NASCAR news/updates

[speedog]

Just because there really isn't any NASCAR thread. Please don't come in here to post up your hillbilly jokes or left turn only anger or such. As much as I enjoy the whole technical side of F1, yeah, I find it really fascinating, I like to see drafting, running inches apart at 200+ MPH and seemingly impossible winners - starting from last of 39-40 cars and winning the race.

Anyhow, this weekend's race saw quite a crash between Locana, Patrick and Almirola with Almirola being cut out of his car and airlifted to hospital. Divers being airlifted to a hospital has become a fairly rare event in NASCAR in recent years with the adoption of HANS type devices and the Safer barrier walls and for Armirola to have suffered a compression fracture of his T5 vertebrae is somewhat puzzling - it almost makes me believe that his helmet may have come in quite hard contact with the roof of his car and/or cage. It will be interesting to see what the findings are.

Too bad for Patrick again, bad luck just seems to find her this year through no fault of her own.

Stage racing and playoff points, pretty much the best thing they ever did in NASCAR - this has created so much strategy in the races this year. Going for the win is one thing but often a second place car can accumulate far more points than a first place car - it sure discourages drivers from hanging back until the end of the race. I must say that I did not have a really great understanding of what the stage racing and playoff points would do to the series at the beginning of the season and many teams were in the same boat but I am totally on side with these new race additions as the races have stopped being the snore fests they used to be - even the drivers were complaining about going for several hundred miles with only the last 20 or less laps being important. Such great changes IMO..

[tonytiger55]

I started watching, I was intrigued how at the start of the race (I can't remember who) one of the cars near the front fell back quite a few places... is this normal..?

The pit stop was interesting, especially seeing one of the cars pull out and whack the other car that was coming in.

I missed the crash as I started making MA FOOOD . But I watched the stream off Reddit.. that was pretty bad. Apparently the right front calliper blew out.

I did find it fascinating how now everyone does not take the same driving line at the oval.

[speedog]

Logano/Patrick/Almirola crash...



Very good possibility that Almirola ran over debris from the initial crash that cut his brake lines. Almirola was probably doing at least 150MPH when he plowed into Logano.

[speedog]

Originally posted by tonytiger55
I started watching, I was intrigued how at the start of the race (I can't remember who) one of the cars near the front fell back quite a few places... is this normal..?

Logano, moved up, had no partner and ended up moving backwards. Aero is a big thing, could have also been low air pressure in his tires, lower than others around him resulting in less grip until they heat up and the pressure increases.

[spikerS]

I love Nascar. Not so much for the racing, but for how it is more of a chess game, won or lost in the pits and fuel/car management. The whole race is strategy, and the race is more of a side attraction.

[speedog]

Well there is a bit of passing as well, Johnson made over 90 passes at Kansas.

And yeah, the chess game thing is pretty cool - little taps here and there to move someone and even using just air to move or pass someone. There's still cheating and sometimes NASCAR will let things go but when it becomes an apparent cheat that most teams start to take advantage of, then the rules are changed - I think it was last year that a couple of teams figured out that bending the rocker panel up and out in front of the left rear wheel gave them a bit more down force so all of a sudden there were a bunch of wheel changers that were accidentally getting their foot stuck under the rocker panel during a pit stop and accidentally bending the rocker panel in a certain way. Once too many teams started copying this, NASCAR stepped in and stopped the accidental behaviours.

I think some other good changes this year are the 5 minute crash timer where a team has only 5 minutes over the wall to repair a car and get it up to a certain mandated racing speed. Also new this year, take your car behind the wall and your race is done - no more changing broken suspension parts or transmissions or radiators and coming out and continuing to race. No more almost complete panel replacements either in the case of an accident - bear bond tape has now become a big thing and it's quite something to see a banged up car still racing with the pack at speed and even able to contend for a win, the race winner this weekend had been in a minor fender bender and still came home with the win with tape holding things together at the front.

Another racing series I've also gotten into is Robbie Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks racing series, inverted field starts with ridiculous 600HP off road trucks running on a paved street circuit including jumps - just absolutely crazy to see them going around a corner at 100+MPH with one front wheel 18 or more inches in the air. They just need more than 12 trucks per race.

[speedog]

So Almirola's injury came about as a result of the highest vertical G-force loads NASCAR has ever seen out of one of their black boxes. This was the result of his rear springs becoming dislodged when his car went airborne and coming back down hard on the frame - no impact/crumple zones to lessen the effects of that impact to the driver.

Most likely there will be some changes forthcoming - NASCAR has done well with no racing deaths since 2001 in it's top three series with Dale Earnhardt Sr being that last death but there have been a number of accidents that have injured rivers and kept them away from the series in recent years. NASCAR's response has been to introduce new safety measures designed to protect the driver and Almirola's injury will see something coming down the pipe - changes came out of Kyle Busch's recent accident that saw him break both of his legs, Earnhardt's death brought about changes.

What is quite something is the number of brutal crashes that Patrick has walked away from - she must have quite a few lucky stars looking after her.

[speedog]

Almirola has a T5 compression fracture - good to see him up and walking but he's most likely on quite a mix of pain medications to be able to do so. My pain med mix from when I had a L1 compression fracture in 2005 was 600mg Ibuprofen, 2 - Tylenol T3's with Codeine and a Percocet every 4 hours for a week - had me up and walking but I was quite out of it per my family. He looks like I did, very slow and measured movements.

[speedog]

Next race up is the 600 mile Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway - NASCAR's longest race and it often clocks in at over 4 hours. It is also a challenging race for teams in that it starts in the afternoon daylight, runs into duck and finishes in the dark under the lights which results in a track surface that changes quite a bit over that span of time.

This year there are no drivers doing the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 double whereas they race in the Indy 500 then get into a jet to get to Charlette, helicopter to Charlotte Motor Speedway and pretty much into the race car at Charlotte. Only four drivers have attempted the double since 1994 and only a Smoke has completed all 1,100 miles with a 6th place finish at Indy and a 3rd at Charlotte.

[tonytiger55]

I can't believe im watching this... This is so redneck ...its friggin awesome..

That first crash, id the engine blow? I took a nap and did not get the scoop after...

Stage 2 now...

Speedog where are you..?

[speedog]

Visiting with family but paying attention online when I can, PVR is doing it's thing. It does look like traction compound worked.

[speedog]

Originally posted by tonytiger55
I can't believe im watching this... This is so redneck ...its friggin awesome..

That first crash, id the engine blow? I took a nap and did not get the scoop after...

Stage 2 now...

Speedog where are you..?

First crash was Jeffrey Earnhardt's engine letting go followed by Chase Elliot running over engine parts starting a fire in his car, probably cut brake line. Those two cars put down fluids that caused Keslowski to lose control and plow into Elliot. Part of this is #2's fault because cars ahead of him were able to avoid the mess, #2's spotter must've been asleep. 78 and 48 did a spectacular job of threading the needle and keeping off of each other as well and especially so with all the fluids that would've been down on the track.

[tonytiger55]

Wait..what.. the cars have spotters...? Daaang....

Truex seems to be killing stage 3 so far...

[speedog]

Austin Dillon wins his first race in the infamous #3, doesn't even have enough fuel for a burn out. Congrats to Austin Dillon, Richard Childress said he wouldn't bring back the #3 for anyone but family and his grandson just did the #3 proud.

[speedog]

“We’ve talked a little bit about what the car’s doing but I can’t help him. … It’s been so long since I’ve been in the car,”...

A quote from Richard Petty this weekend at Pocono, the guy's an icon in NASCAR but still doesn't let it go to his head, nice to see such honesty.

[SKR]

Road course coming up this weekend, for people who can't live without right turns.

[tonytiger55]

Wohoo! About bloody time!

[SKR]

About time as in this season, or in the history of NASCAR? Because they've been racing road courses for decades. Just not many. 2-3 a year out of a 36 race season.

[speedog]

Hey they can't turn that way...

[speedog]

An oldie, that's not how one should cross the finish line at Daytona (2007 Clint Boyer)...