2017 NASCAR Season Thread

[rvrdgsfn]

Happy 2017 everyone, just felt like yesterday that the 2016 season ended & now it just seems like a bit of a whirlwind now especially with Monster Energy becoming the new sponsor, Stewart Haas switching to Ford & Jimmie Johnson winning his 7th championship. However, I think this will be an interesting season coming up, the next thing we know, they'll be starting to test in Daytona. I'm looking forward to the new season, to see what happens next... Well let's get started, here's what we saw at SHR earlier today...

 

 

 

[rvrdgsfn]

Bumping because we will have a new design for the Toyota Camry, on the street & the racetrack

 

Here's the Normal

 

 

Here's NASCAR's

 

Comparison

 

 

Meanwhile, it looks like for Chevrolet, 2017 will be the SS' swan song...

 

http://jalopnik.com/dead-chevrolet-ss-1790972680

 

General Motors North America President Alan Batey told WardsAuto today at the Detroit Auto Show. This coincides with GM ceasing its manufacturing efforts in Australia, where the SS is made, at the end of this year.

 

While their tweet from the Detroit Auto Show floor is confusingly worded about this, we believe that it’s the SS part—not Chevrolet as a whole—that will be missing from NASCAR in 2018 and beyond.

 

We’ve reached out to NASCAR to see if they know which car is getting the NAS-treatment after the SS goes the way of the dodo and will update this post as soon as they respond.

[TBGKon]

To be honest, has anyone really seen a Chevy SS on the road?  I never even knew they were for sale.

 

Chevy is better off with the Malibu or the Impala.

[Needschat]

2 minutes ago, AstroBull21 said:

To be honest, has anyone really seen a Chevy SS on the road?  I never even knew they were for sale.

 

Chevy is better off with the Malibu or the Impala.

 

I've seen the Malibu.  That appears to be a better Cup choice for the Bowtie

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Carl Edwards to retire; effective immediately.

 

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/story/_/id/18443746/carl-edwards-expected-retire-immediately-nascar

[LAWeaver]

Wow. Just wow. I never saw this coming. Gonna miss him and his personality each weekend. Not going to be the same.

 

At least this gives me something to talk about on my radio show tomorrow. This is huge news. 

 

Daniel Suarez is rumored to be the replacement. 

[TBGKon]

1 hour ago, mr.nascar13 said:

Wow. Just wow. I never saw this coming. Gonna miss him and his personality each weekend. Not going to be the same.

 

At least this gives me something to talk about on my radio show tomorrow. This is huge news. 

 

Daniel Suarez is rumored to be the replacement. 

Agreed, this comes out of left field, especially so close to Daytona.  Wonder what is future plans entail.  He will be missed, I just wish he had a cup on his mantle.

[DCarp1231]

I think Dale Jr's concussion history may have had something to do with this. I believe drivers are starting to pay more attention to the health risks of driving. Edwards is an incredibly healthy man and he obviously intends on keeping it that way. I'd look for more drivers to consider retirement in the near future and not because of old age.

[stumpygremlin]

10 hours ago, DNAsports said:

I think Dale Jr's concussion history may have had something to do with this. I believe drivers are starting to pay more attention to the health risks of driving. Edwards is an incredibly healthy man and he obviously intends on keeping it that way. I'd look for more drivers to consider retirement in the near future and not because of old age.

Speaking of: what's his status?

[Matito]

13 hours ago, stumpygremlin said:

Speaking of: what's his status?

He's back for this year, and his doctors say he's healthy. I do think, however, that he's close to retirement. Maybe 2-3 years tops.

 

We're starting to see a big transition, with lot of huge drivers stepping down. Gordon in 2015, Stewart last year, Edwards this week. It won't be long before guys like Earnhardt, Kenseth, Johnson, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman call it quits.

[rvrdgsfn]

NASCAR & Monster are holding a press conference on Monday @ 6:00 P.M. The reports are for format changes, according to the report, here is what we can expect....

 

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-cup-race-formats-to-undergo-significant-changes-for-2017-867723/

 

• Teams will know before the season begins how each race will be divided, which will be based on race and track length.

• At the end of each segment during the races, bonus points will be awarded for those drivers running in the Top 10.

• During the segment breaks, there will be coordination between NASCAR and the TV networks to ensure as little on-track action (including pit stops) will be missed as possible.

• At the end of the race, the normal points will be awarded to the finishing order of the race as they have been.

• A driver’s total for the event will include the normal race finish points plus any top-10 running bonus points collected in the segments.

• The 10-race Chase for the championship will be conducted in most part as it has, but there is expected to be an opportunity for drivers to earn bonus points during the Chase.

Well, to be honest, I was kind of hoping more for a regular season champion but we will have to wait & see how this go. I don't care for it, but I'll give it at least a chance.

[LAWeaver]

1 hour ago, rvrdgsfn said:

NASCAR & Monster are holding a press conference on Monday @ 6:00 P.M. The reports are for format changes, according to the report, here is what we can expect....

 

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-cup-race-formats-to-undergo-significant-changes-for-2017-867723/

 

• Teams will know before the season begins how each race will be divided, which will be based on race and track length.

• At the end of each segment during the races, bonus points will be awarded for those drivers running in the Top 10.

• During the segment breaks, there will be coordination between NASCAR and the TV networks to ensure as little on-track action (including pit stops) will be missed as possible.

• At the end of the race, the normal points will be awarded to the finishing order of the race as they have been.

• A driver’s total for the event will include the normal race finish points plus any top-10 running bonus points collected in the segments.

• The 10-race Chase for the championship will be conducted in most part as it has, but there is expected to be an opportunity for drivers to earn bonus points during the Chase.

Well, to be honest, I was kind of hoping more for a regular season champion but we will have to wait & see how this go. I don't care for it, but I'll give it at least a chance.

 

[dont care]

1 hour ago, rvrdgsfn said:

NASCAR & Monster are holding a press conference on Monday @ 6:00 P.M. The reports are for format changes, according to the report, here is what we can expect....

 

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-cup-race-formats-to-undergo-significant-changes-for-2017-867723/

 

• Teams will know before the season begins how each race will be divided, which will be based on race and track length.

• At the end of each segment during the races, bonus points will be awarded for those drivers running in the Top 10.

• During the segment breaks, there will be coordination between NASCAR and the TV networks to ensure as little on-track action (including pit stops) will be missed as possible.

• At the end of the race, the normal points will be awarded to the finishing order of the race as they have been.

• A driver’s total for the event will include the normal race finish points plus any top-10 running bonus points collected in the segments.

• The 10-race Chase for the championship will be conducted in most part as it has, but there is expected to be an opportunity for drivers to earn bonus points during the Chase.

Well, to be honest, I was kind of hoping more for a regular season champion but we will have to wait & see how this go. I don't care for it, but I'll give it at least a chance.

i dont like this. the finish is the only thing that matters and thats the way it should be. Also i feel manufacturing cautions doesnt make a race more exciting, if anything that is one of the critiques many fans give to why they stopped following. 

[See Red]

Wait, they're doing segments? Welp, I might just be done with NASCAR this year.

[DCarp1231]

Hendrick Motorsports announces Hooters will be a sponsor for Chase Elliott and the #24

[dfwabel]

On 01/22/2017 at 11:14 AM, See Red said:

Wait, they're doing segments? Welp, I might just be done with NASCAR this year.

Carl made the correct decision in retiring immediately.

[bosrs1]

On 1/22/2017 at 11:14 AM, See Red said:

Wait, they're doing segments? Welp, I might just be done with NASCAR this year.

 

Did I read that right? They're actually dividing the race into thirds and arbitrarily stopping the race for 10 minutes? I mean the point division into thirds was asinine enough but they're effectively going to red flag a freaking car race twice mid race to ???  If that's the case I'm taking Carl Edwards advice and getting the heck out. The Chase had already really started turning me off to NASCAR, but this is just ridiculous. 

 

Someone better call the guys at IndyCar and the Sports Car Championship. If ever there was an opening to knock NASCAR down, now is the time. Especially with the former finally introducing different car/aero options and the latter actually being what NASCAR used to be (drive on Sat/Sun buy on Monday).

[2001mark]

I read this somewhere else & thought it was a troll piece.

[dfwabel]

Nature's Bakery and Stewart-Hass having problems...

 

http://racing.ap.org/article/danica-patrick-may-have-sponsor-shortfall-year

[stumpygremlin]

11 hours ago, bosrs1 said:

 

Did I read that right? They're actually dividing the race into thirds and arbitrarily stopping the race for 10 minutes? I mean the point division into thirds was asinine enough but they're effectively going to red flag a freaking car race twice mid race to ???  If that's the case I'm taking Carl Edwards advice and getting the heck out. The Chase had already really started turning me off to NASCAR, but this is just ridiculous. 

 

Someone better call the guys at IndyCar and the Sports Car Championship. If ever there was an opening to knock NASCAR down, now is the time. Especially with the former finally introducing different car/aero options and the latter actually being what NASCAR used to be (drive on Sat/Sun buy on Monday).

I have a couple of problems with sports car racing that I think prevent it from truly breaking through.

1) The cars don't have clearly-labeled numbers on the sides the way NASCAR cars do. That hurts fans' ability to identify the cars.

2) The mixed-class racing. When you have four races going on at once, it makes it damn near impossible to follow what's actually going on in the race.