NASCAR

The fans know full well what they are getting by sitting close, and I'm sure there are large forms to tell them that and limit liability.

It's also so nice to see, once again, NASCAR drivers unable to pass someone without crashing them out.

It wasn't a pass. Brad Keselowski tried to pass Regan Smith, but Smith blocked him - well, tried to, anyway.
 
Well, she finished 8th and was in the top 10 for a good majority of the race.

As for the race itself, boring. Boring. Booooring. I said it last year, I'll say it again this year: Bring back the tandem drafts. That was exciting, this isn't. Never was.
 
Well, she finished 8th and was in the top 10 for a good majority of the race.

As for the race itself, boring. Boring. Booooring. I said it last year, I'll say it again this year: Bring back the tandem drafts. That was exciting, this isn't. Never was.

Agreed. Reminded me of 2007...only difference was that one had a good finish.
 
I hope Hamlin is alright. It would have been funny to see Tony beat the shit out of Logano. :lol:

Rivalries make the racing fun. I just wonder if Hamlin will return the favor next race and put Logano in the hospital.
 
Yeah, hope Hamlin's not hurt any more than being shaken up. Also, Stewart pissed because he got blocked on a restart? Pretty sure that happens on most restarts, doubly for the end of the race. And who was it that complained about blocking last year and then caused Dale Jr's concussion because of... blocking?
 
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nascar-hamlin-injury-20130326,0,1114259.story

So looks like Hamlin will be out for 6 weeks and miss 5 races due to a L1 compression fracture in his back as a result of the crash.

I guess it's up to Tony Stewart to teach Logano that "lesson" then. :p

And of course Logano gets no penalty for putting Hamlin in hospital, yet Hamlin got fined for simply saying that the Gen6 car isn't exactly where it's supposed to be in terms of development. :blink: Sometimes Nascar's "logic" is too flawed to even laugh at it.
 
The fact someone does or doesn't get hurt has ever factored into Nascar's decisions to fine or suspend. And the no fines was announced before it became clear Hamlin was going to miss time, those are always announced at noon ET on Tuesday, Hamlin's news didn't come out until some hours later.

EDIT: I mean to say, how long Hamlin would be out, we knew he had a compression fracture before then.
 
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Scott, Piquet tangle after race; crew members arrested: Henrico County Police had two adult males in custody Friday night after a fight in the driver/owner lot of Richmond International Raceway following a Nationwide Series race where Richard Childress Racing and Turner Scott Racing crews and drivers nearly brawled. The police department did not reveal details of who was involved in the altercation but Richard Childress Racing confirmed its involvement and multiple sources said Turner Scott Motorsports personnel and driver Nelson Piquet Jr. were talking to police in the motorhome lot. A statement from Richard Childress Racing Director of Communications Tim Packman confirmed the team's involvement. "We are aware an incident took place outside of the track's infield following Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway involving members of our team and others from another team," the statement said. "We are cooperating with the local authorities in this matter." The incident occurred a little more than an hour after the race.
Two separate incidents following the Nationwide Series race involved RCR and Turner Scott Motorsports, sparked by an on-track incident between Piquet and RCR driver Brian Scott. Following the race, both crews nearly came to blows and Scott went up to Piquet, who shoved Scott away and then kicked him in the groin. Piquet later apologized for kicking Scott, saying it was in self-defense.(Sporting News)(4-27-2013)
UPDATE: Police have released the names of two Richard Childress Racing crew members arrested for alleged assault at Richmond International Raceway late Friday night. Michael A. Scearce, 50, and Thomas F. Costello, 35, were taken into custody after a postrace incident spilled over to the driver/owner motorhome lot. The assault injured one of the two adult male victims, whose names were not released. Scearce and Costello are both members of RCR's #2 team, which fields cars for Brian Scott. Both men were charged with misdemeanors and released early Saturday morning, according to Henrico County police Lt. Linda Toney. A court date for both will be determined at a later time.(USA Today)(4-27-2013)
UPDATE 2: Statement from Richard Childress: "I didn't witness what took place last night outside of the race track. Our team members were walking to their cars and words were exchanged with members from another team, which led to an altercation. I am still learning all the exact details and, because it did happen outside of the track, local authorities became involved. We are working with them to resolve this matter. We are now concentrating on winning the Sprint Cup race tonight."(RCR)(4-27-2013)
UPDATE 3: Statement from Turner Scott Motorsports: "Turner Scott Motorsports can confirm that an incident occurred near the Driver/Owner parking lot of Richmond International Raceway following the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday, April 26th. Several members of another race team confronted a group that included Nelson Piquet Jr., resulting in the arrest of two individuals from the other race team. TSM will have no further comment on the incident as the matter is an active case with the Henrico Police Department."(TSM)(4-27-2013)

http://www.jayski.com/nationwide/nationwide.htm#20130427-2


Given the massive penalties handed out the past couple weeks, I expect those teams are gonna get hit hard for "actions detrimental to stack car racing."
 
I know that this is generally frowned on, reviving a thread after a few months with no posts, but what the heck is going on in NASCAR lately? First Truex is booted from the Chase, now they add a 13th driver....what next, banning all radio communications? :blink:
 
I know that this is generally frowned on, reviving a thread after a few months with no posts, but what the heck is going on in NASCAR lately? First Truex is booted from the Chase, now they add a 13th driver....what next, banning all radio communications? :blink:

Some people think that what happened last week might be Nascar's equivalent of the start of CART's spiral into oblivion which was the cancelled race at Texas back in '01.
 
Hopefully it will finally trigger them to dump The Chase all together; it hasn't had the intended result improving end of season ratings for several years, anyway.
 
It's a bit mystifying, even as a life-long fan. I still don't get how it's that big of a deal. Sure, they could have used a little more tact in their approach, but honestly, is anyone surprised something like this happened? I think NASCAR did more harm to themselves with their response than the incident itself did. I don't see how this could be a complete CART-like collapse, just because where would you go for a NASCAR alternative? ARCA? They'll take a hit, a much-needed one at that, but I don't think we're seeing the start of a spiral into non-relevancy. For the simple fact CART had competition and NASCAR doesn't. Although, this couldn't come at a better time for USCC. NASCAR showing signs of "WTF?" and sports car racing in America is finally becoming slightly less confusing.

All-in-all, I think NASCAR over-reacted, if they had just kept mum on it, it would have blown over in a couple days and no one would care by now, but they brought out the huge hammer and made it a big deal. And then made it worse by adding in Gordon. Even as an unabashed NASCAR loyalist, there's no making sense of this. It's a complete herp-a-derp moment.
 
I agree. At the end of that last race, they were all speculating about Bowyer's spin and if he did it on purpose to screw Newman or whatever. Ultimately I wrote it off as kinda unlikely since Truex only barely slipped into the chase and Newman was blaming his own bad pit stop for finishing lower than he should have. I didn't even know about all this controversy until yesterday when I visited this thread. Too many moons needed to line up for Truex to tie Newman and win the tie breaker to get in. If it was an MWR conspiracy, they sure pulled it off masterly.
 
There is officially a new qualifying format.

NASCAR said:
At tracks measuring 1.25 miles in length or larger, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of three rounds:
? The first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap from the first qualifying round will advance to the second round.
? The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
? The second qualifying elimination round will be 10 minutes in duration and the 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time will advance to the third and final round. The fastest remaining cars/trucks earn positions 13th through 24th based on their times posted in qualifying in descending order.
? The third and final qualifying round will be five minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.
? There will be a five-minute break between each qualifying round.

At tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of two rounds:
? The first qualifying elimination round will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time from the first qualifying round will advance to the second and final round.
? The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
? There will be a 10-minute break between the two qualifying rounds.
? The second and final qualifying round will be 10 minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time posted will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.

The new qualifying format does not apply to the Daytona 500, which will preserve its historic and unique qualifying format. Additionally, it does not apply to non-points NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events or the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway.
 
And now the rumored changes to the Chase have been made official.
Eligibility for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup:
? The top 15 drivers with the most wins over the first 26 races will earn a spot in the Chase Grid -- provided they have finished in the top 30 in points and attempted to qualify for every race (except in rare instances). The 16th Chase position will go to the points leader after race No. 26, if he/she does not have victory. In the event that there are 16 or more different winners over 26 races, the only winless driver who can earn a Chase Grid spot would be the points leader after 26 races.
? If there are fewer than 16 different winners in the first 26 races, the remaining Chase Grid positions will go to those winless drivers highest in points. If there are 16 or more different winners in the first 26 races, the ties will first be broken by number of wins, followed by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver points.
? As was implemented in 2011, prior to the start of the Chase, all Chase Grid drivers will have their points adjusted to 2,000, with three additional bonus points added to their total for each win in the first 26 races.

Advancement Model during Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup:
? After the third Chase race, the Chase Grid will be left with 12 drivers. After the sixth Chase race, the field will drop to eight drivers, and following the ninth Chase race, only four drivers will remain in championship contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
? The first round (races 27-29) will be called the "Challenger Round." If a driver in the Chase Grid wins a Challenger Round race, the driver automatically advances and his/her points will be reset to 3,000. Only the top 12 in points after the Challenger Round remain in championship contention, and all will then have their points reset to 3,000.
? The second round (races 30-32) will be called the "Contender Round." Likewise, if a driver in the top 12 in points wins a race in the Contender Round, the driver automatically advances and his/her points will reset to 4,000. Only the top eight in points after the Contender Round remain in championship contention, and all then will have their points reset to 4,000.
? The third round (races 33-35) will be called the "Eliminator Round." If a driver in the top eight in points wins a race in the Eliminator Round, the driver automatically advances and his/her points will reset to 5,000. The top four in points after the Eliminator Round remain in championship contention, and all then will have their points reset to 5,000.
? Additionally, as drivers are eliminated from the Rounds, their points total will be readjusted to the normal points format in sync with all other drivers in the field no longer in contention for the championship. This will allow all drivers not in contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship to continue to race for the best possible season-long standing, with fifth place ultimately still up for grabs at the season finale.

Four-Driver, First-to-the-Finish Championship Finale:
? The 36th and final race of the season will be the "NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship." Simply stated, the highest finisher in the Championship race among the remaining four eligible drivers will win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.
? Bonus points for laps led or previous race wins will not apply in the season finale, so the official finishing position alone will decide the champion.

Yup, they broke it.
 
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