2016 NASCAR thread

Nasty lick by Justin Marks this morning. Glad to see him alert after driver side impact with the wall. These kind of licks used to end driver's careers and sometimes lives, Joe Weatherly in the '60s and Neil Bonnett in '91.

 

Chris buesher racing like a douchebag.... I would have put the POS in the all if I was the #47

 

Stef Schrader wrote a great long-form essay on Jalopnik giving all the background info on this lawsuit. After reading her piece and the actual lawsuit, I stand by my original opinion. The only color NASCAR sees is GREEN, and Cox didn't have any, that's the main reason they opted to cut him off. Cox is no less a charlatan than Brian France, but he's one without deep pockets, therefore Brian and co. want nothing to do with him.

Here's the link to Schrader's piece, with quality Jalopnik comments to boot:
http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/the-curious-record-of-the-diversity-guru-suing-nascar-f-1786831866

 

Dillon moves on. I'm shocked but good job

 

Yep, I really didn't see that coming either. Goes to show what bad luck does in this elimination-style chase.

 

its not like he raced bad, a solid 8th place finish. hell do good at Dega being a RCR car at a plate track....

 

No no, I didn't mean dillon had bad luck - the 42 had some bad luck that let dillon advance... Didn't explain myself correctly.

 

my point was that he has been consistent all year, and will win if granddaddy quits governing his cars (my dads theory after dale sr died is that childress wont let his grandson die in the 3 as well... so he has them governed...) Larson has been fast, but so has Dillon. but I don't think RCR is up to par (same as chip ganassi)

 

Gotcha. And after watching the past few years, it seems rcr, ganassi and roush seem to have all fallen off...

 

hendricks has too this past season.

 

then explain chase Elliot....

 

FIFY

Hendrick's 2016 results (29/36 races): 2 points wins, 2 drivers in CHASE
Hendrick's 2015 results: 9 points wins, 3 drivers in CHASE
Hendrick's 2014 results: 13 points wins, 4 drivers in CHASE
Hendricks 2013 results: 9 points wins, 4 drivers in CHASE*, Championship
Hendrick's 2012 results: 10 points wins, 4 drivers in CHASE

Using www.racingreference.com , the stats show Hendrick doesn't come on strong until May each season. They tend to dominate late spring-early summer before falling off (presumably sandbagging and saving their best stuff for the CHASE), where they come on strong again in October-November. This is a down year for them, as Kasey Kahne's performance is in the basement, and Jr. is out with concussion. Even before this, Hendrick was in a down-cycle year. It happens with every team. Gibbs went through this a few seasons ago, but obviously rebounded. Hendrick will be okay. They're perennial top-performers dating back twenty years. There were other years of inconsistency interspersed with plenty of championships. They're also experiencing a generational turnover: Newbie Chase Elliott has arrived to high expectation, Gordon retired, Jr. is Jr., and I think Jimmie Johnson is getting bored. I think Chase will win a race before season's end, and if he's anything like young Jeff Gordon, he will be a major contender for the Cup and win it all in the next three years. The cream always rises, so watch Hendrick man up this month. Barring any bad luck at the track, I expect they'll be sitting pretty when we hit November.

*Jeff Gordon added after the MWR scandal.

Side note: Chevy has won the manufacturer's championship every year since 2003

 

NASCAR Rookie of the Year: Where Are They Now?

While snooping racingreference.com, I noticed the RoY category was perplexing. NASCAR awards the RoY whether there's one or seven+ contenders. Some of these guys ran a season and bailed after under-performing. Does anyone know what they're up to now?

2015- Brett Moffitt (did he even run the full season?)
2014- Kyle Larson (rising star)
2013- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (stagnant, likely due to sub-par equipment)
2012- Stephen Leight
2011- Andy Lally (road racer)
2010- Kevin Conway (boner medicine salesman)

2009 and back produced some stout contenders, but it's been hit or (mostly) miss since Joey Logano ('09). Where are the rising contenders? Chase Elliott will undoubtedly be the 2016 RoY. Besides Erik Jones (the obvious '17 RoY contender), there really aren't any seats opening up in for rising guys like Darrell Wallace Jr., Ryan Reed, Brennan Poole. I don't think any of those guys are ready for the big time. I wish Darrell Wallace Jr. could get a solid program going behind him. I'm afraid the only thing keeping him in a seat is a Drive for Diversity kickback to teams who will put a program under him. I hope, in his third full season of Xfinity, he'll come alive and compete for wins. Xfinity will get interesting with Stewart-Haas fielding a team with Cole Custer. I'd like to see that become a 2-car operation with Wallace and Custer.

 

I do agree HMS is on a down season. Frankly, I've been very surprised by Kahne's lack of production the past couple of seasons. I seriously thought he was going to be a perennial championship contender when he went to HMS, especially after seeing how Martin ran the 5 car so well in 2009. But I do agree - I think they'll be fine overall. I certainly hope Johnson isn't getting bored - I would like to see him get #7 before retiring.

 

I don't see how Kahne has kept his ride with Hendrick. But I guess if he keeps Jr around he doesn't have too much of an argument to dump Kahne.

 

Yep. He outperformed Jr. For several seasons. Kasey is there because he brings $. Great Clips likes him a LOT. They sponsored some of his Busch series efforts before he jumped ship from Ford.

 

If you think about Hendricks, Johnson may be past his prime, Kahne sucks and JR is out. What did you expect?

 

Then answer your own question?

 

Rumor has it that Chinese, state-owned company Hisense will be announced as the new title sponsor. I wonder how well this'll go over with the good ol' boys: A communist title sponsor. Will the politically Right-leaning fans boycott?

 

Haha - that WOULD be interesting. Funny, this is the first I've heard about ANY company coming forward to be the cup series sponsor next year... I just was sort of assuming Xfinity would move up to sponsor the cup series and then someone else would step in to the current Xfinity series. But that's totally pidooma.