2024 NASCAR Season

[DCarp1231]

1 minute ago, See Red said:

Well, that’s a bummer that he’s taking this season off. Big loss for NBC.  Him and Bestwick would be a good pairing. Amazon should make that happen.  

Bestwick and Petree, like the good ol ESPN days

[Needschat]

Man, today's Cup race was terrible, the largest margin of victory this season. What was it, almost half-a-second?

 

And F1 thinks they're entertaining Babababahahahahaha

[See Red]

That race was a s*** show but kind of fun watching Hamlin and Truex navigate the lapped cars knowing they were all ticking time bombs.

[infrared41]

16 minutes ago, See Red said:

That race was a s*** show but kind of fun watching Hamlin and Truex navigate the lapped cars knowing they were all ticking time bombs.

 

That race was old school short track stock car racing. It would have been better if the teams had known going in that tires weren't going to be indestructible (like they usually are with the NextGen car), but other than that, it was a good race. Record amount of short track lead changes and they could actually pass...for once.

[PrimalCookie]

14 hours ago, infrared41 said:

That race was old school short track stock car racing. It would have been better if the teams had known going in that tires weren't going to be indestructible (like they usually are with the NextGen car), but other than that, it was a good race. Record amount of short track lead changes and they could actually pass...for once.

Turns out aero packages don't matter when you have a tire that actually wears. What a concept!

 

They need to find a compound that lays down rubber instead of just shredding, but that was still pretty fun. I'm scared Goodyear will overreact and go back to the standard bricks they usually make.

[infrared41]

39 minutes ago, PrimalCookie said:

I'm scared Goodyear will overreact and go back to the standard bricks they usually make.

 

If we're lucky, Goodyear will see all the positive reactions to the race and do just enough tweaking that we're not running on cords after 40 laps.

[dont care]

Apparently it was the same tire as last fall, but the way they treated the track make it so the tires wouldn’t work into the track like it did with the pj1. Maybe just going back to the pj1 would help the tire issue, but I’d honestly want just a slightly harder tire to go maybe 80 laps before cording and sliding happening in between. 

[sky1324]

That race was fantastic. Don't change a damn thing about the tire. Driver skill actually mattered for the first time in a long time and it showed with Hamlin, Truex, and Keselowski taking the podium. By the end of the race, drivers were getting 60-70 laps on those tires and especially now that teams can prepare for it you'll see the stronger, better preserved tires next time.

 

I have to wonder - with the calls for increased horsepower, maybe there's another way to get what the fans want. I think the stiff, aero-dependent car bodies are actually the biggest problem. Part of what made NASCAR of the 80s and 90s so great was that the cars were basically giant boxes being wheeled at crazy high speeds. Take the nerds away from the aero sims and let the cars be ill-handling. With some compromise from the involved parties (Chevy/Ford/Toyota, NASCAR, engine makers, Goodyear) maybe we can weaken the aero and tires just a bit and bump up the HP slightly, to say, 750, and then we'd see better racing?

[infrared41]

58 minutes ago, sky1324 said:

That race was fantastic. Don't change a damn thing about the tire. Driver skill actually mattered for the first time in a long time and it showed with Hamlin, Truex, and Keselowski taking the podium. By the end of the race, drivers were getting 60-70 laps on those tires and especially now that teams can prepare for it you'll see the stronger, better preserved tires next time.

 

I have to wonder - with the calls for increased horsepower, maybe there's another way to get what the fans want. I think the stiff, aero-dependent car bodies are actually the biggest problem. Part of what made NASCAR of the 80s and 90s so great was that the cars were basically giant boxes being wheeled at crazy high speeds. Take the nerds away from the aero sims and let the cars be ill-handling. With some compromise from the involved parties (Chevy/Ford/Toyota, NASCAR, engine makers, Goodyear) maybe we can weaken the aero and tires just a bit and bump up the HP slightly, to say, 750, and then we'd see better racing?

 

I could not agree more. Instead of running 500 qualifying laps, we actually had a race that rewarded driver skill. As you said, we saw that with the top three finishers in the race. The top five were all drivers who know who to properly run at a short track. The gun it and run it guys never really figured it out. Yesterday was good lesson for everyone on how important the drivers and crews should be in a race.

 

Horsepower isn't the issue. Trying to fix what has been...I'll be generous here...a problematic car has been the issue all along. If I had my way, the Cup Series would dump the NextGen car and make a Cup car based on the current Xfinity car. (For my money, Xfinity has the best racing in NASCAR these days.) In its quest to make Cup racing less expensive and create more parity, NASCAR left out the main ingredient - good racing.

 

Finally, to the fans who think anything short of an Atlanta finish every week is an abject failure, a good race is way more than just the final three laps. Do you get upset when you watch a baseball game that didn't end on a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th? Do you expect every football game to end on a last second go ahead TD? Point being, there's a lot more to this than "go fast, turn left."  Bristol showed you why yesterday.

[GrayJ12]

54 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

I could not agree more. Instead of running 500 qualifying laps, we actually had a race that rewarded driver skill. As you said, we saw that with the top three finishers in the race. The top five were all drivers who know who to properly run at a short track. The gun it and run it guys never really figured it out. Yesterday was good lesson for everyone on how important the drivers and crews should be in a race.

I agree. It was such a fun race to watch. Seeing how the drivers adjusted and adapted to the changing conditions was great. Also, even though I have mixed opinions on Ty Gibbs, he did a great job, and he shows that he deserves a Cup seat.

I was going through Twitter yesterday and so many people were comparing it to the '08 Indianapolis race. I'm just wondering how many of them actually watched that race and not a video about it on YouTube.

[dont care]

4 hours ago, GrayJ12 said:

I agree. It was such a fun race to watch. Seeing how the drivers adjusted and adapted to the changing conditions was great. Also, even though I have mixed opinions on Ty Gibbs, he did a great job, and he shows that he deserves a Cup seat.

I was going through Twitter yesterday and so many people were comparing it to the '08 Indianapolis race. I'm just wondering how many of them actually watched that race and not a video about it on YouTube.

The difference was the Indy race tires blew out, threw debris everywhere and caused cautions every 10 laps until nascar just started doing competition cautions every 8 laps. This race the tires  corded after 40 they ran on ice for 10 laps until they blew out and nascar let them make their way to pit road without throwing a caution because they didn’t have to. There was an issue with the tire and track combo but I’d rather see that than tires that don’t fall off and drivers run follow the leader all race. It’s a fine balance to get life out of the tire yet make them have the fall off needed during a run. A fuel run a Bristol should be about 150 laps, I’d like to see some drivers be able to get to that with other not conserving and falling off like a rock the last 20 laps but that’s a perfect world.

[dont care]

Race at COTA was won by William Byron for his second victory of the season. No cautions at all this race other than stage breaks (which I’m disappointed they brought them back for road courses). Pretty boring race over all with William Byron basically dominating other than a few challenges by Gibbs, reddick and chastain after cautions. Had no complaints though with no shenanigans towards the end to try and make drama. The road ringers didn’t perform today with SVG being fairly average before speeding on pit road, and kobayashi should never sit in a nascar race are again.

[DCarp1231]

Eyes are on Stewart-Haas Racing to potentially downsize and sell off charters amidst team struggles and cost of charters

 

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/04/02/stewart-haas-racing-nascar-future-charter-talks?publicationSource=newsletters&issue=01c7a154d8a84ec8a38a509e9bf23200&ana=mk_sbd_da_emda

[sky1324]

6 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

Eyes are on Stewart-Haas Racing to potentially downsize and sell off charters amidst team struggles and cost of charters

 

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/04/02/stewart-haas-racing-nascar-future-charter-talks?publicationSource=newsletters&issue=01c7a154d8a84ec8a38a509e9bf23200&ana=mk_sbd_da_emda

It's nothing more than speculation at this point, but Kaulig has also been thrown around as a team possibly selling. Kaulig's Cup efforts have not been paying off and Trackhouse seems like the perfect buyer, giving them a charter for SVG next season. If Kaulig sells both charters, I could see 23XI being in play, as well as RFK, who would also be candidates for this SHR charter. Maybe this is the year JR Motorsports finally stops delaying and gets a charter as well.

[DCarp1231]

13 minutes ago, sky1324 said:

It's nothing more than speculation at this point, but Kaulig has also been thrown around as a team possibly selling. Kaulig's Cup efforts have not been paying off and Trackhouse seems like the perfect buyer, giving them a charter for SVG next season. If Kaulig sells both charters, I could see 23XI being in play, as well as RFK, who would also be candidates for this SHR charter. Maybe this is the year JR Motorsports finally stops delaying and gets a charter as well.

I don’t see JRM doing a full jump unless it’s through a partnership.

[LAWeaver]

Dale scoffed at the charter prices when they were 3-4 times less than they are now, so I highly doubt we see him jump in at this point unless, as DCarp mentioned, it's a partnership of some sort.

 

SHR really only needs to sell-off one charter IMO and that's the 41. I had a feeling based on Custer's performance in the 41 that Preece would be a nonfactor, but man I didn't expect him to be so far off. Part of that can be attributed to SHR's downward spiral, but even so he's really lagged behind the rest of the team. Berry has shown flashes this year, Briscoe is a proven winner, and even Gragson has ran better than expected and would be higher in points without that big penalty handed-down earlier this season. 

[DCarp1231]

I can see JRM partnering with Trackhouse via Kaulig. It would bolster Kaulig’s overall program and provide a straighter path for JRM drivers a to cup.

[sky1324]

I have to wonder if Jr will just bite the bullet on a charter - the price is only going to go up so he may finally try to get in on the action (if I was him, I certainly would). But he's notoriously a penny-pincher so I bet this will be another year without JRM in Cup.

 

I've heard that if another OEM joins NASCAR is allowed to add up to 4 new charters, so if those rumors about Honda joining Cup in 2026/27/28 are true, then we could finally see some new charters in the field.

[dont care]

9 hours ago, LAWeaver said:

Dale scoffed at the charter prices when they were 3-4 times less than they are now, so I highly doubt we see him jump in at this point unless, as DCarp mentioned, it's a partnership of some sort.

 

SHR really only needs to sell-off one charter IMO and that's the 41. I had a feeling based on Custer's performance in the 41 that Preece would be a nonfactor, but man I didn't expect him to be so far off. Part of that can be attributed to SHR's downward spiral, but even so he's really lagged behind the rest of the team. Berry has shown flashes this year, Briscoe is a proven winner, and even Gragson has ran better than expected and would be higher in points without that big penalty handed-down earlier this season. 

Having 1 win, and the other 2 seasons being sub 23rd doesn’t make Briscoe a “proven winner”, Ryan Preece was clearly the best driver for SHR after Harvick who’s a legend. He’s been slow this year but I think that’s a ford problem and bad luck not a preece problem. Briscoe has the sponsorship money but not the success they are looking for.

[DCarp1231]

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