2017 Nascar Thread

While it doesn't make for exciting TV (racing will never be as malleable as stick & ball sports), I enjoyed today's race. It was a classic Atlanta International Raceway-type race. Atlanta never featured much side-by-side racing, especially for the lead until the '97 repave. There were some classic finishes during the first ten years of the fresh asphalt. Kevin Harvick, Jamie MacMurray, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne all won exciting races with daring, rim-riding passes out of T4. Old Atlanta was known for cold, overcast races, spread out fields, long green flag runs, heavy tire degradation, and few cars on the lead lap. Today fit perfectly into that mold.

I watched via NASCAR Raceview which features in-car cameras and a "Battle Cam" that focuses on deep-back pack racing rather than the top-5 along with the livestream from PRN. It was great watching these guys earn their keep, as they were sawing at the wheel all day long. Those cars were thrashed by race end. Not like they were at Daytona, rather the noses looked sand-blasted and smeared from dirt, minute debris, and melted tire rubber.

The past two Atlanta races have reminded me of AMS races of old. Again, probably not very entertaining in the TV model, but that's the medium's fault, not the on-track product. I too was happy to see Keselowski prevail. Also glad to see Larson have another good run, as well as Elliott too. Earnhardt, Johnson, and Kyle Busch were absolute junk. Once again Harvick and Kenseth were their own worst enemies.

Lastly, depending on what kind of racing you like, there could be good news:

"In wake of driver pleas, Atlanta repave to be reconsidered"

https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-c...eas-atlanta-repave-to-be-reconsidered-879828/

 

Nah, i enjoyed it @MadDaddy, like i do every race since i watch pit strategies and scan radio all race, but I could see how a lot of fans werent excited about this race; maybe expecting more with the new package. This was def. a classic AMS race, old pavement will be missed though.

 

Atlanta could do better... But next week there might be more action... The segments kind of ruins green flag stops, which is where everything seems to happen at AMS.... Also they need to only close pit road when the segmanet ends, not 2 laps before... I saw Suarez try to make the pre segment pit work, but he got lapped.

 

Y'all like Cody coughlin? Bc I bought a race used crew shirt for $50 at the race (no KB shirts in my size)

 

If there werent any segments in this race im confident only 7-8 cars wouldve been on lead lap and a lot of laps wouldve run with no caution. Wouldve been worse without segments for this race, next week might be different.

 

I know at least one person that's happy with the segmented format.

Kevin is doing well in the points game so far seeing he took the first two segments at Atlanta and one at Daytona. The racing should get better as they start sorting out their strategies as the season progresses. Stage racing on the road courses is gonna be interesting.

 

Im honestly looking more forward to road courses than 1.5ers with this format.

 

Road courses are my favorite races of the year!

 

Teams experienced the first real segment racing at Atlanta. They didn't have tires as hard as the Daytona tires* and had to make several green flag stops in between segment caution periods. I think you're right in that we'll see new pit strategies emerge as the season trudges onward. There were a lot of guys short pitting at Atlanta to see if they could improve position. It worked for some (Brad) and not for others (Busch, Blaney, Johnson). I did not expect to appreciate the segment racing, and I still think it's a Participation Award gimmick (they even pass out mini trophies to the crew chief?!), but it offered me a perfect opportunity to go down and have a pee and not miss any on-track action.



*Word is, Goodyear will have a softer tire for the July Daytona race

 

Yep, classic Atlanta. I imagine we'll eventually see a new rule emphasizing more of a "reset" with the segments. What if they pulled a Jubilee and allowed everyone back on the lead lap after each segment? I imagine some longtime fans might be up in arms, but I think it's be a cool opportunity.

 

He's Jeg's grandson, right? Like Paul Menard, he brings his own family sponsor with grand-daddy's money. He was previously a Gibbs development driver before moving over to Thorsport. How many truck teams does Thorsport run now, 4? 5? 6?

 

I think points should be handed out for each position. But double the points for the 2nd segment and triple them for the final. Get all those cars pushing for position near the segment finish.

 

I understand the idea behind the segments and encouraging guys to race hard throughout the event, rather than wait for the final 50 laps, but at most tracks, it's near impossible to gain ground on the guys ahead. Look at Atlanta for example: There were several times when the top-3 were spread out over 6 seconds. There's no way to gain ground for extra points in that scenario. I think we'll see the same play out at many of the 1.5 mile tracks. I fear the segment racing will simply widen the margin between the haves and have-nots. We'll see how short-pitting strategy impacts things.

 

Atlanta is the classic track where if a car gets out front they are gone; doesnt matter that Larson and Keselowksi are running faster lap times than Harvick consistently; harvick had clean air and thats all thats needed to stay out front so segments having double points sounds fun, but in reality that would be a joke.

 

I saw a guy ranting and raving about how NASCAR has done so much to improve the functionality of the cars but one shortcut across the grass ruins their day by ripping the nose off the cars when the splitter digs into the ground. He was calling for NASCAR to pull up all the grass at every speedway and replace it with pavement. I laughed and told him infield grass was not NASCAR's undoing. The real problem is the cars are too low to the ground and basically go-karts with body panels. There used to be a rule called the "5&5" rule back in the early '90s. The front end had to be 5" off the ground and the spoiler had to be 5" tall. See example:



Nowadays, the cars are practically dragging their splitter the first few laps until the tire pressure builds up. And then, they're still within 2" of the track surface. Did anyone notice all the sparks flying at Atlanta? That track has so many bumps and dips and the splitters were getting chewed up. I still don't know why they insist on having splitters.

See example:


I like the current era K&N cars. They have a front air dam like NASCAR ran in the '90s:

 

I felt like Saturday had ALOT harder racing than Sunday... The tires were getting chewed faster Saturday, as the young guns battled for every point more so than Sunday... Btw what happened to Newman? I was at the track and I don't have a scanner

 

Why a joke? Hard to track, maybe but we have computers. So the point being the longer the car runs, the more valuable the points are. guess we will watch and see how it all turns out.

 

I work all the races at Phoenix international speedway. My pass gets me anywhere

 

Shorter Race. Something I'd like to see on Sundays too. Keep the Daytona 500, Southern 500, and Coke 600. Make everything else 400 or less miles or laps. There's a reason I prefer going to exhibition races and Saturday events. I don't have the attention span for a 500 mile race anymore. This coming from someone who's been watching these races since I was in a playpen. As for younger fans, they sure as hell aren't going to plop down in front of a TV for 4-5 hours at a time. The era where I watched and attended the least amount of Cup races was between the ages of 17 and 27; coincidentally in that prime demographic NASCAR lacks.

Let the truck races be 200 miles, Grand national be 300 miles and the Cup cars run 400 miles, save for those three big events: Daytona, Charlotte, and Darlington. These have always been marquee races dating back to the Winston Million payout. It was damn near impossible to win 3/4 of the Crown Jewel events. Treat them as such by comparatively reducing the other events on the schedule.