2021 NASCAR thread

For 5 laps after the initial start and then the restarts. About all the little excitement that track has.

 

18
24
19

 

Good call... and 4th is nice. That last 2 laps was intense.

3 straight top 10s. A win HAS to be coming soon.

 

Congratulations 18!!

 

I just read that Eric McClure died today.

https://www.jayski.com/2021/05/02/sad-news-eric-mcclure/

 

Dang I totally missed the lead up to the race this week. Had a motorcycle wreck last Sunday leaving me with a broken arm, wrist, rotator cuff, and a busted bike. Rested most of the week and weekend so I can go to Darlington next weekend. Busted body be damned, I ain’t missing the Darlington triple-header.

 

Good luck this week and next weekend .

 

Totally forgot to leave a photo of the win today! Locked in for the playoffs.

Happy Birthday, Rowdy!

 

Darlington Numbers:

Wins by Manufacturer 2010-2020:
Ford- 3
Chevy- 3
Toyota- 7

Wins by Active Driver 2010-2020:
Hamlin -3
Harvick -3
Truex-1
Keselowski-1
Jones-1

Avg Finish by Active Drivers 2010-2020:
Jones 5.17
Larson 6.67
Hamlin 7.53
Keselowski 10.43
Ky Busch 11.17
Truex 11.76
Dillon 12
Newman 12.83
Harvick 12.88

Notes:
Excluding Hamlin, a driver's avg. finish doesn't convert to wins here. This is also a 400-mile event, so strategy will be different. Hard to bet against the Toyota, especially the 11 and 19. Denny's been hot but hasn't sealed the deal this season. He's hungry for a dominant win. Truex is seemingly in the hunt every week. Larson is also hot & hungry but fades in short, late-race runs. Harvick; and really SHR, is in a slump right now. The thing that excites me this year (and why I'm returning after skipping last year) is they're running the 750hp, low-downforce package, which should make for a slippery day in the humid, South Carolina sun. It's going to be 88* and this race is running from 3:30-7pm.

Safe bets: 2, 11, 19

My pics: 3, 5, 14

More notes from last year's 400 miler:
Harvick won in dominant form. Keselowski and Bowman were the only other contenders. There were 10 cautions amounting to 20% of the race running under caution:

https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2020_The_Real_Heroes_400/W/

 

11 races and 10 different winners who knows . 18 and 4 finally have some momentum . Anyone but the 22 but hopefully 18 and it was fun seeing Harvick finish good .

 

Throwback schemes have been hit or miss this year but we're finally seeing some good stuff released this week. Still waiting for the 2 & 4 to reveal their schemes. I'm hoping for throwbacks to these:

Penske SCCA Trans Am series AMC Javalen:


Ol' Swervin Irvan, a fellow Californian racer, who, like Harvick, wheeled the #4:

 

Favorite throwbacks thus far:

 

I still miss Ernie , he was always all in a wreckers or checkers guy lol and a lot of times it was the hook but he sure was a driver .

 

He's very active on IG. He follows me: https://www.instagram.com/late_model_sportsman/

 

Lajoie dropped his throwback and it is fire:

https://speedwaydigest.com/index.ph...pay-tribute-to-kulwicki-in-goodyear-400#close

 

Updated odds to win on Sunday:

Hamlin 11:2
Larson 6:1
Harvick 7:1
Ky Busch 8:1
Keselowski 8:1
Truex 8:1
Logano 11:1
Elliott 11:1
Byron 16:1
Blaney 16:1

 

Well. What do yall think of the next gen cars?

 

Eh... we will see... but the traditionalist in me is very much on the fence.

 

Same here. With that being said, they do look more like the street versions, than they have since the 80's. Thats a plus for me, just not sure about the single lug nut, the independent rear suspension or the sequential shift transmission. The damn wheels are 18x12's, compared to the current 15x10's.