NASCAR news/updates

[SKR]

This isn't really news or an update since it's a clip from a race 31 years ago on a track that no longer exists, but it doesn't really deserve its own thread either. I had no idea Riverside was such a fast track (or at least it looks like it was). I hate slow road courses. It's cool to see stock cars that actually look like real cars, and how much they slide around. They sound great too.

It's a little anticlimactic because it's not the end of the race, just a little snapshot of what NASCAR used to be.

[speedog]

NASCAR hall of fame member Bill Elliot back in a stock car for the first time in something like ten years, racing in the Xfinity series and he's got rookie stripes on his rear bumper. It'd really be crazy if he won the race.

[speedog]

Charlotte roval this coming weekend, combination road and oval course with very little in the way of run off areas on the road course portions plus it is a completely new track layout for every driver as no race has never been run on it. Last chance to get into the round of 12 as well, tempers will be rising.

[SKR]

I know very little about the roval, but I expect it to be a mess. Nobody is going to know setups or racing lines, strategies will be a guessing game, tires either won't wear or blow constantly, stages will throw a fuck into everything. I'm really looking forward to it.

[rage2]

Might check this out. Should be more exciting than the Russian GP snoozefest.

[speedog]

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I know very little about the roval, but I expect it to be a mess. Nobody is going to know setups or racing lines, strategies will be a guessing game, tires either won't wear or blow constantly, stages will throw a fuck into everything. I'm really looking forward to it.

And the last chance to get into the round of 12 - that'll make things even more interesting.

[SKR]

I love road courses just to watch the cars fuckin hammer the curbs. At Watkins Glen there were times cars had all four wheels off the ground going through the bus stop.

[SKR]

This is going to be great. Not because it's going to be good racing, but because I hate how NASCAR always has to fuck with things and this is going to be a huge flop. The only downside is that it's going to make the drivers look like retards. When people hear NASCAR they think ovals, so when they see this demolition derby they're going to say the drivers can't handle right turns.

Erik Jones flying through the air into a tire barrier, with onboard video:

https://streamable.com/1zqh3

Darrel Wallace Jr, same chicane, same outcome:

https://streamable.com/bkh6m

[Darell_n]

Why couldn’t they just use an inflatable barrier that doesn’t destroy a car. Somebody pops it, just replace it quick and move the guy to the back.

[speedog]

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Why couldn’t they just use an inflatable barrier that doesn’t destroy a car. Somebody pops it, just replace it quick and move the guy to the back.

I do not recall inflatable barriers being used in any motor racing series.

What is unfortunate is that two teams had to have their cars destroyed before racing officials reacted and moved the barrier.

[SKR]

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Why couldn’t they just use an inflatable barrier that doesn’t destroy a car. Somebody pops it, just replace it quick and move the guy to the back.

I don't think they anticipated the curb turning cars into airplanes. Even if they did use an inflatable barrier the curb would cause some pretty severe damage, probable enough to take them out of the race.

I might be eating shit sandwiches tomorrow. I expected a wreck fest, but the Xfinity race today was pretty entertaining. The Cup race tomorrow might actually turn out really good.

[speedog]

i wonder if the turtles will be less dangerous if it's raining...

[rage2]

Trying to watch this race, I’m so lost. Stages, playoffs, wtf. And are nascar drivers just shitty drivers? It’s like a field of Grosjeans and Maldonados on the track. And man these cars look slow as balls haha. Seems like they’re just way overboard in engineering excitement and kinda went way too far.

[speedog]

Incredible race.

And no f'ing team orders to spoil things, just let them race.

[speedog]

Johnson, could've played it safe on that last chicane and continued on in the chase. Instead he went for the win, spun out and took care of that. Talk about losing sight of the bigger picture.

[SKR]

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The only downside is that it's going to make the drivers look like retards. When people hear NASCAR they think ovals, so when they see this demolition derby they're going to say the drivers can't handle right turns.

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Trying to watch this race, I’m so lost. Stages, playoffs, wtf. And are nascar drivers just shitty drivers? It’s like a field of Grosjeans and Maldonados on the track. And man these cars look slow as balls haha. Seems like they’re just way overboard in engineering excitement and kinda went way too far.

Goddamnit.

[rage2]

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Goddamnit.

I dunno, am I wrong though? When a restart has the first 5 cars all getting their braking completely wrong into the first turn, that seems odd. Last lap fucking yourself trying to win unnecessarily, that doesn’t seem smart to me.

My kids loved it. They love the crashes haha.

[speedog]

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I dunno, am I wrong though? When a restart has the first 5 cars all getting their braking completely wrong into the first turn, that seems odd. Last lap fucking yourself trying to win unnecessarily, that doesn’t seem smart to me.

My kids loved it. They love the crashes haha.

Yeah, there were a lot of brain fart in that last bit
Johnson's was the biggest by far. And 5-6 drivers going too hard into that first corner, yeah, quite dumb as well.

You could just see the absolute regret on Johnson's face when he found out he was out of the chase, he knew he'd fucked up and in a big way.

Quite amazing Larson made it in, his car was a complete wreck when he crossed the line - if Earnhardt had crossed before him then Johnson would've been in.

[SKR]

That there were so many cars that sailed off into the wall on that restart says to me the tires were in bad shape. This is a new track with no data, so nobody could know what restarts on old tires would look like. Restarts at Watkins Glen, Sonoma, Road America, Mid Ohio or CTMP don't look like that because they've raced there before and know what the cars can do. Although to be fair, Watkins Glen might look like that if it didn't have a big runoff area at turn 1.

Things had to work out just perfect for Johnson to miss the cutoff. I don't mind the dive for the win because who would have guessed Larson would come back with a car that looked like that. It's easy to say now that it was a bad move, but with the season they've had I can see where they'd want a win to go into the second round. On the other hand, with the season they've had they had no business being in the second round. So maybe that's the way it was supposed to work out.

[speedog]

Larson's car, not very pretty at the end but it still did the job
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