2017 NASCAR Thread

[BDKJMU]

Guess what milestone Danica just hit? 160 Cup races, running in top equipment, with 0 wins, 0 Top 5..

I was wrong it was 170 points races (10 in 2012, 36 a year 2013-2016, 16 this year). Now make it 171. And celebrating with Ricky postrace in victory lane (postrace on moved over to NBCSports) is the only time she'll ever see victory lane..

[93henfan]

NASCAR cancels the final round of qualifying at Kentucky for...

wait for it...

dark clouds.

Not a bolt of lightning to be seen. NBC was totally trying to help their cause, playing mics picking up heavy wind and panning the sky, but not one shot of lighting or falling rain could be found.

Wtf? People paid to attend the event. Either conduct it or give them their money back. This sport is killing itself.

[BDKJMU]

Wow what a dominating performance by Truex. Win both 1st 2 stages. Then leading entire final stage, with 2 laps to go by a whopping 15+ seconds when a caution came out due to Kurt Busch blowing an engine. When the other 8 cars on the lead lap got tires and Truex didn't I thought he was a sitting duck with 54ish lap old tires. And he still blew them a way on the OT restart (was helped by push from Larson)..Truex so dominant have to wonder if his car passed postrace..

[BDKJMU]

NASCAR cancels the final round of qualifying at Kentucky for...

wait for it...

dark clouds.

Not a bolt of lightning to be seen. NBC was totally trying to help their cause, playing mics picking up heavy wind and panning the sky, but not one shot of lighting or falling rain could be found.

Wtf? People paid to attend the event. Either conduct it or give them their money back. This sport is killing itself.

Yeah that was dumb. And the race had a good crowd there. Stands looked mostly (80% ish) full.

[CAA Flagship]

Wow what a dominating performance by Truex. Win both 1st 2 stages. Then leading entire final stage, with 2 laps to go by a whopping 15+ seconds when a caution came out due to Kurt Busch blowing an engine. When the other 8 cars on the lead lap got tires and Truex didn't I thought he was a sitting duck with 54ish lap old tires. And he still blew them a way on the OT restart (was helped by push from Larson)..Truex so dominant have to wonder if his car passed postrace..

Can't believe Truex beat Kyle Busch on a restart. Not sure if I have ever seen him do that. Busch must have spun his tires or something.

That said, it would have been tragic to dominate a race like that only to lose because of a caution with 2 laps left.

[BDKJMU]

Last Sat at Kentucky, Kyle Larson couldn't get through pre race inspection in time, missed qualifying, and had to start from the rear. Made his way to the front, then got a pit road speeding penalty, back to the rear. Made his way to the front again, and finished 2nd. Passed a whopping 90 cars. Well, this might explain it some. Post race inspection was found to have an illegal rear brake cooling assembly.
-2nd place finish at KY is encumbered.
-Penalized 35 driver points
-Gnassi penalized 35 owner points
-Crew chief Chad Johnston suspended three races & fined 75k.

Larson loses the regular season points lead to Truex, going from 1 point ahead to 34 points down. Big deal because 1st place finisher in regular season points gets an additional 15 bonus playoff points, 2nd place finisher in regular season points gets 10 bonus playoff points, 3rd place gets none..

[93henfan]

I was listening to the afternoon drive NASCAR talk on Sirius today and agreed with the host's take: NASCAR has to get races down to three hours, tops. These races are a chore for me to watch anymore, especially after warming up to F1. F1 races are over in and hour and a half for the most part and hold my attention and excitement throughout. NASCAR doesn't have to be that quick, but three hours is a good goal. 500 mile and/or lap races that historically average over 3 hours in duration should be cut down to make them average three hours or less. The only races I'd make exceptions for are the four grand slam races, the Daytona 500, Winston 500, World 600, and Southern 500.

I'd also do away with competition cautions and cautions for light debris and set guidelines on how long track cleanups should take and lengths of cautions. It shouldn't take more than five laps to clean up a small accident and ten laps to clean up a major accident or oil leak on the track. I've sat through routine cautions at Dover that took 20+ laps and it's infuriating. Also, stop with the catch-up cautions, which are not acknowledged by NASCAR but everyone knows it's going on. The leader has run off and left everyone, you say? So be it. There were races in the 70s where the second place car was five laps down. It obviously wasn't the end of the sport. It hadn't even peaked yet.

Do away with the restrictor plate. Pack racing sucks. Worried about cars going too fast? Fine, take away two cylinders or reduce cylinder size. Non-restricted six-bangers would be fun. Superspeedway racing was so much better when cars could slingshot each other with authority, and the top two or three or four cars could separate from the slop.

I'll stop there, but there's so much more that can be done. Too bad that Brian France doesn't appear capable to lead the salvage effort. All he really gives a shit about is that his helicopter is on time to get him to his corporate jet on time to get him to the second helicopter on time to get him to his yacht. He is so far out of touch with NASCAR fans it's a travesty.

[89Hen]

So you're saying NASCAR has a problem getting/retaining fans?

[dbackjon]

I was listening to the afternoon drive NASCAR talk on Sirius today and agreed with the host's take: NASCAR has to get races down to three hours, tops. These races are a chore for me to watch anymore, especially after warming up to F1. F1 races are over in and hour and a half for the most part and hold my attention and excitement throughout. NASCAR doesn't have to be that quick, but three hours is a good goal. 500 mile and/or lap races that historically average over 3 hours in duration should be cut down to make them average three hours or less. The only races I'd make exceptions for are the four grand slam races, the Daytona 500, Winston 500, World 600, and Southern 500.

I'd also do away with competition cautions and cautions for light debris and set guidelines on how long track cleanups should take and lengths of cautions. It shouldn't take more than five laps to clean up a small accident and ten laps to clean up a major accident or oil leak on the track. I've sat through routine cautions at Dover that took 20+ laps and it's infuriating. Also, stop with the catch-up cautions, which are not acknowledged by NASCAR but everyone knows it's going on. The leader has run off and left everyone, you say? So be it. There were races in the 70s where the second place car was five laps down. It obviously wasn't the end of the sport. It hadn't even peaked yet.

Do away with the restrictor plate. Pack racing sucks. Worried about cars going too fast? Fine, take away two cylinders or reduce cylinder size. Non-restricted six-bangers would be fun. Superspeedway racing was so much better when cars could slingshot each other with authority, and the top two or three or four cars could separate from the slop.

I'll stop there, but there's so much more that can be done. Too bad that Brian France doesn't appear capable to lead the salvage effort. All he really gives a shit about is that his helicopter is on time to get him to his corporate jet on time to get him to the second helicopter on time to get him to his yacht. He is so far out of touch with NASCAR fans it's a travesty.

Those damn Frenchies. Always ruining everything!


When I am dictator, my first 100 day plan will include appointing you head of NASCAR.

[93henfan]

So you're saying NASCAR has a problem getting/retaining fans?

[89Hen]

Me and hundreds of thousands of others.

Yeah, amazing how they can get an 8-year $2.4B contract with Fox and a 10-year $4.4B contract with NBC when nobody watches anymore.

Page 1 when you seemed to have your head in the sand.

[93henfan]

Yeah, amazing how they can get an 8-year $2.4B contract with Fox and a 10-year $4.4B contract with NBC when nobody watches anymore.

Page 1 when you seemed to have your head in the sand.

I'm sorry. I must have missed where NASCAR ripped up the contract out of a sense of integrity because they weren't holding up their end of the deal. Link?

[89Hen]

Page 1 when you seemed to have your head in the sand.

I'm sorry. I must have missed where NASCAR ripped up the contract out of a sense of integrity because they weren't holding up their end of the deal. Link?

Wow, holy denial Batman. I've said NASCAR was in trouble because they were losing more casual fans like me. You scoffed at the notion. Yes, they have the big deal now. They won't come next time.

[93henfan]

I'm sorry. I must have missed where NASCAR ripped up the contract out of a sense of integrity because they weren't holding up their end of the deal. Link?

Wow, holy denial Batman. I've said NASCAR was in trouble because they were losing more casual fans like me. You scoffed at the notion. Yes, they have the big deal now. They won't come next time.

Denial of what? I've never said NASCAR hasn't lost fans. Pretty much every major sport in the US has, including at the college level.

You implied that the sport was about to fail. I just pointed out that it' not going to fail while it's getting gobs and gobs of money from the TV networks. Hell, it won't even fail after that; it'll just be smaller, like it was in every preceding decade before the 2000's. Obviously the next contracts are going to be smaller, unless there's a rebound between now and then. I don't know if it's public knowledge, but I can pretty much guarantee Monster Energy is not paying NASCAR the same that Sprint did. The new contracts are always going to depend on "what have you done for me lately?"

[89Hen]

You implied that the sport was about to fail.

[93henfan]

You implied that the sport was about to fail.

Go back to your first post in the thread.

[89Hen]

Are they still having this?

That's where I said the sport was about to fail?

[93henfan]

Are they still having this?

That's where I said the sport was about to fail?

Well, what did you mean then?

[93henfan]

Are they still having this?

That's where I said the sport was about to fail?

Well, what did you mean then? Seems like an odd way to say you think it's doing well.

[BDKJMU]

Massive TV deals run through the 2024 season
http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/news ... al-ratings

NASCAR has been dealing with a decade+ long attendance slide. It think it could take a big hit next year with Jr gone, with sub 50k crowds the norm, 30-40k in the stands.

Team Sponsorship $$ has declined. Some cup teams are struggling to get primary sponsors. The then 4th place Xfinity car had to cease operations because of lack of sponsors. One of he top Truck teams almost folded because of the same reason.

The real hit will be when the new TV deal(s) are announced for 2025 and beyond. I suspect they'll be MUCH smaller.

Bottom line is NASCAR, the teams, the tracks will just have to adjust to dealing with far less revenue. But its not going to fold/fail. It can survive with less $$ & crowds. Heck, there's leagues racing on local tracks all over the country operatong a tiny fraction of the $$ NASCAR does with only a few hundred people in the stands..

[BDKJMU]

Wow, holy denial Batman. I've said NASCAR was in trouble because they were losing more casual fans like me. You scoffed at the notion. Yes, they have the big deal now. They won't come next time.

Denial of what? I've never said NASCAR hasn't lost fans. Pretty much every major sport in the US has, including at the college level.

You implied that the sport was about to fail. I just pointed out that it' not going to fail while it's getting gobs and gobs of money from the TV networks. Hell, it won't even fail after that; it'll just be smaller, like it was in every preceding decade before the 2000's. Obviously the next contracts are going to be smaller, unless there's a rebound between now and then. I don't know if it's public knowledge, but I can pretty much guarantee Monster Energy is not paying NASCAR the same that Sprint did. The new contracts are always going to depend on "what have you done for me lately?"

This.

[CAA Flagship]

I think NASCAR is in good shape going forward. A lot of good young drivers that will grab the attention of fans. Recent retirements of Edwards, Gordon, Stewart, E Jr (soon), M Waltrip, etc. have left fans searching for new favorites. It's a lot like golf. There is a drop off from Tiger Woods but now people are noticing Speith, Fowler, Thomas, Koepka, Reed, Johnson, McIlroy, Scott, etc. and the sport is doing fine.

[BDKJMU]

Yesterday:
"NASCAR names Brent Dewar as fourth president in sport's history

NASCAR has chosen Brent Dewar as the fourth president in the sport's 70-year history. The sanctioning body is expected to make the announcement Thursday afternoon, according to SportBusinessDaily.com.

Dewar, who joined NASCAR in 2014 after more than 30 years at General Motorsports, will assume the position immediately. He had been serving as the sport's chief operating officer.

Dewar succeeds Mike Helton as NASCAR president. Helton, who assumed the post in 2000, had been promoted to NASCAR vice chairman in 2015. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and his son, Bill France Jr., served as the sport's first two presidents.

Dewar has played a key role in several major changes in the sport since his arrival in 2014. He helped create NASCAR's ownership charter system, which gave longtime teams a form of ownership equity in the sport. He was also instrumental in the acquisition of Monster Energy as sponsor of NASCAR's top series.

This season, Dewar helped develop the format that modified NASCAR races into three-stage events.

According to SportBusinessDaily.com, Dewar's hands-on approach in the sport is unlikely to change in his new role, and NASCAR executive VPs Steve Phelps and Steve O'Donnell are expected to continue reporting to Dewar.

Veteran industry observer Bob Pockrass of ESPN tweeted that Dewar's promotion is "a vote of confidence/approval in the way the sport is being run, especially on the business end.""
http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/news ... n0c31vmtxh

That last part doesn't sound good. Anyway, what NASCAR really needs to do is get rid of current chairman and CEO Brian France.

[93henfan]

The guru of gimmick was promoted. Not good at all.

[89Hen]

That's where I said the sport was about to fail?

Well, what did you mean then? Seems like an odd way to say you think it's doing well.

Please fanboy, GMAFB. I think I posted that same tagline 4-5 times on the 2016 NASCAR thread. The better question is why did you post..

]Yeah, amazing how they can get an 8-year $2.4B contract with Fox and a 10-year $4.4B contract with NBC when nobody watches anymore.

If you didn't mean they weren't losing attendance.