NASCAR

I'll go ahead and say it, I didn't find the Shootout that exciting. Yeah, the wrecks (and saves!) were exciting, but the rest of the race was boring, except for the two-car draft finish. Last year, I was glued to the TV. This year, though, I saw all the accidents on replay.
 
I hate that I missed the Shootout, and I read that they've stopped the two-car drafting from last year. I may have to start watching again.
 
I thought the Shootout was kinda interesting. The new aero package seems to have made the cars quite a bit trickier to drive. The downside is, it has also given them quite a high tendency to spin when hit from behind, and I'm afraid the 500 is going to turn into a wreckfest. I think there were 10 or so cars around to finish the Shootout, less than half the field.

I wasn't the biggest fan of tandem racing but I do prefer that over the massive pack we are going back towards now. Pack racing is a hugely exciting show but to me that has very little to do with racing or finding the best driver, it's just russian roulette where half of the field is going to be eliminated at one point or another, simply due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least the two car tandem meant that drivers were more in control of their destiny and if there was a wreck there was a decent chance that most of the other had time to react and miss it.
 
Pack racing is as authentic as a WWE match. It's a way to keep the racing artificially close and "interesting". What you end up with is 450 miles of 35 guys sitting around waiting, 45 miles of finding out who your best partner is, and 5 miles of excitement.

And if the Shootout was any indication, you can replace the 5 miles with 1/2 mile. Because, for me, that race wasn't interesting until Busch pulled out to pass Stewart.
 
I was thinking less the huge packs, and more the "trains" where you can get three or four guys drafting off a leader. They seemed to jockey more like that. The packs, I agree, are a bit much, it's one thing to see three wide on a restart, but not the whole race. It just takes one guy getting off-line and ending the day for him plus 10.
 
It's the day before the big race, so it's time for...

Racingfan1's Season Predictions Based on No Facts Whatsoever

First up, the Daytona 500 itself.

Winner: Marcos Ambrose. Petty cars have looked good almost since they unloaded and the Fords have shown speed.

Dark horse: Danica Patrick. She looked good in her qualifier before getting the brunt end of someone else's accident.


Now to the rest of the season.

Champion: Jimmie Johnson. Hard to pick against Edwards here, but Johnson had an off year and is looking to correct that.

Trevor Bayne/Regan Smith 'Are you kidding me?' moment: David Gilliland takes a win for Front row Motorsports at Charlotte.

Biggest Surprise: Regan Smith has a great year, qualifying for the Chase.

Biggest Disappointment: Brad Keselowski finishes outside the top 20 in points after showing promise at the end of last season.
 
I have a feeling it'll be a Ford once again especially after hearing about their cooling advantage this year. Although a Hendrick car is always a pretty strong possibility can't go wrong with that bunch.
 
Dear Ms. Patrick,

When your spotter is screaming "Low! Low! Low!" he's not telling you to go low, he's letting you know you're not clear low.

Thank you,
David Ragan
 
Ah, I just caught the part of the in car where I heard was "low! low! low!" Still, she should've realized he wasn't clear...
 
I agree, she shouldn't have gone quite so low. But in the heat of the moment when you've got someone yelling in your ear telling you where to go and there's smoke blocking your view and cars going every-which-way? I think we can cut her a little slack for putting Ragan into Johnson's door. She's not the first driver to do that, won't be the last.

EDIT: I still don't see how anyone can find pack racing more exciting than the tandems. Last year set a record for leaders and lead-changes, so far we're watching the Denny Hamlin engine on a 200-mph train.
 
Last edited:
racingfan1 said:
I agree, she shouldn't have gone quite so low. But in the heat of the moment when you've got someone yelling in your ear telling you where to go and there's smoke blocking your view and cars going every-which-way? I think we can cut her a little slack for putting Ragan into Johnson's door. She's not the first driver to do that, won't be the last.

EDIT: I still don't see how anyone can find pack racing more exciting than the tandems. Last year set a record for leaders and lead-changes, so far we're watching the Denny Hamlin engine on a 200-mph train.
Click to expand...

I guess I just like to give her flak for her mistake. She's like the Brett Favre of NASCAR. She's not the most important thing going on, but she's all anyone is talking about.
 
YF19pilot said:
She's like the Brett Favre of NASCAR.
Click to expand...


no way Favre was actually good at being a QB when he played (removing the season with the Jets and 2nd season with the Vikings). While Danica has won all of 1 race and only made the podium 7 times in her entire career.
 
remizak said:
no way Favre was actually good at being a QB when he played (removing the season with the Jets and 2nd season with the Vikings). While Danica has won all of 1 race and only made the podium 7 times in her entire career.
Click to expand...

It makes sense if you lived in Vikings territory between the 2009 and 2010 seasons. I swear, all I ever heard that summer was Favre this. and Favre that. I mean, granted, he took the Vikings to a pretty good finish in the play offs in 2009, but when you're watching political news and the commentator tries to segway something Obama says into whether or not Favre is retiring.... but I digress. Yes, Favre was a decent player. And Danica is only doing...what 10 races this season? When is she going to run full time? Or is she still running IRL?
 
YF19pilot said:
It makes sense if you lived in Vikings territory between the 2009 and 2010 seasons. I swear, all I ever heard that summer was Favre this. and Favre that. I mean, granted, he took the Vikings to a pretty good finish in the play offs in 2009, but when you're watching political news and the commentator tries to segway something Obama says into whether or not Favre is retiring.... but I digress. Yes, Favre was a decent player. And Danica is only doing...what 10 races this season? When is she going to run full time? Or is she still running IRL?
Click to expand...

She is full time in Nascar nationwide series this year. And yeah ESPN and other media were all over Favre's nuts about retirement but it was because he is one of the best to ever play that position in NFL history(and yes it was way to much even as a packer fan growing up with Favre I was getting sick of all the coverage it was getting). While Danica's indycar career stats have a .06% chance of her getting a podium.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top