Harvick in 12th.

[nx9100 1,013]

8 hours ago, Thunderstrike said:

Jimmie Johnson got a good run on Menard as they raced down the backstretch. Menard through a late block, triggering a large crash which effectively ended the race.

Personally, I agree with what one of the commentators (don't remember which one) said, in that Johnson mis-judged the distance he was trying to clear Menard by, and ran into the #21.  Menard barley moved, and Johnson got into his bumper and turned him.  We saw plenty of side-draft passes yesterday and no one else made that mistake.  My belief that it's Johnson's fault, not Menard's for a possible block attempt.

Also, was disappointed that they didn't just wait out the rain.  Daytona's got lights.  Guess NASCAR wanted to give a win to "7-Time the Third", since he hasn't won since spring of '17.

8 hours ago, Thunderstrike said:

...Paul Menard leading most of the event

Hopefully a good sign for Team Penske's performance this Sunday!  

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

14 hours ago, nx9100 said:

Also, was disappointed that they didn't just wait out the rain.  Daytona's got lights.  Guess NASCAR wanted to give a win to "7-Time the Third", since he hasn't won since spring of '17.

NASCAR and the track decided not to use the lights. Guess they didn't want it to end under the lights. And I watched the accident from Kurt Busch's onboard camera. Menard came down to attempt a block on Johnson.

[nx9100 1,013]

8 hours ago, Penguinbrony2409 said:

And I watched the accident from Kurt Busch's onboard camera. Menard came down to attempt a block on Johnson.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, lol.  In my opinion, Menard did move to block, but Johnson still didn't give enough clearance.  Rubbing is racing, I guess....

Onward to the 500!

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

15 hours ago, nx9100 said:

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, lol.  In my opinion, Menard did move to block, but Johnson still didn't give enough clearance.  Rubbing is racing, I guess....

Onward to the 500!

actually, onward to the Duel qualifying races Thursday Night. wanna see Chase win his for the third straight year, but i'll be happy as long as he doesn't tear up his car. Then a full weekend of action.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

Here's a look at the weekend down in Daytona.

The season officially kicked off with a wild wreckfest of a Truck Race that took place Friday Night. Austin Hill and Hattori Racing Enterprises picked up where they left off 2018, winning the season opening race down at Daytona. Grant Enfinger, Ross Chastain, Spencer Boyd, and Matt Crafton rounded out the top 5. Natalie Decker, making her debut in the truck series, crashed early in the race and ended up 32nd.

The Xfinity series took to the track on Saturday. It was a significantly cleaner race than the race the previous night. Michael Annett ended up winning for the first time in his career. The rest of the top 5: Justin Allgaier 2nd, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, and Austin Cindric rounding out the top 5. Jeff Green ended up with a top 10 run in the 7th spot. Jeffery Earnhardt started second and led 29 laps of the race, but ultimately faded to finish in the 15th position.

And on to the great american race, the Daytona 500. This was a fairly calm race for the first half of the event. From halfway on, it was an all out crashfest, as well over half the field ended up having damaged cars. Denny Hamlin survived the demo derby to pick up his second career win in NASCAR's premier event. Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 5. Jimmie Johnson came home in 9th place with a torn up race car, with top 10 as well for Ross Chastain. Pole Sitter William Byron was one of the dominant cars of the day, ultimately ending up in the big one. Same thing with Matt DiBennedetto. Chase Elliott also got swept up in a late race crash, finishing 17th.

 

And on we go now to Atlanta, where we have a double header of Xfinity and Truck Series action on Saturday. Sunday is the MENCS race, as is the norm.

 

[nx9100 1,013]

Brad Keslowski wins in Atlanta!  Wish I could have been there.  Was at the track yesterday for Xfinity and truck races with great clips coupon.  New brad was sick with a stand by driver, but he toughed it out and made a late race surge!

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

4 hours ago, nx9100 said:

Brad Keslowski wins in Atlanta!  Wish I could have been there.  Was at the track yesterday for Xfinity and truck races with great clips coupon.  New brad was sick with a stand by driver, but he toughed it out and made a late race surge!

Had Austin Cindric as standby. I don't know how he gutted it out, but it's a heck of a drive when you're sick as a dog and he went out there and just plowed over the other guys.

[nx9100 1,013]

Austin Cindric drove for Brad in the Xfinity race and scored a top ten, not to shabby.  And he was in Brad's cup car for half the practice time Saturday, just in case he was needed for sunday.  Saw a funny post of the team taping rookie stripes on the #2 for practice, lol.  

Hat's off to Truex for a great battle for the lead!

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

16 hours ago, nx9100 said:

Austin Cindric drove for Brad in the Xfinity race and scored a top ten, not to shabby.  And he was in Brad's cup car for half the practice time Saturday, just in case he was needed for sunday.  Saw a funny post of the team taping rookie stripes on the #2 for practice, lol.  

Hat's off to Truex for a great battle for the lead!

And now on to Vegas, where the weather is looking significantly warmer and less... snowy than this time last week. Hoping the chevys figure this freakin' package out.

[Meson Bolt 2,650]

Ehhhhhmmmm... I'm not really into NASCAR, like, at all. So much so that I don't feel right posting in this topic.

The most I've ever been into it is having a NASCAR video game, and even then... I didn't really know what was going on. I'd either try and win the race (with all the bots set on easy, of course), or just see how big a crash I could cause. xD

I have vague memories of watching races when I was really young. My dad always cheered for the #20 Home Depot car (Google tells me the driver was Tony Stewart). I have this one distinct memory of tuning in from a commercial break, and seeing the #20 car almost completely airborne, before it spiraled into a massive crash. That was... well, it was pretty funny to me as a kid. My dad was angry. x3

I dunno, I just don't see the appeal of driving around in a circle for 5 hours. :v

[Prospekt 11,037]

I don't think I've mentioned before that a friend of mine is one of the best short track drivers in my state right now. He won two rookie of the year awards in super late models and legend cars, respectively.

Now, this is Colorado, so drivers here don't necessarily have the kind of notoriety that drivers from other parts of the country might have. But he dreams of making it big in racing and who knows, he might just reach that point someday. He's now starting out in the SRL series that runs in the southwest.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:41 AM, Meson Bolt said:

Ehhhhhmmmm... I'm not really into NASCAR, like, at all. So much so that I don't feel right posting in this topic.

The most I've ever been into it is having a NASCAR video game, and even then... I didn't really know what was going on. I'd either try and win the race (with all the bots set on easy, of course), or just see how big a crash I could cause. xD

I have vague memories of watching races when I was really young. My dad always cheered for the #20 Home Depot car (Google tells me the driver was Tony Stewart). I have this one distinct memory of tuning in from a commercial break, and seeing the #20 car almost completely airborne, before it spiraled into a massive crash. That was... well, it was pretty funny to me as a kid. My dad was angry. x3

I dunno, I just don't see the appeal of driving around in a circle for 5 hours. :v

It's all about racing, not just particular NASCAR. The appeal I see in it is the history, the prestige, and just having something to do every Sunday from February to November. Besides, i'm a live long race fan who grew up watching races at the local dirt track near where I grew up. Dirt track racing here in Illinois runs deep.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Penguinbrony2409

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

On 3/12/2019 at 1:17 PM, Prospekt said:

I don't think I've mentioned before that a friend of mine is one of the best short track drivers in my state right now. He won two rookie of the year awards in super late models and legend cars, respectively.

Now, this is Colorado, so drivers here don't necessarily have the kind of notoriety that drivers from other parts of the country might have. But he dreams of making it big in racing and who knows, he might just reach that point someday. He's now starting out in the SRL series that runs in the southwest.

Never know, might end up getting discovered someday. I personally hope he does.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,303]

Sorry about the lack of updates to this discussion as of late. We've seen a lot of changes to the NASCAR schedule for next year. I want to hear you guy's thoughts on the changes beginning in 2020.

[LeafFerret 3,382]

We're about to witness the last Firecracker 400 at Daytona for the time being and I do have some good memories about this particular 2009 and 2010 and I hope I can get used to Indy being at this date in the future.

Also coming is probably my favourite race on the calendar, Silverstone, the home track of F1 and you know what I'm like with birthplaces with stuff. 

[Prospekt 11,037]

Jimmie Johnson is finally calling it quits after next year, man oh man time has flown by... I've been a #48 fan since I was 4 years old, because it was my grandparents who introduced me to NASCAR and my grandpa worked at Lowe's back in the day. I'm not expecting Jimmie to win that coveted 8th title in his final attempt. Anything can happen with the playoff championship format, but he has been winless since the June 2017 race at Dover and can barely even finish in the top 5 anymore so honestly I doubt he will even make it back to the playoffs...

Oh well, my other favorite driver for the past several years has been Martin Truex Jr. and he has been spectacular.

[Lucky Bolt 35,249]

Jimmie Johnson wins 2020 cup title. Already calling it.