Nascar 2014

Ghost Train

So probably good a time as any to start a 2014 thread

New rules which means that mainly race winners make it to chase and more of a knock out or playoff system for the chase

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/1/30/chase-for-the-nascar-sprint-cup-championship-format-changes.html

Not really a fan of the changes but then I don't follow nascar too closely so maybe it will make the racing easier to follow during those final few races

Calendar
Sprint Unlimited Daytona International Speedway, DaytonaBeach February 15
Budweiser Duels February 20
1 Daytona 500 February 23
2 Subway Fresh Fit 500 Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale March 2
3 Kobalt Tools 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas March 9
4 Food City 500 Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol March 16
5 Auto Club 400 Auto Club Speedway, Fontana March 23
6 STP Gas Booster 500 Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway March 30
7 Texas 500 Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth April 6
8 Bojangles' Southern 500 Darlington Raceway, Darlington April 12
9 Toyota Owners 400 Richmond International Raceway, Richmond April 26
10 Aaron's 499 Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega May 4
11 STP 400 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City May 10
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord May 17
12 Coca-Cola 600 May 25
13 FedEx 400 Dover International Speedway, Dover June 1
14 Pocono 400 Pocono Raceway, Long Pond June 8
15 Quicken Loans 400 Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn June 15
16 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma June 22
17 Quaker State 400 Kentucky Speedway, Sparta June 28
18 Coke Zero 400 Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach July 5
19 Camping World RV Sales 301 New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon July 13
20 Crown Royal 400 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway July 27
21 Gobowling.com 400 Pocono Raceway, Long Pond August 3
22 Cheez-It 355 at The Glen Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen August 10
23 Pure Michigan 400 Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn August 17
24 Irwin Tools Night Race Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol August 23
25 AdvoCare 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton August 31
26 Federated Auto Parts 400 Richmond International Raceway, Richmond September 6
Chase for the Sprint Cup
27 GEICO 400 Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet September 14
28 Sylvania 300 New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon September 21
29 AAA 400 Dover International Speedway, Dover September 28
30 Hollywood Casino 400 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City October 5
31 Bank of America 500 Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord October 11
32 Camping World RV Sales 500 Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega October 19
33 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway October 26
34 AAA Texas 500 Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth November 2
35 AdvoCare 500 Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale November 9
36 Ford EcoBoost 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead November 16

TheChrisD

The Chase as it was was already too much of a gimmick (and probably the only reason Jimmie has so many titles), now it's a complete farce. Theoretically, someone could win the first 35 races and lose the championship by being second at Homestead.

TheChrisD

Here's an interesting image - who the Cup champs would have been under various other points systems, including this new one:



Details of the systems here: http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/67122818/

Ghost Train

New system definitely a bit more mixed up, wonder will it change the way drivers approach races though, take more risks for the win. If you do get a win early in the season, does that mean you coast alone till chase comes along, help a teammate out

TheChrisD

90 minutes to the Sprint Unlimited...

TheChrisD

Massive wreck in the middle of segment 2. That's half of the field gone.

TheChrisD

As if this night wasn't weird enough - the pace car just caught fire.

Charlie-Bravo

Ha, won't be buying a Chevy anytime soon :P

TheChrisD

Regan Smith "wins" the NNS "race".

NASCAR outlawed pushing in the race, and the results were... uneventful.

gs39t

I expect the 500 to be like the Truck and NNS races; dull as hell for the first 7/8th followed by chaos to the finish. NASCAR have basically outlawed racing with the new rule set.

Np pushing? LOL, NASCAR.

gs39t

You can bump, but not push. James Buescher got done for it yesterday, and that penalty was bullcrap too. I expect to see someone made an example of today, but surprisingly it probably wont be a big name driver.

djimi

What does that mean that you cant push? So there will be no tandem racing? Or is it just that there cant be any contact when doing it?

gs39t

Seeing some chat that apparently that rule was for Trucks and Nationwide only. We'll see.

The rule is/was you cant have sustained contact (pushing), only bumping (incidental, and not in corners)

TheChrisD

The no pushing rule was in the ARCA race, the Truck race and the Nationwide race. All three of them, drivers couldn't easily move forward or make any gains because they couldn't gain the speed needed to beat the inside line as they couldn't be pushed there.

Anyway, race starts in 5-10 minutes. More details and stream links available on reddit.

Grim.

remembering now why i hate american race broadcasts

Grim.

spitting rain?

TheChrisD

Red flag for rain...

Infoanon

TheChrisD wrote: »

Red flag for rain...

Just as the track is starting to dry out the rain is back....this could be a long night or a rerun tomorrow night

paddydtaz

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?zoommode=zoom&num=6&delay=100&rbscale=0.125&scale=0.228&noclutter=0&ID=MLB&type=N0R&lat=29.19966125&lon=-81.04372406&label=Daytona%20Beach,%20FL&showstorms=0&map.x=494&map.y=347&centerx=729&centery=837&lightning=0&smooth=0&showlabels=1&rainsnow=0&MR=1

Useful Satellite of the area if anyone's interested..........

TheChrisD

FOX News reports that JJ won his 3rd Daytona 500 - they get confused because FOX played a repeat of the 2013 race during the delay.

Way to reinforce your news reporting standards there, FOX.

TheChrisD

405 miles to go, about to restart.

TheChrisD

June Bug wins it.

/me is not holding back tears of joy...

Charlie-Bravo

Do Nascar think it won't rain on Sundays? They really need to get wet weather tyres.

frostie500

astrofluff wrote: »

Do Nascar think it won't rain on Sundays? They really need to get wet weather tyres.

Far too dangerous on an oval, it's just the way it has to be. Torrential rain here in Dallas all day so hopefully we'll get racing tomorrow

TheChrisD

Wet tyres on.high-banks is definitely out of the question, but one of these days I'd wish they'd try it on one of the super low-banks like Milwaukee, Martinsville or New Hampshire.

Either way, not a good year for working with Mother Nature.

Charlie-Bravo

I do feel they are overly cautious about a few drops of rain. Could they evenrun on a drying track in suitable tyres? I appreciate the risk in the wet as you will have massive wrecks and severe or fatal injuries.

TheChrisD

astrofluff wrote: »

Could they evenrun on a drying track in suitable tyres?

TheChrisD

Whelp, Talladega time.

Zcott

As usual with these super speedways, no idea who'll win until near the last corner.

Zcott

Not a bad race but no fun finishing under caution.

TheChrisD

TheChrisD

Josh Wise and the Dogecar win the fan vote, and will race in the All-Star tomorrow night.

Eat it, Danica.

youwhoglue

^^^^^ Re Danica, the gif above is even funnier now! :pac::pac:

Nice win by J Mac.

TheChrisD

Nationwide at Road America going green any minute now.

Some weather in the area could make this a very interesting race, even moreso than normal!

Infoanon

TheChrisD wrote: »

Nationwide at Road America going green any minute now.

Some weather in the area could make this a very interesting race, even moreso than normal!

10 Laps to go and its Wet !

Infoanon

Infoanon wrote: »

10 Laps to go and its Wet !

That was exciting - Very unlike Nascar not to throw a yellow with that last lap smash.

TheChrisD

Infoanon wrote: »

That was exciting - Very unlike Nascar not to throw a yellow with that last lap smash.

Crash with 2 to go? Instant yellow within 5 seconds, no questions asked.

Crash with 1 to go? Ah sure, let them boys race home.

So what's the craic with the Sprint Cup? Guessing it's a road race tomorrow?
If so, any ringers in it?
What's the general championship picture at the minute?

Infoanon

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So what's the craic with the Sprint Cup? Guessing it's a road race tomorrow?
If so, any ringers in it?
What's the general championship picture at the minute?

Jimmy Johnson is on a roll at the moment, Henderick are dominating at the moment with Jeff Gordon leading the championship and Dale Jnr rounding out the top 3.

it is a road race today - Sonoma though not Road America - there are a few ringers in the field but they are towards the back of the grid, AJ Allmendinger is second on the grid but hes a regular.

Charlie-Bravo

Massive, massive wreck

Infoanon

astrofluff wrote: »

Massive, massive wreck

And Hamlin who caused it drives on with minor damsge !

From a safety aspect not too impressed with cars that went low getting air borne over the drainage shores.

Charlie-Bravo

Safer barrier seems to do a great job on both sides of the track.

gs39t

Well, Tony Stewart is done. He ran over and killed another driver under caution at a dirt track in New York last night.

Zcott

Just read about that now...scary. I'm usually a Stewart fan but this is too far and should be treated as a law issue.

Ghost Train

Well what I've read says the other driver Kevin Ward wearing mostly black walked out in front of two approaching cars on the dimly lit track trying to gesture at or flag down Stewart.

gs39t

Ghost Train wrote: »

Well what I've read says the other driver Kevin Ward wearing mostly black walked out in front of two approaching cars on the dimly lit track trying to gesture at or flag down Stewart.

I'm sure that's what Tony's lawyers will argue.

In reality, it looks like Tony was trying to 'scare' the other guy and burp the throttle at him, and instead mowed him down. There are videos out there.

Climbing out of a crashed car under caution to express displeasure at another driver is part of short track racing (see: every race at Bristol, ever), you don't expect to get mowed down for it.

gs39t

It's still middle of the night in the US, but the rumour mill is saying Tony has not been arrested, and intends to race today. Conflicting reports saying Max Papis will run his car.

It's going to be a very strange day.

djimi

Stewart is going to be in a lot of trouble for this. The other guy was stupid to run over and start waving his arms at a moving race car (even if it was under caution), but it looks very much like Stewart revved up to give him a scare and it went too far. Very strange incident to watch; christ only knows what was going through Stewarts head. He isnt the most level headed of individuals at the best of times...

Larbre34

The video of the incident is on youtube, judge for yourselves.

Its a crappy short course sprint buggy dirt track with dim lighting. The lad gets out of the car and stomps into the active racing line to point his finger at a passing buggy which even under caution looks to be doing 70 odd mph. Hes wearing all black overalls and helmet and he gets skittled. Clearly red mist decended but he was putting himself in mortal danger.

I can imagine Stewarts advice has been to carry on and make it seem like 'racing incident - nothing to see here' and explain away the noted flick of the back end of the buggy as last second reflexive avoiding action. Given the litigious nature of the US, the potential consequences for Stewart and possibly for certain types of racing in their entirety could be catastrophic.

Itssoeasy

It was being reported earlier tony Stewart was going to race today but I've just seen it being reported that he won't.