2014 NASCAR Thread

[BDKJMU]

The guy tied for most wins this season and the 2nd most top 5s may be out to with Keselowski as well.

Yep, he had tire trouble too.

How can Goodyear bring an obviously fragile tire to such a critical race? Earnhardt Jr, Logano, and Keselowski (in that order - I watched every lap) were the class of the field yesterday and two of them crash due to tire failure. And the tire failure was not caused by debris. The tires simply disintegrated. Jr. said he was in turn three watching the tire unravel and by turn four in popped and he went straight into the wall. Unreal.

Yep. Started off the 2nd round of Chase with a driver like Keselowski with 5 wins was = to Chase drivers Newman & Kenseth with 0 wins. Total crap.

Now Goodyear brings a crap tire to Kansas, and a slew of drivers have tire problems. Now you have Keselowski, 5 wins, finished 36th; Earnhardt, 3 wins, finished 39th; and Johnson 3 wins, finished 40th, 3 of the most popular drivers, all not likely to make the 3rd round of the Chase, final 8 drivers, unless they can win one of the next 2 races at Charlotte next Saturday night or the following Sunday at Talladega, through no fault of their own, but simply because they lost the roulette game with Goodyear's crap tires. And you have Newman and Kenseth, both 0 wins, along with Hamlin and Busch, both 1 wins, who can just ride around top 10-15 the next 2 races and move on.

Well, at least the likely checkers or wreckers for Johnson, Earnhart, and Keselowski the next 2 weeks is going to make for some interesting racing.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/goodyear-b ... NNRTY1NV8x" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BDKJMU]

Junior may be out after Dega on the 19th, and I have a ticket to the Paperclip on the 26th. But after that I may be done with NASCAR (and maybe JMU football the week after that). Heck, my Nov is now looking like will likely be pretty free..

[BDKJMU]

The race has already started and ABC doesn't have the race on. They are still showing the Baylor-TCU game that started 4.5 hrs ago. They said turn to ESPN News but that is showing an NBA game in OT.. ABC is a f'ing joke..

[TheDancinMonarch]

Can anyone imagine how pissed Mr. Vanilla, Matt Kenseth, must have been to take after Brad Keselowski like that after the race last night. This is part of what used to make NASCAR entertaining back in the day.

[BDKJMU]

"Drivers brawl at NASCAR race

Concord (United States) (AFP) - NASCAR drivers brawled in the pit lane Saturday after a number of feisty incidents on the track, throwing the sport into the headlines for all the wrong reasons once more.

Related Stories

NASCAR Charlotte 2014: Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth fight following post-race incident SB Nation
Matt Kenseth tangles with Brad Keselowski in Charlotte post-race fight NBC Sports
Former NASCAR champ Stewart has 'closure' AFP
Harvick moves into 3rd round with win at Charlotte The Associated Press
NASCAR Dover 2014 recap: Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick showcase championship form in Round 1 SB Nation
Kevin Harvick was celebrating his victory in the Sprint Cup in Concord, North Carolina, but all the attention was quickly diverted elsewhere as running battles erupted.

The post-race chaos was triggered when Brad Keselowski bumped both Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth on the cool-down lap, seemingly in retaliation for something that had gone on during the race.

Keselowski also ran into Tony Stewart by accident while aiming for Kenseth, prompting Stewart to reverse into the Penske Ford.

The disputes continued as enraged drivers emerged from their cars in the garage area.

Hamlin had to be restrained as he went for Keselowski, and moments later Kenseth got Keselowski in a headlock before the two were separated.

View galleryBrad Keselowski (second from left)speaks with the media …
Brad Keselowski (second from left)speaks with the media after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of A …
During the final two laps of the race, Keselowski and Hamlin had tangled while battling for position.

Kenseth said he was also hit by Keselowski during a caution period in the race.

"He's a champion, he's supposed to know better than that," a furious Kenseth said.

Hamlin accused Keselowski of being "out of control" on the track.

But Keselowski fired back: "Those guys can dish it out, but they can't take it. I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don't know what's up with that."......."
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/drivers-br ... QATYbQtDMD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BDKJMU]

Can anyone imagine how pissed Mr. Vanilla, Matt Kenseth, must have been to take after Brad Keselowski like that after the race last night. This is part of what used to make NASCAR entertaining back in the day.

Here's what I saw. On the restart with with 63 laps to go Keselowski did a legal but kind of dickhead block on Kenseth, casuing Kenseth to hit the wall. Later on a caution lap Keselowsi said Kenseth intention hit him, causing damage to the front end of his car and causing him to fall from 5 to 16.

On the final restart Keselowski was desperate to try to make up positions, as he, Johnson, and Junior are 3 of the drivers most in danger of being eliminated after next week unless they win at Talladega. Hamlin was slowing up Keselowski, so he tapped him in the rear.

Cool down lap after race Hamlin break checked Keselowski, and then Keselowski got behind Hamlin and smashed into his rear.

Then Keselowski and Kenseth were getting into it. Either Kenseth hit Stewart, as Keselowki insists was the case, or Keselowski hit Stewart himself, I don't know. Stewart, who shouldn't be getting involved in any fracases at this point, must have thought it was Keselowski who hit him, as he got pissed and backed into Keselowki hard, smashing up the front of his car.

Then after Hamlin and Keselowki got out of the vehicle they were enraged and had to be restrained trying to get at each other.

Later Kenseth briefly had Keselowki in a headlock and then their crews got into the melee.

Post race was definitely more entertaining than the race.

[TheDancinMonarch]

Post race was definitely more entertaining than the race.

It's nice to see them acting like they actually care about where they finish rather than a bunch of corporate types drives around their motorized signboards.

[BDKJMU]

Video of final 2 laps & post race shenanigans. Shenanigans start at about 1:55 mark, ends with Kenseth interview:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQseQsgOYBs[/youtube]

Hamlin post race interview: (1st 40 seconds replays some of the shenanigans):
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/ ... -race.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Keselowski post race interview:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/ ... dents.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[93henfan]

It'll be interesting to see if 88, 48, or 2 can avoid the big one at 'Dega and steal a final four spot.

[BDKJMU]

It'll be interesting to see if 88, 48, or 2 can avoid the big one at 'Dega and steal a final four spot.

Yep.

1 Joey Logano---5 wins--locked into final 8
2. Kevin Harvick-3 wins- locked into final 8 ___________________________________________________
3. Kyle Busch------------3082 points (+26 over 9th), 1 win
4. Ryan Newman--------3077 points (+21 over 9th), 0 wins
5. Carl Edwards---------3076 points (+20 over 9th), 2 wins
6. Jeff Gordon----------3074 points (+18 over 9th), 4 wins
7. Denny Hamlin--------3073 points (+17 over 9th), 1 win
8. Kasey Kahne----------3057 points (+1 over 9th), 1 win __________________________________________
9. Matt Kenseth --------3056 points (-1 under 8th), 0 wins
10. Brad Keselowski----3038 points (-19 under 8th), 5 wins
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3031 points (-26 under 8th), 3 wins
11. Jimmie Johnson----3031 points (-26 under 8th, 3 wins

For Junior, Johnson & Keselowski, they need to either
1. win
or
2. finish ahead of the other 2 and have Kahne and Kenseth wreck. They are too far back to catch the 5 drivers of Busch, Newman, Edwards, Gordon, or Hamlin.

Those 5 guys can run pretty conservative. The only way any of those 5 don't get in is BOTH Junior, Johnson, or Keselowski win AND 1 of those 5 fall below Kahne. As you can see, those 5 are up between 16 and 25 points on Kahne.

There will be 5 drivers going balls to the wall:
Kahne, Kenseth, Keselowski, Earnhardt, and Johnson..

[93henfan]

Steve Letarte should rig up a little system for squirting oil out the back of Jr's car. Whenever he gets in the lead he could wipe out the field.

[BDKJMU]

Video catches Brad Keselowski's garage burnout after Charlotte race
http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/story/v ... ace-101314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As he was being chased by Hamlin..

[bluehenbillk]

Dover loses more seats:

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/spo ... /17244865/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What was once a 135K seat track is now down to 95K. Scary.

[89Hen]

Scary.

But smart. I blame TV. Coverage is so damn good now, is it really fun to go more than once every 10 years?

[93henfan]

Scary.

But smart. I blame TV. Coverage is so damn good now, is it really fun to go more than once every 10 years?

Very smart move. When people see a half empty venue it makes them question if they have made the right decision to attend. Also looks terrible on TV for would-be fans and sponsors. NCAA football and NASCAR both seem to be reeling with some exceptions.

[Grizalltheway]

But smart. I blame TV. Coverage is so damn good now, is it really fun to go more than once every 10 years?

Very smart move. When people see a half empty venue it makes them question if they have made the right decision to attend. Also looks terrible on TV for would-be fans and sponsors. NCAA football and NASCAR both seem to be reeling with some exceptions.

Don't know, most of the FBS games I watch (generally Pac-12, SEC, Big 12, Big 10 etc) I hardly see any empty seats. I think the mid-Atlantic and Northeast might be exceptions rather than the rule.

[93henfan]

Very smart move. When people see a half empty venue it makes them question if they have made the right decision to attend. Also looks terrible on TV for would-be fans and sponsors. NCAA football and NASCAR both seem to be reeling with some exceptions.

Don't know, most of the FBS games I watch (generally Pac-12, SEC, Big 12, Big 10 etc) I hardly see any empty seats. I think the mid-Atlantic and Northeast might be exceptions rather than the rule.

Just going by all the articles I've read about sagging attendance at BCS schools.

[clenz]

Don't know, most of the FBS games I watch (generally Pac-12, SEC, Big 12, Big 10 etc) I hardly see any empty seats. I think the mid-Atlantic and Northeast might be exceptions rather than the rule.

Just going by all the articles I've read about sagging attendance at BCS schools.

You must not follow emptyseatpics on twitter...

or watch too closely.

There are tons of empty seats at stadiums across the nation, sans about 20-30 of the biggest schools

[89Hen]

Don't know, most of the FBS games I watch (generally Pac-12, SEC, Big 12, Big 10 etc) I hardly see any empty seats. I think the mid-Atlantic and Northeast might be exceptions rather than the rule.

Just going by all the articles I've read about sagging attendance at BCS schools.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content ... diums.html

The NCAA data shows that overall, college-football attendance among its Football Bowl Subdivision’s 127 schools has dropped almost 3 percent over six seasons. Ten of the Big Ten’s 14 members saw a decline in average attendance in 2013.

A recent Wall Street Journal analysis of turnstile data at 50 public universities showed that student attendance was down more than 7.1 percent from 2009 to 2013.

[93henfan]

HDTV and smartphones kill student attendance.

Broadcast football is obviously far more informative, not to mention climate controlled.

And on the second point, stats show that the average college student stares at a smart phone about ten hours a day. Most stadiums (even The Tub at only 22,000 people) put tremendous stress on the local cell towers and often slows the Internet to an unusable time-out bandwidth. All it takes is one time for a junkie not being able to get their fix and they will not repeat that mistake.

[89Hen]

Most stadiums (even The Tub at only 22,000 people) put tremendous stress on the local cell towers and often slows the Internet to an unusable time-out bandwidth. All it takes is one time for a junkie not being able to get their fix and they will not repeat that mistake.

That was mentioned in the article I linked above. Ohio State has increased their tower coverage tremendously.

[Grizalltheway]

Just going by all the articles I've read about sagging attendance at BCS schools.

You must not follow emptyseatpics on twitter...

or watch too closely.

There are tons of empty seats at stadiums across the nation, sans about 20-30 of the biggest schools

Who knows, maybe I'm just watching games involving the 20-30 biggest schools.

[clenz]

You must not follow emptyseatpics on twitter...

or watch too closely.

There are tons of empty seats at stadiums across the nation, sans about 20-30 of the biggest schools

Who knows, maybe I'm just watching games involving the 20-30 biggest schools.

All from the last 2 or 3 weeks


Vandy
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 3958823936" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 5914787840" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Memphis
instagram.com/p/uCApiqBnW2/

USF
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 7563127808" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cal
instagram.com/p/uB3zr7qcST/

UCLA
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 0802891776" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 2848116736" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Miami
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 7732157440" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Temple
https://twitter.com/i_am_a_kitten_/stat ... 18/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 66/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Minnesota
https://twitter.com/APkrawczynski/statu ... 01/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wisconsin
https://twitter.com/JrZimbabwe/status/5 ... 56/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stanford
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 00/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 68/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UNLV
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 88/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan State
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf ... is_16.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wazzou
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 80/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan
http://images.scribblelive.com/2013/9/1 ... 315807.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Texas
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 39/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/SaveTheHooker/statu ... 00/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Northwestern
https://twitter.com/RobHernandezWSJ/sta ... 17/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Illinois
https://twitter.com/ECG3120/status/5184 ... 57/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/KnuppelRodney/statu ... 49/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cuse
https://twitter.com/CarrieLazarus/statu ... 33/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 41/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ACC title game
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_asset ... ks_sux.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

South Carolina
http://fitsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -vandy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TCU
http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.c ... -empty.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

USC
http://nbccollegefootballtalk.files.wor ... liseum.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Iowa - a picture I took
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/ ... ae322a5f83" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;






You want I should keep going?

[89Hen]

All from the last 2 or 3 weeks...

ACC title game

[Grizalltheway]

Who knows, maybe I'm just watching games involving the 20-30 biggest schools.

All from the last 2 or 3 weeks


Vandy
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 3958823936" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 5914787840" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Memphis
instagram.com/p/uCApiqBnW2/

USF
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 7563127808" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cal
instagram.com/p/uB3zr7qcST/

UCLA
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 0802891776" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 2848116736" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Miami
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 7732157440" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Temple
https://twitter.com/i_am_a_kitten_/stat ... 18/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 66/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Minnesota
https://twitter.com/APkrawczynski/statu ... 01/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wisconsin
https://twitter.com/JrZimbabwe/status/5 ... 56/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stanford
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 00/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 68/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UNLV
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 88/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan State
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf ... is_16.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wazzou
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 80/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan
http://images.scribblelive.com/2013/9/1 ... 315807.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Texas
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 39/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/SaveTheHooker/statu ... 00/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Northwestern
https://twitter.com/RobHernandezWSJ/sta ... 17/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Illinois
https://twitter.com/ECG3120/status/5184 ... 57/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/KnuppelRodney/statu ... 49/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cuse
https://twitter.com/CarrieLazarus/statu ... 33/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/EmptySeatsPics/stat ... 41/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ACC title game
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_asset ... ks_sux.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

South Carolina
http://fitsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -vandy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TCU
http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.c ... -empty.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

USC
http://nbccollegefootballtalk.files.wor ... liseum.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Iowa - a picture I took
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/ ... ae322a5f83" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;






You want I should keep going?

No, no, I get it. The internet victory is yours.

Although using examples like UNLV, or Texas and Michigan (traditonal top 30 programs who suck now and have lost a lot of bandwagon fans) doesn't really help your case. At the end of the day, I think college football is going to be fine, especially considering many of those schools are making millions off of the TV deals that may be contributing to a decline in attendance.