Hey, you've giving away all of NASCAR's best ideas! Thinking about this revamped "Chase" thing. It's almost akin to if a certain winless NFL team (oh, say the Oakland Raiders, for example) didn't win a game all season. But, the NFL let them into the playoffs anyway because, well, you know they're all good guys and we like them and they actually made it to the conference championship game despite not winning a game. How would this go down with the rest of the teams which had winning records throughout the season? Doubtful it would be very good. BHW
penalties from the Fisticuffs in Ft Worth: NASCAR penalizes crew members, crew chiefs crew chiefs/crew members fined, put on probation. no driver penalties. no team points penalties. don't wanna screw up a good show now do we
There have been 3 champions in the last 11 years with only 1 race win. I dont think it does what they wanted it to do.
Evidently, within the fake wood paneled walls in Daytonner, the question "What could possibly go wrong?" is ever asked. BHW
Brian France's fake wood paneled walls must be double thickness France talks Texas fight, Chase drama
The NASCAR "Chase" situation and all these hoops they're jumping through to keep themselves relevant vs. the NFL, etc. is reminiscent of the CART vs. IRL days. Instead of keeping their heads down and doing what they did best, CART was obsessed with what NASCAR and IRL were doing, driven to the point of distraction and this was what started throwing things off the rails. NASCAR seems to be doing the same thing, completely distracted by the NFL to the point where they're willing to make a mockery of their own championship. If they're so distracted by the NFL, why not just do like Indy Car, surrender, and wrap up their season by Labor Day? There is little argument that NASCAR's season is too long. Thirty (whatever) races per year would be considered insane for any other form of top-level racing. NASCAR has continued to thumb their nose at the number one rule of marketing, "Over exposure cheapens the product", and having achieved a nearly unattainable level of licensing and added network time means their marketing penetration will only get deeper. The new NASCAR TV deals are going to prove a disaster for NBC and all related. ESPN is more than happy to shed the endlessly long races in favor of professional bowling and badminton. BHW
I don't agree at all. I just think all nascar is doing is trying to keep the interest up, but not because of the 'waning' interest of the last few years, just about everything is losing viewers (to the NFL). Would you like to discuss the lack of interest of F1 in the USA?
Well, you know, the NFL has always been there. Perhaps not the 24/7 non-stop news and nonsense that it is now but they're just as guilty, if not more so, as NASCAR with regard to overexposure. Lack of interest in F-1 in the U.S. isn't so related to attention (or lack thereof) to stick and ball sports, more to the fact that the U.S. media, for lack of a better word, only reports on F-1 or sports cars if someone is killed. A lot of U.S. interest in F-1 is simply down to lack of any U.S. drivers or teams, at least until Haas uncorks his deal. And, if Haas doesn't sign a U.S. driver, it will be criminal. But, that's a whole other aminal. What is in the back of everyone's mind with regard to NASCAR is that at least in terms of U.S. racing, they're the 900lb gorilla on the block and they're aiming to control a complete monopoly over all of motor sports in the U.S. and when we see the mockery that they're making of their own championship, it has to be cause for concern. BHW
Did anyone catch the NASCAR Truck race from Phoenix last night? What a debacle. First, just as they're ready to give the command to start engines, the lights went off. This gave the reporters ample time to speculate as to what happened, originally they said that a rattlesnake caused the blackout. We all know how those pesky Arizona rattlesnakes are this time of year. Then, as Waltrip and blathering cohorts later revealed, the entire area around the circuit had a brownout. After an hour and a half delay getting the race started, a yellow flag before half the field took the start and it just went downhill after that. Finally, after a little green flag running, the lights went out again. Race over. This was a 150 mile race (150 laps) which should have taken an hour and a half to run that turned into a four plus hour ordeal. Not a lot of fans in the stands and the viewing audience likely went off to WWE re-runs from the 90's but my friends stuck with it to the bitter end, yikes. It was unwatchable. Hope they got their money's worth as every driver up and down the grid was interviewed at least twice and these inane special features on the drivers to fill in the time until the lights came back on were just pure fodder. PS: Michael Waltrip must be flogged. But, he probably likes that ****. BHW
Dunno. But, as an ISC track, it was highly embarrassing. One of the drivers suggested that they line up all the cars in the infield up around the inside of the circuit and put their headlights on. That was about the best idea I heard all night. BHW
Newman gets into the final battle for the championship...by dumping Kyle Larson, then admitting it was a BS move! haha, love it.
Newman goes into the final round? Awesome. I didn't watch the race, to much drama after the last race. Depending on how Kyle feels, I might have to hold back that awesome, but I'm glad to see Newman keep going. Is joey in?
yeah it's Harvick, Logano, Hamlin and Newman. I'm rooting for Ryan I bet NASCAR is really hoping Harvick takes it... Logano had a penalty early and almost had a Kurt Busch style meltdown. Phoenix, Richmond and Iowa are my favorite tracks for the racing so I almost always watch those.
I hope Newman finishes highest among the 4, but without actually winning in Homestead. I'd love to see a champion that did not win a race all season. Nice chase format NASCAR! LOL! "NASCAR - Where you don't have to win, to win!"
So, Jeff Gordon finished second and he doesn't advance due to "inconsistent finishes" but Ryan Newman finished in eleventh (or whatever) and he gets to go through? If this doesn't leave us scratching our heads, what does? This format that they've come up with is so convoluted that not even the NASCAR talking heads can explain it. I ran across two of them on ESPN last evening and they were so confused all they could do was start an argument as to whether Newman deserved to advance or not and trying to justify how Gordon did not. And, even then, they could not come up with a consensus. Of course, this wasn't exactly the Algonquin Round Table either. How about this? Run a full season wherein actually winning races means something? How about a straight championship where the guy with the most points at the end of the season is the champion and forget this "Chase" stuff? Because, what they've created is a real mess where even the staunchest NASCAR apologists can't adequately explain this absurd "Chase" thing. As Rusty Wallace put it "Everyone in the world is watching". Wow, if that is the case, then everyone in the world (all 7.2B), it's little wonder the world is in the mess it's in. Here is hoping Newman wins it at Homestead. It will be such a black eye to NASCAR that there will have to be a post-season reality check. BHW
remember the "you must race 100% all of the time" debacle after Richmond last year? we ain't seen nothing yet. Harvick has 3 SHR and 4 Hendrick cars to help him out. Newman has 2 RCR cars to help him out. Logano has Keselowski and possibly all the Ford/Roush teams to help him out. Hamlin has 2 JGR teammates and all the Toyotas to help him out (and we all know how "interesting" MWR teams get in pressure situations...) that means pretty much the entire field will be "racing" with an eye towards helping or hurting a particular driver. I see no way we leave Homestead with anything other than a farce of a race and a giant asterisk next to the champion's name.
yep and the smart teams will have that either planned out in advance, or have a series of codes for the radio transmissions. it WILL be a farce. shame that NASCAR has come to this.