2017 NASCAR Season Thread

[TBGKon]

5 hours ago, stumpygremlin said:

To me, putting Hornaday in the HOF is like putting a great AAA baseball in that HOF. He did exceedingly well in the Trucks, did decently in Busch, and that's it. He, for whatever reason, couldn't hack it at the top level. That's not "greatness" to me.

Its the NASCAR HOF, not the Monster Energy Top Tier HOF.....Hornaday deserves it.

[stumpygremlin]

17 minutes ago, AstroBull21 said:

Its the NASCAR HOF, not the Monster Energy Top Tier HOF.....Hornaday deserves it.

I fully acknowledge that I'm in the minority with my opinion. I stand by it nonetheless, as NASCAR's structure seems to be linear (Monster above Xfinity above Trucks), which means that greatness at a lower level is just big fish in small pond.

[Needschat]

2 hours ago, stumpygremlin said:

I fully acknowledge that I'm in the minority with my opinion. I stand by it nonetheless, as NASCAR's structure seems to be linear (Monster above Xfinity above Trucks), which means that greatness at a lower level is just big fish in small pond.

 

So you belittle the accomplishments of Richie Evans and Jerry Cook, because they were not in Cup.

You minimize the work and effort Wendal Scott accomplished and did.

Benny Parsons was elected, not just because of what he did in Cup, but what he did off the track and in the booth.

 

No, this is not a "Just a Cup" Hall of Fame.  

[stumpygremlin]

16 minutes ago, Needschat said:

 

So you belittle the accomplishments of Richie Evans and Jerry Cook, because they were not in Cup.

You minimize the work and effort Wendal Scott accomplished and did.

Benny Parsons was elected, not just because of what he did in Cup, but what he did off the track and in the booth.

 

No, this is not a "Just a Cup" Hall of Fame.  

Forgive my lack of education on these people. I didn't know about them. I stand corrected.

[rvrdgsfn]

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/05/26/chevrolet-to-unveil-new-cup-car-in-august/

 

Chevrolet will announce the brand of car it will field next year in the NASCAR Cup Series on Aug. 10, the company stated Friday.

 

The Aug. 10 announcement will take place at the GM Global Headquarters in Detroit. Chevrolet, NASCAR and Cup team executives are expected to attend.

 

My guess, I think it's going to be Malibu, although I wish there was a next generation Monte Carlo, but here's why I think it's the Malibu. It's supposedly getting a mid cycle refresh.

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/25/spy-photos-2019-chevrolet-malibu-facelift/

 

 

[LAWeaver]

BK Racing owes $500K in taxes

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thefinallap.com/2017/05/25/cup-team-on-the-brink-tax-lien-issued-for-bk-racing

 

The owner says he's not too worried about it. I'm not one to say a team should close its doors, but in the case of BK Racing, they might as well. Both drivers are 34th and 36th in points and seem to bring out nearly every other caution each week. The team sold its 83 charter this past season and I anticipate then selling the 23 charter by the end of this season. 

[habsfan1]

Good lord, Scott Dixon is lucky to be alive.

 

Edit: Just realized this is the Nascar thread. Does Formula 1 have a seperate thread of it's own?

[rvrdgsfn]

3 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

Good lord, Scott Dixon is lucky to be alive.

 

Edit: Just realized this is the Nascar thread. Does Formula 1 have a seperate thread of it's own?

 

Yup, 2017 Open Wheel Racing chat & yeah, that was brutal, glad to see he made it out in one piece.

[rvrdgsfn]

Bumping for Results of the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte:

1. Austin Dillon

2. Kyle Busch

3. Truex Jr.

4. Kenseth

5. Hamlin

6. Kurt Busch

7. Jones

8. Harvick

9. Newman

10. Earnhardt Jr.

 

Stage 1 winner: Kyle Busch

Stage 2 winner: Truex Jr.

Stage 3 winner: Hamlin

 

The crew chief switch along with Johnson running out of gas helped Austin get his first Monster Energy cup victory. I think if it went 1 or 2 more laps, Rowdy & Truex would've caught him. Rough night for Kes & Chase & a top 10 for Little E's last 600. I got to admit, I'm happy for Austin.

 

Next up, Dover

[DCarp1231]

Kasey Kahne to lose Great Clips as a sponsor at season's end.

[stumpygremlin]

3 hours ago, DNAsports said:

Kasey Kahne to lose Great Clips as a sponsor at season's end.

I wonder if that means his ride will go away. He's actually not having a bad year this year. He's 20th, but it feels like he's been better.

[stumpygremlin]

In other news, Hulu just announced that it had cash to flush down the toilet, as it's sponsoring Jeffrey Earnhardt for 19 races plus five more as associate sponsor. His best finish is 26th, and he's 37th in the standings. That's 37th out of 41 drivers that have scored points. He's ahead of Michael Waltrip, Derrike Cope, D.J. Kennington, and Cody Ware. He's literally in last place out of all drivers that have raced every race to this point.
 

[TBGKon]

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 9:13 PM, rvrdgsfn said:

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/05/26/chevrolet-to-unveil-new-cup-car-in-august/

 

Chevrolet will announce the brand of car it will field next year in the NASCAR Cup Series on Aug. 10, the company stated Friday.

 

The Aug. 10 announcement will take place at the GM Global Headquarters in Detroit. Chevrolet, NASCAR and Cup team executives are expected to attend.

 

My guess, I think it's going to be Malibu, although I wish there was a next generation Monte Carlo, but here's why I think it's the Malibu. It's supposedly getting a mid cycle refresh.

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/25/spy-photos-2019-chevrolet-malibu-facelift/

 

 

Yeah, im pretty sure its the Malibu too.  It's a model that hasn't been seen in NASCAR since the 60s thru 1980.

 

On the subject, does everyone like that the Cup series has different models than Xfinity series for the same manufacturers?  For example, the current Cup series is:

 

Ford Fusion

Chevy SS (Presumably Malibu in 18)

Toyota Camry

 

I think so far everyone but Toyota has sportier muscle cars in Xfinity:

 

Ford Mustang

Chevy Camaro

Toyota Camry

 

Toyota now offers the Toyota 86, which is a rebadged Scion FR-S not that Scion has been discontinued.  This would be a nice addition to the Xfinity Series.

 

[LAWeaver]

On 5/31/2017 at 7:29 PM, stumpygremlin said:

I wonder if that means his ride will go away. He's actually not having a bad year this year. He's 20th, but it feels like he's been better.

It's much more likely Kahne is replaced than the ride "going away."  

 

With Jr. retiring at the end of the year, it's likely we could see not one, but two new drivers in the Hendrick camp. I could see Alex Bowman and William Byron joining next season. 

 

As for where that'd put Kasey Kahne, I'm willing to put money on him going to the 10 car next season, as Danica's future with Stewart-Haas is currently up in the air.

 

Quote

Stewart-Haas Racing and Danica Patrick are reviewing their options about whether she will continue on as a driver for the team after this year, according to sources. Patrick is signed with SHR through '18, but there are clauses in her contract that could see the relationship end after this year, and the sides are discussing their choices, sources said. Patrick's nearly decade-long relationship with GoDaddy that spanned back to her time in IndyCar ended after '15, and SHR has run into challenges securing primary sponsorship. Nature's Bakery earlier this year backed away from its three-year, $45M deal after one season.

 

I bolded the last part about sponsorship because this shows Danica is no longer worth the money. Sure, she's the only woman driver in the Cup Series, but losing two major sponsors like GoDaddy and Nature's Bakery should say something.

 

Sure, Kahne hasn't had much success over the past couple years, but he has been running fairly consistent this season and has proven he can win in this series. Danica has a surprise sixth-place finish at Kansas and a Daytona 500 pole. That's it.

[DCarp1231]

22 minutes ago, mr.nascar13 said:

It's much more likely Kahne is replaced than the ride "going away."  

 

With Jr. retiring at the end of the year, it's likely we could see not one, but two new drivers in the Hendrick camp. I could see Alex Bowman and William Byron joining next season. 

 

As for where that'd put Kasey Kahne, I'm willing to put money on him going to the 10 car next season, as Danica's future with Stewart-Haas is currently up in the air.

 

 

I bolded the last part about sponsorship because this shows Danica is no longer worth the money. Sure, she's the only woman driver in the Cup Series, but losing two major sponsors like GoDaddy and Nature's Bakery should say something.

 

Sure, Kahne hasn't had much success over the past couple years, but he has been running fairly consistent this season and has proven he can win in this series. Danica has a surprise sixth-place finish at Kansas and a Daytona 500 pole. That's it.

I can't remember where I read it, but Nature's Bakery actually went back to SHR for three(?) races with Patrick and Bowyer.

 

As far as Patrick's future goes, she has verbally stated that she doesn't know how much longer she can take racing anymore. She notes whenever she's having a good race, some ill timed bad luck strikes and knocks her out of the race. (See wreck involving Logano and Almirola)

 

For Dale Jr and potentially Kahne's replacements I like the idea of seeing Bowman in the 88. I think William Byron should stay in Xfinity for one more year. Maybe get Sadler from JR Motorsports for the 5 or have a reunion with Casey Mears. Hell, how about prying Larson away from Ganassi?

[LAWeaver]

It'll be nearly impossible to pry Larson from Ganassi at this point. Hendrick had his chance when Jeff left to take a shot with Larson but had Chase already coming up through the system. Plus, Larson is committed to Ganassi. 

 

I thought that it was too early to put Larson in the 42 when he was called up from Xfinity. However, he's proved me wrong. I'd say Byron is in the same boat. 

 

I actually did some research a couple weeks ago on how the points would look if last year's Chase format was utilized from 2004-2013, and Casey Mears did surprisingly well in his time with Hendrick, especially the 2007 season in which he would've been close to making the championship round. He did decent with what he was dealt with the 13, but I don't see him returning to the Cup Series just yet. 

[stumpygremlin]

2 hours ago, mr.nascar13 said:

It's much more likely Kahne is replaced than the ride "going away."  

FYI, that's what I meant by his ride going away. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

 

On another note, doesn't it feel like Kyle Larson should have much more than two wins? Today, he had the dominant car, and still could only get second.

[rvrdgsfn]

On 6/2/2017 at 5:20 PM, AstroBull21 said:

I think so far everyone but Toyota has sportier muscle cars in Xfinity:

 

Ford Mustang

Chevy Camaro

Toyota Camry

 

Toyota now offers the Toyota 86, which is a rebadged Scion FR-S not that Scion has been discontinued.  This would be a nice addition to the Xfinity Series.

 

Yeah this needs to happen, I would love to see the 86 in Xfinity.

 

Results from Dover

1. Johnson

2. Larson

3. Truex Jr.

4. Newman

5. Elliott

6. Suarez

7. McMurray

8. Hamlin

9. Harvick

10. Patrick

 

Stage 1 & 2 winner: Truex Jr.

 

Miles chewed up a lot of cars in Overtime, a lot of good cars. Larson & Truex had the cars to win but Jimmie just got the better restart & it paid off. Good race for some other drivers, the RCR cars looked pretty good for most of the race. Same with some of the Hendrick cars.

 

Next up Pocono.

 

As for Danica, who knows who could replace or if she goes? I would say Larson because its a known face that Tony wants him in his squad but who knows what type of contract he has with Ganassi. I just don't see Kahne going to SHR. Unless it was short term.

 

The other report going around is that Penske is thinking next season, they could go with 3 cars & finally getting Ryan Blaney in with his team.

 

http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2017/story/_/id/19527974/penske-wants-add-ryan-blaney-team-third-driver

 

Roger Penske said he would like to bring Ryan Blaney into the Team Penske fold as soon possible, which would entail adding a third car to his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team.

Asked if it could happen next year, he responded: "Could be."

"I think we've got to look at that at the end of the year," Penske said. "I think [Blaney]'s made a lot of progress. Hopefully that'll happen sooner rather than later."

 

If that happens, hopefully Bubba Wallace gets in the 21. I can dream.

[Unocal]

Frustrating end to a good race.

 

David freaking Ragan.....sigh.

[LAWeaver]

Congrats to Johnson on tying Cale on the all-time wins list at 83.

 

Back on the silly season discussion, this is the time of year where this type of speculation begins to arise. With us being halfway through the regular season, I expect driver lineups to shake out over the next 8 weeks. 

 

One thing we have to remember is Chris Buescher is basically on a loan from the Roush camp to JTG, which means it's likely Buescher will hop over to the Roush camp next season in the 16/60/99 car, taking the charter with him. JTG could possibly keep the 37 car open and bring someone like Casey Mears in, but they likely wouldn't have the charter.

 

Speaking of charters, one organization I'd keep an eye on is BK Racing. They're currently facing tax issues and haven't been running great either. If JTG wants to keep the 37 open, and if Penske wants to expand to a third team, I'd look towards BK Racing selling off its assets to those two organizations. I don't see RCR or Front Row wanting to expand at the moment. 

 

As for Stewart wanting Larson, while that would be an interesting combination, I don't see him going anywhere just yet. I'd say he stays in the Ganassi camp for at least two more years. Come 2020, if he hasn't already won a title, I could see him making the jump.

 

And finally, going back to the Hendrick situation, the only reason I say William Byron should be the replacement for Kasey Kahne is because he is more likely to bring in sponsorship. At the moment, he's got Liberty University following him from Kyle Busch's truck team to JR Motorsports and sponsoring a decent amount of races, which will be needed, as Farmers Insurance will not be back with the 5 team next year along with Great Clips. That opens 22 races out of 36-38 races, with the others being sponsored by (assumed) LiftMaster, Quaker State, maybe Pepsi/Mountain Dew, etc. Byron bringing Liberty and, potentially, more sponsorship from Axalta, is possible.