|| *Comments on the 2011 Dollar General 300:* View the most recent comment <#33> | Post a comment <#post> 1. DaleSrFanForever posted: 09.17.2011 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I am a huge Brad fan, and even I'm glad I missed this one. NASCAR needs to create some more rules over the offseason. Enough is enough with Cup domination. 2. 18fan posted: 09.17.2011 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brian Scott won his first career pole and picked up his second career top 5, both of which are 3rd place finishes at Chicago. 3. 00andJoe posted: 09.17.2011 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I literally just about fell asleep during this one, that's how bad it was. DSFF - Totally agreed, I still think a rule prohibiting drivers in the top 35 of Cup driver points, except for Cup rookies and drivers substituting for an injured driver for a single race, from entering any other NASCAR national sanctioned events held on the same weekend as a Cup race in which they are entered, would be the best solution. It would allow for rookies to gain extra experience or to get called-up mid-season without sacrifcing a NNS run (i.e. Harvick in 2001), would allow Cup stars to compete in off-weekend events without any problem, and would be essentially immune to any gaming the system... 4. Mr X posted: 09.17.2011 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I honestly think the Cup Domination lies mostly with the schedule. These days the Nationwide Series just follows the Cup Series around. 30 of 36 weekends a year, the NNS and NSCS are at the same track. All it takes for a Cup driver to run the NNS race, is a ride, which for them is relatively easy to get, and a change of uniform. 10-15 years ago the Busch and Winston Cup Series(ahh, it sounds good) were more seperated from each other. The Busch Series raced at multiple tracks the Cup Series never went to, they spent the entire summer away from each other. A Cup driver running a Busch race involved a ride, a change of uniform, and usually an overnight plane ride. There is a lot of incentive for a Cup driver to run the NNS race, its just a practice session for them, except they get a trophy. Open 4 internet browsers Compare the 2011 NSCS schedule to the 2011 NNS schedule. go back 15 years Compare the 1996 NWCS schedule to the 1996 NBS schedule. 5. Cooper posted: 09.17.2011 - 10:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've said the same thing over and over again....just make all double duty drivers start at the rear. Just like a driver change or an unapproved adjustment. This way Cup drivers can still race, Nationwide drivers get to run up front and lead laps, and we get to see an entertaining race. There is not one thing wrong with this. You just can't shut the door on Cup drivers because all the teams will vaporize, the sponsors will vaporize and will we have no more Nationwide Series and that's not good for anyone. Brad needs a solid performance tomorrow. This is his first race to show the world that he has "IT". I still think many fans and outsiders consider Brad as a Nationwide driver more than a Cup driver and tomorrow he can cement himself as a Cup Contender. I'm freaking pumped about tomorrow. 6. potatosalad48 posted: 09.17.2011 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nothing exciting happened. At least Brad won. 7. Rusty posted: 09.17.2011 - 11:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Glad I chose football, and I'll choose football again tommorrow. 8. Anonymous posted: 09.18.2011 - 12:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I am a huge Brad fan, and even I'm glad I missed this one. NASCAR needs to create some more rules over the offseason. Enough is enough with Cup domination." Hey who put this broken record on? I thought we all agreed months ago that we were tired of hearing it play the same song over and over again. If that's the only thing you can say about these races, just don't comment. We know how you feel, you've stated it quite clearly on every Nationwide race page for 3 years. Either talk about the race, or mind your own business. Sam Hornish Jr. got a solid top 5. Ryan Truex has shown he has some skills, but he's also still really green in these cars. Aligning himself with Gibbs was a smart move though. 9. KurtBusch22Fan posted: 09.18.2011 - 12:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Atleast the Top 5 had more Nationwide drivers (Scott, Almirola, and Hornish) then Cup drivers (Keselowski and Edwards). By the way, nice run for Sam Hornish, Jr. Hope he goes full time next season. 10. Anonymous posted: 09.18.2011 - 1:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope they do ban Cup drivers from the series. I'd like to see how long it takes for the sponsors to pull out and the series to die, and I'd also like to see what all the idiots who think it's a good idea would say after that happened. Along with the ridiculous similarities in the schedules, the Super Teams also have a lot to do with it, which began with Mark Martin and Jack Roush in 1992. 11. 00andJoe posted: 09.18.2011 - 2:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #7 sponsor should be just "Air Hogs". 12. Jocke Persson posted: 09.18.2011 - 4:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Failed to qualify: Brian Keselowski Winner of the race: Brad Keselowski talk about a difference within the family... 13. beau posted: 09.18.2011 - 4:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) how about cup drivers must have a handicap? as in less horsepower or something like that. this is probably a dumb idea, but i'm throwing it out there. 14. NicoRosbergFan posted: 09.18.2011 - 5:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 10. Jocke Persson posted: 09.18.11 - 4:12 am Failed to qualify: Brian Keselowski Winner of the race: Brad Keselowski talk about a difference within the family... And first part is that any named Keselowski will tell you Brian is more talented than Brad, but Brad was luckier. I have said it before: the FIA bans F1 drivers from running ANY lower tier formulae, and those series do just fine. If NASCAR really cared for their development drivers, like IndyCar and the FIA do, then they would be willing to take the hit to the NNS and ban Cup drivers period. Check off Cup on the form, no NNS or lower. Check off NNS, no KNPSE/W or lower. Mr. X: Note that some of those years the Busch series was at Watkins Glen the SAME day that the Cup cars were racing somewhere 1000 miles away. KB22fan: Yeah, Hornish has finally figured it out. Good for him. 15. NicoRosbergFan posted: 09.18.2011 - 5:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, I have proof that all this Trevor Bayne ragging is unmitigated. Go to the 2005 CARS ProCup standings and you will find that Trevor almost won the Southern Division championship, and he almost won the 4 race Championship Series that combines the North and the South Championships. 16. DaleSrFanForever posted: 09.18.2011 - 9:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "would allow Cup stars to compete in off-weekend events without any problem" Oddly enough, I actually welcome Cup guys competing on non Cup tracks on off weekends (provided it isn't part of a full NWide schedule). That was something I used to love about the old Busch Series. Seeing people like Dale and Darrell show up at IRP, Loudon before it became a Cup event, Hickory or Road Atlanta (I was a little young for this, but I'm sure I would have got a kick out of it). Of course back then they only raced 29 times per year in Winston Cup (yes Mr X, that feels great to say). Now, with so few off weekends, they tend to take advantage of all of those they can for R&R. My plan that I have mentioned before is to allow 15 designated companion NWide races per year that the Top 35 in Cup can compete in (excluding rookies). I detailed it on the '10 Gateway race page (the Carl Edwards race). It has 7 races at ISC tracks, 7 at SMI tracks, and 1 at the indepently owned Dover to keep things equal which allows us to hear less delusional griping from Bruton Smith. "I thought we all agreed months ago that we were tired of hearing it play the same song over and over again." Yes, but considering most of us here are big fans of Brad, and don't like Kyle or Carl, this argument has more validity when we complain about a Brad stinker. When we gripe about a Kyle or Carl runaway, there is always a "Yeah, but you hate those two" counter argument. Just like 18fan rallying against the system when Kyle dominates gives it more credibility, us Brad fans need to speak up in instances like this. "Ryan Truex has shown he has some skills, but he's also still really green in these cars. Aligning himself with Gibbs was a smart move though." If he is smart, he will hang around JGR, taking whatever opportunites they give him, run strong, learn about running NASCAR races, gain credibility, and eventually be in line to either take over an existing JGR Cup car (how much longer can Logano last there?) or if they ever start a 4th team. Don't get impatient and jump at the MWR Cup ride that he will inevitably be offered at some point. That is where careers go to die. "By the way, nice run for Sam Hornish, Jr. Hope he goes full time next season." Agreed. I think we are seeing just how much drivers need a year or two in NWide before going full time in Cup. Look at drivers that have come along recently and had success in Cup like Kyle, Denny, Brad, Clint, and Kasey. They all had at least one year in NWide to get a rhythm. Then look at the ones that have either never really got a groove in Cup, or struggled mightily before finally getting it to some extent like Dinger, Hornish, Logano, Scott Speed, and Ragan. They didn't have very much NWide experience prior to their full time Cup starts. I can't help but wonder how it would have been different had they been given that one year to get comfortable. Hopefully Sam can get that one year next year, then possibly be given a second chance at Cup (possibly with Todd Gordon moving up to Cup a la Paul Wolfe? He is looking good lately). It just seems that to be successful in modern day Cup, you need that year in NWide. About the only recent exception is Carl, but he had two years in the Trucks during that Series' heyday, so that should count for something. "And first part is that any named Keselowski will tell you Brian is more talented than Brad, but Brad was luckier." I disagree. I think Brad has shown without a shadow of a doubt he is the real deal. Like his brother, he started in NWide is badly funded equipment, but he only DNQed a few times and showed enough with limited funds to be given better opportunites, starting with the one off Truck deal at Memphis, then a 3 race deal with the struggling, pre-Hendrick JR Motorsports that impressed Rick enough to keep him when he took over, er, I mean "merged" with JRM. Plus, look at JR Motorports with Brad and without Brad. They have been simply brutal on drivers, with Brad being the only survivor. He raised that company's profile when he was there. I think that, at the very least, he will wind up with a Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, or Kurt Busch like career. Quite a few wins, some runs at a championship, possibly even getting one, with an overall streaky pattern of huge winning runs and a few winless spells. Best case scenario? A Tony Stewart like career. Multiple championships, around 40 wins, always a factor even when not winning consistently. Maybe it is my heart speaking, but I think this is more likely. I don't think you just jump up and win 3 races (on 3 very different tracks) in a 12 race stretch without some serious talent. "I'm freaking pumped about tomorrow." I am too. I think his run towards becoming recognized universally as an elite driver starts here. These low banked intermediates have been his strength this year with excellent runs at Kentucky and Michigan to go along with his Kansas win. Although I think a championship this year is far fetched, I think he will make some serious noise in the cha$e. I haven't been this excited about a driver I have been pulling for making big championship noise since the summer of 2000 when Dale got close to Bobby, and I thought he would push him to the brink. that didn't quite happen, but it was still exciting. 17. Matthew Sullivan posted: 09.18.2011 - 10:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) All that needs to be done is to set a limit on the number of races a Cup driver runs in the Nationwide Series and the number of them that can start an event. Furthermore, there should be knockout qualifying amongst the Cup drivers for each Nationwide race. I call it the 7 And 7 rule. No more than 7 Cup starts and no more than 7 Cup starters. 18. jabber1990 posted: 09.18.2011 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Don't get impatient and jump at the MWR Cup ride that he will inevitably be offered at some point. That is where careers go to die." ooh, I had to take some Tylenol after reading that dont ban cup drivers from the nationwide series, its Star power, the money lies with the cup drivers, how many cars do you think Carl has had to buy for Ricky and Trevor? and define "cup driver" Trevor Bayne is a nationwide driver with 1 Career Cup win 19. Matt L posted: 09.18.2011 - 11:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truly horrid race that displayed everything wrong with the series in one 2 hour snoozefest. 10 cars parked before completing 25 laps, 20th on back were underfunded, uncompetitive and not mentioned on tv. Brad and Carl spanked the rest at a spread out cookie cutter with 60% of the grandstands empty. Its almost the same script every dang week, and without change will choke against college football. With Carl moving to broadcasting, harvick closing shop, and keselowski going part time, maybe things will change with NASCAR having to get involved. 20. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 09.18.2011 - 1:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I honestly think the Cup Domination lies mostly with the schedule. These days the Nationwide Series just follows the Cup Series around. 30 of 36 weekends a year, the NNS and NSCS are at the same track. All it takes for a Cup driver to run the NNS race, is a ride, which for them is relatively easy to get, and a change of uniform. 10-15 years ago the Busch and Winston Cup Series(ahh, it sounds good) were more seperated from each other. The Busch Series raced at multiple tracks the Cup Series never went to, they spent the entire summer away from each other." Agreed. This was somewhat caused by stand-alone tracks' ticket sales going down, leading to those tracks losing dates (the old Nashville track, Pikes Peak, Nazareth, Memphis, Gateway, IRP among others) and those dates going to Cup tracks. Glad I missed this race. It seemed boring, and I am actually a fan of Brad K's also. Make sure you contend in the race that matters today, Brad. Drivers need as many points as they can get once the cha$e starts up. "Plus, look at JR Motorports with Brad and without Brad. They have been simply brutal on drivers, with Brad being the only survivor. He raised that company's profile when he was there." Seems that way to me too. Last year in his first year in the Penske #22, he showed incredible strength every single week and managed to lead over 1000 laps. He also scored 2 more wins, 4 more top 5's and an additional top 10 finish as compared to 2009. Then there's also the statistic in 2009 where he led just 381 laps the whole season even though he had 4 wins, which at that time was his best season in laps led. This year, with Penske, even though it's been somewhat of a weak Nationwide season for him (best thing that could have happened to him to be honest), he's led 538 laps. That shows that the #22 has more speed than the #88 did. "I think that, at the very least, he will wind up with a Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, or Kurt Busch like career. Quite a few wins, some runs at a championship, possibly even getting one, with an overall streaky pattern of huge winning runs and a few winless spells." It's probably still too early to determine how much success Brad will have as a Cup driver, but out of those drivers, his career start looks most identical to Kurt's, with the struggles in Year One and then winning multiple races and being in much better position in the points in Year Two. "I am too. I think his run towards becoming recognized universally as an elite driver starts here." Sure hope so. 21. 00andJoe posted: 09.18.2011 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I've said the same thing over and over again....just make all double duty drivers start at the rear. Just like a driver change or an unapproved adjustment. This way Cup drivers can still race, Nationwide drivers get to run up front and lead laps, and we get to see an entertaining race. There is not one thing wrong with this." Except for the fact that all that would do, would be to give the Cup drivers more start-and-parkers to pass on their way to wins. Starting at the back is no longer a death sentence, all it does is (to use a RPG term) increase the Challenge Rating. "You just can't shut the door on Cup drivers because all the teams will vaporize, the sponsors will vaporize and will we have no more Nationwide Series and that's not good for anyone." "I hope they do ban Cup drivers from the series. I'd like to see how long it takes for the sponsors to pull out and the series to die, and I'd also like to see what all the idiots who think it's a good idea would say after that happened." Oh? I don't recall the Busch Series having problems with teams vaporising and sponsors pulling out back when the series wasn't utterly dominated by Buschwhackers. The series flourished. The series is -currently- dying because of the Cup drivers' domination. And, to be -quite- blunt: if the Nationwide Series can't survive without Cup drivers, the Nationwide Series doesn't -deserve- to survive. "Oddly enough, I actually welcome Cup guys competing on non Cup tracks on off weekends (provided it isn't part of a full NWide schedule). That was something I used to love about the old Busch Series. Seeing people like Dale and Darrell show up at IRP, Loudon before it became a Cup event, Hickory or Road Atlanta (I was a little young for this, but I'm sure I would have got a kick out of it)." 100% agreement there - that was back in the day when Cup drivers raced the lower series because they loved to race (Ken Schrader being Exhibit A) as opposed to their having a contract to win the owner's championship for Brand X. "and define "cup driver" Trevor Bayne is a nationwide driver with 1 Career Cup win " Bayne is a rookie in the Cup series and we've all agreed we don't think there should be any restrictions on Cup rookies running NNS. (But this is close to an example of why I think "driver in top 35, and not a rookie, entered in this week's Cup race" is the best definition of a "non-eligible Cup driver" (regardless of what "non-eligible" means), as otherwise you get definition and possible system-gaming problems). 22. 00andJoe posted: 09.19.2011 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #52 owner: Pat MacDonald. (While the car ran Jimmy Means' car number and used his owner points, the car was fielded by Koch's normal team "borrowing" the number from Means.) 23. Talon64 posted: 09.19.2011 - 5:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad Keselowski gets his 15th career Nationwide win, tying him for 17th all time with Todd Bodine, Randy LaJoie, Larry Pearson and Morgan Shepherd. His 3 wins in 2011 have all come in his last 7 starts, and he led a season-high 158 laps in this race. It's the 4th win of 2011 for the #22, as Kurt Busch won at Watkins Glen subbing for BraKes. Carl Edwards finishes in the top 2 for a 3rd straight race and for the 14th time in 27 starts this year. Brian Scott earned his first career Nationwide pole in his 70th series start and backed it up by tying his best career finish in 3rd, just his 2nd career top 5 and 10th top 10 (5th top 10 in 2011). Aric Almirola picked up his 10th career top 5 in 67 series starts, and his 6th top 5 and 9th top 10 in the last 10 races (2nd in points scored, only 3 less than Ricky Stenhouse Jr.). Sam Hornish Jr. finishes a career-best 5th in his 29th series start (2 career top 5's with a best of 4th in 109 Cup starts). It's his 3rd top 10 in 9 starts in 2011 and he's sporting an 8.2 avg start (15.9 avg fin). Elliott Sadler and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. become the 1st NNS regulars to reach 20 top 10's this season, and join Brad Keselowski (2008, 2009) as the only NNS regulars to do so since 2007. It's his 7th consecutive top 10 but 6th straight race without a top 5. Jamie McMurray gets his first top 10 in 5 Nationwide starts this season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets his 30th career top 10 in 67 series starts. Paul Menard finishes a season-worst 9th, but has top 10's in all 5 of his starts in 2011 along with 3 top 5's and a 4.8 avg fin. After going 4 straight races without a top 10, Reed Sorenson has now finished top 10 in back-to-back races. Trevor Bayne gets his best finish in the last 5 races but only has 2 top 10's in the last 13 races. Ryan Truex was the highest finishing rookie in 13th, and is now 33 points behind in the ROTY standings with 3 starts left for JGR in 2011. 24. cjs3872 posted: 09.23.2011 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt L, you may be right about the mid-to-back of the Nationwide field being underfunded, but that can also be said about the Roush cars, as they've been unsponsored for most of the year, as well. In fact, that may be one of things holding Trevor Bayne back, as well as his absolutely horrid luck. Talon64 mentioned that he has only two top 10s in his last 13 NW races. Fact is that he had top 5 cars on several occasions, but got in wrecks with other drivers that he wouldn't have been racing with, if not for sloppy pit stops. At Atlanta, he finally made an on-track pass for the lead on a non-RP track, was running in the top 5, but a bad pit stop put him in position to be in the crash when Allgaier tangled with Reed Sorenson. Then at Richmond, he probably had the best car in the field and was about to take the lead, but had another horrible pit stop under caution, which put him position to nearly get takjen out by a spinning Brian Scott, and evetually did get taken out as a result of a very unusual bold move on his part, when he tried to pass Kevin Harvick, as he could see that Harvick was about to be taken out by Jason Leffler, which would probably have knocked him out as well, and tried to get out of that possible maelstrom, only to create one himself with Harvick. And lets not forget the fiasco at Montreal, where he could have been seriously injured if he had not miraculosly avoided a T-bone crash with another car, simply because he was uninformed about the situation just in front of him, and was closely trailing another car, thus limiting his vision. Even so, he woulnd up in fourth place on a late restart, but like so many others in that race, he had problems with his brakes. Even at Loudon, he had a late-race tangle with Harvick, which put him in position to be caught up in the situation with Steve Wallace and Joey Logano. It would actually be good to see him have a trouble-free day with a good car and see where he would end up, before what is seeming to be an imminent release from Roush due to lack of sponsorship. After all, he apparently is about to lose his Cup ride with the Wood Brothers, despite the Woods being pleased by his performances. Also, Sam Hornish, Jr., who has had his share of good days at Chicagoland, might have finished second or third, if it wasn't for a bad pit stop late in the race. Meanwhile, the two-man fight for the title goes to Dover with Stenhouse losing just two points off his lead, as the Nationwide Series goes to its last true test for drivers this year, Dover, unless you count Phoenix, and the races there may be totally unpredictable because of the reconfiguration. I say that Dover is the last true test for drivers in the Nationwide Series this year, because the 1.5-mile ovals at Charlotte, Texas, and Homestead are pretty much like Daytona and Talladega was before the restrictor plates, and that is wide open all day, and the car with the most HP wins. Kansas is a bit more challenging than the other 1.5-mile tracks, due to it's lower banking, but it's nowhere near as challenging as Dover is. And the performances of Hornish and Brian Scott enhanced the reputation of Chicagoland as being a haven for Nationwide Series surprises. After all, the list of winners there in the Nationwide Series include Casey Mears, Terry Labonte's son Justin, Justin Allgaier. And how can we forget that Jimmie Johnson collected his one and ONLY Nationwide Series victory in the series' first visit to Chicagoland Speedway in 2001. 25. Daniel posted: 05.21.2012 - 12:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #44 Angela Cope Out using fastest 43: #89 Morgan Shepherd 26. Ed posted: 09.06.2013 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @Mr X: I compared the 1996 Cup and Busch schedules; 18 of 26 Busch Series races were held in the same city as a Cup race that same weekend. So the series weren't as spread out as you think 27. David posted: 11.27.2018 - 7:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Harmon was also at this event with his #74 Chevrolet. He practiced on Friday, but he did not attempt to qualify. 28. TeamDCRfan posted: 03.19.2020 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Final start for Dennis Setzer in Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity 29. SweetRich posted: 07.09.2020 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The final career NASCAR race for Danny O'Quinn Jr. 30. Foyt14 posted: 01.18.2021 - 9:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #51 sponsor: Defend the Children 31. JSPorts posted: 01.18.2021 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crazy looking at this race now, nearly 10 years later. The series has certainly come a long way in letting regulars battle it out for wins & championships. 32. Mile501 posted: 01.19.2021 - 7:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @31 - In my opinion, the 2006 Busch race at Michigan was the absolute peak of that problem. But I certainly agree with you; things are much better now in that regard. 33. PCRF0006 posted: 01.30.2021 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Missing WD | Mike Harmon | 74 | D.W. Campbell Tire | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20150920071410/http://www.jayski.com/nationwide/2011/next/practice/nns28chipractice2011.htm The car can be seen on track practicing here as Mike Bliss drives by: https://youtu.be/BooBa-oth3w?t=1234. They did not attempt to qualify. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: