2017 Nascar Thread

Interesting that I also thought about Holman and Moody. They were the super team of the day. What went on in the 60s is that Ford was the driving force behind putting some of those drivers in the cars. Gurney, as you mentioned, particularly, but also Andretti and Foyt. You have to admit that these weren't just some guys off the street buying rides with daddy's money.

The thing I remember about the Woods Brothers is that they didn't always run for championships. In fact there were years they only ran the superspeedways. They used drivers like Foyt and a Gurney, who were (again, I think) contracted to a Ford. I've often wondered how many championships David Pearson would have won if the Woods Brothers had run the full season. Most years they would only run 17 or 18 of the 30 or so races. I think one year Pearson only ran 17 races, won 11 of them, and finished 3rd in points.

 

Harvick dropping that truth bomb about junior, did y'all happen to hear it? Says when the most popular driver isn't the top of the field, the sport won't grow.

 

Harvick is often short-sighted in his analysis of the sport. Bill Elliott was MPD from 1984-2002 with the exception of the year Darrell Waltrip won it and the year Bill removed himself from voting in honor of Earnhardt (who never won the award in his lifetime). Aside from '92, Bill's on-track efforts sucked from 93-2001, arguably the onset of the era of the mainstream popularity boom. There was monumental growth during that time with skyrocketing merchandise sales, ticket price increases, grandstand construction, and new tracks constructed from Florida to California.

 

Harvick has 18 Cup wins in the past 5 years (counting the current season)
In the same time-frame (2012 to now):
Jimmie Johnson has 28
Brad Keselowski has 19

Others in close proximity:
Joey Logano has 17
Matt Kenseth has 17
Kyle Busch has 16

Harvick is an incredible driver and certainly one of the best in modern NASCAR. he has 36 wins across his career thus far, has less than 30 career DNFs and has completed a ridiculous 97+% of all laps run since 2001.

 

Maybe not 5 years, how bout 2-3?

 

I understood what he meant, he had poor word choices. I also think he blamed the wrong entity. The fault should rely on NASCAR and their media coverage. Everyone knows juniors story whether you're a fan or not, if media spent more time talking about other successful drivers stories and tried to build a relationship with fans through that then junior wouldn't have so much weight on his shoulders in the sport imo.

 

Doesn't mean Junior wouldn't have won MPD, just means more people would stick with the sport when he leaves because they may pull for someone different and don't feel a big void when watching when he is gone.

 

Not NASCAR, but cool American racing: https://youtu.be/Efbdxk1utSg

 

More room for Kyle Busch flags at Dega?

 

Chase Elliott will be Most Popular Driver award winner next year. Like in wrestling, the Heel can't be a fan favorite unless they are redeemed. NASCAR media gave Kyle multiple options to do so, but he revels in being the heel. While NASCAR doesn't hold outright label a heel, they capitalize on slights to create rivalries, and in doing so designate one guy as the heel. Former heels: Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmy Spencer. Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, and Joey Logano have tiptoed on the line between Young Hotshot and Heel. Carl wanted to be the Heel and the Face.

 

I always liked the Heel in pro wrestling (see Randy Orton and Steve Austin) so it makes sense I like KB...

 

Harvick is playing the role Ford wants him to play. Junior has always been subject to unrealistic expectations. I am not saying he has not had a privileged life and been given great opportunities but anyone who has followed him from before he was running in the Busch series knows he was not so much a silver spoon kid. His dad was hard on him and compared to most had a shitty childhood. Moving into the sport he was given great equipment and only after he proved against a lot of odds that he could handle a car his dad began showing him some love. As he had finally earned some respect from Dale Sr. he died and that relationship he had always wanted was taken away. Right after that everyone expected JR to fill and exceed his dads legacy. The fact is that JR has a lot of ticks and emotional issues. He has never been the same driver since burning in the Corvette, he lost his nerve at some level on that day but so much is on his shoulders he could not just walk away from the sport. He has grown into one of the most honest drivers in the sport and has never that I can remember claimed to be great or even better than any other driver. He just does the best he can and unfortunately that is not good enough to meet the expectation of the masses.

A lot of people do not understand the friendship that little Ricky had with these guys growing up. Ricky and Dale were great friends and for the most part Dale Jr grew up more at Rick H. house more than his own. When DEI fell apart Dale Sr hit the wall and Ricky died in the plane crash Rick and JR became much closer and in some way both fill a great void for each other. While JR is and will continue to be a great investment for Hendrick that move was never about the money. Dale could drive that 88 car into the wall on the first lap of every race and Hendrick would not give two fucks. Kevin is pissed off that JR has accomplished less yet has 10 times the fan following and net worth that he will ever achieve. It comes down to a few things really, for Kevin had Dale Sr. not hit the wall would he had even gotten the shot he did. Dale inherited his fan base but over his career has in fact earned it. Not per say with wins and championships but in the way he conducts himself. He takes responsibility when he F's up and does not sell his team out. He spends a great deal of time being a positive ambassador for the sport and works to build a competitive race team. Unlike Harvick he would not move to or drive a ford or Toyota. He is one of the last drivers that lives the manufacture he believes in and for many of us that means something. If JR were offered the 78 for the remainder of the season he would smirk and say "yeah I can't do that". Find any other driver that is that loyal to a brand. There are none. Also all the talk of "top tier" equipment. Come on, Hendrick has never had a stable with all the cars being competitive. Jimmy is because of who is on the box and we all know it. Stevie was much like Chad and you saw how that was turning around for JR but then like with everything else it fell apart. I would say that looking at the big picture JR has done well with what he has had. None of the rule changes NASCAR has mandated since 06 have played into how he drives a car. Long story short love the man or hate him Harvicks comments were moronic! Without JR the sport would be worse than it is now, NASCAR alone is responsible for the poor state of the sport. If Dale SR had not died Harvick would be sitting on a shelf next to Mike Skinner.

Harvick is pissed he sold his soul to Ford and found that the extra HP does not make up for the lack of handling that makes up 90% of how he drives a race car. Now he is stuck with a manufacture that has never been known for cars that handle well and he can see what the chevy camp is entering into the sport next year and he knows he done fucked up! Next he will join Brad bitching about the Toyota advantage and the bow tie camp is taking this lame duck season and engineering those 2018 camaro's to beat the ever living hell out of everyone else. Enjoy HP tracks ford fans. Chevy will have everyone covered in 2018.

 

Shit, Toyota will be strong in 2018. They always have decent cars, and Chevy this year has been blowing motors, so unless they fix that, 2018 will be hard again

 

It's called testing for 2018 because you know the SS is behind and gone after this year.

 

Toyota stays secret, no telling what they'll bring

 

LOL, we shall see. Not saying Toyota will not be good. That new camaro looks nasty though.

 

Good for Bubba! Glad to see him get a win. And in a Chevy!!

 

That's looks, not the motor lol

 

Okay dude. I am talking about body lines and small area's on the side to get downforce. If you want to get into motor reliability I can start pulling stats on your Toyotas if you like. Actually look at where toyota improved the Camry that is giving you all that performance this year and you will see GM has refined that much more. Don't be a dumb ass.

 

Before you get too cocky don't forget Oldsmobile still has more wins in Nascar than Toyota!