2016 NASCAR thread

They lost three engines between three teams last season. 3/108 races. Well, if you don't count the engine block Austin Dillon slung down the Daytona tri-oval last July Them's not bad averages. I was never an RCR fan. I was a Bill Elliott fan as a kid, so I loathed Earnhardt, even though his '80s-early '90s cars were rad-ass. I was even an Ernie Elliott (Bill's brother & engine builder through the '80s) fan. I have a Maxx '90 card I got him to autograph when I was a kid. I think Ernie still builds engines when he's not in jail. He seemed to have gotten into some trouble between his wife and another woman. She tried to run him over with her car last year or the year before. He retaliated at some point and was jailed with no bail.

I'll say this about current engine suppliers:
The competition level of modern NASCAR is frickin' STOUT. It's nothing like it was in the early '90s when I was scampering around the garage. I was a real oddball and wasn't afraid to approach Ray Evernham and others with tons of nerdy questions about race car engineering. One time I was talking with Ray and Darrel Waltrip walked into the conversation and we started talking about aero push (newish terms in the '90s) and what needed to be done to correct the sport's dependency on aerodynamics. The ensuing decade produced some of the weirdest looking "stock" cars ever, with the assymetrical noses and tails. I was never a big DW fan, but he's really stuck to his guns about what is right & wrong with the cars. He knows a heck of a lot more than he lets on when he's in the TV booth.

 

Also guys, please let me know if I'm ever overstepping in this thread. I love talking about racing but don't have many local friends who follow racing.

 

Who all is going to Atlanta this weekend? We'll be there all day Saturday. Might stick around for Sunday's race if we find a place to crash for the night. Weather looks to be better than last year. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski are running Saturday's Xfinity race. Kyle will probably win, but I look forward to seeing Erik Jones run a car. I watched him run Charlotte last May and the kid just drove the wheels off the thing. Harvick won last year's Saturday event, beating Logano by a few seconds. Atlanta's pavement is now among the oldest in the sport. The drivers love the track, and it's going to be a real handful on Sunday with cool temps and the new aero package (similar to Darlington last year).

 

Here's my little dude last year after the Xfinity race. We spent some time on the infield during the truck race:

 

come check out my nascar Tacoma... ill be there from Friday until Monday morning

 

not overstepping at all. Good debate is good debate, and you do your homework.

Although - Ganassi started using Hendrick power in 2013. The EGR motor shop kept building powerplants for those that they had contracts with, but their Cup guys needed some extra ponies under the hood.

 

problems with current setups : Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, and Regan Smith need better equipment and/or teams... although, Dillon has been stepping it up with RCR.

 

I think the alliance Petty has with Penske will bear fruit this year. They have a combined season worth of data to use in prep for this season. I'd love to see Petty compete on a higher level. I just love the idea of two-car teams.
I agree, Austin Dillon has plenty of time to mature as a driver. If his sponsor's give him time to mature, I think he'll have a career arc similar to Dale Jarrett and Kevin Harvick. CUP drivers statistically peak in their late thirties. I think he will show improvement this year. It's hard to draw a bead on a lot of these hyped up youngins after watching the amazing careers of Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Those type drivers are rare. To have all three of them on track in the same era is amazing. They changed the game completely.
I think Regan is going to elevate that #7 team. They've made a commitment and nabbed some good engineers for this season. They have steady sponsorship lined up. Regan is a decent driver. Just look at how he kept that car, devoid of water in the top ten at Daytona to bring home an 8th place finish. I was impressed with the guts it took to stick that one out.

 

Regan has balls, my dad says that's the only way to race, drive it until it blows. Dillon should get his 1st win here soon, and Almirola should grab another hopefully in the waffle house car

 

They need to get these back in stock:

http://www.shopwafflehouse.com/collections/hats/products/realtree-waffle-house-camo-cap

 

my dad is dying to get his hands on this hat

 

If you guys like looking at old race cars & videos & the occasional story from my childhood piddling around NASCAR garages, I keep a tumblr over here:
http://latemodelsportsman.tumblr.com/

 

guess I don't remember properly. Maybe I'm mistaking them with another team. But i remember one team losing two motors in a race.

 

A whole bunch of Tundras got chewed up today. Sick licks for the 88 and 4 late in the truck race.

My kid was totally dejected while Kyle Busch did his celebratory burnout after the Xfinity race:

 

Loved the Xfinity race! I hated the end today...

 

Kyle laying it down:

https://youtu.be/5bTJfRBNtMU

 

hes 100% right... also guys I met Austin Dillon, and Jeff Gordon is a douche bag.... the experiences of AMS lol

 

Oh you know how it goes:

 

Well, at least it wasn't 18 or 4