2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season

[sportsfan0518]

As we get closer to presidents weekend, that can only mean one thing, there will be another fresh season of NASCAR. I personally am very excited because I love this new points system because of the epic finish to the season last year, and my man Elliott Sadler is driving in the Daytona 500. This offseason has mostly been centered about Danica Patrick joining the NASCAR world for the N'wide (fulltime) and Cup Series (10 races). I'll make a list on the bottom with some notable headlines. But with the Bud Shootout coming in about a week and the 500 is lurking closer and closer, will Danica live up to the hype? Will Tony Stewart repeat despite not having Darian Grubb? How will Kurt Busch fare in the 51 car? Will Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus get a 6th title? Will Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, and Dale Jr finally win a title? Will the 2 car draft disappear? All of these questions will be answered this upcoming season.

Notable Headlines

-Kurt Busch leaving Penske and joining the 51 Phoenix Racing team

-Allmendiger, Ragan, Bowyer, Kahne, and Almirola all joining new race teams

-Brian Vickers left out with no full time ride.

-Darian Grubb and Mike Ford swapping crew cheif positions

-Red Bull racing, as expected, left NASCAR with 2 unfilled owners points up for grabs

-Mark Martin and Reutimann find part time rides

[rvrdgsfn]

2012 is shaping up to be a great season, I'd say last year was one of the best in a long time & I can't wait to see what this season bring.

I would also like to add that the start of the 2013 season is when the new cars come out & if they look anything like this...

Then I'll be happy.

[NEW.ERA]

Fusion ecoboost, fantastic looking car. Hopefully they do come to NASCAR.

I'll go on the record by saying Tony Stewart will not repeat, getting rid of Darian Grubb for some reason, was the dumbest move of the offseason.

Early Chase predictions.

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Carl Edwards

5. Kasey Kahne

6. Tony Stewart

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

9. Jeff Gordon

10. Kyle Busch

11. Matt Kenseth

12. A.J. Allmendinger

[raysox]

Go Kahne! But it sucks Vickers can't get a ride. I don't like all this shifting going on, and good drivers losing their rides.

[RyanMcD29]

No idea how this season's gonna go. Kinda wide open in terms for the championship, and as Tony Stewart coming from 9th to start the Chase showed, anything can and will happen once September rolls around. With all the moving around going on this offseason, it's gonna be verrry interesting to see who's able to come out on top

As for now, DANICA DANICA DANICA DANICA IS THIS FINALLY THE RACE DALE JR ENDS HIS LOSING STREAK?!? DANICA DANICA DANICA BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LOOK AT JUNEBUG GO DANICA DANICA *Busch brother wrecks someone* DANICA DANICA

[BigMac12]

A new building at Kansas Speedway gives new meaning to the term "casino turn."

[infrared41]

Danica-mania may annoy people, but the truth is that NASCAR can use any kind of publicity it can get these days. If Danica Patrick can help the Nationwide Series get better ratings and higher attendance, then I'm all for it. Same deal with her ten cup races.

Anyway, Daytona can't get here soon enough.

[NEW.ERA]

Hopefully the 500 goes better than her testing run. She did run last July in the Nationwide race, but for Cup she was a little iffy watching her run a bit last month.

[sportsfan0518]

Danica-mania may annoy people, but the truth is that NASCAR can use any kind of publicity it can get these days. If Danica Patrick can help the Nationwide Series get better ratings and higher attendance, then I'm all for it. Same deal with her ten cup races.

Anyway, Daytona can't get here soon enough.

NASCAR does need something to gain the popularity of the sport, badly. Even though Danica will be the answer, I fear that ESPN will treat her like a LeBron James or Tim Tebow, somebody who is always mentioned every half hour. That would be very annoying to watch everyday.

[pmoehrin]

Danica-mania may annoy people, but the truth is that NASCAR can use any kind of publicity it can get these days. If Danica Patrick can help the Nationwide Series get better ratings and higher attendance, then I'm all for it. Same deal with her ten cup races.

Anyway, Daytona can't get here soon enough.

NASCAR does need something to gain the popularity of the sport, badly. Even though Danica will be the answer, I fear that ESPN will treat her like a LeBron James or Tim Tebow, somebody who is always mentioned every half hour. That would be very annoying to watch everyday.

In a way I feel bad for her, because she's basically being set up to be taken apart by the hardcore NASCAR fan. She is going to get shoved down everyone's throat and I don't she's that good. I think she's going to have a very hard time adjusting to the Sprint Cup series. I don't think she has enough experience at the Nationwide level nor has shown any signs that she can in fact compete at the Sprint Cup level. At the same time if your going to leapfrog that many people as she did because of her name value to take a spot like that, can you really blame any sort of resentment other drivers or fans may have for her if she doesn't have great success?

At best I would say she's two years away from being able to compete in the Sprint Cup at a high level and I don't see her putting in the work to make it. I think she has too many other interests off the track to allow that to happen. To be fair though, why would she give that up? She is more famous and makes money for modeling then what driving cars would ever let her become or make.

I think she'll stay in NASCAR for three to five years and then retire from the sport completely. If she doesn't have immediate success there's no reason for her to stay. She can go right into television and make boat loads of money at any time.

[dfwabel]

Engines are now with EFI, so math (fuel mileage) could assist team more than ever before.

[crashcarson15]

Have fun with Danica, stock car guys!

[infrared41]

Danica-mania may annoy people, but the truth is that NASCAR can use any kind of publicity it can get these days. If Danica Patrick can help the Nationwide Series get better ratings and higher attendance, then I'm all for it. Same deal with her ten cup races.

Anyway, Daytona can't get here soon enough.

NASCAR does need something to gain the popularity of the sport, badly. Even though Danica will be the answer, I fear that ESPN will treat her like a LeBron James or Tim Tebow, somebody who is always mentioned every half hour. That would be very annoying to watch everyday.

In a way I feel bad for her, because she's basically being set up to be taken apart by the hardcore NASCAR fan. She is going to get shoved down everyone's throat and I don't she's that good. I think she's going to have a very hard time adjusting to the Sprint Cup series. I don't think she has enough experience at the Nationwide level nor has shown any signs that she can in fact compete at the Sprint Cup level. At the same time if your going to leapfrog that many people as she did because of her name value to take a spot like that, can you really blame any sort of resentment other drivers or fans may have for her if she doesn't have great success?

At best I would say she's two years away from being able to compete in the Sprint Cup at a high level and I don't see her putting in the work to make it. I think she has too many other interests off the track to allow that to happen. To be fair though, why would she give that up? She is more famous and makes money for modeling then what driving cars would ever let her become or make.

I think she'll stay in NASCAR for three to five years and then retire from the sport completely. If she doesn't have immediate success there's no reason for her to stay. She can go right into television and make boat loads of money at any time.

All great points, pmoehrin. You're absolutely right, hardcore fans are going to find every excuse in the book to bash her. (The short-sightedness of "hardcore" NASCAR fans could be separate topic.) My hope is that she draws in the casual viewer and the sport itself manages to keep some of them. I think the sport will be doing very well if it can manage to "convert" 5 of every 100 curious "casual" fans that Danica draws in.

NASCAR is definitely an acquired taste. There are no quick solutions. The sport needs to get away from "get rich quick" style gimmicks and concentrate on slowly building back up after the recent bust of the 90's popularity bubble.

[oddball]

Define "Hard Core" fan. Is it someone who's been watching for 30 years? Or is it Jr Nation? Or is it the fans that have made Dale Earnhardt a "god" after his death and refuse to see that everything that Kyle Busch has done is what Earnhardt did? What's a "Hard Core" fan? Is is someone like me who watches the trucks, Nationwide, and Cup races in a weekend 30 times a year and follows that up by watching Nascar Now and Race Hub? If that's the case then us "Hard Core" fans have no problem with Danica, but could care less about how many new viewers she brings to the sport. I could care less about how many people are watching and could care less about attendance numbers at tracks. I want to see good hard racing, and I look at Danica as another driver. I don't expect her to win in Cup or even Nationwide this year. Maybe a Nationwide win next year. The worst thing that could actually happen to Danica, is a victory this year. Look at how one victory ruined the development of Trevor Bayne. It took him 3/4 of the season in Nationwide to realize he wasn't a star and got lucky in the Daytona 500 because he had a 4 time champion helping him. The greatest thing about Danica coming to NASCAR, we can forget about Trevor Bayne who will probably be looking for a ride in May.

[rvrdgsfn]

In all honesty, I think Danica mania in Nascar is gonna be a good thing but this is going to be a bumpy road ahead. I remember hearing on SiriusXM that most drivers that convert from IndyCar or F1 to Stock have a hard time adjusting, see Sam Hornish, Juan Pablo, even Tony Stewart had his troubles but in the mean time, I do see good things happening to Danica and consider me interested to see what happens.

Not for my prediction for the chase

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Tony Stewart

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Clint Boywer (my dark horse, I think he'll do well with MWR)

7. Carl Edwards

8. Denny Hamlin

9. Kasey Khane

10. Jeff Gordon

11. Kyle Busch

12. Jamie McMurray

Sorry Nation, I don't think it'll be his year & this is coming from a fan of Sr & Jr.

[infrared41]

Define "Hard Core" fan. Is it someone who's been watching for 30 years? Or is it Jr Nation? Or is it the fans that have made Dale Earnhardt a "god" after his death and refuse to see that everything that Kyle Busch has done is what Earnhardt did? What's a "Hard Core" fan? Is is someone like me who watches the trucks, Nationwide, and Cup races in a weekend 30 times a year and follows that up by watching Nascar Now and Race Hub? If that's the case then us "Hard Core" fans have no problem with Danica, but could care less about how many new viewers she brings to the sport. I could care less about how many people are watching and could care less about attendance numbers at tracks. I want to see good hard racing, and I look at Danica as another driver. I don't expect her to win in Cup or even Nationwide this year. Maybe a Nationwide win next year. The worst thing that could actually happen to Danica, is a victory this year. Look at how one victory ruined the development of Trevor Bayne. It took him 3/4 of the season in Nationwide to realize he wasn't a star and got lucky in the Daytona 500 because he had a 4 time champion helping him. The greatest thing about Danica coming to NASCAR, we can forget about Trevor Bayne who will probably be looking for a ride in May.

In this particular case, it's fan who "could (sic) care less about how many new viewers she (Danica) brings to the sport. Who could (sic) care less about how many people are watching and could (sic) care less about attendance numbers at tracks." In other words, a fan who couldn't care less that the sport is in a little bit of trouble. Someone who can't see the forest for the trees. Sound familiar?

Are you always this angry?

[RyanMcD29]

Define "Hard Core" fan. Is it someone who's been watching for 30 years? Or is it Jr Nation? Or is it the fans that have made Dale Earnhardt a "god" after his death and refuse to see that everything that Kyle Busch has done is what Earnhardt did? What's a "Hard Core" fan? Is is someone like me who watches the trucks, Nationwide, and Cup races in a weekend 30 times a year and follows that up by watching Nascar Now and Race Hub? If that's the case then us "Hard Core" fans have no problem with Danica, but could care less about how many new viewers she brings to the sport. I could care less about how many people are watching and could care less about attendance numbers at tracks. I want to see good hard racing, and I look at Danica as another driver. I don't expect her to win in Cup or even Nationwide this year. Maybe a Nationwide win next year. The worst thing that could actually happen to Danica, is a victory this year. Look at how one victory ruined the development of Trevor Bayne. It took him 3/4 of the season in Nationwide to realize he wasn't a star and got lucky in the Daytona 500 because he had a 4 time champion helping him. The greatest thing about Danica coming to NASCAR, we can forget about Trevor Bayne who will probably be looking for a ride in May.

In this particular case, it's fan who "could (sic) care less about how many new viewers she (Danica) brings to the sport. Who could (sic) care less about how many people are watching and could (sic) care less about attendance numbers at tracks." In other words, a fan who couldn't care less that the sport is in a little bit of trouble. Someone who can't see the forest for the trees. Sound familiar?

Are you always this angry?

Wait until the first wreck a Busch brother causes or first complaint Harvick makes

[Camden Crazy]

If they want to regain popularity, they need to ditch all of the boring, cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks and go back to the way things were in the late 90's. Get rid of the stupid Chase, too.

[pmoehrin]

If they want to regain popularity, they need to ditch all of the boring, cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks and go back to the way things were in the late 90's. Get rid of the stupid Chase, too.

I'm all for more road courses, but the late 90's had just as many road circuit courses as they do now. Sonoma and Watkins Glen have been it for a long time now. You got to back to '87 I think to find the last time NASCAR ran a season with more then two races at road courses and even then that's only because they ran Riverside twice.

[infrared41]

If they want to regain popularity, they need to ditch all of the boring, cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks and go back to the way things were in the late 90's. Get rid of the stupid Chase, too.

The cookie cutter tracks aren't going anywhere. I'm with you on dropping the chase. Instead of some silly "playoff", why not just make wins more important throughout the season. Award more points for a win or something. Make it tougher to win a season championship by simply being consistent. I'm not saying punish the guys who run well all season but don't win many races. Just make a win worth more than just a few points better than second. I don't know, there just has to be a better way than the chase.

Unlike most of you guys, I hate the road course races. I say get rid of them entirely.