|| *Comments on the 2012 STP 300:* View the most recent comment <#131> | Post a comment <#post> 1. 10andJoe posted: 07.22.2012 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #18 sponsor: Grime Boss #70 sponsor: Foretravel Motorcoach 2. Anonymous posted: 07.22.2012 - 6:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 13 start and park entries? 3. 18fan posted: 07.22.2012 - 6:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is what this series is supposed to be. There was only one Cup driver, and Kyle was relatively uncompetitive. 4. Dave#38Fan posted: 07.22.2012 - 6:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) car #24 ran "Remember Aurora Colorado" logos on the car. side note, kenny wallace is in the dash for cash for next week's race, but does not have a ride and will likely not be in the race. 5. jr88fan posted: 07.22.2012 - 6:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think that the 4 & the 24 weren't S&Ps because the 24 hasn't S&P'd all year, and the 4 only had 2 possible S&P's and both times the car went past halfway, which never usually happens with Start and Parks. 6. Spen posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome run for Kenny. Mike Bliss had a top ten run going most of the day. Nice finish for Nemecheck. And congrats to Eric McClure on a rare top-twenty qualifying effort! 7. Rusty posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Like the truck race, the crowd looked horrible. Why have this stand alone weekend at Chicagoland? Move it to a non-Cup track. I bet more people show up and the racing would be better. Though, the race was actually good at the end. Congrats to Kenny Wallace on a top 5. Michael Annett also gets his 3rd top 5 in the last 4 races after having none his whole career to that point. 8. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crowd was horrible, papers estimated 10,000 for one of the Indycar races there (I think the last) and this looked much worse, for all we know it could have been 5-10k. I wouldn't mind another road course weekend at a circuit like Mosport or Laguna Seca or some short track races that don't host cup weekends. 9. Mike posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm pretty sure the 4 had a legit engine issue. The team hasn't been start and parking this year, they had a sponsor, and the car looked enough off the pace to suggest he was well down on power. As for the 24 team, I don't know for sure, but they went a long way for a start and park, and they haven't been doing that this year either. 10. Paul posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A very unexpected win today for Elliott Sadler, who was sick today and had a struggling race car for about the first 150 laps. Stenhouse, who had the dominant car all race, got stuck in traffic on the second-to-last restart, but muscled his way up to 2nd before a caution late in the race set up a G-W-C finish. Stenhouse's slow restart mixed in with the push he got from Justin Allgaier, helped Sadler get his 3rd win of the season and first since Bristol back in March. Solid top 5s for Kenny Wallace, who's running a part-time schedule, and Michael Annett. This was Kenny's 1st top 5 since Richmond last September. Annett, who had zero top 5s the last 3 years, has 3 in the last 4 races. It's a shame Kenny isn't able to run the full schedule, because he's the getting the most out of those RAB cars every single week. Speaking of RAB Racing, both cars finish inside the top 20 in RAB's first race with multiple cars. Travis Pastrana held his own by posting a very quiet 17th place finish, one-lap down. Solid lead lap finishes for Mike Bliss and Joe Nemechek, who flirted with the top 10 all day in underfunded equipment. Also, a nice turnaround for Danica, who at one point was a lap down and outside the top 20. Apparently James Buescher, winner of last night's Truck Series race, came down pit road late in the race while running 15th. Thanks to that last caution, he restarted one-lap down and made his way back up to 15th. Speaking of which, is anyone else confused by Sam Hornish's alibi for why he got into Kyle Busch and sent he and Brendan Gaughan into the wall? He said he was looking at his hood pins, but if that were the case, wouldn't his eyes have seen his car getting closer to Kyle's? Perhaps the rate of speed he was going played a factor, but it seemed odd that that was the reason. Solid runs for Mike Wallace, the aforementioned Travis Pastrana, Timmy Hill, Josh Richards, Johanna Long, and Jeremy Clements; each of whom finished within 2 laps of the leader and in the top half of the field. Great qualifying run by Johanna. Her and ML Motorsports have really stepped up their qualifying program, starting in the top 15 in 3 of the last 4 races. Brad Sweet has been involved in 8 cautions in 9 races this season. He's got talent, but isn't ready for these cars yet. Maybe a season in the trucks would do him some good. Tanner Berryhil posted a career-best finish of 26th in this race. Benny Gordon made his 1st appearance since Texas back in April. The No. 24 SR2 Motorsports team uses various drivers every week, each bringing in sponsorship. I find it interesting that one week after the Amber Cope fiasco, team co-owner Benny Gordon steps back into the car having missed the last 12 races, with no primary sponsor and a paint scheme painted in memory of the victims from Aurora, Colorado. After making headlines for all the wrong reasons last week, the team decided to put in a driver who knew how to drive, in spite of no sponsorship. Thirty-two cars made it to the first pit stop. Danny Efland made it all the way to the first pit cycle before retiring from the race. Benny Gordon retired a few laps after making his pit stop. Looks like MAKE Motorsports can't afford to run the distance every week anymore, as they've start-and-parked in the last two races (possibly three; I'm not sure if that engine failure at Daytona was legit or not). Carl Long made his 1st start since Texas last November. Rick Ware Racing entered the No. 75 with Charles Lewandoski, but withdrew after RAB Racing announced they would be entering two cars. This was the third straight race in which no drivers failed to qualify. 11. Anonymous posted: 07.22.2012 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The thing to look at is NASCAR might be looking closely at the speeds the cars are going after what Amber Cope did last week. 12. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.22.2012 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Should have been at IRP instead of Chicago. 13. JRacingFast posted: 07.22.2012 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nascar should look at moving a stand alone race to ROCKINGHAM......just saying theyll have more people there then we saw today at chicago 14. Matt L posted: 07.22.2012 - 8:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #4 did have legit engine issues according to Efland's twitter. The #24 has no parking history, so I assume they also had legit issues. The remaining 11 cars were all parks. 15. chris o posted: 07.22.2012 - 8:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) their was no one there, give this event to another track, one that is better to watch a race at, like a short track. 16. Rusty posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) lol at the listed attendance for this race. No way was there 25,000 people there. 17. cjs3872 posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty, there might not have been 25,000 there for all three events combined, though I put the number at about 35,000 for the three days. Frankly, this doesn't bode well for the Brickyard 400 next week. I had earlier predicted an attendance figure lower than last year's 140,000, but now 100,000 may be stretching it. I'm now going to duplicate my prediction of last year, and say that attendance for the Brickyard won't top 80,000. I don't know what's happened to the popularity of auto racing un the Midwest, but remember that they didn't even come close to selling out the Indianapolis 500, as attendance there was the lowest since double decker grandstands were introduced in the late 1940s. There were an estimated 220,000 there, but I saw large swaths of grandstands unused for the biggest race in the world, even on the main straightaway. Perhaps the melancholy attitude toward racing in the Midwest has to do with oversaturation, although the lack of Cup stars combined with the race today being held on the same day as the final round of the British Open (with Tiger in the hunt when the day began) didn't help either. 18. Anonymous posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Would have to imagine that someone would roll the dice and give the Herman a ride next week 19. Peter posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great job Kenny, happy to see one of the most genuine nice guys in the sport prove he can still get it done. Also what a boring race, if anyone needed insentive to take a nap in the afternoon this race was it 20. 10andJoe posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >I don't know what's happened to the popularity of auto racing un the Midwest They all go to Heaven, I mean Iowa now. 21. ch posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe Kenny can hook up a ride with the 24 :) Efland's engine issue was for real. As for Benny Gordon? I have no idea. Sponsor corrections: 15 - Rick Ware Racing 42 - The Motorsports Group 47 - The Motorsports Group 52 - Hamilton Means Racing (No logos) 71 - Lilly Trucking There was something on the 40 could not see though. 22. 10andJoe posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, I suspect the #52 had a legit engine problem.... 23. ch posted: 07.22.2012 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WOW, I just called Wallace to the 24 then checked Jayski and... "Luckily, Family Farmers, American Ethanol and the National Corn Growers Association, they came up with quite a bit of money four days ago ... and I'm going to drive the #24 Nationwide car. We just did the deal right before qualifying (today). "My team is going to be behind me, it's going to be a Toyota with a Triad motor, but the 24 team -- Benny Gordon usually drives the car -- we put the deal together, Farmers are going to have their name on it, they said it was a crime that I had the most starts in the history (of the Nationwide Series) and for me not to be in the first-ever Nationwide race at Indy." Kenny will also drive one race in the Penske #22 with the race TBD. 24. Baker posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope Elliott Sadler has bad luck the rest of the year. I can't figure out why everyone hates cuppers winning all the Nationwide race then turn around and route for a cupper winning the point standings. He is a cup level driver who took a highly funded lower level ride so he could have 15 min of fame. In all reality he should be driving for a mid tier team helping them build. 25. 10andJoe posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ Awesome. Go Herman! 26. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Like 10AndJoe said, they built Iowa and now everyone in the Midwest is like "hey, that's what a damn race is supposed to look like!". Assuming they never went to Salem, IN. Or Winchester. I'm just gonna come right out and say it: the Dillon boys are boring the shit out of me. You can tell their grandfather has pre programmed to the RCR modern way of doing things to a T. No big risks, no putting a fender in there, just finish and hope a Top 3 or win falls in your lap. Except for Austin's tainted ass whipping at Kentucky of course. They can talk about reliving the glory days of the "iconic stylized #3 that their grandfather made famous with some help from Dale Earnhardt", but the only days of that car they are reliving are Dale's '97 season (when he got a smoke and mirrors 5th place points finish) and his '00 season (when he got a smoke and mirrors 2nd place points finish). 27. Matt L posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Austin shows a lot of potential. Ty really hasn't been as strong in the Truck series as his brother was the year before. (They both share in common the lame cowboy hats they both just started wearing this season. I don't get it, are they trying to create a brand or bring back a fad?) 28. murb posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good job by Elliott and his team today. I've always really liked him, so I'm always happy to see him win. Hopefully they will keep this up. Totally agree, it was beyond pointless to have this race be at Chicagoland. I remember back on the Kentucky Cup race page (I think), we were all talking about our least favorite tracks. Chicago is definitely on my list for that. No excitement at all (except for on the restarts and when Brendan Gaughan did his best Steve Wallace impersonation all day). It makes no sense to me why they don't go to a non Cup track on a Cup off weekend. IRP would have been great. A road race out at Mosport or something would have been great. Hell, even Nashville would have been better than this probably (Nashville Superspeedway, not the old short track. Although, that would have been awesome too.) And to top it all off, next weekend we get the Brickyard. Everyone knows that the NNS race should be at IRP. And everyone knows that the Cup race is probably going to be subpar at best. Oh well. At least we can make jokes about how it will be "Crown Royal Presents The Your Name Here 400 At The Brickyard Presented By Crown Royal Weekend" instead of just plain old "Brickyard 400 Weekend". Also, shoutout to Kenny for his top five today, and the fact that he is gonna be able to run for the Dash 4 Cash at Indy. 29. Anonymous posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs3872, I can tell you where the race fans from the Midwest are. I live in the Midwest and I haven't went to Chicagoland after the 2001 Nationwide and cup race weekend. It was an extremely hot weekend at Chicagoland with it being over 100 degrees. I went to the track by using an Escorted NASCAR tour service from Wisconsin to Illinois for the first ever NASCAR Weekend for Chicagoland. There was problems for the bus leaving the track parking lot after the cup race. When the tour bus finally left the track, the touring bus was only supposed stop for the bathroom, but people in the bus didn't listen and decided to order food and drinks. That took an additional hour. Those people had a chance to get food by going on the other touring for going to a restaurant before heading back to the park and ride location in Wisconsin. I also know some relatives that go to Chicagoland races, but they only go to the cup race. Rest of the NASCAR Races I ever went to was at my home racetrack, the Milwaukee Mile. Road of America is a great race track, but I rather see the whole racetrack instead of one turn since it is a road course. 30. Anonymous posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I ever go to another NASCAR race, I would go to Iowa because Rusty designed a great racetrack. That is something I can't say with Kentuky with DW designing a mile and a half track. 31. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 07.22.2012 - 10:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, I knew Brickyard 400 attendance was going to be horrible, but looking at the Brickyard 400 ticket site from IMS it's worse than you think. You can still get 20 tickets side-by-side in the upper row of the typically-top notch (a bit like the Sprint tower at Daytona) Paddock Press Penthouse and 20 side-by-side tickets in great rows in the majority of grandstands. This means entire empty rows and sections even in places like the Penthouses. The ONLY grandstand sold out is E Penthouse. Plenty of seats are available in all the Pentouses and even the extremely limited (typically sells out days orweeks into indy 500 ticket sales)exclusive Paddock Press Penthouse has great seats available. Highly Popular stands like A and E Box have entire empty sections mid-high up. CJS's prediction of 80,000 looks like it might end up being a liberal estimate, although I bet nascar's amazing estimates will add up to six figures. I can imagine what Saturday and especially Friday are going to look like. 32. cjs3872 posted: 07.22.2012 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous (#29), it just looks like there don't seem to be any racing fans in general in the Midwest any more that want to go to races, no matter where the race is, and it's not just limited to NASCAR. Sure, what you say about the inaugural race at Chicgao may be true, but that area can't seem to draw, no matter what the venue. Milwaukee can't draw for it's IndyCar race any more, Kentucky, which borders on the Midwest, can't draw for it's races any more (there was a big drop in attendance for this year's Cup race compared to last year's), Michigan can't draw 80,000 these days for it's Cup races, the Brickyard 400 can't even sell out more than 35-40% of it's seats, and this year saw the biggest disgrace of all when the Indianapolis 500 didn't even come close to selling out. It could be a case of oversaturation, but when the Indianapolis 500 has thousands, if not tens of thousands of empty seats (even parts of the main grandstands were empty), there's a bigger problem than anyone is willing to admit. 33. the Great Dave posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Should have been at IRP instead of Chicago." You mean Millwaukee right? 34. Dave#38Fan posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @ #33 no, he meant IRP. milwaukee was a decent track, but IRP blew it out of the water. 35. Anonymous posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs3872, You can not compare the Milwaukee Mile to rest of the race tracks you mention. The Milwaukee Mile to me was more of NASCAR track in the later years than Indy Car. I was there at the Milwaukee Mile for NASCAR races starting in 1998 to 2009. Open Wheel racing has not fully recovered from the split of CART with Tony George creating his own series. The split is over, but the damage was done in popularity as a result of the split. I known more about the Milwaukee Mile track in terms of how it was run than you do since I live closer to the track. The track had no racing in 2010 and played a role in attendance. It is more than the track was more popular for NASCAR and the one year off from racing and the damage from the split. Milwaukee Mile had problems with promoters before the Andretti promotion and the attendance can be blamed on that. Part of the problem also was with Wisconsin State Fair Park management. This can be a problem when the property is owned by the State of Wisconsin aka the state government. Politicians from Madison, Wisconsin choose people to run the property. It either was the Wisconsin Star Fair park board or the Wisconsin Star Park executive made decisions all Wisconsin State Fair Park property including the Milwaukee Mile such as what promoters should the track have. This a problem when the person isn't a fan of racing at all and that person actually didn't want racing at the mile. I know people who matter fact know that person who was responsible for hiring promoters in the past by working in another company with that person. The person who used to hire promoters actually admitted privately to hate racing and wanted to get a rid of all forms of racing at the mile before that person left. That person also charge of hiring promoters at the track actually didn't know what she was doing at the other company that person is working at. While the person who is in charge of getting race promoters is gone, the damage was done. The track is just starting to recover from a mess that it was in caused by a person who didn't like racing. 36. 10andJoe posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) >Ty really hasn't been as strong in the Truck series as his brother was the year before. Given that Ty has only not finished in the top 10 in two of his entire career Truck Series races so far, I'd say he isn't too shabby. 37. Anonymous posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs3872, I hope you don't try to correct me in terms of the Milwaukee Mile is run because that is my home track. My post is number 35. The Milwaukee Mile is well known in my area for a very long time by follow citizens in Wisconsin as part of Wisconsin State Fair Park property. The other to look at is I know people know the people involve with the track, but I don't want all the information to be spilled out. I have a couple question for you. How would you handle a person who the promoters have to follow orders from and actually wants the promoters to fail? Are you shocked the Milwaukee Mile had people that couldn't manage a track properly and hate racing top of it? 38. Jon posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) didn't watch much but i'm curious why nascar insists on throwing a caution when a single car spins, doesn't touch the wall, doesn't leave any debris and isn't stalled or in a dangerous location. the #38 spun and nascar had no reason to throw the caution other than to set up another restart. this is way too common. if they at least show some sort of debris that has to be removed from the track, then i'm ok with it, but they tend to not show ANY debris on the track and just throw the caution because of 1 car spins WAY too often. really starting to turn me off from this sport. 39. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 1:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous (#35, 37), I have no real inside knowledge of what went on at the Milwaukee Mile, but like Phoenix, it was a real victim of the split years, but the fact that Phoenix has somewhat recovered (mainly by jettisoning IndyCar racing) and Milwaukee hasn't pretty much illustrates your point. My point was that Milwuakee, like virtually every other track in the region, can't get anyone to attend their races, and that includes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which couldn't even get close to selling out the Indianapolis 500, and that fact, more than anything else, points out how down in the dumps the popularity of racing in general has become in that part of the country. Michigan used to be another popular destination for race fans, but they have a hrad time getting 80,000 for their races when they used to get 100,000-120,000 on a pretty regular basis. The popularity of motorsports in this country seem to be waning, but nowhere has it been felt more than the Midwest, and Indy and Michigan have really taken the brunt of it. 40. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.23.2012 - 2:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One other factor contributing to the retchid attendance: when you have a Cup date on a seperate weekend, it is hard to get people out for a stand alone weekend. Remember the ill fated return of the Busch Series to Martinsville in the Summer of '06? It is hard enough getting us out there for the Cup races, but for Busch races? And make no mistake, it may say "Chicagoland" but it is in Joliet which I understand to be quite a hassle to get to compared to Chicago. 41. Spen posted: 07.23.2012 - 6:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs: Speaking as an Iowa resident, I can say that NASCAR is still highly popular around here, but the number of people who actually go to a race at any time seems to be dwindling. Heck, I personally haven't attended a big three race since 1996. I've got my own reasons for that, but most tracks have their own reasons for declining attendence. Eric pretty well covered Milwaukee's problems, so I won't get into that. Kentucky got all sorts of negitive publicity after the parking fiasco last year, so it's unsurprising that they didn't draw the same kind of crowd. Michigan got hit harder by the recession than most states, and the fact that the track hasn't produced an exciting race since 1991 can't be helping matters. The Indy 500's low attendence is unsurprising, since with Danica gone, there's no real chance for a female winner, thereby cutting out a significant portion of casual race-goers. The Brickyard 400 hasn't really recovered from the 2008 disaster. Chicagoland and Kansas likely both cost each other. Most of the people who still go to races occasionally only go once a year, so they're likely to go to one or the other, but not both. And it doesn't help that neither track is really entertaining usually. This weekend of course was unusually bad because of the lack of a Cup race, more or less proving NASCAR's theory that the only way to get people to come to a Nationwide or Truck race is if they're held the same weekend as a Cup race. 42. LordLowe posted: 07.23.2012 - 7:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 2008 tire debacle at Indianapolis might have played a factor for the Declining crowds there because in the 3 races that have been held there since then the attendance rate has plummeted significantly. 43. Rusty posted: 07.23.2012 - 9:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, I'm glad Stenhouse lost this race with the dominant car. I just don't like the dude, especially after the crap he pulled in ARCA years ago in the season finale. Listening to him whine about how much he hated his car while dominating the race just didn't help either. 44. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 9:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) But the interest in the Brickyard 400 was already beginning to wane long before the 2008 tire fiasco. That just accelerated it. What happened to the Brikcyard 400 was that the Chase, instituted in 2004 sucked the life out of it, something that began in 2005. And let's not forget that the 2004 Brickyard 400 had it's own tire fiasco, though not on the scale of the 2008 disaster. Several of the 2004 Indy race's 14 cautions were from tire failures, so tires may be at the point of Indy's declining popularity, but it may have stemmed from the 2004 race, not the 2008 event there. But the Chase is also responsible for the declining popularity of that race, because the teams that know they're in the Chase could care less how they do there, which takes a lot of the prestige out of that event. It used to be that teams would go to Indy not caring about points, but because of the Chase, they're either cautious because they don't want to lose points, or don't even care about that race, because it's on a style of track that there isn't any of in the Chase, so they use it as a "throwaway", race, or test session. And Rusty, as for your point about Stenhouse, doesn't that fit the mold of a Roush driver, as well as the way he drives, because how many times have we seen Carl Edwards or Greg Biffle, who drive the same way Stenhouse does, just give away wins because they drove the car too hard? In fairness to Stenhouse, he was on his way to lapping the entire field before a caution for a brake duct brought out one caution, and then he was trapped a lap behind when a spin brought out another caution in the middle of green flag pit stops, so Lady Luck was not a friend of Stenhouse's in yesterday's race. 45. Rusty posted: 07.23.2012 - 10:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse didn't do anything to cost himself the race, he got screwed by a caution while pitting. But I'm just saying I'm glad he did. Just not a fan. Also, Elliott Sadler has tied for the worst starting position from a winner in the Nationwide series this year in 15th. James Buescher won the season opening race at Daytona from 15th as well, those are the only two races this season in which a driver has won from a starting position outside the top 10. I think that says a lot about how watered down this series has become. There is normally only like 30 cars that even bother to run the whole race and of those 30, only about 12-14 cars are even competitive depending on which track you are at. 46. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 11:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) But Rusty, watching the race, as fast as Stenhouse was going compared to everyone else, I just felt that he was going to blow it at any moment by running too hard, which is what Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, along with Stenhouse, have done repeatedly through their careers, either by running too hard or by not being smart. But since this could be Roush's final season in the Nationwide Series, at least for a while, I think Roush and Stenhouse wants to show just how superior Roush's Nationwide cars really are. 47. CBASS posted: 07.23.2012 - 12:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Motorsports Group just posted pics on Facebook, the #40 did have sponsorship the race, this time being from HeavenlyPawsMI.com 48. Paul posted: 07.23.2012 - 1:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty, I too am glad that Stenhouse lost that race yesterday. Listening to him whine and complain about the car supposedly not handling well, even though he had a 4+ second lead throughout the race, despite the car's superior speed compared to the rest of the field. Andy Petree commented that he didn't know what Stenhouse was complaining about every time they played back the audio. It's a shame that Matt Kenseth will most likely be heading for Gibbs, because Stenhouse's whining and complaining of the car taking no responsibility for his actions make him a perfect fit for JGR. There, he could join 3 other drivers who can do no wrong and demand the whole racetrack to themselves. Matt L, I too am tired of seeing the increased number of cowboy hats in the garage area as of late. I believe that the only people who should wear cowboy hats should be actual cowboys, not wannabes like Stenhouse and especially the Dillon brothers. Earnhardt and Cale earned the right to wear cowboy hats because they actually were cowboys; plus, they actually had to work for everything they got. They were handed it down just because of their family name or because a rich team owner discovered them/is related to them. 49. MStall41 posted: 07.23.2012 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You can all laugh at me for believing so, but I am still extremely pumped for the Brickyard 400. I still consider it the 2nd biggest race of the year and one of the most exciting, simply because of how awesome and legendary the track is. The thing about Indy is, unless you go to the track itself, you'll never be able to appreciate the greatness of the facility. I didn't until i went to the Indy 500 last year. And for what its worth, I find the Brickyard 400 to be one of the 5 or 6 best races of the year. Its mostly because it's Indy, but I still think its a great event. 50. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 1:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Paul, the thing with Kenseth leaving Roush (probably for Gibbs) is that, not only does Roush lose a champion and the only Daytona 500 winner he's ever had, but he loses something even more important, and that is a leader. and the los of Kenseth will have a much bigger impact than the losses of Jeff Burton and Mark Martin had preiously for that very reason. As of next year, Roush-Fenway will be leaderless on the track and in the garage area, and if Kenseth goes to Gibbs, Gibbs will have the leader he lost when Tony Stewart left after the 2008 season. But Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will have nobody to lean on for direction, because the other drivers are not guys that can be counted on to mentor others, and when Stenhouse has his fill of crashes, there will be nobody there to pick him up, and as he's proven, he needs someone to set him on a straight and narrow path. He's had that with Kenseth, and to a much lesser extent, Trevor Bayne last year, but he won't have anyone to straighten him out when needed, and pick him up when needed. In other words, he could be a driver of a rutterless ship next year, because I think Mike Kelley will be moved up right with Stenhouse. 51. Paul posted: 07.23.2012 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs, I totally agree with your assumption that Kenseth's departure will hurt Stenhouse once he reaches Cup next season. Team leadership is something that often gets overlooked in NASCAR, and Kenseth is the only Roush driver who has the ability to be that guy (I can see Trevor Bayne being that guy too one day, but he hasn't reached that level yet). I think it was you who mentioned on a previous forum that the reason RCR is keeping Jeff Burton under contract for the foreseeable future will be so Austin Dillon has a mentor for when he reaches Cup. With Austin running a full Nationwide schedule next year, he'll most likely be elevated to Cup in 2014, the last year in Burton's RCR contract. Just take a look at Paul Menard. His career was going nowhere fast until he joined RCR last year. Being teammates with Jeff Burton has turned him into a quality driver has he now has a Cup win and has been in the top 15 in points all season. Burton has also helped Clint Bowyer adjust to Cup in the past and, along with Mark Martin, helped Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch in their first years in Cup. And if you notice, Kenseth has a similar personality to Burton. That, along with a championship makes him a suitable choice to be a driver mentor. Should Kenseth go to Gibbs next year, I can see Kyle Busch and Denny becoming more focused championship contenders. I don't think Stenhouse realizes what he's getting himself into by joining a Kenseth-less Roush Cup team next season. On one hand you have Carl Edwards, a self-absorbed media/sponsor friendly driver. On the other hand you have Greg Biffle, who's pretty much Kevin Harvick without the attitude and the urge to fight everything in sight. Both Edwards and Biffle have their own agendas that they stick to, and that's not what a young driver like Stenhouse needs. He has a lot of talent, but he needs someone to straighten him out and/or take him to the woodshed when necessary. 52. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 3:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Or Paul, to even pick him up when he's down. That's one reason I feel like it's a mistake to bring Stenhouse into a situation where he has nobody to mentor him, especially with just two Cup starts to his credit. If Roush does what I think he's going to do and bring Mike Kelley up with Stenhouse, the lack of a veteran voice within the team may destroy his Cup career before it starts. Again, if I were in Roush's position, I would probably have out Trevor Bayne into the Cup car full-time next year, because he's had the mentoring of not only Donnie Wingo, who's been a crew chief not only for Roush, but for Chip Ganassi, and even for Bud Moore (I still find the fact that he won last year's Daytona 500 with Moore's old Motorcraft colors more than a bit ironic), but Bayne's also been under the guidance of the sport's ultimate mentors, the Wood Brothers, for two years now. I personally think that Stenhouse needs that kind of mentoring before getting into Cup full-time next year, and without it, he will almost certainly fail with his all-or-nothing attitude. Remember that the sport's most prolific champions in recent vintage have always had mentors helping them when they began their journey to stardom, either as drivers or crew chiefs. For instance, Darrell Waltrip was mentored by Jake Elder, who also guided Dale Earnhardt in his first couple of years, Bill Elliott had Benny Parsons, Rusty Wallace had Waltrip, Jeff Gordon had Terry Labonte (who also once had Elder as a crew chief), Tony Stewart had Bobby Labonte, Jimmie Johnson had Gordon and Terry Labonte, and Matt Kenseth had Mark Martin and Jeff Burton. But Stenhouse has none of that going for him, so while he has the potential for immense success, he has just as much potential to crash and burn without an adequate mentor. Meanwhile, Bayne has had the Wood Brothers helping him along, and they have acted as mentors for guys like Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Elliott Sadler (who might be on his way to this year's Nationwide Series championship), Bayne, and even to a lesser degree, A.J. Foyt, who scored five of his seven NASCAR wins for the Wood Brothers in two different stints for the team. As a result of the mentoring from the Woods, as well as what he's had to deal with off the track (losing rides due to lack of sponsorship three times and the illness that sidelined him last year), I believe that, even though he's younger, I think that Bayne is more ready for Cup than Stenhouse is at this point. After all, racing in the Cup series is more than just about what you do off the track, but what you do off it (the Kurt Busch situation is a prime example), and I think that in that regard, Bayne is much more ready than Stenhouse is. But I may be dead wrong about that. 53. Matt L posted: 07.23.2012 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) LOL Paul, I don't really care about the cowboy hat thing, it's just random that both Dillon boys just started wearing it every week at the track this season. 54. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.23.2012 - 4:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jake Elder: mentor. I love the fact NASCAR used to be a place where somebody like Jake was one of the top mentors in the garage. He would never make it in modern NASCAR, and that is a huge indictment of modern NASCAR than Jake. Some of the best old time stories involve him. 55. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.23.2012 - 4:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Funny story: Jake was David Pearson's crew chief for his 2nd and 3rd championships in '68 and '69. Fast forward 10 years and Jake is the crew chief of rookie Dale Earnhardt when Dale blows a tire at Pocono, slams the wall, and breaks about 10 bones. Earnhardt's team gets a pretty good substitute while he heals, a rideless David Pearson. For his first race with them, when asked what it was like working with Jake again. The Fox said "Jake hasn't changed a bit, he's still cussing and fuming like he always has". Jake Elder ruled. 56. Talon64 posted: 07.23.2012 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Elliott Sadler picks up his 8th career Nationwide Series win, and ties his career high with his 3rd win of 2012 (ties Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for 2nd most this season). It's just his 2nd top 3 finish in the last 14 races after starting the season with 4 straight. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led 100+ laps in a race for the 3rd time in his career; he has 3 top 3's but just 1 win in those races. But it's the 6th time he's led 50+, and he has 3 wins from those races. It's his 3rd straight top 5 finish and the 30th of his career (91 starts). Stenhouse also picked up his 7th career Nationwide pole and 3rd of 2012, tying his career high from last season. In the race that he won last year, Justin Allgaier finishes a season-best 3rd for just his 3rd top 5 of the year. But it's his 5th consecutive top 10 and 8th in the last 9 races. Kenny Wallace gets RAB Racing just their 3rd top 5 in 119 career Nationwide starts, two of them with Kenny since last season. It's just his 3rd top 5 since 2006. After no top 5's in his first 119 career Nationwide starts, Michael Annett now has 3 in the last 4 races (5th most points over that stretch, but the top 5 are within 7 points of one another). Austin Dillon picks up his series-leading 14th top 10 of the season. Parker Kligerman finishes a career-best 7th (despite running in the top 5 all day and 2nd at one point), his 5th top 10 in 18 career Nationwide starts and 2nd in 3 starts this season. Despite his run-in with Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. picks up his 6th consecutive top 10 finish. Cole Whitt gets his first top 10 in 4 races. Ryan Truex finishes 10th for the 3rd time in 5 for JGR this season. It's his 8th top 10 in 11 starts with JGR dating back to last season (2 top 5's, 8.8 avg fin). Travis Pastrana ties his best career finish in 17th, his 2nd top 20 in his first 6 Nationwide starts. 57. Rusty posted: 07.23.2012 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Indy Entry List is out: -Kurt Busch in the #1 -Jeremy Clements in the #4, Ty Dillon in the #51 -Denny Hamlin in the #18, Joey Logano in the #20 -Scott Riggs in the #15 -Jeffrey Earnhardt in the #39 -Kasey Kahne in the #38 -Kenny Wallace in the #24 -Paul Menard in the #33 -Ryan Blaney in the #36 -Reed Sorenson in the #98 -Travis Pastrana in the #99 58. Anonymous posted: 07.23.2012 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Show me the money! Er, where's the purse? It's Monday. 59. Paul posted: 07.23.2012 - 5:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cjs, I actually thought that Roush would be better off putting Trevor in his full-time Nationwide car this season because Trevor has experienced the ultimate highs (winning the Daytona 500) and lows (missing races due to illness) so early in his career. That and the fact that he was being mentored by the Wood Brothers and possibly Kenseth during his Cup appearances in 2011, having more seat time this season would make him more Cup ready than Stenhouse for 2013. Even prior to 2011, Bayne was far more mature than Stenhouse was. While Bayne was having a nice 2010 season, finishing 7th in points and 2nd among Nationwide-only drivers, Stenhouse was building a reputation for wrecking (Wrecky Stenhouse). Remember, he could've won the ARCA championship in 2008, but got aggressive early and wrecked Scott Speed for the lead, which resulted in Speed retaliating and taking both out of the title picture in the season finale. Then in 2010, he five crash-related DNFs in the first 12 races, DNQ'd a race in Roush equipment, and was benched for another two races. It was only then that Stenhouse got the message that he needed to be more mature on the track if he wished to have a career in NASCAR. Last year, the lessons learned from 2010 hadn't worn off and he went on to win 2 races and the Nationwide championship. It's possible that having two Nationwide teammates (Bayne and Edwards) had an impact on Stenhouse's maturity though 2011. But now all that is starting to come crashing down on him as he now has no Nationwide teammates, and now with Kenseth leaving Roush, less stability in the Roush camp. Bayne benefits from his part-time gig with the Wood Brothers in Cup, plus he attends some of the Cup races he's not participating in, meaning that he has more chances to interact with the likes of Kenseth, who can mentor him further. Trevor's also on good terms with his childhood hero Jeff Gordon (mentor of Jimmie Johnson), despite that incident at Talladega last fall (though I'm not sure if Roush would allow him to talk to a non-Ford driver like Gordon). I mentioned that Stenhouse needs someone who can straighten him out at times. Lately he's been whining about the car (while dominating the Nationwide race yesterday), and not taking the blame for his shortcomings (overshot pit stall at Kentucky, blamed Erik Darnell for sitting in pit stall behind Stenhouse's; also caused jackman to get injured, but didn't seem to care). But you're right about someone lifting him up when he's down. I think there's a lot of instability in the Roush camp that's not being reported on. Things like Kenseth leading the points with limited sponsorship, Edwards currently outside the Chase with a year after signing that huge contract, Biffle coming back down to earth, Kenseth leaving after 2012, Stenhouse moving up to Cup, Bob Osbourne stepping down as Carl's cc, questionable crew chief situation across the board, Trevor Bayne's future still in question, Nationwide team may or may not continue, Penske coming to Ford and possibly running their own engine shop, and RPM possibly leaving Ford. Right now, the only possible thing that could benefit Stenhouse in 2013 would be having Jimmy Fennig as his crew chief. And if Roush is going to have Mike Kelley be his cc, they should at least move him to the Nationwide team (provided it still exists) next year with Trevor Bayne. Trevor's maturity and skill combined with Jimmy's leadership and experience would make Trevor the favorite for the championship. If Jimmy could win a championship with the often unstable Kurt Busch during Kurt's most stable season, he'd do wonders for Stenhouse or Trevor. 60. Paul posted: 07.23.2012 - 6:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope that putting Ty Dillon in the 51 car means that there's a relationship between Jeremy Clements and RCR. If so, that would be great for Clements and his independent family-owned team should they be aligned with a team like RCR. On a side note, seeing Clements out there driving for a family-owned team reminds me of the golden years of the Busch Series when guys like Joe Nemechek, Bobby Labonte, Ashton Lewis, Hank Parker Jr., Buckshot Jones, and Lyndon Amick driving for family-owned teams back in the '90s. The first two were often running up front, but it was always nice seeing the other four, as well as countless other small Busch teams having good finishes. Hopefully Ty Dillon's presence in the car attracts more sponsors that normally wouldn't team up with Clements' team. 61. joey2448 posted: 07.23.2012 - 6:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Commercials advertising the Nationwide race at the Brickyard on Saturday show nothing but action and crashes at IRP...why??? Reminds me of the ads for races at Bristol that show crashes and beating and banging, when in reality it's just side-by-side racing with no contact. Show what the fans can expect to see! 62. Paul posted: 07.23.2012 - 6:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey2448, the track officials (or whoever's in charge of airing race commercials) find it much easier to advertise crashes than great battles for position. Sadly, its IMS with this sad excuse for a car, so we won't be seeing much of easier unless the tires get chewed up. I predict the Nationwide race will be won by Brad Keselowski due to him being a Cup driver who ran great at IMS last year. Elliott Sadler is the only Nationwide driver I can see running up ftont, due to his Cup experience. Prepare for lots of single file racing with chances of corner dive bombs gone wrong for this weekend, ladies and gents. 63. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, did anyone see Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.'s backflip on Race Hub? I figured there was another driver in NASCAR that could do one, especially if they're as easy as peole think. I just didn't think that Carl Edwards would have competition in that regard from his own teammate. I also think there are others, but maybe Stenhouse could start doing his own victory backflips now that we know he can actually do it. I wonder who else can among the NASCAR drivers, although Stenhouse is, self-admittedly, a daredevil. As my fellow posters know, I would like to be able to do one myself, but have the fear of going backwards. I just thought I'd mention that while we've been discussing Stenhouse. Maybe we'll see him do one the next time he wins a race. 64. 10andJoe posted: 07.23.2012 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >more or less proving NASCAR's theory that the only way to get people to come to a Nationwide or Truck race is if they're held the same weekend as a Cup race. more or less proving [the] theory that the only way to get people to come to a Nationwide or Truck race [that's held at a superspeedway] is if they're held the same weekend as a Cup race, and that therefore more Truck and Nationwide races should be held on short tracks. Fixed it for you. ;) 65. 10andJoe posted: 07.23.2012 - 8:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) oh, and Kenny Wallace is NOT eligbile for the Dash4Cash at Indy, as his Chicago car was a late entry. 66. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.23.2012 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I would like to be able to do one myself, but have the fear of going backwards." I used to do backflips off the diving board as kid all the time until I almost hit my head once. My hair brushed against it and that was it. From that moment forward, I too have had a fear of backflips. Other things I have a fear of: spiders, heights, Geoff Bodine getting a one off ride at a Cup plate race and somehow winning (AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!), being paralyzed, ever hearing that song Bill Elliott sang that was played at the end of the '85 Southern 500 again, ever hearing that song Earnhardt sang again, ever hearing any song from the 70's "NASCAR goes country" album once, FOX bidding to get TNT's 6 races (oh wait), Kentucky getting a second Cup date, and vultures. 67. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, another potential fear I have may have to do with wearing glasses and not knowing what would happen if I tried one with glasses on. But the fact that Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. can do one makes me wonder when we'll start seeing him do backflips to celebrate victories. And I wonder what other drivers could do them, which is a question I posed last year when it looked like Austin Dillon was going to do something like that when he ran and did a dive (and wound up bening backwards when his dive ended awkwardly). I read somewhere that the back handspring that Kasey Kahne did in one of his Allstate commercials years ago was something he did on his own, but I don't know if that's true or not, and his knees are creaky now. But this again proves that the racers we have now are the most athletic in the history of the sport, and who knows what some of the other drivers are capable of doing if they truly wanted to. 68. David posted: 07.23.2012 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Believe it or not, Austin Dillon is NOT moving up to Cup next season. 69. ch posted: 07.23.2012 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That is too bad for Kenny, but at least he has back to back races for the first time in a while. And does anybody know why Ty Dillon is in the 51?? Couldn't he have just taken the 4 and have Jeremy keep his own ride. I know it will be RCR equipment, so does it really matter the number... Kinda odd. 70. cjs3872 posted: 07.23.2012 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to SPEED.com, NASCAR is at least thinking about undoing the top-35 rule and going back to the pre-2005 qualifying rules. If they do, I'll have this to say. IT'S ABOUT TIME! Giving 35 cars in owner points a guaranteed spot was a knee-jerk reaction to a bizarre set of circumstances that saw two fully sponsored cars go home from a race at Atlanta in 2004 because more than one team that had a car in the Chase entered an extra car to protect their Chase drivers. The events this would help the most would be the qualifying races at Daytona, since they would actually become important races again, and the field would be set directly on how the cars finished in the qualifying races through 15th position (14th if the pole sitter fails to finish) if Daytna also goes back to their pre-2005 qualifying rules. But this is all speculation at this point. 71. 10andJoe posted: 07.24.2012 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ Yes, yes, please yes, a thousand times yes, DO IT. 72. kup posted: 07.24.2012 - 2:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) UPS - Universal Points System Points = Distance / Aver.Finish 2012 Nascar NationWide series after 18 reces: 636 Austin Dillon 4515 / 7,1 617 Elliott Sadler 4503 / 7,3 - over 100 pts margin! = 505 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 4396 / 8,7 490 Sam Hornish, Jr. 4511 / 9,2 - ex-Indy 466 Joey Logano 2980,0 / 6,4 - Cuper = 389 Justin Allgaier 4396,0 / 11,3 383 Kurt Busch 2722,0 / 7,1 - Cuper 355 Michael Annett 321 Cole Whitt 310 James Buescher = 299 Brad Keselowski - Cuper 248 Mike Bliss 216 Joe Nemechek - Veteran 203 Danica Patrick - ex-Indy 143 Kyle Busch - Cuper = Only Top-15 drivers have more than 50% (half) of the leader-s Distance = 210 Kasey Kahne 2163 / 10,3 - Cuper 202 Nelson Piquet, Jr. 202 / 1 - ex-F1 now Truck 198 Kevin Harvick 1878 / 9,5 - Cuper 168 M-McDowell 671 / 4 - ex-Cuper 150 Mark Martin 300 / 2 - Veteran 143 Trevor Bayne 1260 / 8,8 - part-timer 137 Denny Hamlin 1649 / 12,0 - Cuper 111 Dale Earnhardt, Jr, 1084 / 9,8 - Cuper 110 Paul Menard 550 / 5 - Cuper = All other drivers have less than 100 UPS-points. 73. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.24.2012 - 6:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, that isn't what they are doing. They are looking at keeping the same rules, but changing it to top-38 get locked in with 5 go-or-go-homers in the race. 74. cjs3872 posted: 07.24.2012 - 8:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NicoRosbergFan, it said that NASCAR is looking at qualifying the top 38 drivers on time and cutting the number of provisionals down to 4, plus one for a former champion. That sure sounds like the pre-2005 qualifying formula to me. 75. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.24.2012 - 9:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope that's what they mean. Hopefully they would bring back the policy of "you DNQ, no matter who you are." 76. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.24.2012 - 9:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wouldn't it be funny if they brought the provisionals back next year and right off the bat they have 3 3 or 4 big names DNQ (eg Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart, etc)? 77. cjs3872 posted: 07.24.2012 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NicoRosbergFan, let's not forget that they would still use this year's season-ending owner points for the first five races of next year as they've always done, so the possibility of that happening is virtually non-existent right away, especially considering there are cars that are 1-2 seconds slower at most high-speed tracks. Remember that there are only about 20-25 good cars, at most. But if this does happen, this will be at least the second case of NASCAR undoing something they've done in the past decade which would be good for the sport, the first being bringing the Southern 500 name back to the race at Darlington. If the top 35 rule is eliminated, I think within two years you'll see more newer teams get into the sport, as well as existing two-car teams expand (Penske and Ganassi for example), because it will effectively be open for newer teams to get in again. Now all we need is for the testing ban to go and a point system that rewards finshing up front and I think you'll see better racing on the track. 78. David posted: 07.24.2012 - 11:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Travis Pastrana is now officially the least productive driver in the Nationwide series. http://www.motorsportsanalytics.com/premium-articles/2012-0724-sadler.html 79. David posted: 07.24.2012 - 11:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Completely disregard that last comment. COMPLETELY. Just ignore it. 80. JAMIE88FAN posted: 07.24.2012 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a joke all those S and P Curtis Key is a joke all the start and parks are a joke ... 81. 10andJoe posted: 07.24.2012 - 1:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ I've explained before repeatedly about why S&P isn't just a necessary evil, but a /good thing/. I won't repeat myself again. 82. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.24.2012 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) $10000 fine, and loss of 6 driver and owner points for Kenny Wallace's Chicago infraction. YES! I GOT TO IT FIRST! 83. ch posted: 07.24.2012 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #09 now has -6 owner's points. If they don't make another attempt, will they be the first team to finish the year with negative points? 84. Spen posted: 07.24.2012 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Long's team had -153 points in 2009. I think it would be a first for the Busch series, though. 85. David posted: 07.25.2012 - 12:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) About my previous post, Motorsports Analytics is a great site, but it's subscription-based, so that link is useless without a subscription. 86. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.25.2012 - 3:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica knows Indy like no other driver,per her interview on SPEED.Can she get the pole and win? 87. ch posted: 07.25.2012 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah I meant for the Nationwide Series. 88. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.25.2012 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Damn, we made it 85 comments without speaking of a certain overrated novelty and mentioning her yet another disappointing finish finally giving me hope she won't always be "the story". Leave it to a damn fan of New York, the same state that gave us insufferable Yankee fans and Geoff Bodine. 89. Spen posted: 07.25.2012 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I suppose this wouldn't be the best time to mention that I was born in New York... 90. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.25.2012 - 3:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yikes,Posting as a newbie on this great site I feel honered for this warm welcome.I will try to refrain from saying the dreaded D name again,but can't promise. 91. Talon64 posted: 07.25.2012 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Say what you want about Danica, but Indy was probably her best track in Indycar: 1 podium, 6 top 10's and an 8.7 average finish in 7 starts. Even her last year when Andretti was completely out to lunch at Indy she managed to claw her way to a 10th place finish. Of course that just places more pressure on her in the race, and it'd be borderline embarrassing if she couldn't at least get a top 10. 92. cjs3872 posted: 07.25.2012 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, I wonder what kind of effect on the race that drafting will have with the Nationwide cars, since they don't have the horsepower the Cup cars have. I think we may see the draft play a bigger role because of that, as well as the bigger spoilers on the cars. If I happen to be right, we may see the best NASCAR race at Indy in the Saturday race, not that it means anything, since only about 40,000 people will be there, tops, though that would actually be an improvement over even the Charlotte crowds, as they can't even get more than 30,000 for the Nationwiode races at Charlotte any more. 93. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.25.2012 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richie, I apologize for the rude welcome. I can tell from your name you idolize the legendary Rapid Roman. Be careful how you mention Danica in this forum as many of us are sick of her getting 95% of the race coverage when there are about 35 more talented drivers out there on the track. Please, feel free to stir up small scale controversies. We enjoy good debates as long as civility is maintained. Welcome to RR. DSFF, I lived in NC for 2 years, and the heat never made me that irritable! 94. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.25.2012 - 8:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nico,Thanks for the propper welcome to RR.I did know before I even posted I would take flack if I mentioned a certain name.Guess I have thick skin.Yes,You are right about Richie Evans.Jimmy Spencer only won the NASCAR mod title in 1986 and 87 because he had no Richie as competition.Oh,and DaleSrfan,I'm not a NY fan or Goof Bodine fan as I'm from near Lake Ontario not snob area of NYC.Trust me,we'll get along fine even with our minor differences.Thanks race fans! 95. 10andJoe posted: 07.26.2012 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first rule of R-R Fight Club is you must not talk about She Who Drives The 7 Car without acknowledging the driver of the 7-0 as the better driver. ;) Seriously, welcome aboard. 96. David posted: 07.26.2012 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two things: Chevrolet is racing the Camaro next year in Nationwide, and Brian France is committed to improving the racing, even if the current product isn't broken. Improving the racing to Brian France is like (fill in the blank yourself) to us. P.S. To Richie61NYfan, welcome. 97. cjs3872 posted: 07.26.2012 - 12:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually David, the quality of the racing does need to improve. One thing that would help is to make it so that it's worth more to go for the front running positions in terms of the championship. Right now, except for the win, there is no real incentive for the drivers to race for the top positions, because in the current points system, taking second place is no more important than taking 32nd, and as a result, drivers run more conservatively, even at the end of races, since points are everything. The reward is just not worth the risk. But aside from that, I'm not sure what else can be done. The only other thing I can think of to make the racing better is to increase the downforce (yes, increase the downforce), and increase the drag on the faster tracks. They need to increase downforce, because I believe that will let the cars run closer together, and drag needs to be increased on the faster tracks to allow drafting to play the role it did prior to the mid-80s. 98. David posted: 07.26.2012 - 12:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't mean to say that the current racing isn't broken, I meant to say that Brian France is going to continue to try to fix the racing. And even if by some miracle, the level of competition becomes awesome again, he will continue to "fix" it. And it will probably drop again. I read the article on Jayski. 99. murb posted: 07.26.2012 - 2:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've gotta say, I'm pretty happy about Chevy's decision to run the Camaro in NNS. I think we can now officially refer to this series as the Pony series, which I think is really cool. Now if only we could get the Cup guys to cut back just a little more... 100. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.26.2012 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 10andJoe,You're right.But you know,I prolly meant to use that important word,better and just couldn't think of it.Being almost 61 my mind aint as sharp as it used to be.I will write that word down in my notebook so I won't forget it in the future.Just hope I don't lose my notebook though! Thanks 101. NicoRosbergFan posted: 07.26.2012 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reasons to not tolerate the driver of the #7: 1. The driver of the #70 is 6,876,341 times more talented. 2. Everybody and is brother is at least 3 times more talented. 3. She gets outdone by the flipping Tri-Star car every week. 4. She gets outdone by a rookie teammate who has less than a tenth of the racing experience. 5. She gets sponsorship despite having no results behind the wheel. SO WHY THE $%@# IS SHE GOING CUP NEXT YEAR AND COLE WHITT HAS TO ROT IN THIS SERIES!?!?!!?!??!?!?!? 102. David posted: 07.26.2012 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Heck, everyone and their dog is more talented. 103. Daniel posted: 07.26.2012 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reason #6, she has the same number of top 10 finishes this season as Jeremy Clements and Tayler Malsam and has less top 10 finishes than Timmy Hill. 104. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.26.2012 - 9:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reason #7,Recipient of numerous Lucky Dog passes designed for her by NASCAR.8TH place at Texas on lap 163 for lights?Anyone?My notes say went from 13th to 8th in last 5 laps as only car with new tars.NASCAR has it 9th fast in 1st practice and 13th in 2nd practice.Predict it will time 18th or 19th. 105. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.26.2012 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sorry,Indy Nationwide practice. 106. David posted: 07.26.2012 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reason #8-Her commercials are too racy. 107. ch posted: 07.26.2012 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Danica falls out of the top 35 next year (if that rule is still in place) then what would happen if she misses a race. Can you imagine the trouble that would cause? What would the TV telecast do without her????? 108. palo_s posted: 07.27.2012 - 1:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #101: Yes, Johanna is more talented, especially because Johanna or her team is afraid and they rather hire other driver for short track race or race on harder track.. This year she run 12 events, 9 was on superspeedways (only 1 skipped) and 3 was on short tracks (3 skipped).. Chicagoland was 18th NW event.. From first 10 NW races she run 5 superspeedways, 3 short tracks and she skipped 2 races (Phoenix and Fontana), but last 8 events, she run only 4 superspeedways and she skipped 4 races (Darlington, Dover, Road America and New Hampshire).. I am her fan, but I dont understand why she run only superspeedways.. Once again, Cole is little more experiences with stock cars.. Imho openwheeler must forget everything what learnt in Indycar or Formula One.. Montoya, Hornish or Allmendinger had many troubles, because they still uses some Indycar style moves.. For example Allmendinger on Talladega - that dumb move was blocking move and it is typical for openwheelers.. Also very different type cars.. That means also driver had his own driving style and driver must completele change his driving style.. Finally also language is different, Eury said - In 2010 (her some first races) he didnt understand her because she used Indycar language.. For openwheelers is learning curve longer.. 109. palo_s posted: 07.27.2012 - 2:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #88: For first, I am sorry for next hard words but I must write something.. You cry when we talked about Danica.. You cry when we didnt talk about Danica.. Are you toddler? They are crying everytime about everything.. I understand when you dislike her or dislike when we is talking about her, but you dont happy when we isnt talking about her.. 110. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.27.2012 - 9:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sorry Richie, didn't mean to come off like that. I was kinda being tongue in cheek about the Bodina and Bombers crack. And I would like to say that as a modified fan, I feel with 100% certainty that Rome, NY's pride and joy is a deserving HOFer. And retiring the #61 across the mods was an outstanding move. Again, sorry about that. Trust me, as a born and bred Tar Heel, I feel no superiority over anyone from any other state. We gave the world dook university. I cannot apologize wnough for that. College's version of the Yanks :) 111. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 07.27.2012 - 9:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Today is the first day of Indianapolis empty aluminium festival. Rolex race live on SPEED 4 EST. 112. Daniel posted: 07.27.2012 - 9:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #108, they don't hire other drivers for short tracks. They only run a limited schedule due to a limited budget. At the other races where there is a #70, it's usually a Jay Robinson car. 113. palo_s posted: 07.27.2012 - 11:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #112: I dont care, they hire or dont hire other drivers.. My problem is her schedule - why she run only superspeedways? Her schedule is not good for her improving and learning.. 114. Jim Davis posted: 07.27.2012 - 12:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #113: She doesn't just run superspeedways; she was at Bristol, Richmond, Iowa. The races they skip are usually because of geography - too far away to make economic sense. They aren't doing road courses either. 115. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.27.2012 - 12:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 70 team doesn't have the money to run her properly at all the races, so they run what they can without having her S&P. She doesn't have an endless barrell of cash for her and her team like a certain other racer from a domain registery website. 116. palo_s posted: 07.27.2012 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #114: Do you read my first comment #108? Once again first 10 events it was OK - she run 5 from 6 superspeedways and 3 from 4 short tracks.. Last 8 events she run 4 from 4 superspeedways, 0 from 4 harder tracks (2 short tracks, Darlington and Road America).. I know she has partial schedule, if she skips 2 superspeedways and she run Dover and New Hampshire.. It was better for her learning and improving.. 117. Paul posted: 07.27.2012 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think part of the reason SHR is bumping Danica up to Cup FAR too soon (for all 8 reasons mentioned above, especially reasons #3 and #6) is because the 39 car is losing its sponsorship from the U.S. Army after this season. This way, SHR will have two fully sponsored cars no matter what, and won't have to worry about whether the 39 is sponsored or not. That's the only logical reason I can think of as she's one of the worst finishing competitive Nationwide cars week in and week out. She's being outrun by Mike Bliss and Joe Nemechek every week in cars with 1/10 the budget of the hers, equipment clearly isn't the problem considering her teammate is battling for top 5s every week while she's struggling for top 15s, and she has less top 10s than TIMMY F'N HILL! I always knew Stewart had little knowledge on judging talent as he picked Danica to be his driver over Brad Keselowski (what a great team Brad & Tony would be), but now I see that he's a hypocrite too. If you remember, back in '07 Tony did an interview where he was running down the "bad" drivers in the sport for driving stupid, naming names like Montoya, Allmendinger, Menard and Ragan and saying that they didn't belong in the Cup Series by the way they were driving. While it may be true that those guys weren't performing well back then (and some still aren't), at least they have the ability to drive on the pace and in a straight line. In the highly anticipated Danica 500 presented by GoDaddy at Daytona this year, Danica turned her car dead left into David Ragan in order to avoid t-boning Jimmie Johnson. As a result, what could've been a single car incident turned into a six car pileup triggered by the queen bee's inability to work the brake pedal. Who knows, maybe she just took her hands off the wheel. She then followed it up by driving 5 or more laps off the pace in her next two races in Hendrick equipment. Not only is she slow and accident-prone in the Nationwide Series, but she's now going to carry that over to the Cup Series as well. But let's look at the bright side. Now we really have a race for the Most Popular Driver Award. Finally! Now we have two drivers with unearned popularity battling it out for NASCAR's marketing/commercial/merchandising award. Don't be surprised if the next year SPEED has a segment where the analysts give their take on who wins the award. Oh, and while I'm at it, I'd like to congratulate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. on his 2013 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year award. Great job Ricky! I know I was hard on you earlier in this forum, but that's only because I can see the talent in you. With the right people around you, you'll be a Cup champion some day. 118. ch posted: 07.27.2012 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @117, I am so happy Ricky is going to win ROTY. I would have just about had it if Danica won it by default! They would have used the line "Danica Patrick, 2013 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year" more in one week than the rookie of the year has been used in the last 2 years. 119. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 07.27.2012 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow the Rolex race is empty, I've seen more people for Friday Brickyard 400 practices in the past. 120. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 07.27.2012 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rain probably didn't help though. 121. cjs3872 posted: 07.27.2012 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Are you actually surprised, TeamPlayersBlue, because I'm not. And weather has nothing to do with it. Like I said, they'll be lucky to draw 100,000 for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, despite what tracks officials say. I think one reason for the dwindling attendance, and I've said it before, is oversaturation. When the Brickyard first began, the only other track anywhere near IMS that had NASCAR races was Michigan. But since 2001, there have been races held at Chicagoland, Kansas (and a second race was held there beginning last year), and beginning last year, Kentucky. Now that's hardly the only reason for the decline in attendance, as attendance for this race has been falling since 2005, the year after the Chase started. And I still think that the Brickyard 400, more than any other race, has had the life sucked out of it due to the Chase, because teams that know they're in the Chase simply use the Brickyard 400 as a test session. Another factor is the date switch with the second Pocono race. Indy has became a defacto test session for the second Pocono race, instead of the other way around, as well as for theother flat track races in the Chase. Like I've said, one way to breathe life back into this race is to make it the first race of the Chase,so that it would become important for every team to try to win. Now, if you know you're in the Chase, you use the Brickyard as a glorified test session, and trying to win has become secondary, and it's been that way since about 2006. There's a reason that only two men won it in a five year span, and that is that other teams that knew they were in the Chase used it as a "throwaway" race, knowing that the Brickyard 400 doesn't count toward the championship. And another reason attendance is down at Indy may be that the fans in the Midwest simply don't care about racing any more. Even the Indianapolis 500 didn't cme close to selling out, which more than anything else says something about the fan base in that part of the country. And believe it or not, another reason for the decline in popularity of the race may have to do with the success of the Colts over the last decade. That may be another reason for the lacl of attention to the event, because everyone there knew that, until last year, the Colts were an annual Super Bowl contender, and paid more attention to football than racing in Indianapolis. If attendance goes up this year, that could also be chalked as a factor in the decline of interest for the Brickyard 400 over the past seven years. 122. cjs3872 posted: 07.27.2012 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'll say this, the rain falling at Indy during the sports car race is remimiscent of 1975, when cars were spinning at only about 25-30 MPH. 123. Paul posted: 07.27.2012 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I don't think the success of the Indianapolis Colts has any correlation with the attendance of the Brickyard 400. I'll use the years 2003 through 2008 as one example, and 2008 to the present as another. From 2003 to 2008, the Colts made it to the playoffs every year, made it to two AFC title games (2003 and 2006 seasons), and Peyton Manning was named league MVP three times. The Brickyard 400 had a reported attendance of 300,000 in 2003, before the NFL season began when the Colts went to the AFC title game. The next year, attendance dropped off to 250,000 before bouncing back to 280,000 in '05 and '06. In 2007, the year after the Colts won the Super Bowl, the Brickyard's attendance dropped off slightly to 270,000 and then fell to 240,000 in '08. So they lost 60,000 people between 2003 and 2008, but I think that had more to do with your other point, which was that the Chase made the Brickyard 400 less meaningful, than it does with the Colts' success. The biggest drop-off in attendance came after the 2008 Brickyard 400 fiasco when tires were coming apart moreso than A.J. Allmendinger's career (too soon?). As I said, the attendance in '08 was 240,000; in '09 it was 180,000. Think about it: They lost 60,000 people in one year. They had lost 60,000 people combined in the six years prior, and then doubled their losses in one year. And this was coming off a 2008 Colts team that didn't even make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The Brickyard has since lost another 42,000 in the two years since then. As I stated before, I don't think the Brickyard 400's attendance has anything to do with the Indianapolis Colts' success. I think attendance was dropping because the Chase made this a throwaway race and scheduling changes have turned it into a test session for tracks like Pocono and Loudon. And while it may have lost its importance by 2008, it lost all of its integrity following that 2008 10-lap sprint tire fiasco. Plus, now with Iowa coming up in the Nationwide Series next weekend and the loss of IRP, added in with the decreasing loss of interest by fans in the midwest (myself included), where do you think fans will spend their money? Will they go see 260 combined laps of follow the leader, or 250 laps of great short track racing on a Michigan/Richmond-hybrid track? Seems pretty obvious to me. 124. cjs3872 posted: 07.27.2012 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well Paul, I don't think there's going to be very much competition for the lead at Iowa next week, because Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. figures to dominate start-to-finish, barring anything happening. In fact, the the second half of the race goes green, he may lap the entire field, something that he may have done without cautions at Chicagoland. Now Iowa may feature good racing back in the pack, but not up front. And I'm not entirely sure the Nationwide cars, with less horsepower and slower speed, because I think you might see drafting become a major factor. Now the Cup race is another matter. 125. Paul posted: 07.27.2012 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I won't disagree with that assumption that Stenhouse has this race in the bag. He's been on a hot streak as of late on the track and he's currently riding a 3-race winning streak at Iowa. I don't think he will lap the field because with the Cup and Truck races at Pocono, there will be plenty of Nationwide-only drivers (and Kurt Busch) in the field, meaning there is a greater chance for a mistake on the track and cautions will prevent an entire field lapping from happening. At least with the Iowa race we have a Nationwide driver as the favorite. Honestly, I don't see any Nationwide drivers, except for Sadler and possibly Hornish, getting top 5s at IMS this weekend. Essentially, this is an extra Cup practice session. I can't speak for all race fans, but I'd rather watch a Nationwide short track race than a preliminary Cup race on a 2.5-mile, mostly flat track. The races at Loudon two weeks ago were mostly follow the leader events and were very difficult to pass on. I see this weekend having the same "qualities", only on a larger track. The only thing I see making the Nationwide race exciting this weekend is pit strategy. If it comes down to pit strategy, look out for Elliott Sadler. His crew chief Luke Lambert might just be the next Paul Wolfe as far as great crew chiefs coming out of the Nationwide Series. 126. Richie61NYfan posted: 07.27.2012 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DaleSR,No need for apology as I kind of knew the LUCKY DOG7 mention brings many,many comments.You're an OK guy and believe me,no harm done.Kids took my wife and I to Charlotte for our 40th anniversarry last yr for Allstar and Coke 600.Loved the history in Hall of Fame and took many pics of Evans car on display along with others.I envy you living in the heart of NASCAR.Visited many race shops too along with southern food.Had a great time and man was it hot.In closing,princess loose a lot will cry again and again her fans will blame the car and Tony Eury.Be surprised if she finishes the race.Will head over to NASCAR and maybe have some fun with all the attention she is getting. 127. DaleSrFanForever posted: 07.28.2012 - 8:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First off, congrats on 40 years! Secondly, did you have a chance to watch Richie race? If so I am insanely jealous. As I said earlier, a true and deserving HOFer. 8 straight championships? Holy shit! 128. RaceFanX posted: 08.02.2015 - 10:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenny Wallace's final top-5 and his only one in 2012. It was also his third and final top-10 of the year. 129. RaceFanX posted: 08.02.2015 - 10:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was also Wallace's final top-10 in the Busch/Nationwide series. He never again finished better than 13th. 130. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 03.13.2016 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew: WD|Charles Lewandoski|75|Rick Ware Racing|Rick Ware|Ford 131. Altracing posted: 12.14.2018 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What made this win for Sadler even more remarkable besides the fact that he didn't have a winning car compared to Stenhouse most of the day is the fact that he bad been battling with a stomach virus the previous two days before the race and was said to be at least at 60% health wise on race day ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: