2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season

[RyanMcD29]

I mainly define good racing as consistent battles around the race track with quite a bit of side-by-side going on at a given moment. Basically if it's not single file through the whole pack and there's some good battles for position, it's good racing in my books. That being said, I would also consider an exciting finish help make up for a lackluster race. For example, last year's Coca-Cola 600 craziness at the end made up for some of the duller moments earlier in the race (though to be honest IIRC the last 30 or so laps were good).

[NEW.ERA]

Well looks like JJ is on a run that could see him win 5 out of 6 titles. I don't see anyone better than him the last month or so.

Also I was thinking of things that have happened since Dale Jr's last victory, four years ago June 15th at Michigan which is a little over a week away.

This is just NASCAR events, if it was all events we'd be here all day.

- I was finishing up Grade 11, now going into fourth year of university.

- Jimmie Johnson won 2 more championships.

- Kurt Busch was just starting a "wonderful" career at Penske. And now drives for James Finch.

- Budweiser is no longer the official beer of NASCAR.

- Jeremy Mayfield is now a convicted drug peddling scum.

- Brad Keselowski put Carl Edwards into the catch fence at Talladega, and started what looks to be a promising career full of Championships.

- The Daytona 500 has been rained shortened, delayed because of a pothole (not once but twice), saw a jet dryer explode, and finish on a Tuesday morning.

- Mark Martin changes teams every year, and still maintains consistency.

- Every driver that's passed through Hendrick since then has won.

- Dale Jr is still the most popular driver, and cheers go off every time he takes the lead.

- David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard, David Regan, Reagan Smith and Trevor Bayne have all won their first and only race so far. (All at prestigious tracks as well.)

- Jamie McMurray driving with DEI won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.

- Tony Stewart started his own team.

- Martin Truex is having more success driving for Junior's best friend, then he ever did driving with Junior.

- Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards keep screwing up their chances at winning a Sprint Cup Championship that all three should have by now.

- Kentucky is now apart of the schedule, Atlanta lost a race, Kansas was given another race.

- Sprint Cup drivers can no longer win Championships in the Nationwide series, but are still dominating that series, albeit not as much anymore.

- AMP Energy still tastes awful.

- Not including Jr's last win. Hendrick has won 33 races spanning almost four years. About 80% by Jimmie Johnson, rest would be Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne.

Just a little retrospective on what has happened to NASCAR since June 15th, 2008. Though Junior is driving the best he has right now with Hendrick and is easily having his best season since 2004. I think he wins before or at Daytona in July.

[rvrdgsfn]

Kurt Busch will have to skip Pocono

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-kurt-busch-suspended-probation-extended-nascar-sprint

[BrySmalls]

Kurt Busch will have to skip Pocono

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-kurt-busch-suspended-probation-extended-nascar-sprint

Good! I didn't want to see him anywhere near the Tricky Triangle when I'm there this weekend.

[NEW.ERA]

I wonder if Kurt and Kyle's Parents are anything like their sons.

[oddball]

I wonder if Kurt and Kyle's Parents are anything like their sons.

And what exactly has Kyle done wrong this year? Besides not winning all the time? There's this thing in the back of my mind that wonders if Kurt isn't on some sort of drug. I'm serious. The way he's acting it just doesn't make sense. I haven't seen anyone rational and not on drugs that has self-destructed like he has. I swear I'm watching Jeremy Mayfield all over again. Kyle on the other hand has so far become a tamer/less winning driver. Personally, I find it boring and I want the old brash a-hole who wins back for Kyle.

[rvrdgsfn]

Ford made a few tweaks to their 2013 Fusion Racecar to make it look more like its production car...

Man I wish I held off till the fall, I rather have the 2013 instead of the 12. Either way, this is nice work. I can't wait to see how Roush & Penske's cars are gonna look, Petty? Well, there's still the dodge rumor going about.

[sportsfan0518]

Is anyone else here bothered about how Logano won? I wish he never bumped someone like Mark Martin, because Mark Martin would never bump someone for the win no matter what. Yet here comes a young Logano who decided to race Martin dirty, and it won him the race. It bothers me a lot since Mark is a very respected guy.

[theSLVRBCK]

Is anyone else here bothered about how Logano won? I wish he never bumped someone like Mark Martin, because Mark Martin would never bump someone for the win no matter what. Yet here comes a young Logano who decided to race Martin dirty, and it won him the race. It bothers me a lot since Mark is a very respected guy.

Me personally, yeah, I have a problem with it. but that is probably because I am a Martin fan. The only guy that I would accept doing that to Mark was Earnhardt cause he'd wreck his mother to win a race, lol. But in usual Martin form, he seems okay with finishing second again....

Q. I guess he got into you there to take the lead; is that right? What happened there, and did you have any qualms or problems at all with him getting into you?

MARK MARTIN: Well, I'd call that a bump and run.

Q. Was that okay?

MARK MARTIN: It has been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It's not how I would have done it, but certainly if I'd have had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return. But I couldn't quite keep up with him.

It was great racing, and everybody does what they're -- what they decide to do. It was a great race, and I'm very, very proud of my race team for putting me in something that would give me a shot. I'm having fun with it. Maybe next week we'll be the ones with the trophy.

taken from http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19325387/mark-martin-calls-joey-loganos-move-acceptable-but-not-how-how-i-would-have-done-it

[Chicageaux]

Is anyone else here bothered about how Logano won? I wish he never bumped someone like Mark Martin, because Mark Martin would never bump someone for the win no matter what. Yet here comes a young Logano who decided to race Martin dirty, and it won him the race. It bothers me a lot since Mark is a very respected guy.

Rubbin's racing.

And Martin's not going to act like he's ticked at Logano considering he "discovered" him. He's been Logano's mentor since Logano got called up to Nascar.

[BrySmalls]

In addition, Logano needed the win a lot more than Martin at this stage of their careers. There are rumors going around that Logano may be out at JGR at the end of this season, regardless of how he finishes.

[NEW.ERA]

That'd be JGR's loss. Big time.

[TBGKon]

Jr would look great winning @ Michigan winning in this car:

[rvrdgsfn]

Junior winning would be great, he has the car & has been doing great compared to other seasons, he has become a contender.

Meanwhile, it looks like Chevy wasn't kidding about taking their sweet time. Lots of hype behind the SS

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/14/daytona-500-debut-set-for-chevrolet-ss-next-gen-holden-commodore/

"You can mark this date on your calendar as VF Day: February 21, 2013. That's the date of the Daytona 500."

It makes me wonder if it takes this long to show the street legal version, I wonder how long it'll take to get the Sprint Cup version? Either that or Chevy are perfectionists.

[oddball]

Bothered by Joey Logano bumping Mark? Why? What kind of wimp are you? First of all Martin was loose and admitted it. Logano did nothing wrong as when he got behind the 55, Mark's car got loose again loosing momentum and then Joey bumped him. Joey had the best car and the best car won, there's nothing wrong with that. As far as Joe Gibbs loss if Logano goes, not really. I'd rather have either Ryan Newman or Matt Kenseth in their worst years over Joey Logano. I'm sorry but all the hype over Joey and being this great driver, have been all hype. I have not been impressed at all with him as a Cup driver. I'm not sure if it's the car aka (more horsepower), but he's at best a top 20 driver. It's the same thing with Trevor Bayne, it's all hype. They might be good race drivers, but they aren't good Cup drivers.

[Chicageaux]

At 22 years old, I think you'd have to say Logano's been all hype. He has a lot of racing years to either live up to it or become the next Casey Atwood.

[RyanMcD29]

Anybody feel like the decision to have the Left Rear tire an older compound tomorrow's gonna make things worse rather than better? Yes the speeds have been quite fast at Michigan, but having a mismatched set of tires might mean having to come in every 15 laps to change them and it could be as disastrous as Indy back in 2008

[pmoehrin]

Anybody feel like the decision to have the Left Rear tire an older compound tomorrow's gonna make things worse rather than better? Yes the speeds have been quite fast at Michigan, but having a mismatched set of tires might mean having to come in every 15 laps to change them and it could be as disastrous as Indy back in 2008

I'm kind of surprised NASCAR didn't make the decision to go to restrictor plates for this race. If something is not done to slow the speeds down then yeah I think you are basically going to have an unwatchable race with all the tire changes going on. That track is just running way too fast for those cars.

Hopefully it won't be as bad as the 2008 Brickyard. That race was so bad I don't even think it should have counted in the points standings. Either that or the race should have been called after 50 laps.

[oddball]

Anybody feel like the decision to have the Left Rear tire an older compound tomorrow's gonna make things worse rather than better? Yes the speeds have been quite fast at Michigan, but having a mismatched set of tires might mean having to come in every 15 laps to change them and it could be as disastrous as Indy back in 2008

I'm kind of surprised NASCAR didn't make the decision to go to restrictor plates for this race. If something is not done to slow the speeds down then yeah I think you are basically going to have an unwatchable race with all the tire changes going on. That track is just running way too fast for those cars.

Hopefully it won't be as bad as the 2008 Brickyard. That race was so bad I don't even think it should have counted in the points standings. Either that or the race should have been called after 50 laps.

Restrictor plates would destroy the engines without any testing on them. Many engine builders have said that. The race will be fine. The Nationwide race was fine and this will be also. They've brought a tried and proven tire and tested it after the Nationwide race.

[RyanMcD29]

Anybody feel like the decision to have the Left Rear tire an older compound tomorrow's gonna make things worse rather than better? Yes the speeds have been quite fast at Michigan, but having a mismatched set of tires might mean having to come in every 15 laps to change them and it could be as disastrous as Indy back in 2008

I'm kind of surprised NASCAR didn't make the decision to go to restrictor plates for this race. If something is not done to slow the speeds down then yeah I think you are basically going to have an unwatchable race with all the tire changes going on. That track is just running way too fast for those cars.

Hopefully it won't be as bad as the 2008 Brickyard. That race was so bad I don't even think it should have counted in the points standings. Either that or the race should have been called after 50 laps.

Restrictor plates would destroy the engines without any testing on them. Many engine builders have said that. The race will be fine. The Nationwide race was fine and this will be also. They've brought a tried and proven tire and tested it after the Nationwide race.

Yeah restrictor plates would've been terrible (see New Hampshire 2000, though that was used for a legitimate reason). I'm just a bit worried with the setups they're using and just having one tire be the older one might cause some issues as the race progresses