2017 NASCAR Season Thread

[Needschat]

For the first time in a long time, I was actually entertained watching two NASCAR races in the same day.

 

Bubba!  WOW!

[rvrdgsfn]

Results from Michigan:

 

1. Larson

2. Truex Jr.

3. Jones

4. Newman

5. Bayne

6. Buescher

7. A.Dillon

8. Elliott

9. McMurray

10. Kyle Busch

 

Stage 1 winner: Keselowski

Stage 2 winner: Truex Jr.

 

Holy cow, what a final restart, Larson got the hat trick at Michigan, not bad for a guy who just got back from the Knoxville nationals & finishing 2nd. They're going to be  talking about that restart for a while. Good racing between Larson & Truex Jr. All in all, this was just a good racing weekend, Bubba Wallace's win in the trucks, Hornish & Hemric fighting in Mid Ohio, Now with Larson coming out of nowhere.  Just wow.

 

Next up, Bristol.

[raysox]

On 8/12/2017 at 10:30 PM, stumpygremlin said:

Stupid question. With the win today at Mid-Ohio, Sam Hornish is now 37th in Xfinity points. Could he, if he were to find a way to run the rest of the year and get into the top 30, get into the playoffs?

it would come down to a waiver, which I doubt he gets. Same thing if Bubba would find a ride and somehow get back in. Waivers are given for health reasons, but guys like Preece and Hornish are out of luck since they didn't run all the races they could.

saw this get retweeted by Jayski
http://kickinthetires.net/index.php/2017/08/13/exclusive-two-manufacturers-now-looking-at-nascar/

[rvrdgsfn]

8 hours ago, raysox said:

it would come down to a waiver, which I doubt he gets. Same thing if Bubba would find a ride and somehow get back in. Waivers are given for health reasons, but guys like Preece and Hornish are out of luck since they didn't run all the races they could.

saw this get retweeted by Jayski
http://kickinthetires.net/index.php/2017/08/13/exclusive-two-manufacturers-now-looking-at-nascar/

Earliest is 2019.... Hmmm, I think a certain Muscle car is due for a refreshed look by then until the rehaul in 2021.... I'm curious about the other manufacture that is interested though, I have an idea but this could out of left field. I did like that in the article that since chevrolet has switched to the camaro, an early obstacle of coupe vs sedan has been taken care of. 

I think Dodge will come in, the other manufacture, well, unless Honda does a Type R accord or a sportscar, I'm thinking Nissan.

[dfwabel]

2 hours ago, rvrdgsfn said:

Earliest is 2019.... Hmmm, I think a certain Muscle car is due for a refreshed look by then until the rehaul in 2021.... I'm curious about the other manufacture that is interested though, I have an idea but this could out of left field. I did like that in the article that since chevrolet has switched to the camaro, an early obstacle of coupe vs sedan has been taken care of. 

I think Dodge will come in, the other manufacture, well, unless Honda does a Type R accord or a sportscar, I'm thinking Nissan.

October 1 is the deadline for new manufacturer's declaration to race to beginning 15 months later at Speed Weeks. That's been the rule for a fairly long time.

 

FCA's return could be curtailed if they are broken up and sold too a Chinese maker as reported today.

 

http://www.autonews.com/article/20170814/OEM/170819914/chinese-automakers-covet-fca?X-IgnoreUserAgent=1&X-IgnoreUserAgent=1

 

Accord coupe is done for 2018, Ultima coupe has been gone since 2014, and a new Z was "not a priority", according to

 Christian Meunier, senior vice president of Nissan Sales, Marketing, and Operations back in April. 2019 would be the 50th anniversary of Z production, if they decide to still build it.

[LAWeaver]

Tough day for the Truck Series as Brad Keselowski announces he will shut down his organization after 2017.

 

 

[dfwabel]

On 08/17/2017 at 3:22 PM, mr.nascar13 said:

Tough day for the Truck Series as Brad Keselowski announces he will shut down his organization after 2017.

 

 

The race team loses about $1M/year.

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/truck/story/_/id/20372352/with-eye-future-nascar-cup-series-ownership-brad-keselowski-shutting-camping-world-truck-series-team

 

 

http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Camping-World-Trucks/News/Articles/2014/12/Brad-Keselowski-Racing-Loses-One-Million-Dollars.aspx

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Chris Buescher is staying in the #37 for the next few years. Something I honestly wasn't anticipating heading into the season.

 

He's still under loan from Roush-Fenway for 2 more years; so this contract extension is most likely for another 2 years. Maybe more? Who knows.

 

http://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/08/18/29746/chris-buescher-signs-multiyear-deal-jtg-daugherty-racing

[stumpygremlin]

4 hours ago, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

Chris Buescher is staying in the #37 for the next few years. Something I honestly wasn't anticipating heading into the season.

 

He's still under loan from Roush-Fenway for 2 more years; so this contract extension is most likely for another 2 years. Maybe more? Who knows.

 

http://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/08/18/29746/chris-buescher-signs-multiyear-deal-jtg-daugherty-racing

The team is seemingly progressing this year with him. It might continue to do so.

[rvrdgsfn]

Results from Bristol:

 

1.  Kyle Busch

2. Jones

3. Hamlin

4. Kenseth

5. Kurt Busch

6. Newman

7. Bayne

8. Harvick

9. Larson

10. Blaney

 

Stage 1 winner: Kyle Busch

Stage 2 winner: Kenseth

 

Rowdy gets the sweep & I tell you, Erik Jones is going to be a name that we will be hearing for a long time. He almost had him until the last couple of laps, then road traffic & Kyle having a faster car, just couldn't catch him.

 

Next up, a week off then, Darlington.

[LAWeaver]

I was at the race last night and let me tell ya, there isn't a single bad seat in the house. My dad and I sat in the Yarborough section right at the exit of Turn 2 and we could see the entire track. It was truly electric and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in going to Bristol.

[stumpygremlin]

19 hours ago, rvrdgsfn said:

Results from Bristol:

 

1.  Kyle Busch

2. Jones

3. Hamlin

4. Kenseth

5. Kurt Busch

6. Newman

7. Bayne

8. Harvick

9. Larson

10. Blaney

 

Stage 1 winner: Kyle Busch

Stage 2 winner: Kenseth

 

Rowdy gets the sweep & I tell you, Erik Jones is going to be a name that we will be hearing for a long time. He almost had him until the last couple of laps, then road traffic & Kyle having a faster car, just couldn't catch him.

 

Next up, a week off then, Darlington.

Speaking of the sweep, Matt Kenseth won State 2 of the Cup race. Other than that, Kyle Busch won every other stage of the weekend.

[stumpygremlin]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/former-truck-series-driver-shane-223626390.html

 

At 34, Shane Sieg, older brother of Ryan Sieg, and owner of three top tens in the Truck series, has passed away. He was suspended indefinitely in 2011 for violating the substance abuse policy. Let's hope the two aren't related.

[stumpygremlin]

That road race yesterday was very entertaining. Jeremy Clements pulled off a great win for his highly underfunded team, and you could see the pure, unadulterated joy on the crew. Awesome for them. Tifft got punted, but with his old tires, Clements would've caught him anyway. The spin really only cost him the spot to Michael Annett.

 

Good for a bunch of people getting their best finishes: Clements with the win, Annett in 2nd, Tifft in 3rd, and Bilicki in 12th.

 

The one that pissed me off was Ross Chastain spinning Justin Marks, who then collected and knocked out James Davison. I went in rooting for Davison because of him being a road ringer, and I always root for those guys in these races.

 

It seems like Davison and Bilicki really want to move into NASCAR full time. I wonder where these guys would end up.

[See Red]

I didn't see if anybody had mentioned this, but Hendrick announced their number lineup for next season.

 

William Byron will be in the 24 while Chase will drive the 9 car.  I'm kind of conflicted as a Gordon fan that adopted Chase as my favorite driver at least in part because he was driving the 24.

[rvrdgsfn]

Just now, See Red said:

I didn't see if anybody had mentioned this, but Hendrick announced their number lineup for next season.

 

William Byron will be in the 24 while Chase will drive the 9 car.  I'm kind of conflicted as a Gordon fan that adopted Chase as my favorite driver at least in part because he was driving the 24.

 

 

I like it, Chase has driven the 9 for a while in ARCA & Xfinity & it was his dad's number so there's always that connection. Truth be told, I thought the 88 would've been gone.

 

Well, I think with this news, it's only a matter of time before we knew this could/would happen...

https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-cup-ford-mustang-946786/

 

Coming on the heels of Chevrolet announcing it will field its Camaro brand in NASCAR’s top tour, race fans have been vocal about Ford’s muscle car joining the ranks as well.

The great-grandson of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford said that, while he’s not the decision maker for the racing arm of the manufacturer, personally he feels that having a Mustang race alongside the Camaro “would be wonderful.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do yet, but I think it’s the right play,” Ford told motorsport.com at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday. “I think Mustang ought to be our race car — much like Camaro is General Motors race car. So, it seems to me that would be appropriate.”

[stumpygremlin]

28 minutes ago, See Red said:

I didn't see if anybody had mentioned this, but Hendrick announced their number lineup for next season.

 

William Byron will be in the 24 while Chase will drive the 9 car.  I'm kind of conflicted as a Gordon fan that adopted Chase as my favorite driver at least in part because he was driving the 24.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I get that Bill Elliott drove the 9, which makes me wonder why Hendrick didn't just put Chase in the 9 from the jump. They could've moved Kahne to the 24 or kept him in the 5 (and gotten rid of the other one) and kept Earnhardt in the 88 and Johnson in the 48.

[DCarp1231]

Two bits of sponsorship news for 2018:

 

Menards will be the primary sponsor of the 12 of Ryan Blaney for 14 races

 

Liberty University and Hendrick Motorsports agree to multi-year deal to sponsor the 24 of William Byron. No surprise there.

[ozzyman314]

Since no one has mentioned it yet, the new trophy is pretty cool. 

[raysox]

I hope this one sticks around, it looks super iconic and it hasn't even been awarded