2016 NASCAR thread

they're getting in their cars now! finally!

 

I'm in Central Time Zone

 

ok, I should have had enough sense to figure that out

 

Just tuned in. Looks like the same as last night, only Kyle Busch is in 39th haha.

 

What happened?

 

Broke something, spun, got hit, wrecked a few others. Whined about parts failing all the time, blamed someone else for taking him completely out of the race. The usual.

 

Cool moment for Smoke and Harvick. I like the new racing at Bristol, finish was meh.

 

I missed most of the race. What was the cool moment?

 

Harvick won; Smoke celebrated with him as car owner.

 

Smoke better celebrate any chance he gets, he can't win unless it's fixed....

 

Hahaha. I was watching roof cam, Harv pulled up next to Tony in inspection line. They communicated & Tony moved over & out of inspection line, then followed Harv to front stretch. Pretty cool moment to celebrate with the boss, as Harv took the points lead from Brad and sets himself up for a good spot in week 1 of the Chase with two wins on the season. All that and it's Tony's last time racing at Bristol. Finally a burnout I liked! Never seen a twin burnout.

 

...and fuel to the Silly Season fire:

Now that Erik Jones is announced for the 77 next year in a one year deal before an assumed move over to Gibbs in '18, word from my TRD friend has Kenseth swapping with Jones in '18.

Related Toyota rumors:

(Pure speculation based on recent comments from The King and others in the biz) Petty will finally switch to Toyota in '17 or '18 at the latest, forming an alliance with Gibbs. Also a potential landing place for Jones, or Xfinity teammate Daniel Suarez. Petty would basically serve as B-Team for Gibbs with an up & comer or a rumored veteran running R&D.

....but you didn't hear it from me

 

So does that mean Almirola will have a chance to win again someday? Would love to see the waffle house car win.

 

This will be my view next Sunday night:

 

not racing at Michigan or Darlington

 

If NASCAR has a fleet of black helicopters, he'll return at Richmond, win his way into the Chase and take it all.

Realistically, he takes the year off, returns next year, and fades into an Also Ran.

 

hopefully its bowman, although id love to see Elliot Sadler get a ride in the 88 even if its just a race...

 

With the way things are going ratings & sponsorship wise, I could see Hendrick cutting back to a 3-car team, spinning off the #88 to Dale to start his own satellite team. Dale might split seat time with his fleet of up & comer's in one car and part-time friends (Sadler being one). I think (hope, really) the sport will go through a big transition as big money sponsors continue to bow out. NASCAR still hasn't signed a series sponsor and the '17 season begins in only 6 months. The Corporate $ tit is drying up for Brian France. With sponsors losing the say in who drives for them, team owners can put real drivers back in the cars.

 

It's a shame, too, because (in my opinion) the product is actually pretty good right now. Maybe not in the terms of trading paint, but the competition is very close among the teams, and even the smaller teams are figuring out how to compete by making alliances with the larger organizations. Furniture Row is a good example. But yeah, unfortunately the sport isn't drawing new sponsorship and that is a direct result of lower viewership. I'd like to see another turnaround like the sport saw in the late 90s and early 2000s but it's looking doubtful. Who knows? Maybe next year it will be the NCBBCS (NASCAR Chico's Bail Bonds Cup Series).

 

You know, you've expressed your admiration for Sadler several times on this forum. Sounds like someone has a man-crush to me, lol.