2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

[Unocal]

Doesn't Harvick still have to clear post-race inspection?

[LAWeaver]

Well, I will admit, that was one heck of a Chase. Not the outcome I wanted, but it had me on the edge of my seat for the past 10 weeks. Congrats to Harvick. He truly deserves it

[See Red]

Well with that reasoning, the Patriots shouldn't have had to play Super Bowl 42. Harvick was the driver all year, and he had a clutch win. Good for him.

Uh, not really. Unless there was the possibility of some rookie driver blowing his tire and taking out the Patriots bus on the way to the game (or if there were 42 other teams on the field). In other sports you're completely in control, in NASCAR there's too much randomness for this format to work, in my opinion. Made for a great race tonight, but I don't think it's their best format.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

I actually didn't get to see the race as I was busy, but I am very happy that Harvick won. He was very deserving of it this year. But like stated above, the sport is just too random for this current Chase format.

[rvrdgsfn]

Your champs, Chase Elliot (ROTY & Nationwide series champ), Kevin Harvick (1st time) & Matt Crafton (First repeat CWTS champ).

[RyanMcD29]

That was amazing. Awesome way to end the season and awesome to see Harvick become a Sprint Cup Champion!

[Burkell007]

For all the slamming of the new chase format it delivered. Exciting racing for the whole race and final laps, and idk about you but I think the best car all season still won the championship, did it not??

[DCarp1231]

For all the slamming of the new chase format it delivered. Exciting racing for the whole race and final laps, and idk about you but I think the best car all season still won the championship, did it not??

I still think the whole system and format is flawed considering Newman never won a race all season but ended up in the "Championship 4"

[rvrdgsfn]

So... This was a bit of a shock today.... Hendrick resigned Kasey Khane to a 3 year contract.

Well, either they want Chase to mature with Xfinity or this will be the biggest mistake Rick could possibly make.

Either that or maybe Little E may finally do the ownership/driver deal.... Who knows?

[DCarp1231]

So... This was a bit of a shock today.... Hendrick resigned Kasey Khane to a 3 year contract.

Well, either they want Chase to mature with Xfinity or this will be the biggest mistake Rick could possibly make.

Either that or maybe Little E may finally do the ownership/driver deal.... Who knows?

with what you said about Dale Jr and the ownership/driver deal... Are you saying he could do what Gordon does with Jimmie's car (partial ownership), only Jr partially owns the 5?

OR

Are you saying Jr opts out of his newly signed 5 year deal (already 1 year in) and brings his Jr Motorsports up to Sprint Cup?

Sorry, a but confused with what you're saying.

[rvrdgsfn]

Should've been more specific, my apologies. I meant to say that he could possibly move Jr Motorsports up to Sprint Cup. I could see that happen. Its known that Little E doesn't want to finish his career with Rick.

http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/shake-and-bake/who-knew-dale-earnhardt-jr-doesn-t-plan-to-finish-nascar-career-at-hendrick-motorsports-100414

As surprising is it might sound, though, Earnhardt Jr. apparently doesn't plan on Hendrick Motorsports being the last team for which he straps on a helmet and jumps in a NASCAR stock car. No, it seems that NASCAR's most popular driver actually intends for his last ride to come with JR Motorsports -- the company he started in 2006 and that fields two full-time Nationwide Series teams and one part-time Nationwide team but no Sprint Cup teams.

"I would like to race for that company one day, so I hope to keep it healthy until that opportunity presents itself -- whenever I'm done Cup racing -- to jump in a Nationwide car and do that for a couple of years in my own shop,"

[DCarp1231]

Should've been more specific, my apologies. I meant to say that he could possibly move Jr Motorsports up to Sprint Cup. I could see that happen. Its known that Little E doesn't want to finish his career with Rick.

http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/shake-and-bake/who-knew-dale-earnhardt-jr-doesn-t-plan-to-finish-nascar-career-at-hendrick-motorsports-100414

As surprising is it might sound, though, Earnhardt Jr. apparently doesn't plan on Hendrick Motorsports being the last team for which he straps on a helmet and jumps in a NASCAR stock car. No, it seems that NASCAR's most popular driver actually intends for his last ride to come with JR Motorsports -- the company he started in 2006 and that fields two full-time Nationwide Series teams and one part-time Nationwide team but no Sprint Cup teams.

"I would like to race for that company one day, so I hope to keep it healthy until that opportunity presents itself -- whenever I'm done Cup racing -- to jump in a Nationwide car and do that for a couple of years in my own shop,"

I would think that if he brings his team up a level within the next few years, he'll bring Chase Elliott with him and possibly Regan Smith. On what number the cars would be, I would think Jr gets the 88 (via Hendrick), Chase sticks with the 9 (via RPM), and Regan gets 8 (via Ganassi (if they still have it?)).

If he brings it up but without either Elliot or Smith (presumably either or would move to Hendrick piloting the 25 car) Jr gets the 8 or 88 and recruits another current driver in Sprint Cup to team up with him.

Now, I'd prefer moving EVERYONE and EVERYTHING up a level, but as far fetched as this will seam, I wouldn't mind a Stewart-Earnhardt merger. Effectly renaming Stewart-Haas Racing, Earnhardt-Stewart Motorsports. Hell maybe Whiskey River Motorsports could be a possibility lol. This would mean, most likely, Busch or Patrick would be out of a Sprint Cup ride. The team would be composed of Stewart, Harvick, Jr, and Patrick or Busch. Talk about a star studded lineup

[Needschat]

If you've followed either Dale Jr or his sister, Kelley Earnhardt-Miller on Twitter or the JRM website, you know that there will NOT be a JR Motorsports Cup team. They don't have the financial resources to do it. The only way they can do it is if someone with megamoney invests. Remember, Gene Haas had two teams for years before he offered Tony Stewart an opportunity, and Rob Kaufman is the money behind Michael Waltrip Racing.

[rvrdgsfn]

Ahead of NASCAR's return to NBC Sports Group next season, a cooperative promotional effort by the network and fellow NASCAR broadcaster FOX Sports is set to air on multiple network platforms. The marketing teams of NBC and FOX united to craft co-branded NASCAR creative to air on FOX, FOX Sports 1, NBC and NBCSN.

“It’s no secret that we compete rather fiercely in most other areas of our business, but given all of the excitement surrounding the sport, we felt the time was right to come together and celebrate our new broadcast partnership,” said Miller. “Our collective competitive spirit yielded a piece that turned out extremely well, and we’re looking forward to future collaborations as we build on NASCAR's momentum.”

“This approach simply makes sense,” Gottlieb added. “The new distribution of NASCAR programming across FOX and NBC lends itself to a co-branded effort. We’re excited to tell NASCAR Nation about how great the 2015 season is going to be. Having FOX carry the first half, and having NBC carry the second half, is a clean and simple schedule that lets fans know where to go each weekend to get the NASCAR action they love."

It also looks like we may have an idea about the Chevy's SS...

via from Jayski...

While General Motors Company execs have hinted in the past that the Alpha rear-wheel-drive platform could be used for a successor the SS, one built here in the U.S., a report out of Australia claims there will be no such successor. The news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as SS sales for the year through October totaled a paltry 2,281 cars, though it should be noted that GM has limited the car's availability. GM also has CAFE regulations to deal with, so renewing a slow-selling V-8 sedan isn't likely to be much of a priority for the automaker.

The Chevrolet SS Sedan has a bit of a troubled life. Since it was just revealed for the US market, reinvigorating GM's ability to make a rear-wheel drive sports sedan for North America, despite being an Australian-made GM sedan, the SS's future is already in trouble as GM's global operations plans to shut the doors on Holden, meaning the SS won't have any spare barebones parts from Holden's Commodore line to base its own self on. That said, Australia's Motoring said the next generation SS sedan could follow its roots back to origin by being based on the Impala, to reignite the classic combo of the Impala SS. This could also mean the Impala might go rear-wheel drive in general as the new SS was rumored to be based on the new Alpha platform, the same rear-wheel drive platform as the Cadillac CTS, the ATS, and the future CT6.