|| *Comments on the 2015 Kobalt 400:* First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page | View All On One Page View the most recent comment | Post a comment <#post> 1. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 03.06.2015 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (32) (105) Sponsor Update #29 RAB Racing #83 Burger King/Dr.Pepper Two Poles and 1 win left for Gordon 2. Mr X posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (8) I'll give it more of a chance, but I'm glad to see that what I predicted about NASCAR taking power out of these cars to be proven complete BS. The increased qualifying speeds at Atlanta were certainly largely because of temperature, however Jeff Gordon's pole speed today was 1.4mph faster then last year, in fact the top 9 cars are faster then last year's pole speed. Now I'll also admit to not being able to see qualifying today or last year, but this race is being run on the exact same weekend in a desert. I expect Texas will follow a similar trend. The allowance of a roller cam in place of a flat tappet was a good rule change, I really don't understand the move to tapered spacers though. Bring back 10000RPM, and 900hp. 3. MAR posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bliss missed the race in the #32 even though their a low budget team i think its the first time they missed a race with Frank Stoddard as the owner 4. cjs3872 posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) Boy, there are going to be a LOT of happy drivers next year when they don't have to worry about Jeff Gordon. Three pole positions in the last four races going back to last year, as well as the fact that he's still a threat to win almost every time out. In addition to the gifts and tributes the tracks are giving him, all the other top drivers should be sending him gifts, simply because they're not going to have to race against him next year. And by the way, the pole speed of nearly 194.7 MPH is a case of the fact that the cars don't have the horsepower allowing them to run nearly wide open all the way around, even with the shorter rear spoiler. As a result, while straightaway speeds are down, cornering speeds are actually up over last year, resulting in the higher lap speeds. So the fact that they don't have as much horsepower as they did last year is, if anything, causing them to go even faster on the 1.5 mile tracks, because they can now hold it wide open virtually all the way around these fast tracks in qualifying. And Las Vegas is not banked as much as Texas and Charlotte are. If this trend continues, we may very well se a 200 MPH pole speed at Texas and/or Charlotte. Remember that Tony Stewart ran a qualifying lap of over 200 at Texas last fall, though the pole speed of record was slightly under that. If the cars are faster this year, even with the loss of horsepower, we could see a 200 MPH + pole speed at Texas and/or Charlotte. And obviously, this is not what I expected to see happen with the loss of horsepower, because they're going way too fast to put on a competitive race on the mid-size tracks. I expected speeds to be down about 3-5 MPH from last year, but instead they're actually UP from last year. I know with the new combinations that in the first race with these new engine/aero combinations that the front of the field might be spread more apart than usual, but last week's race at Atlanta was not exactly scintillating, even with the tire falloff, and you don't have that at Las Vegas. This race may end up being a single-file, track position dominated race with not much action happening up front, and the leaders spread-eagling the field even more than usual. 5. JP88 posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well Gordon quickly put the panic on rest...now can he finish it out on Sunday? And man Roush is struggling...Bayne 35th??? Wow. 6. edwards19 posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (8) (3) Nice to see Kenseth back in Dewalt colors :) 7. Pucci Man posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Comment 3, this is Frank Stoddard second DNQ in his owner career. He miss the Spring Bristol race with Schrader. 8. Hinch5 posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (8) The need for speed...that aura we all live for. It's a neewwwwww traaaaccccckkkkkk reccccooorrrrrdddd! 9. murb posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really like the way the Ganassi cars have looked. Maybe this could be the weekend for Larson. 10. The Long Shot posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (8) (12) Continuing this conversation from the last race page: "The irony here is that all you nuts, "The Long Shot," "Zackery Shawn," and "1995 Subaru Crapbox," were all five months ago taking the exact same evidence that the judge had and saying Kurt was innocent. Now because a judge took a pile of lies and made a personal opinion out of it, you're all complaining about "domestic abuse," and comparing this rape victims who are afraid to speak out." Your mindless generalizations are cute, but wrong. I think almost everyone on this forum was under the "wait and see" mindset, us three included. No, this is not comparable to rape victims who are afraid to speak out; I never said it was. Here's my biggest problem with this whole situation: there are a LOT of people out there (not necessarily on this board) who seem to desperately want Driscoll to be lying and aren't willing to give her a shred of the benefit of the doubt. I don't understand that at all. No, she doesn't come off looking great in this whole ordeal, but I'd say her story is a hell of a lot more believable than Kurt's "My Ex Is A Trained Assassin" one. A lot of people point to her saying, "I'm going to destroy him" as a sign of her being dangerously psychotic. Yeah, guess what: if I've been assaulted by someone, or especially if someone I know and care for has been assaulted (rape in particular, but any kind of assault applies), I will not rest until that individual has been removed from society and had his life ruined. Abusers and rapists don't deserve any better. And again, I'm not saying Kurt did or didn't abuse her. We don't know for sure, and we'll likely never know. But the irrationally violent hate for Driscoll that is going around the NASCAR community right now just makes me want to vomit. 11. cjs3872 posted: 03.06.2015 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's not just Roush, JP88. Sure, Roush has struggled on the bigger tracks, simply because they don't have as much horsepower as most of the other good teams do, because of the way they set up their engines, and they were 16th (Biffle), 31st (Stenhouse), and 35th (Bayne). But Ford, as a whole, seems to be off pace. Sure, the Penske cars are the cream of the Ford crop, qualifying second with Joey Logano and 11th with Brad Keselowski, but the plain truth is that only four Fords qualified in the first 14 ROWS for this race, so except for Penske, the lack of speed from Ford is an across-the-board issue. Aric Almirola (15th) was the only other Ford driver other than Biffle and the Penske cars to qualify in the first two-thirds of the field, so this is an across-the-board issue. But I think the Roush cars will be more competitive at Phoenix and the other shorter tracks (and road courses) where aero and horsepower don't mean as much. Could it be that Ford is simply not putting that much into their NASCAR efforts, especially compared to Chevrolet? Might that be why the other Ford teams are struggling so mightily? Not counting those taking provisionals, six of the eight slowest qualifiers for this race qualified in Fords, including two of the Roush cars, Sam Hornish, Jr. in RPM's #9 car, and Ryan Blaney in the Wood Brothers' #21 car, which is now a Penske-backed entry. And Brett Moffitt, hot off a top ten at Atlanta, just barely made the race as the slowest qualifier in on speed. And by the way, as bad as the Roush cars were, we knew they would struggle badly for the reasons I mentioned above. There's no reason for Regan Smith, who's certainly a competent driver, to be struggling so badly, qualifying 34th with every other heavily backed Chevrolet in the field being competitive. If this continues, I see SHR pulling the plug on Smith in the #41 car, or even the #41 team itself sooner than later. Smith's performance (or lack thereof), rather than how poorly the Roush teams did, should be the real eye-opener among the disappointments of this qualifying session. 12. 1995z71 posted: 03.06.2015 - 11:52 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Is RAB Racing ever going to make a Cup race? 13. epzik8 posted: 03.06.2015 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I would say at least one Ford team, that being Penske, is doing something right, and they could be of help to the Wood Brothers. 14. The Long Shot posted: 03.07.2015 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey Hinch/NRF, what prompted the sudden number change? Taken a fancy to Kasey Kahne or Sebastian Vettel? 15. murb posted: 03.07.2015 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "There's no reason for Regan Smith, who's certainly a competent driver, to be struggling so badly, qualifying 34th with every other heavily backed Chevrolet in the field being competitive." I was disappointed to see that too. I know he's only run two and 1/3 weekends in that car, but I expected way more out of him than what he has shown so far. Hopefully he'll pick up the pace. "Hey Hinch/NRF, what prompted the sudden number change? Taken a fancy to Kasey Kahne or Sebastian Vettel?" I saw a press release the other day that said Hinchcliffe is running #5 over at Schmidt-Peterson this year (instead of their previous #77), so I'm sure that's got something to do with it. Hopefully he'll stay with that number a while so Hinch/NRF can avoid changing the numbers in his name every three weeks like 23andJoe used to do when Reutimann kept changing rides, lol. 16. joey2448 posted: 03.07.2015 - 2:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ...And since Jeff Gordon didn't even get a chance to get on the track to qualify last week at Atlanta, this technically makes him 3-for-3 on winning the pole since November. 17. Hinch5 posted: 03.07.2015 - 4:50 am Rate this comment: (2) (8) Yes, the number change reflects the change in Hinch's car number. This guy is giving me fits. Could be worse; I could be a Josef Newgarden fan and have to use 67 most of the year and #21 for the month of May. 18. Quasar posted: 03.07.2015 - 5:22 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) This package is absolute garbage. You could hear the frustration in some of the drivers' voice after their Qualifying run... 19. RWR posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First DNQ for Go FAS Racing since 2011 (Bristol in March with Ken Schrader) 20. RWR posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is the 7th attempt for RAB Racing? 21. 23andJoe posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) Meanwhile in the dirt racing world, skullduggery and treachery here in Florida as the second-year South East Crate Series suddenly finds the rug pulled out from itself as, having announced a schedule awhile back and well into preparations for the season, they discovered via press release that all three of the series' tracks (Southern Raceway, Flomaton Speedway and Northwest Florida Speedway) had bailed to form a new series, the NeSmith Panhandle Challenge Series, because, allegedly, a SECS rule change meant they couldn't co-sanction their NeSmith Weekly Series events (no rule change was mentioned by SECS as far as I can tell). The thing that struck me, after shaking my head at the callousness of pulling the rug out from under the series without so much as a howdy-neighbor, is that this sounded awfully familiar...as we look back to 2010, and compare: A driver (Monte Skinner/Wayne Anderson), seeing that (Northwest/Central) Florida (dirt/super) Late Models were nearly a dead sport, decided to found a series, (SECS/FAST,) in order to demonstrate that there were, in fact, cars and drivers out there who would turn up if only there was an opportunity to race. After one successful season, the track promoters, having realised that there was still a viable sport, decided that the series needed them more than they needed the series, and decided to found their own series, (NSPCS/FUPS,) with blackjack and hookers, and the previous series folded up for want of tracks, but having accomplished its goal of demonstrating Florida (dirt/super) Late Models were viable... ...for the moment anyway, as the seemingly never-ending (and not limited just to CENTRAL Florida, it now seems) short-sightedness of Florida track promoters meant that FUPS spectacularly imploded early in 2014 after three seasons and two races (and with it basically having become Auburndale's house series, the track's promoter having a...reputation). It remains to be seen how long NSPCS lasts, of course, but signs point to a uncertain future. All this has happened before and all this will happen again. 22. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.07.2015 - 8:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 7 Hendrick engines in the top 12 doesn't shock me; Kevin Harvick not being 1 of them does. 23. The Long Shot posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:10 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Yes, the number change reflects the change in Hinch's car number. This guy is giving me fits. Could be worse; I could be a Josef Newgarden fan and have to use 67 most of the year and #21 for the month of May." Lol. I thought that was what it was, but I hadn't heard anything about Hinch's car number changing. "Hopefully he'll stay with that number a while so Hinch/NRF can avoid changing the numbers in his name every three weeks like 23andJoe used to do when Reutimann kept changing rides, lol." Haha, I thought he changed his allegiances to Alex Bowman last year when it looked like Reutimann was finished. (Of course, in that case, shouldn't his name be 7andJoe instead? Or maybe he's suddenly decided to become a fan of J.J. Yeley.) Not surprised to see the mixed response to my post #10, although I did expect more people to disagree with me than agree. Can't say I'm 100% sure what they're disagreeing with, though; that I have the audacity to think Driscoll is absolutely as credible as Kurt, if not more so? *shrugs* 24. dennyfan11 posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You guys need to understand the truth about NASCAR. This isn't 1955 anymore. All the makes are pretty much the same. Ford's poor performance is simply because of the fact that only a few good teams drive Fords. Roush Fenway (and it's getting harder to call them good) Team Penske, and Richard Petty Motorsports. The performance of the Chevys, Fords, and Toyotas are exactly the same. I bet Hendrick would have the same amount of wins if they drove Toyotas last year. 25. dennyfan11 posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) On another note, where is Ron Hornaday Jr in this race? 26. Anonymous posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The reason Hinchcliffe's number changed is because of the new sponsor (Arrow Electronics, a Colorado-based tech firm that's #138 on the Fortune 500 for those that don't know). 27. Hinch5 posted: 03.07.2015 - 11:04 am Rate this comment: (1) (8) Florida racing is just genuinely twisted. We have all sorts of problems here: Jeff Scofield (Mr. I-drive-backwards-like-it's-a-video-game), the old bat at Bronson, the FUPs and FASCAR disintegration, the Citrus County Speedway managers (if you've never seen the "Hitler reviews" mock-up of that, you should), the idiots at Orlando Speedworld, Melbourne Motorsports Park... It's lovely... Just lovely! 28. racefangurl posted: 03.07.2015 - 11:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to Trevor, issues with splitter height's been the qualifying Achilles heel for his team. 29. Sector posted: 03.07.2015 - 11:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (5) So folks I want to take a moment to write history here. MY history. When I was born, it was meant that I would be a Jeff Gordon fan. My dad was a major Dale Earnhardt fan, & it wasn't until 1993 when Jeff Gordon came into the then-Winston Cup Series. My parents would tell me, as a baby, I would smile at Jeff Gordon's rainbow warrior car. It seems I was probably attracted to that car. Since then, I was raised a Jeff Gordon fan, despite being born into a Dale Earnhardt/Tony Stewart family as it seems. As the years went on, I have cheered Jeff Gordon throughout his career & my life. As it turns out, I used to record random races back in the early 2000's on VHS, as it seems, Jeff Gordon would went on to win all but one of those I used to have before I grew out of it in after 2005. The point is, I was born on March 7th, 1991. Today is March 7th, 2015. This makes me 24, which is the same exact number with the driver who WON the pole the day before, the last day of being 23, Jeff Gordon who also drives the #24. With this being his last year during my year of being 24, I'd say it's an honor to watch him retire from the Cup series as I enter the age # of the famous Jeff Gordon. It would be quite a present if Gordon can pull off win #2 at Vegas tomorrow, but no matter. Jeff has done everything & that's fine with me! Thank you Jeff Gordon for a roller coaster ride! (Don't worry, I'm ready to pull for Kyle Larson & Chase Elliott after you hang up your helmet!) 30. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.07.2015 - 11:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "On another note, where is Ron Hornaday Jr in this race?" The 30 car didn't enter this race. "The reason Hinchcliffe's number changed is because of the new sponsor (Arrow Electronics, a Colorado-based tech firm that's #138 on the Fortune 500 for those that don't know)." I'm familiar with them; their headquarters used to be just a few miles from where I live. 31. Daniel posted: 03.07.2015 - 2:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #29 Reed Sorenson & #32 Mike Bliss Out using fastest 43: #40 Landon Cassill & #62 Brendan Gaughan 32. racefangurl posted: 03.07.2015 - 3:19 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) I think I hear crickets in here. Which drivers do you expect to gamble in Vegas? In the race, that is. 33. joey2448 posted: 03.07.2015 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Jeff Gordon, the polesitter, will be relegated to the back at the start due to damage sustained from hitting Danica Patrick in practice. 34. epzik8 posted: 03.07.2015 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon did not need that. 35. 23andJoe posted: 03.07.2015 - 4:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) A postscript to my previous post/rant: apparently the SECS "rule change" was their arranging a sweet deal with American Racer for tires instead of Hoosier. 36. 23andJoe posted: 03.07.2015 - 4:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) >Haha, I thought he changed his allegiances to Alex Bowman last year when it looked like Reutimann was finished. (Of course, in that case, shouldn't his name be 7andJoe instead? Or maybe he's suddenly decided to become a fan of J.J. Yeley.) That's right - and since then I've decided to just throw up my hands and go "meh" and keep the name, since it's what I registered as at TheThirdTurn anyway. And heck, Yeley's not a bad racer! 37. racefangurl posted: 03.07.2015 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Danica usually crashes. Now someone banged into her for a change. Oh the irony. 38. cjs3872 posted: 03.07.2015 - 5:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (8) Not surprising from both Danica and David Ragan to make the mistakes they made. Unfortunately, Danica's mistake caught out Jeff Gordon, meaning he'll have to start at the back, along with Ragan, who's certainly not doing himself any favors. First, there was the fact that he wasn't that competitive past the 100-mile mark last week, and now wrecking a car that would have started in fairly decent position (13th). This is just the kind of thing I was afraid might happen with Ragan, but hoped would not happen to him, given how error-prone he was at Roush. I thought he had gotten over this. If this continues, I wonder how much more time he has replacing Kyle Busch, because this is not what JGR had in mind when they hired a nine-year veteran to replace Kyle Busch while he mends. 39. Anonymous posted: 03.07.2015 - 5:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) " 1. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 03.06.2015 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (19) " Dude. nice script/bot 40. Colm posted: 03.07.2015 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of the few good things about Vegas is the Neon Garage which looks pretty epic to me and one of the best and most unique features at any track. It is also really well attended with well over 100,000 at each cup race. This is quite rare nowadays. Johnson looks like money again tomorrow. He could have 3 or 4 wins by the time we leave Texas. The only one of the next 5 races that I would not have him as one of the favourites is Phoenix. 41. murb posted: 03.07.2015 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (4) (4) Just saw the Danica/Gordon incident from practice. Three years into her Cup career, and she still has not even the slightest hint of a clue sometimes. 42. racefangurl posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Austin Dillon should be like Trevor Bayne and stick to the Cup. Oh that's right. T-Bayne has something Austin doesn't. 43. Jeff24Fan posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) As a Gordon fan, and in his final Las Vegas start, i am pissed 44. MarkMartinFan posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) murb, where did you find the video? 45. Anonymous posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (5) I know you will give this like a million thumbs down, but please answer this. Does Jr stand a chance to win with Johnson probably going to win the next 5 or 10 races in a row? I don't care about the thumbs down, just please answer this. 46. murb posted: 03.07.2015 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "murb, where did you find the video?" I left FS1 on for a minute after the NXS race, and they showed it on Fox Sports Live or whatever it's called. Not sure if there's an internet video of it yet. 47. Jeff24Fan posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @45 I cant understand what 'Does Jr stand a chance to win with Johnson probably going to win the next 5 or 10 races in a row?' That makes no sense if you read it outload 48. epzik8 posted: 03.07.2015 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr. will be back in victory lane soon enough, maybe even tomorrow. But there are other drivers with good cars like Johnson, Logano, Kahne and Keselowski. 49. Dawson posted: 03.07.2015 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Where was the 30 this week 50. Guest posted: 03.07.2015 - 11:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Bliss missed the race in the #32 even though their a low budget team i think its the first time they missed a race with Frank Stoddard as the owner" Stoddard isn't the listed owner on the Bliss DNQ, its Archie St. Hilarie, so he has just the one DNQ from 2011 on his resume with Ken Schrader 51. Scott B posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) #30 team not attempting this race even though they're supposed to be full time. They do expect to be back for the next one. Murb, I saw that video of the Danica-Gordon incident, too. Unforced error on the 10's part, bad luck continues for the #24 though they look strong. 52. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Apparently, the website for Eldora Speedway was hacked with a message from ISIS. It was taken down about a half hour later. We don't now if it really was ISIS who hacked the site, but several other websites in the area have been hacked. 53. aframe43 posted: 03.08.2015 - 11:33 am Rate this comment: (3) (1) @38 You are just plain stupid. Even the besy have made errors in practice. I hope Ragan wins a race mainly so you have to discard your tinfoil hat. I'm sick of your doomsday predictions regarding certain drivers. 54. cjs3872 posted: 03.08.2015 - 1:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And I would like nothing more than for him to do just that, or at least run as competitively as his teammates, @53, especially with nine years of Cup experience under his belt. As I stated, I hoped that he wouldn't fall into the same traps he fell into when he drove the #6 car (when he had no experience to speak of), but his time in the #18 car could not have started out any worse, and if he continues to flop in that car, it might very well be his last shot in a good car, so the balance of his career just might ride on what he does in the #18 car. I hope he does well and at least contends for a win in that car, but it's not starting out very well. It might just be that David Ragan is one of those drivers that, although talented enough for a top-tier car, just can't stand the heat of driving a high-profile car for a big team, something we've seen happen to a number of drivers over the years in various forms of racing. They had the ability to excel in a high-profile car, but couldn't stand the pressure. 55. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wonder if we should expect the same kind of racing as yesterday? 56. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Unforced error on the 10's part" You're right, actually. The idiots on FS1 showed it in the middle of it happening, so to me it looked like she was Nur Ali'ing the #24 on the bottom of the track. I didn't realize she actually was in the middle lane and just lost it. My mistake. "but his time in the #18 car could not have started out any worse" It was very puzzling how he completely dropped off the face of the Earth at the end of the Atlanta race, but for the first part of the race he was actually solidly in the top ten for a good portion. So he definitely deserves more opportunities in there before you call for his head. Same with Regan Smith too, though I have to admit I'm a little less forgiving with how he has run so far in the #41 (he's a GREAT plate racer but ran pretty mediocre at Daytona, and last week he ran 25th all day - I expected better from him at those two races - hopefully he'll pick it up today). 57. 02Justin10 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Competition Caution today at lap #25...so I guess there will not be too much racing in the first 25 laps. 58. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not expecting a particularly exciting race, seeing as Las Vegas has quite the reputation over the past several seasons for putting on pretty dull racing... 59. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Logano jumps out front at the start. 60. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior moves to second. 61. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The margin holding steady at 1.2 seconds. 62. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) STOP. PLAYING. THAT. FANTASY COMMERCIAL! 63. racefangurl posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lo-gone-o we could call him now. 64. Zach Buckner posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Come on DJ Craze! Show Joey who's boss! 65. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "STOP. PLAYING. THAT. FANTASY COMMERCIAL!" Tough luck, NASCAR is trying to attract the hipster fanbase that Zach Buckner represents... At least we haven't seen the narwhals commercial yet...too bad it plays on EVERY SINGLE DAMN CHANNEL currently. I can't escape it no matter what channel I watch, and I have no doubts we'll see it before long today. 66. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) What is the competition caution for? To appease Bruton? 67. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr is closing rapidly, from 1.7 back to 1.2 back. 68. JRacingFast posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Looks like Bruton moved his banners to cover the seats from Charlotte to Vegas 69. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "What is the competition caution for? To appease Bruton?" Apparently because of the new tire combination. 70. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Isn't that what practice is for??? "At least we haven't seen the narwhals commercial yet." If I remember right, last week it was replaced with soft serve going into a waffle cone for 30 seconds straight. 71. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Competition caution out. 72. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mears is running well in the early going. His season is off to a pretty good start so far... David Ragan is barely moving forward and is about to get lapped, but I think the caution will save him. The fans are waving towels to remember Gordon's final start at this track. 73. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Boy, Ragan in 36th. It's gonna get hard to keep defending him at this rate. 74. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Looks like Bruton moved his banners to cover the seats from Charlotte to Vegas" But yet he still demands that NASCAR run TWO Cup races here. 75. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yeah, no idea why we need a competition caution right here. No rain all weekend, and they've had plenty of time in practice to get these tires figured out. Alex Bowman blows up under caution. 76. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alex Bowman blows up under the caution. 77. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I would love to see Logano's Pennzoil Platinum scheme in victory lane but I think Dale Jr. will take the lead eventually and get that next points win. 78. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off pit road. 79. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I always find it funny how the commercials for this race tend to advertise this track as one of THE very best tracks on the entire circuit...Same for Texas! Alex Bowman has smoke coming from his exhaust pipes. Looks like a short day for the #7... 80. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JOOOOONNNNYEEERRR wins the race out of the pits. Bowman apparently stayed out to lead a lap before he has to pull it in to the garage. 81. SpeedWorld97 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Does anyone else think it's funny that NASCAR implemented the new horsepower reduction to improve the racing while the overall racing practically looks unchanged from last year? 82. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I always find it funny how the commercials for this race tend to advertise this track as one of THE very best tracks on the entire circuit...Same for Texas!" Haha. What do you expect an ad to say? 83. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bowman to the garage. 84. Christian posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @81 I thought the racing on the 1.5 mile tracks would be similar to the Toyota Gridiron Challenge earlier this year. But now it seems the racing hasn't changed at all. 85. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Haha. What do you expect an ad to say?" I know, but still, it would be pretty amusing if the commercials for those tracks were actually honest... 86. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hamlin made some contact with Allgaier in the pits and has some minor damage. 87. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Logano takes the lead at the start. 88. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Jimmie Johnson fighting for second. 89. JRacingFast posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) "look at this crowd its a packed house in Vegas" .....Im gonna have to ignore the fact that they didnt sell tickets in turn 4 90. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano is the man on restarts so far today. Jimmie Johnson is making a move for second on Junior. 91. The Long Shot posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I always find it funny how the commercials for this race tend to advertise this track as one of THE very best tracks on the entire circuit...Same for Texas!" As opposed to saying what? "We have the worst track on the schedule, but Vegas is pretty damn awesome, so you should totally come down anyway!" 92. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin Truex Jr. running 4th. If he keeps going at this rate, i think a win is in the teams future. Maybe today! 93. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick got 4 tires and he's passing cars at will. 94. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "They turn out for Vegas. Packed house!" FOX says while ignoring the mass of stands covered in tarps in turn 4. 95. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seeing the positive reception Gordon is getting on his farewell tour, I can only wonder what kind of reception Jimmie Johnson will receive when he announces his final season in the Cup Series, considering his unpopularity with the fanbase... 96. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano, Jr. and Johnson in a 3-way battle for the lead. 97. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Seeing the positive reception Gordon is getting on his farewell tour, I can only wonder what kind of reception Jimmie Johnson will receive when he announces his final season in the Cup Series, considering his unpopularity with the fanbase..." I think by the time he retires, Johnson will be more popular than he is today. Jeff Gordon wasn't always as well liked as he is today. 98. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Johnson takes the lead! 99. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yay, Johnson goes out front. Looks like it's going to be a long day today, folks... 100. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hendrick cars now run 1-2. 101. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Johnson now 2.0 seconds in front. 102. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Tony Stewart is extremely unhappy with his car. I hope that win at Dover in 2013 doesn't end up being the end of his victories. 103. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (2) (4) One thing i hate about last year and this year is the two team domination of Hendrick and Penske. Last year, they won 2/3s of the races, and this year, they have won both races so far and have led all but 1 lap in this race. NASCAR needs to do something to equalize competition. 104. Dawson posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hearing tanner berryhill will drive the 66 next week 105. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Tony Stewart is extremely unhappy with his car. I hope that win at Dover in 2013 doesn't end up being the end of his victories." I think it will. To me, his time is up. He has really struggled since his broken lef in 2013. I think he should call it quits after this year to prevent damaging his legacy. 106. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Hendrick now owns the podium. Just splendid. 107. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hendrick cars now run 1-2-3, and Gordon has moved up about halfway through the field. 108. joey2448 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah because teams that prepare better and work hard to be the best shouldn't see the fruits of their labors. 109. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt Jr. is closing on the lead. Currently only .9 seconds back. 110. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr. is gaining on Johnson. Fairly quickly, too. 111. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr. now .7 back! 112. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Brad Keselowski with engine problems. Fallen from 9th to 11th. 113. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Keselowski may be having engine problems. 114. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr just .6 back. 115. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Battle for the lead? Cue commercial! 116. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "One thing i hate about last year and this year is the two team domination of Hendrick and Penske. Last year, they won 2/3s of the races, and this year, they have won both races so far and have led all but 1 lap in this race. NASCAR needs to do something to equalize competition." Boy, you would have HATED watching NASCAR in the 70's then-back then, there were only a few competitive teams and drivers and a BUNCH of independent drivers whose only hope at victory was the high-budget teams encountering trouble... 117. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson has lapped up to 31st place Brett Moffit. 118. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior looks to have long run car. 119. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And now he and Tony Stewart are lapped. And it's now time for the 30 seconds of soft serve commercial! 120. Jarrett88fan posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) From an entertainment standpoint, Vegas is on FOX while Martinsville will be on FS1. 121. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "One thing i hate about last year and this year is the two team domination of Hendrick and Penske. Last year, they won 2/3s of the races, and this year, they have won both races so far and have led all but 1 lap in this race. NASCAR needs to do something to equalize competition." Bet you wouldn't have a problem if Gibbs was dominating. 122. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Blaney now lapped. Dos Jotas on the move. 123. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Bet you wouldn't have a problem if Gibbs was dominating." I would. 124. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick is up to third. 125. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Casey Mears and Trevor Bayne lapped. I sense a debris caution coming... 126. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I sense a debris caution coming..." Wait until Danica is in danger of being lapped, my friend... 127. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson drawing away. Now 1 second in front. Denny Hamlin is also on the move! Started 19th, has just passed Kyle Larson for 5th! 128. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green flag stops begin! 129. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (2) (6) We actually have some pretty good racing going on today, other than he-who-shall-not-be-named stinking up the lead. 130. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson pits from the lead. Carl Edwards leads. 131. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That wasn't the prettiest pit road entry for Jr., but there wasn't a penalty so no harm, no foul I guess. 132. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Edwards and Allgaier pit, leaving Matt Kenseth the only one without a stop. 133. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson 3 seconds in front of team-mate Kasey Kahne. 134. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Harvick? He get his old 16 second stop crew back? 135. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution for JJ being too far out in front. 136. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jacques is here to save the day and make everything more exciting for the fans... 137. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Caution for JJ being too far out in front." I'd like to believe that, but lets find out who got the free pass. 138. Jacques posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Bonjour! 139. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bruton Smith caution. 140. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was Danica almost a lap down? 141. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sounds like a ridiculously high number of drivers are extremely angry this week. 142. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looks like Vickers got the free pass. Danica wasn't even close to the free pass position. 143. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Come on, we were doing so well under green. 144. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mikey shilling an empty KFC bucket. 145. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Go Harvick! 146. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) YES! YES! YES! 147. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson with a massive problem. Unscheduled pit stop. 148. Dawson posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 48 has a problem 149. New14 & 88Fan posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Trouble on the 48. 150. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Vibration for Jimmie Johnson! His hopes are over... Kevin Harvick takes the lead. 151. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was pretty obviously to me that Johnson had a problem, yet somehow only DW noticed. 152. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (4) (4) 48 with a vibration, hopefully it's the engine. 153. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Martin Truex Jr. , Kyle Larson, and Carl Edwards in a huge fight for 5th! 154. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Big blow to Johnson's hope for winning this race. I don't doubt he'll come back from this, though... 155. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:47 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Another great run by Allmendinger in the top ten. Seems like they're really picking it up on the intermediates. 156. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:48 pm Rate this comment: (10) (10) Johnson had a loose wheel. He's not out of it by any means. 157. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Off topic, but why does the first comment always seem to have so many down votes? Do people just down vote out of habit every time they get on the comments? 158. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Landon Cassill's team took a major step backwards 159. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Either Kevin Harvick is the best driver in NASCAR, or Stewart, Smith, and Danica are all terrible drivers. Not sure which one is the more likely option really. 160. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kevin Harvick 1.3 seconds in front. 161. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:53 pm Rate this comment: (2) (2) I would be okay with this race going caution free from here on out 162. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hornish in 34th (at a track he handily won an NXS race at) while Almirola is top 20. I was wrong. Hornish is gonna be extremely mediocre in that car. 163. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Either Kevin Harvick is the best driver in NASCAR, or Stewart, Smith, and Danica are all terrible drivers. Not sure which one is the more likely option really." I don't know about the other two, but Stewart has acknowledged that he and Harvick like radically different setups for their cars. 164. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Either Kevin Harvick is the best driver in NASCAR, or Stewart, Smith, and Danica are all terrible drivers. Not sure which one is the more likely option really." I think it's both but more the latter. 165. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kahne is catching Harvick for the lead. 166. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kasey Kahne closing in. Now just .8 seconds back. 167. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Big huge crowd" FOX is on a role today. 168. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne catching Harvick for the lead. Austin Dillon has apparently lost a cylinder. Tough break, because he's actually running well. 169. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Cowboy Hat thinks he may be down a cylinder. 170. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Moffitt is outrunning Hornish in the Front Row car. Doesn't look like he's in for a good season... 171. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not that he was great to begin with, but what did Jeff Hammond do/not do that he isn't at the race track anymore? 172. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I never thought the Hornish and RPM partnership was going to be good. Hornish needs a good team if he ever wants to be a successful Cup driver. 173. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Almirola is about to get lapped. 174. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick 3 seconds ahead as Martin Truex Jr. begins green flag stops. 175. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex comes to the pits, and green flag pit stops are about to commence. 176. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I never thought the Hornish and RPM partnership was going to be good." I thought he could do at least as good as Ambrose did and sort of put himself into that Almirola/Dillon/Allmendinger/Menard/Vickers echelon of drivers, but seeing how he ran at Atlanta and now here, it doesn't seem like that's gonna be possible. Still a lot of time left obviously, but I'm not nearly as confident in him as I was before. 177. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick in from the lead. 178. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad Keselowski now leads. 179. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hornish needs to go sign some Ed Carpenter-esque oval-only deal in IndyCar with some good team and team up with many of the really good rideless road course drivers (like Justin Wilson...they even have a connection since both drove for Michael Shank Racing in sports cars.) He got lost when IndyCar couldn't afford to maintain its oval races anymore. He was never much of a stock car driver. Then again, if Hornish actually turned down the Ganassi IndyCar offer when Franchitti retired for a part-time Nationwide deal, I don't know what to say about that... 180. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Not that he was great to begin with, but what did Jeff Hammond do/not do that he isn't at the race track anymore?" I heard they made a bunch of budget cuts in the off-season or something. They fired/heavily demoted others like Ray Dunlap and Bob Dillner as well. 181. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So much for Keselowski's engine problems I guess. 182. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Logano now cycles in as Kez and Edwards pit. 183. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wheel in the track from Brad Keselowski. 184. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Trevor Bayne is 35th, 3 laps down. Damn. 185. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wheel in the grass. Probably a caution. 186. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A wheel from Brad Keselowski's car has rolled out into the infield grass. He and Regan Smith get pit penalties; Smith gets one for speeding. 187. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano still on track. Did he pit later than everyone? 188. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not yet. Its on the grass about 10 feet from pit road. 189. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) NASCAR saving that tire for a caution at a time it will benefit Jimmie? 190. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano ends the cycle as the caution comes out! 191. The Incredible Mister the Man posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Boy, you would have HATED watching NASCAR in the 70's then-back then, there were only a few competitive teams and drivers and a BUNCH of independent drivers whose only hope at victory was the high-budget teams encountering trouble... " But you would have LOVED the 50s and 60s. "Off topic, but why does the first comment always seem to have so many down votes? Do people just down vote out of habit every time they get on the comments?" Look at the ridiculous numbers of down votes on some of the posts. Look @156! You hit refresh and a post goes from no votes to 10-15 votes. Someone has a script targeting posts. 192. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We're just past halfway and... 193. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "NASCAR saving that tire for a caution at a time it will benefit Jimmie?" They've already screwed him once, so maybe they owe him one. 194. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think NASCAR was waiting for Logano to pit before throwing the caution... 195. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Trevor Bayne is 35th, 3 laps down. Damn." Biffle isn't running THAT bad here, so I don't think "Roush has bad equipment" is the sole reason for this. Very disappointing to see. With Bubba and Buescher tearing up NXS, Bayne and Stenhouse cannot afford to be running like this every week. 196. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Assuming no one pits, there's gonna be 15-20 wavearounds getting back on the lead lap. 197. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well now Hornish is 19th, so I'm as confused as a homeless person who has been placed under house arrest. How did he get up that far? A wicked pit stop? Not putting yet? 198. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Welp, I guess I was wrong. 199. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Biffle isn't running THAT bad here, so I don't think "Roush has bad equipment" is the sole reason for this." I think Buffle could have had a HUGE career if he hadn't allowed himself to be shackled down by Roush his entire career. But he's too old to really start anew with a fresh team at this point. 200. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This caution is BS completely the cycle had not finished yet on pit stops. 201. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) MARTIN TRUEX JR IN THE LEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 202. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex for the lead. Super psyched to see him running like this. 203. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The difference between the '70s and today is that there may be more individual competitive teams now, but when you consider the multi-car teams in aggregate, there are fewer car owners competitive for winning races than there maybe were ever. Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, etc... all changed teams a lot and wherever they went, their teams started winning. These days it's more like Formula One where almost everything is about the team. Joey Logano runs in mid-pack forever for Gibbs and becomes an instant championship contender at Penske. Besides Hendrick, which is consistently strong every year, one of the other major teams can jump from 10 wins to 2 really quickly. Teams can have bizarre years like MWR's 2012 that lift every driver associated with them up above their talent level. Almost everything seems to be dependent on the teams' sudden improvement whereas in the past drivers could make/break teams much more themselves. Kevin Harvick is certainly doing that this year, and the examples of the #18 subs vs. the full-season JGR teammates mean that this isn't OBVIOUSLY the whole story, but it feels like it more, and that's why this version of NASCAR may be less compelling. At least in IndyCar, the smaller teams could compete in the past few seasons but with Pagenaud at Penske and the new aero kits I think that's over. 204. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex takes the lead! That Furniture Row team is on a roll as of late! 205. BluesTravelerFan posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is so awesome for Truex! Hope it stays that way for him. 206. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And I laughably say that as Truex takes the lead, which I missed while writing that. Oh well. 207. New14 & 88Fan posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Truex! 208. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What difference a year has made for the 78 team & Tried. 209. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Annett takes a licking and keeps on ticking. 210. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Annett has slammed the wall. Harvick has retaken the lead and is pulling away from the field once again. 211. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What's up with Vickers? Why is he constantly falling many seconds behind the other cars on the lead lap? Lost a cylinder? 212. Cumulonimbus posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex didn't last for long though. Harvick seems just way faster than anyone at the moment... maybe Kahne could possibly challenge him on the long run. Or Harvick is gonna run into some kind of issue like it's been the normal course of events last year. 213. Hinch5 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (6) Good afternoon everyone. I hope it's not too late to join the party. 214. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Annett in the wall again. 215. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Annett has smacked the wall a second time and limps his way to pit road. 216. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harv pulling away. 217. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's the in-car camera-fest. 218. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne passes Truex for second. Larson is dropping back. 219. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Larson off the pace a little bit. 220. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Good afternoon everyone. I hope it's not too late to join the party." Heh, I just returned from a band concert fifteen minutes ago, so I'm right there with you. 221. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Kahne was running good for most of the race at Atlanta too, if I remember correctly. Looks like Rodden is making a difference for him. 222. JRacingFast posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1oo to go 223. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Allmendinger is having another solid top 10 run this weekend. 224. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick has been caught in traffic and now Kahne has him in his sights. 225. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race is going by much faster than last week. It will be over in 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes, probably. 226. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne is the fastest car on the track right now. He'll be taking the lead from Harvick in a few laps at this rate. 227. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Soft serve time! 228. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson has major damage. Caution. 229. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the wall...48 230. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 48 crashes. 231. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) PRN reported a blown tire. 232. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (2) (2) YES! YES! YES! 233. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) I'M JIMMIE JOHNSON! BOOM! CONFETTI! Johnson blows a tire and crashes. Caution. 234. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ARCA brakes for the #24... 235. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson blows a tire and smacks the wall. Behind that, Gordon gets into the back of Jeb Burton and sends him into the wall. 236. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Horrible pit stop for Truex there. 237. Hinch5 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (15) Days go by... 238. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I guess that guy who said Johnson was going to win 10 in a row is eating his words right now... 239. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. hit a tire on pit road. 240. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon has big damage on his front end. Logano sped on pit road. 241. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon has a lot of damage to his hood. He may not be competitive anymore... Logano drops to the back of the field after speeding in the pits. 242. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another loose tire on pit-road. 243. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Of course you're going to have more loose wheels when you don't force teams to change all the lug nuts. I thought that was going to be stupid and dangerous when it was announced... The 11-second pit stops are fun, but that's not enough to justify neglecting safety like that. 244. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I hate to break it to Darrell, but Dave Blaney losing his tire at Atlanta happened 14 years ago. More than just a few 245. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, maybe if all the Hendrick/Penske teams take themselves out, this could get more interesting. Go Jamie. 246. jabber1990 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) so car #24x2 hits the wall causing car #24 to hit car #24+2 247. HouseOfPenske posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Nascar nails Logano, to ensure another GM victory. Time to tune out. 248. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Poor Gaughan. His home track and his car is so slow he can't make a single overtake. 249. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If my wishful prediction of Jeff Gordon winning the title this year doesn't come true, I absolutely believe Harvick will pull off back-to-back titles. That team is on fire right now. 250. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson again hits the wall. 251. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe penalties for cheating may have been subjectively applied in the past, but I've never bought the pit speed violations being subjective. And if something happens to Harvick, this is the best chance for a Ford/Toyota victory on a 1.5 in a while since I could easily see Hamlin, Edwards, or Logano beating Kahne or Junior in a late-race battle. 252. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick is checking out. How is Johnson only 1 lap down still? 253. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson wrecks again. When's the last time he wrecked twice in one race? 254. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie crashes AGAIN! 255. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson with another cut right front. 256. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) lel 257. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the wall...48 258. ch posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah I'm not quite sure what Gaughan is doing in that Robinson car this year when he's got a full time NXS deal for RCR. 259. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson cuts down a tire a second time and smacks the wall again. The back half of the lead lap cars came to pit road. 260. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Johnson wrecks again. When's the last time he wrecked twice in one race?" I actually recall him having this same thing (two right front failures) in a race last year. Can't remember where. 261. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What an awful day for Sixx-Pack. 262. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Im still believe Harvick drives a secret 5th Hendrick car cause he out performs his teammates by way to much 263. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Johnson wrecks again. When's the last time he wrecked twice in one race?" To answer my own question, I'm pretty sure Talladega last year. 264. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:48 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Chad's "experimenting" is going to get Jimmie killed eventually. 265. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Must be one of Chad's cheats isn't working out too well this week and eating up right fronts. 266. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Logano speeds on pit road for the second time in a row. 267. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano caught speeding again. His tach has to be messed up. 268. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Chad's "experimenting" is going to get Jimmie killed eventually." Pretty sad that someone actually gave this one a thumbs up. Not surprising though. 269. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Im still believe Harvick drives a secret 5th Hendrick car cause he out performs his teammates by way to much" He doesn't need a special car to do so. Tony Stewart after his 2013 injury has lost his talent, as I expected given his age and his noted lack of athleticism compared to all the other major drivers. I predicted (not publicly, but to myself) that Stewart would have a Sterling Marlin 2003 kind of season on his return and I was right, except that Stewart's 2014 was actually considerably WORSE. Marlin at least led the most laps in 2 races and I think Ganassi fell off from 2002-2003 much more than SHR did from 2013-14. Danica Patrick has never been really fast (although she's actually been faster than Stewart as often as not since Stewart's return last summer). Kurt Busch last year was the enigma since he should have done more than that based on what he did for Furniture Row, but now that Kurt's being replaced by average drivers, it's understandable that car is getting average results. I think SHR has the same level of equipment as Hendrick, but much worse drivers except for Harvick. 270. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson has gone to the garage. 271. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) "Chad's "experimenting" is going to get Jimmie killed eventually." "Pretty sad that someone actually gave this one a thumbs up. Not surprising though. " You know it can mean "I agree", not just "I want to see it". 272. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick leads to the green. 273. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne's restarts have been junk. 274. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne HARD in the wall. He's done. Big spin with Edwards now. 275. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Edwards spins. Caution. 276. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great saves from Edwards and Hamlin. 277. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick gets another big jump on the first lap after the restart. Kasey Kahne thumps the wall, he and Carl Edwards make contact, and Edwards spins and noses it into the inside wall. 278. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Edwards was my pick today and he's just now starting to move into position. Well shit. While I was typing that. 279. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kasey vs JGR: Round 20. 280. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is anyone else's picture weird? It looks like Fox shrinked the screen 281. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Also Truex back to 3rd! Neat to see an underdog like Furniture Row run this well. Also go to hell Kahne. 282. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not sure what the hell all of that was about. 283. OldSchoolNascarDude1 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick's two main threats are both done for the day. I think Johnson and Kahne were the only cars that were close to Harvick's car. 284. Cumulonimbus posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't blame Kahne for diving down on Carl Edwards there. Whether it was a spotter mistake or just the driver going high to block, it was worth a payback move in my opinion. 285. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Kahne's restarts have been junk." For almost his entire stint at Hendrick. Even Jeff Gordon snookered him at Indy last year (and Gordon is probably the second worst restarter among the major drivers at the moment). I really don't know what happened because he did seem to have the potential for greatness in the past. 286. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Harvick's two main threats are both done for the day. I think Johnson and Kahne were the only cars that were close to Harvick's car." Truex passed Harvick by himself on one of the restarts, so I'd put him in there as well. If he can somehow get ahead of Harvick late, I think he's got a good shot. 287. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not sure what the hell all of that was about. Kahne and Carl were side by side in turns 3-4, Carl didn't leave enough room for Kahne on the outside cuz he didn't know or didn't care. Then Kahne didn't let Carl hit his mark going into turn 1. 288. David posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Is anyone else's picture weird? It looks like Fox shrinked the screen" I had something like this last week, although I think it was a local problem. 289. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 5:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Edwards went behind the wall. I'm a bit surprised, seeing as it didn't LOOK like his car was seriously damaged... 290. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I understand why Kahne would be upset, but Carl clearly just got loose and slid up the track. It's not like he just ran him out of room. It was a racing deal. 291. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ricky Stenhouse hot seat meter is now at 8 RFR has to do something to get better. 292. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr takes the lead. Why did Harvick take the bottom on that restart? 293. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Once again, FOX mentions the "impressive" crowd. Junior pulls out front on this restart. 294. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead, but Harvick gets it back. Great racing! 295. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It only lasts for a couple of laps, though, as Harvick is back out front again. 296. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Ricky Stenhouse hot seat meter is now at 8 RFR has to do something to get better." They are idiots if they don't replace him with Chris Buescher next year. 297. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, a legit battle for the lead. 298. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl mans up for the accident. 299. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Edwards accepts responsibility for the accident. 300. BMan0213 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Even with Harvick dominating this has been a pretty solid race. There's been a lot of good racing all around the track. 301. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Expecting somebody with much weaker Nationwide/XFinity results to become a star when your past champion failed seems bizarre. I don't think anything can save Roush at this point. They will no longer exist in 5 years. 302. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ""Is anyone else's picture weird? It looks like Fox shrinked the screen" I had something like this last week, although I think it was a local problem." My local FOX station used to do that like 2-3 times a race a few years ago. 303. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Better than most Vegas races, so far. 304. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chris Buescher rookie season in Xfinity was way better then Stenhouse's rookie season. 305. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon has fallen to the last car on the lead lap. 306. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick 2 seconds ahead. 307. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Expecting somebody with much weaker Nationwide/XFinity results to become a star when your past champion failed seems bizarre." Buescher has impressed me much more than Stenhouse did in NXS. He doesn't tear stuff up, he's methodical, and he's good at literally every race track (and arguably, his best tracks have been difficult places like short/flat tracks and road courses). And he's done all of that against much heftier competition than Stenhouse did in that series (literally, Stenhouse's only competition was Elliott Sadler, if we're not counting Cup guys - PLUS, I think Roush's NNS equipment when they had Stenhouse was a bit better than it is now with Buescher). So I have no idea why they would resign Stenhouse when they have a clearly much more versatile and, arguably, a MUCH more talented driver in Buescher available. It's gonna be really dumb if they don't make that change. But yes, they do need to get their cars better. They're not going anywhere in Cup with their cars this horrendous. 308. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stenhouse just tagged the wall. Nice timing 309. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speaking of Stenhouse, he nearly crashed in turns 3 and 4 a few laps ago. 310. BMan0213 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nice to see Brad making some moves. He hasn't been bad so far this year but compared to the 22 he's seemed a bit off. 311. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Roush has the not-so-funny scenario of their Nationwide lineup being better than the cup one. Strange. 312. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex battles for third with Hamlin. 313. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If they want to beat Harvick, they need to do some strategy gambles or something. There's no beating him straight up. 314. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenseth is the first to pit. 315. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green flag stops underway! 316. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Junior takes two tires. 317. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This gonna be interesting. Junior takes only two tires. 318. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truthfully, I haven't been watching Nationwide so I'm not qualified to judge those two. I think it's that James Buescher dominated in trucks and failed in Nationwide and my impression that Chris was riding James's coattails that unfairly biased me here. I also tend to have a bias for drivers who come from ARCA because ARCA has had so little talent over the years. If he's following James's path and James did very little in Nationwide, how good could Chris be, etc...? Having said that, I don't think either Xfinity or trucks has very much depth now and I'm not sure I see either title as all that significant. And I don't think that Mid-Ohio field was really loaded with road racing talent. His chief challengers were Hornish (a mediocre road racer), Tagliani (the biggest underachiever in IndyCar in the last decade, even topping Ryan Briscoe), and ride-buyer Brian Scott... 319. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman in the lead. 320. BMan0213 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really don't get that 2 tire call for jr. Like there's no way that was gonna work lol 321. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick re-passes Junior. That is probably the pass for the win if they stay green to the end... 322. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Scott is in front of Dillon in what I guess is Cowboy Hat's leftover equipment. lol 323. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman 27 to go. 324. HouseOfPenske posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr beat Harvick off (of pit road that time) 325. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick is gonna drive back to the lead lap before these guys pit. 326. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Please no caution. This has been an interesting fuel strategy race. 327. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ride buying Brian Scott??? I think he's earned a lil more respect he isnt the average ride buyer anymore. 328. BMan0213 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wonder if any of these guys still on the track will just take fuel when they stop? 329. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 24 to go. Does Newman have enough fuel? I say no. 330. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Holy crap. FOX is using side-by-side coverage. 331. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex goes for "3rd"! 332. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman's pitting. 333. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman pit in. 334. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman is in! Brad Keselowski takes the lead. 335. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman pits for just 2 tires. 336. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 24 to go. Does Newman have enough fuel? I say no. They all have to pit again. BK, Logano, amongst others are due in 5 laps. 337. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kez, Logano, Smith, Kahne, and Gordon yet too pit. 338. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I think he's earned a lil more respect he isnt the average ride buyer anymore." Sure, he's more on the Charlie Kimball/Paul Menard/Memo Rojas end (the upper tier of ride-buyers) but that doesn't mean he isn't one. I don't see major star potential from him. 339. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I think it's that James Buescher dominated in trucks and failed in Nationwide and my impression that Chris was riding James's coattails that unfairly biased me here." I think it's also a bit unfair to write James off after his year with RAB Racing. He would have been better off driving a 2002 Dodge Intrepid in that series last year. I think Chris is really good though. He just strikes me as someone who will be a good a Cup driver when/if he gets there. 340. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) REALLY hope this goes green. 341. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Logano in. 342. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano pits. 343. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick thinks a tire is going down. 344. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Ride buying Brian Scott??? I think he's earned a lil more respect he isnt the average ride buyer anymore. " Who on earth showed no respect towards Scott here? I dissed Dillon though. 345. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Keselowski is in! Regan Smith now in the lead. 346. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick, Jr, and Truex have unlapped themselves. 347. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad pits for a splash of fuel. 348. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No ride buyer has star potential that's why there ride buyers. 349. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Smith comes in, cycling it back to Kevin Harvick. 350. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two tires for Brad. 351. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Full commercial now? Time to get used to 10 years of "TNT breaks". 352. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As the full cycle is complete. A caution would benefit Truex the most. 353. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harv 2.3 ahead. 354. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really. Commercial with 16 laps to go. I guess that side-by-side break didn't satisfy them. 355. BMan0213 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick saying he might have a tire going down. If he really does have a problem Truex might be steal this race. I think hes gonna get by Dale very soon. 356. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's it Fox. I don't speak Spanish, but I'll watch the finish on TV5 Direto (or whatever it is called) 357. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex up to second! Wonderful run for Truex! 358. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman gets by Jr for 3rd. 359. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick with problems! Truex is in the catbird seat! 360. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Come on Harvick! Blow up! 361. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh crap. Harvick with issues. Could make for a hell of a finish though. 362. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick seems to have it back together 363. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The suspense... 364. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ALLMENDINGER 6th! Holy cow. JTG is also really outrunning its budget. 365. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Truex up to second and catching Harvick. Really hoping he can pull this off! 366. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Too many lapped cars for Truex to lay some qualifying laps. 367. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pretty much done now unless there's a caution. 368. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Newman is going to get second on his fresher tires. 369. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex needs Harvick to have a major problem. The #4 is still not much slower than the #78. 370. MAR posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RCR equipment has stepped up its performance idk why cowboy hat is no where to be found. 371. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 4 tires vs. 2 my ass. Lapped cars it is. 372. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick has this. 373. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:35 pm Rate this comment: (8) (1) Whatever happens, super impressed by Truex. Starting to think he's gonna be my guy this year. I love seeing him run like this after all the MWR bullshit. 374. Sean posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How is Dinger doing so well in Cup for JTG and was so terrible in IndyCar for Penske (and pretty weak in Cup for them also)? Boggles the mind. I've never really thought of him as a great oval racer either but I may have to change my mind. 375. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "Whatever happens, super impressed by Truex. Starting to think he's gonna be my guy this year. I love seeing him run like this after all the MWR bullshit. " This. And also, nothing not to like in his team as well. 376. TS1420 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Hell yeah Harvick! 377. dennyfan11 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick wins his 29th race of his career and his 1st of the year. 378. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm pleasantly surprised the last 70 laps or so were caution free. 379. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Newman picked up right where he left off in 2014. Unseen most of the race, gets 3rd. #Newman2015Champ 380. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good job Harvick! Stewart really struggled today 381. BluesTravelerFan posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Honestly didn't watch a great deal of this one, but from what I did see, so-so race. Harvick hasn't missed a beat so far for sure. Already close to 200 laps led this season. 382. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Harvick-no surprise-easily take the checkered flag and wins again. HELL of a run by Truex, though. I'm with murb...after seeing him basically become the fall guy at Michael Waltrip Racing after Spingate (when he was the ONLY driver on the team that didn't do ANYTHING wrong that night), I really want to see him succeed with Furniture Row. It's looking like he may be a major threat this year! How about back to back top 10s for Allmendinger? 383. epzik8 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Harvick's first win as the defending series champion. And the funny thing is he was calling the Xfinity race at this time yesterday. 384. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's a pretty nice thing from Gordon. 385. edwards19 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) The race was going pretty OK until Kahne decided to be a little b****. I know it was Carl's fault but I'm frustrated with the start to this season... 386. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And the funny thing is he was calling the Xfinity race at this time yesterday. " TBH, he is better than most of the actual announcers. 387. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jeff Gordon apologizes to Jeb Burton about the accident they were involved in. Classy move there. Tony Stewart finishes a measly 33rd today. Hate to say it, but I'm really doubting we're going to see him in victory lane again... 388. Zackary Shawn posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They're going to Harvick's best track next week, too. It'll probably 7 top 2s in a row by the end of next week. 389. racefangurl posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:43 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Hendrick, Penske and Harvick have been dominant again this year, so far. Is a repeat of last year's Harvick/Penske/Hendrick show inevitable? 390. BluesTravelerFan posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't care for Kevin as a guy or driver, but he certainly does the best burnouts(always has). 391. Schroeder51 posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:46 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Harvick OBLITERATED his rear tire doing his burnout. The man definitely knows how to do them, I'll say that! 392. We need more Onion posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex 4th, Allmendinger 5th, Mears 9th in points. I know it's just after 3 races, but still, great job! 393. Peter posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A truly fell good story for Brian Vickers. Three months ago he had a literal hole in his heart, and didn't know if he would wake up from the OR table. I'll say most likely the feel good sports story in all of 2015 394. joey2448 posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eh, ho hum race at a ho hum track. But still, good to see great runs by Truex, Newman, Allmendinger... 395. Peter posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) * feel. Oops 396. Jarrett88fan posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome runs for Truex, (could be the 2014 version of Newman at least making the Chase) Allemdinger, (Sonoma redemption perhaps) Vickers (Despite 2011 Martinsville race, is a real inspiration for never giving up in life) Will E. Coyote is back in the #24 shop after a one year hiatus. 397. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) They still need to take much more downforce off the cars to make it more interesting for the drivers, still a decent race though. Be ready to watch Harvick win another one easily next week! 398. RWR posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gilliland 23rd, better than Stenhouse and Bayne... 399. Captain posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Ragan barely outruns Gilliland for the second week in a row despite driving JGR cars. He did nothing at Roush, and now he's doing nothing with Gibbs. Has anyone wasted good equipment over the last decade more than David Ragan? 400. edwards19 posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) 399: Perhaps Casey Mears. He's definitely impressive now with Germain Racing. But he was pretty bad at Hendrick and RCR between 07 and 09. 401. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) 296. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: Like this comment (1) Dislike this comment (0) "Ricky Stenhouse hot seat meter is now at 8 RFR has to do something to get better." They are idiots if they don't replace him with Darrell Wallace next year. Fixed. 402. Eric posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 397Anonymous, There is rumors that the all star race will be used for a 2016 rules package that involves getting a rid of more downforce. 403. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "They are idiots if they don't replace him with Darrell Wallace next year." I'm a massive Bubba fan (my favorite driver in all of Nascar right now), but I think they will promote Buescher up to Cup first, solely because he's been with Roush for a while now (even going back to his Arca days he was a Roush development guy), and that he's slightly further along in NXS than Bubba is. I certainly will not complain whatsoever if Bubba gets the nod to replace Stenhouse (I think we can ALL agree that Stenhouse's time is up), but I think Buescher will most likely get it. And I'll have no problems with that. Buescher is good. That said, if Trevor Bayne is total garbage over these next two years (cannot believe he ran this bad today, even with Roush's mediocre equipment), Bubba WITHOUT A DOUBT should be in the #6 car for 2017. There will be no excuses there with Trevor either, Daytona 500 win or not. 404. Anonymous posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Interesting facts: -Brett Moffitt is ahead of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in points despite running only 2 of 3 races. -Tony is the lowest Sprint Cup points-eligible driver who's run all 3 races. --Tony's even behind Brian Vickers! 405. murb posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As for David Ragan, I think I'll give him until Martinsville before making my final judgement on him. If he continues to run this badly over these next three races, then I say put Brett Moffitt in that #18 at Texas and take it from there. 406. racefangurl posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) It's a miracle Trevor Bayne can even still race. I'm a fan but I'm aware of his MS. If Roush let him go, I don't think he'd land a ride anywhere. Too big a risk, others would say. Roush stuck with him, but he was established as a Roush driver, when he revealed his MS diagnosis. 407. Chad's Hair Plugs posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 3 races in the books, meaning that 2015 points are used for the rest of the season. Notable cars(major teams) 30th or worse in owners points: Car # - Rank 24 - 32nd 17 - 34th 14 - 38th Gordon and Stewart have the champion provisional if need be, but Stenhouse is in big trouble if he has a bad qualifying run. 408. edwards19 posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well on the bright side for Ragan, at least he isn't the lowest ranked JGR car in points... 409. ch posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Changes: 1 - Cessna / Beechcraft 9 - Camping World / Medallion Bank 26 - Maxim Fantasy Sports 34 - Shaw's Southern Belle Frozen Foods 35 - Speed Stick Gear 40 - CarsForSale.com (For consistency) 46 - Cypress HQ 48 - Lowe's / Kobalt Tools 88 - Nationwide Insurance 410. Jeff24Fan posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Finishes for Gordon in first 3 races of 2014 Daytona: 4th Phoenix: 5th Las Vegas: 9th Finishes for Gordon in the first 3 races of 2015 Daytona: 33rd Atlanta: 41st Las vegas: 18th Dreadful stats 411. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 03.08.2015 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Updates #47 Clorox/Scott Products/Hungry Jack #2 Miller Lite 25 Years #42 Target/Axe/Coca-Cola #17 Milwaukee/Fastenal #19 Comcast Business/Arris #7 Nikko / Road Rippers 412. Evan posted: 03.08.2015 - 9:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) * There were a few incidents in this contest, the back and forth between Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards was the biggest, both had top 10-cars and were looking good until Carl Edwards got the worst of the beating and banging between them and spun around. Edwards had high expectations coming into this year, but the year has gotten off to a bumpy start. * Jeff Gordon's lousy luck continues, he did finish 18th but a lap down and damage to his vehicle kept him from really making the most of his run. You never know starting in the back cold turkey after a crash. * Have to give a call to Martin Truex Jr., don't know what he is doing different this year but he finished second in the Furniture Row car to winner Kevin Harvick. * Again, Tony Stewart just has not been the Tony Stewart that we are all accustomed to seeing, he's not been near the front of the pack, nor has he really made much waves. It just seems like he is muddled back in the pack and can't make any ground up. I mean he's healthy and he feels good and everything else, but it just seems like he doesn't have much left in the tank as this stage. * Kevin Harvick now has as many wins as his old Nascar car number, 29. Plus, I don't know what it is, but he is an awesome announcer when he is in the booth. I would just be cool with it if they put him in there the rest of the season. * Sponsor Changes Winner #4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's/Budweiser=Budweiser is on the roof and TV panels Source:Watched the race on TV. #15 Clint Bowyer Five Hour Energy "New Great Taste" A small emblem with the words "New Great Taste" are emblazoned on the left hand portion of the hood near the logo. Source:Watched the race. 413. 02Justin10 posted: 03.08.2015 - 10:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #407, I don't think Stenhouse is in any trouble at all in terms of his point position. Just look behind him in the owner points and see where or when Bliss, Gaughan, DiBenedetto, Burton, Cassill, Kvapil and/or Sorenson will ever qualify in a race on time? Really, I think at this point any car owners in the top 40 are in pretty good standing for the balance of the season. And it appears Landon Cassill will have to qualify in on time at Phoenix or head home. So that Hillman team must improve next week. 414. luigistarted06 posted: 03.08.2015 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I agree with the poster above, any team in the top 40 is pretty safe. I'm just hoping the #40 team can turn it around 415. edwards19 posted: 03.09.2015 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (4) (5) Wow 100 dislikes -_- never knew sponsor updates were so controversial... 416. WinstonCupStandings posted: 03.09.2015 - 1:32 am Rate this comment: (2) (21) Top 24 (that are on the big teams) 1) Kevin Harvick (535) -Leader 2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (505) -30 3) Joey Logano (484) -51 4) Jimmie Johnson (385) -150 5) Denny Hamlin (374) -161 6) Kasey Kahne (371) -164 7) Matt Kenseth (361) -174 8) Ryan Newman (353) -182 9) Greg Biffle (348) -187 10) Clint Bowyer (342) -193 11) Paul Menard (339) -196 12) Brad Keselowski (334) -201 13) Aric Almirola (333) -202 14) Sam Hornish, Jr. (318) -217 15) Danica Patrick (297) -238 16) Kyle Larson (288) -247 17) Austin Dillon (270) -265 18) Carl Edwards (268) -267 19) Trevor Bayne (258) -277 20) Jamie McMurray (255) -280 21) Jeff Gordon (223) -312 22) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (207) -328 23) Tony Stewart (174) -361 24) Brian Vickers (118) -417 417. edwards19 posted: 03.09.2015 - 3:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this season competition wise? We've already been to two 1.5 mile tracks and Hendrick looks pretty much untouchable. Penske really doesn't look too much better than Gibbs so far this season, apart from the poles. 418. Anonymous posted: 03.09.2015 - 6:28 am Rate this comment: (6) (0) @416: What exactly do you have against small teams? 419. Peter posted: 03.09.2015 - 8:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What's with all this David Ragan hate? The 18 crew chief is new to the series, they need time to get comfortable with each other (what their adjustment calls mean, etc.) 420. 5 posted: 03.09.2015 - 10:01 am Rate this comment: (4) (0) Always an excuse for David Ragan, the dude shouldn't be in that #18. Regan Smith also was thrown in a ride and he's shown much better consistency and results so far, and Gilliland is keeping up with Ragan even though he is in FRM equipment. Tired of the excuses for Ragan. Put someone else in that car. 421. Destroyahirismix666 posted: 03.09.2015 - 10:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (6) What is with the hate for WinstonCupStandings? Seriously. 422. racefangurl posted: 03.09.2015 - 11:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 417, Penske has something Gibbs doesn't: a Daytona 500 win and the driver that gave them that has been top 10 every race, even Vegas. I guess the car's too fast to not speed on speed road at Vegas. 423. Hinch5 posted: 03.09.2015 - 12:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (7) In 2011, Stewart-Haas Racing took home the Cup title in a one-two finish with the title runner-up. In 2012, that champion won his first race at Las Vegas. 424. edwards19 posted: 03.09.2015 - 12:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 422: I know, but restrictor plate races are usually luck based and even then, Hendrick was dominant for much of the event. At Atlanta and Vegas, the top 3 for much of the latter 75% of the race consisted only of Hendrick powered cars. Also look at Brad Keselowski's performance so far, he's really only ran in the 6-10th range so far this year. 425. racefangurl posted: 03.09.2015 - 1:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Penske's the best non-Chevy team so far this year. 426. murb posted: 03.09.2015 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Penske has something Gibbs doesn't: a Daytona 500 win" Dale Jarrett, 1993. 427. ch posted: 03.09.2015 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Changes: 4 - Jimmy John's (This site has never included roof or TV panel; plus it's the exact same scheme as last year) 9 - Camping World / Medallion Bank (Camping World was on the hood; plus the scheme was the dark blue not the lighter blue of Medallion Bank) 7 is correct, but needs to be that for Daytona too. (Not sure why it was not changed when it was posted on the Daytona page, but was changed on the Atlanta / Las Vegas pages) 428. racefangurl posted: 03.09.2015 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 426, I meant this year. Comment 417 said Penske wasn't much better than Gibbs this year. I was pointing what Penske had this year that Gibbs didn't. 429. cjs3872 posted: 03.09.2015 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But @424, there was only one car in that Daytona 500 that had the speed to deal with the Hendrick cars, and that was the Penske car of Joey Logano. Sure, Denny Hamlin was up there at the end, but for the balance of the race (and for the whole SpeedWeeks, for that matter), the one car that could beat the HMS and HMS-backed cars on speed was the #22 car, which was the one that won the race. I think the incident that sparked the argument between Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano after the Shootout, in retrospect, should have been a sign, because Logano had the only car during SpeedWeeks that could beat the HMS cars on speed. And luck had very little to do with it at Daytona, because nothing unusual happened that altered the course of events for the front runners that entire race. The thing with Joey Logano is that he's most dangerous, not when he starts fast like he did the last two races, but rather when he's lurking in and around the top five during the first half of the race, but not actually contending for the lead. If you look at the races he's won, especially since he joined Penske, he's usually off the pace of the front runners during the first half of the race, but comes alive during the second half of the race. In a way, he's like Rick Mears and Al Unser, Sr. were when they drove in those exact same yellow Pennzoil colors for Roger Penske in the 80s. (Mears won two Indianapolis 500s and Big Al won a championship for Penske in those colors). They never set the pace early in the race, allowing others to do so instead, but at the end of the race, they were always at their best. The same goes for Logano. Penske said it best in the press conference after Logano's Daytona 500 victory about how he managed that race. When Logano's up front early, that's actually not a good sign for his chances to win, but when he's lurking around fourth to seventh in the first half of the race, that's when he's at his most dangerous. But except for the struggles of Brad Keselowski and the surprising performances of Martin Truex, Jr. and A.J. Allmendinger, this season has gone just about as most people thought. Kevin Harvick and the HMS cars have dominated, Gibbs and Penske have been good, but not great, Childress is still sneaking up on the competition, and Roush's cars are still slugs. Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhuose, Jr. may have run terrible, but Greg Biffle might very well have been back there with them in this race like he was at Atlanta, if not for the timing of the second caution, which just kept him on the lead lap. That basically bought him a better position for the rest of the race than he probably deserved. Had the caution fell a few laps later, he might also have been two or three laps down at the finish, and thus back with his teammates. However, I do think the Roush cars will run better this week at Phoenix, where aero and horsepower don't mean as much as it did at Atlanta and Las Vegas, since they're considerably down on both. And they could be real factors at Bristol and Martinsville, and they were strong on short tracks last year. But again, with Ford slow as a whole (the other Ford teams aside from Penske have all been slow), I wonder just how much effort is being put into the NASCAR program from Ford, especially since they're back into sports car racing in a big way. Just look at the starting grid for this race. Only four Fords qualified in the first 14 rows and only four Fords finished in the top 20. That's beyond just a Roush problem. That's a Ford problem, which makes me wonder if the people at Ford are as invested in their NASCAR program as they've been in the past. 430. dennyfan11 posted: 03.09.2015 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (4) (4) Listen people. STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW FORD IS SLOWER!!! ALL THE MAKES ARE 100% EQUAL!! ACCEPT THAT IT ISN'T 1955 ANYMORE!!! 431. David posted: 03.09.2015 - 3:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (6) "Listen people. STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW FORD IS SLOWER!!! ALL THE MAKES ARE 100% EQUAL!! ACCEPT THAT IT ISN'T 1955 ANYMORE!!!" When you are the only person here who holds that view, and haven't provided one shred of acceptable evidence, you might need to reevaluate your opinion. 432. Highgroove posted: 03.09.2015 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Possible Phoenix lineup update #66 Tanner Berryhill - TBA #18 Erik Jones - Snickers Extreme #14 Rachel Rupert - Coors Light/Mobil 1 #41 Regan Smith - Haas Automation #44 Travis Kvapil - None 433. Hinch5 posted: 03.09.2015 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (8) What we see on the outside is a bland spec car. What lies beneath is a secret. 434. BluesTravelerFan posted: 03.09.2015 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "When you are the only person who holds that view, and haven't provided one shred of acceptable evidence, you might need to reevaluate your opinion." While I don't agree in totality with dennyfan's comment, I do agree with the principle of what he said. The manufactures (in both actual racing and on the street) have become in reality so similar and homogenized that it doesn't really make that much difference between the makes,the only thing that really matters is how the teams themselves use their own resources(and how much they have). Hence the reason why even though they both run Fords and as far as I know have have a similar amount of resources Penske is so far ahead of Roush. 435. dennyfan11 posted: 03.09.2015 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (5) (3) I do have evidence. All the cars, except the really bad ones, have equal horsepower at 725. Also, all the cars look excactly the same, so they have equal aerodynamics. Finally, no driver complains about makes being slower than the other. The cars are also the same weight and have the same specs across the board. Stop living in the past. Embrace the present! 436. Scott B posted: 03.09.2015 - 5:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #30 has withdrawn from Phoenix. Remember in the offseason when a bunch of people here said this team was overextended trying to run a full time Cup schedule? Well, it looks like they're just now figuring that out for themselves. :( 437. The Incredible Mister the Man posted: 03.09.2015 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I do have evidence. All the cars, except the really bad ones, have equal horsepower at 725. Also, all the cars look excactly the same, so they have equal aerodynamics. Finally, no driver complains about makes being slower than the other. The cars are also the same weight and have the same specs across the board. Stop living in the past. Embrace the present! " And drink the Kool-Aid 438. The Incredible Mister the Man posted: 03.09.2015 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Oh, BTW, nice bots 439. David posted: 03.09.2015 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) "All the cars, except the really bad ones, have equal horsepower at 725." Nice scientific piece of research there. I would be interested to see how you define "really bad". How about the parts that go into the engines? Each manufacturer supplies the parts for the engines, unless of course a team decides to build engines in-house (and supply other teams, for that matter). Why were the major Toyota teams experiencing horsepower issues last year, especially if all the makes are equal? Just because the maximum horsepower is 725 doesn't mean that all cars actually pull that. "Also, all the cars look excactly the same, so they have equal aerodynamics." Ernie Elliott and the entire #9 Melling Racing team are laughing their heads off at that statement. But besides that, the cars have different noses, but NASCAR must approve each one so no manufacturer gains an advantage. So you're half right on this one. "Finally, no driver complains about makes being slower than the other." They have this thing called a job. They don't want to endanger its security. Not many drivers out there have the star power to publicly condemn their car and remain in good standing with their team. "Stop living in the past. Embrace the present!" I complain less about questionable debris cautions than just about any other regular poster on this board. Same goes for G-W-Cs and double-file restarts (though the latter can be grossly unfair at times). I don't need any help accepting the present state of NASCAR. 440. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 03.09.2015 - 7:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Just because the maximum horsepower is 725 doesn't mean that all cars actually pull that." NASCAR dyno tested engines 2-3 years ago and all engines were roughly 2-3% near each other. Now that was BEFORE the reduced HP rule but 2-3% isn't really all that bad. In the grand scheme of things. HP may mean speed but also handling plays a factor. If you can not get your cars too handle, you can not go fast. 441. Scott B posted: 03.09.2015 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Anybody remember 2008 when Joe Gibbs Racing was busted for placing shims under the gas pedal* of their Nationwide car that was taken for testing on a chassis dyno by NASCAR? *to stop the throttle from full open position 442. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 03.09.2015 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Anybody remember 2008 when Joe Gibbs Racing was busted for placing shims under the gas pedal* of their Nationwide car that was taken for testing on a chassis dyno by NASCAR?" Yeah. I seem too remember NASCAR was none too pleased about that. 443. SpeedWorld97 posted: 03.09.2015 - 10:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Honda officially unveiled its 2015 aero kit tonight for the upcoming IndyCar season. Other than the large rear-wheel guards, it looks absolutely great in my opinion. You will definitely notice a huge difference between them and the Chevrolets, which really seem to have a lot more wing plates on them than Honda's aero kit. Regardless, Indianapolis should be very interesting in May to see if one manufacturer has an edge over the other. 444. jabber1990 posted: 03.10.2015 - 12:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "#30 has withdrawn from Phoenix. Remember in the offseason when a bunch of people here said this team was overextended trying to run a full time Cup schedule? Well, it looks like they're just now figuring that out for themselves. :(" they also missed Daytona, so they are missing like $300,000 that they could have used 445. ch posted: 03.10.2015 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really pulling for Berryhill and DiBenedetto this week. It would be so cool to get to see those guys running in a Spring Cup race after I thought both of their careers were over. Also, for you guys on twitter, both of them, as well as Ryan Ellis and Alex Bowman, are worth the follows. They are very responsive to fans, and pretty entertaining. 446. ch posted: 03.10.2015 - 12:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sprint* 447. WinstonCupStandings posted: 03.10.2015 - 2:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @418 Nothing, nothing at all. I hope guys like Truex and Allmendinger continue to be competitive this year but i doubt they will, here's to proving me wrong. 448. racefangurl posted: 03.10.2015 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex could be competitive at perhaps the driver tracks and plate tracks and Allmendinger when they road race, but otherwise I don't think so. 449. murb posted: 03.10.2015 - 4:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've said it all along about Truex this year, and I stand by it. I think he wins AT LEAST one race (maybe even this weekend at Phoenix? - Martin was good there last Fall and Kurt was real good there when he drove the #78) this year, and handily makes the Chase. They've been hands down one of the five fastest cars this year so far (along with the #22, #4, #48, and #88), so as long as they stick with this rules package, the #78 isn't going away. They are legit. I also think Allmendinger has a lot of great momentum on his side. I do think he's a lot more prone to falling off and having a string of bad runs as opposed to Truex, but if the #47 can keep running in the top 12 (like they have been so far this year - these two top tens were absolutely not flukes), they are gonna be in great position regardless of whether or not they get a win (but honestly, with Ambrose gone, I think AJ is no doubt the biggest threat on the road courses now, so I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up with TWO wins). 450. racefangurl posted: 03.10.2015 - 5:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phoenix is more of a driver track, so I agree Truex has a shot to win it. I kind of like Truex, but I feel driver tracks and plate tracks are small teams' best shots at wins. However, Truex could be in a Regan Smith Darlington win type scenario, now that I think about it. That was Furniture Row and I believe what's happened before can happen again. Imagine at some race, there's a green-white-checker finish and Truex stayed out or took just gas and is the leader on the restart. Then, he could win, even if it wasn't a plate track or driver track. And those two wins from Allmendinger, I call them to be Sonoma and Watkins Glens, a road race sweep. 451. cjs3872 posted: 03.10.2015 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Guys, maybe Truex can win, even on a road course (remember that he won at Sonoma a couple of years ago), but his team can't, no matter how good his cars may be, and for one big reason, one that Kurt Busch can certainly attest to. That reason is the pit crew. As a smaller team, Furniture Row Racing can't afford the newer pit equipment or specialized pit crew members like the bigger teams can. Two years ago, Kurt Busch had one of his best seasons, but never actually got into victory lane because of slow pit stops, which are directly attributable to pit crew members not as good as those on the big teams, as well as the latest pit equipment. That's why Kurt could not win in the #78 car, despite it being one of the best cars that season. We must also remember that, just as racefangurl mentioned in post #450, the one race the #78 team won came because of a pit stop they did not make, their victory with Regan Smith in the 2011 Southern 500. They were running well, but the decision not to pit won them a race they had not led all race long. That's the one and only way I see the #78 team winning, short of a win at Daytona or Talladega, where just about anyone can win. On the other hand, A.J. Allmendinger will be in a position at the two road course events he has never been in during his entire Sprint Cup career, which dates back to 2007, and that is being the prohibitive favorite to win. With Juan Montoya in IndyCar and Marcos Ambrose now back in Australia, there may not be a bigger favorite to win a race this year than Allmendinger at the two road course events. The surprise is that, as well as he's running, he could actually pull off a win on an oval track, something neither Montoya or Ambrose could do (though Montoya came about as close as a driver could on numerous occasions). Even Kevin Harvick, who has to be THE favorite going into the race at Phoenix, would not be as big a favorite this week as Allmendinger figures to be at the road course events. And since Martinsville has road course characteristics to it, don't be surprised if Allmendinger contends for a win there. However, it looks like Truex and Allmendinger are going to be there all season long, because by the looks of it, they're not going anywhere, as far as the running order goes. But that brings up something else. With the engine changes that have been made, one of the makes was bound to gain an advantage, and that make appears to be Chevrolet. Any time a change that dramatic is made, especially one involving the engine, it tends to favor one brand over the others. Except for token appearances by JGR and the strong runs by Joey Logano, this season has seen nothing but bowties up front during the first three races, and I don't think that's an accident. It just might be that the change NASCAR made to the engines favors the Chevrolet engines more than it does the Toyotas and the Fords. Sure, there are far more Chevrolet teams than there are Ford and Toyota teams, and the numbers also favor Chevrolet, but for Ford and Toyota to almost universally be off the pace, some by a little and others, such as Roush, by a lot, leads me to believe that the changes NASCAR has made may have tilted the playing field in the favor of Chevrolet. However, I think this next race may be the first race where the engine changes may not mean as much, because Phoenix is more of a handling track, which means that the other makes may be more competitive than they have been in the first three races. 452. Anonymous posted: 03.10.2015 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^Didn't stop Regan Smith 453. joey2448 posted: 03.10.2015 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Also, all the cars look excactly the same, so they have equal aerodynamics." Really? They do? Are you sure about that? Go ahead and take a look at the noses of the car before responding back. 454. racefangurl posted: 03.10.2015 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 452, cjs and me mentioned Regan Smith and how he won that Darlington race. Cjs said of Smith he won by not pitting. 455. Eric posted: 03.10.2015 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) CJS3872 also failed to the mention that the decline of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch being gone for who knows how long also makes A.J. Allmendinger a favorite. I mentioned Kyle Busch because Kyle won 3 Road Curse races in his cup career and Tony Stewart won 7 Road course races in his cup career. 456. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 03.10.2015 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Really? They do? Are you sure about that? Go ahead and take a look at the noses of the car before responding back." This. Also in terms of aero numbers, each is auto. manu is different. But not by much. 457. cjs3872 posted: 03.10.2015 - 10:17 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) That's only part of why he won that race, racefangurl. That decision not to pit was what put him in position to win, but from there, he drove his "you-know-what" off, holding off Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne, in much faster cars, to pull off that victory. On a completely different point, does anyone else find it a little disturbing that the team of Justin Allgaier was fined $25,000 for the weight that accidentally came off, while Paul Wolfe, the crew chief for Brad Keselowski, got no penalty at all, aside for probation for the rest of the season (and we all know that means nothing) for an INTENTIONAL act to flare out the fenders prior to qualifying this past weekend. I have no problem with the penalty to the #51 team, though I do think it probably should have been a lower fine (maybe $15,000 instead of $25,000), but not to penalize the #2 team for an obvious attempt to break the rules to gain an advantage? C'mon, NASCAR. And Wolfe has been caught cheating before. Does a little incident involving BOTH Penske cars at Texas a couple of years ago ring a bell? In my mind, Wolfe should have been hit with at least the same penalty as the crew chief for the #51 car got hit with, if not a bigger penalty (perhaps as much as double what the crew chief of the #51 car got), if for no other reason, because of intent. The #51 team may not have intended to be in infringement of the rules because of the weight that fell off, but the #2 team clearly intended to gain an advantage by violating a rule NASCAR put in place because of what they and HMS were doing last year. Often times, intent can not be judged, but what the Penske team did was a clear case of intending to get an advantage. These inconsistent rulings continues what has, so far, been a terrible year for NASCAR across the board. 458. cjs3872 posted: 03.10.2015 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eric (#455), it wouldn't matter if Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch were at the top of their game, or in the state they're in now, with Juan Montoya and Marcos Ambrose now gone, A.J. Allmendinger is as prohibitive a favorite for the two road course events as any driver is for any race this season, including Kevin Harvick for this coming weekend's race at Phoenix. Now, Kyle Busch's absence certainly shuffles the deck at Fontana, since he's won then last two races there, as it does at Bristol, where he has five victories, but for the two road course events, A.J. Allmendinger's the prohibitive favorite against anyone else in NASCAR's top series, even at the top of their respective games. Of the drivers currently on the Cup circuit, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in their primes would be the only drivers that I would even consider picking ahead of Allmendinger on the road courses, and even then I would give Allmendinger a very good chance to win. 459. Anonymous posted: 03.11.2015 - 5:23 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Penske? Cheating? Would never happen. Must be NASCAR trying to deflect attention away from Hendrick... 460. cjs3872 posted: 03.11.2015 - 11:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well @459, Penske's always been known to push the envelope, which is one reason why he's the most successful car owner in the history of American racing. After all, it was he, along with McLaren that brought wings to IndyCar racing in 1971, which forced USAC to allow bolt-on wings beginning in 1972. And his run-ins with rules officials, in terms of technical violations, go back almost as far. His first major run-in with the rulebooks of racing actually came in NASCAR, as far as I know. In the 1974 season finale at the Ontario Motor Speedway, which Bobby Allison won in Penske's AMC Matador, the car was found to have illegal roller tappets after the race. Allison and Penske were allowed to keep the win, but NASCAR fined the team $9,100, a big fine in those days, and an amount that came to the mind of Bill France, Jr. when he saw an airplane that had "9100" in it's ID lettering. So Penske's been pushing the rulebooks for more than 40 years, and while it's resulted in the greatest list of accomplishments by a car owner in the history of the sport, it has also led to violations of the rules, and sanctions from various sanctioning bodies (NASCAR, F1/FIA, USAC, CART, IndyCar, etc.) as a result. 461. Scott B posted: 03.11.2015 - 12:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm actually OK with this week's penalties. 3 races into a 36 week season, the threat of losing Paul Wolfe to a suspension for any further violations will hurt the #2 team more than Penske having to write a check for $25,000. That's a long time to stay clean of any more violations. As far as the #51, weight violations are one of those things like doctored fuel or tires that NASCAR doesn't give much slack on, because of the long history of teams scheming ways to deliberately shed weight off the cars. I don't think what happened this week with the #51 was premeditated, but running light would still be an advantage, so the fine is fair as far as I'm concerned. 462. The Long Shot posted: 03.11.2015 - 12:13 pm Rate this comment: (11) (8) Kurt Busch has been reinstated by NASCAR. He has been granted a waiver for the three races he missed and will remain Chase eligible. *cue facepalm of epic proportions* 463. Scott B posted: 03.11.2015 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) And cue the social media meltdown in three, two, one, go! 464. Scott B posted: 03.11.2015 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Stewart-Haas is already saying Kurt will race at Phoenix. Haven't heard any statement from GM/Chevrolet. 465. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 03.11.2015 - 1:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And cue the social media meltdown in three, two, one, go!" I'm already in my fallout shelter with my helmet and body armor on. :-P 466. ch posted: 03.11.2015 - 1:30 pm Rate this comment: (1) (8) I applaud NASCAR on doing the right thing (even though it's one race too late). This is now behind us, and I'm not going to say a single more sentence about it. 467. David posted: 03.11.2015 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "Haven't heard any statement from GM/Chevrolet." The suspension has been lifted. Kurt will race on Sunday. 468. racefangurl posted: 03.11.2015 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Prohibitive favorite sounds to me like no one else can win, unless the prohibitive favorite has trouble. Like no one other than Harvick has a strong chance to win Phoenix unless Harvick has an ill handling car or DNF's. I'm in a NASCAR fantasy league this year and Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin are ranked above Harvick, in the league's points per race at Phoenix. 469. cjs3872 posted: 03.11.2015 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (8) (7) The problem I have, Scott B, is that the penalty to Paul Wolfe wasn't stiffer, because probation itself is not nearly enough for an intentional act to go around the rules NASCAR placed because of what the team you work for was doing And as we know, probation usually means very little, if anything, even if it's violated again. What NASCAR should have done to Wolfe is issued a fine equal to that given to Steve Addington, the crew chief of the #51 car, if not more, plus the probation they issued. I'm okay with the penalty handed to the #51 team. And as for the reinstatement of Kurt Busch, how long will NASCAR's utter incompetence continue? He should have been sat down for at least half the season, if not the entire season (or more), and he should not be Chase-eligible, under any circumstances. This was Kurt's THIRD suspension (for a grand total of six races), and the fact that it lasted only three races only guarantees that he's going to have more and more behavioral issues. Forget what the suspension was for this time, and focus on the fact that his behavior is a habitual problem, because his behavior is not going to change until the sanctions get heavier. Maybe if the team owners and sponsors blackball him from the sport by not offering him any rides and/or sponsorship, he'll get the message, because NASCAR continues to send him and the other drivers the wrong message about their behavior by letting them get off so easy. 470. murb posted: 03.11.2015 - 3:33 pm Rate this comment: (2) (6) Given the situation they were in, I think Nascar did the best job they could have. They suspended him to cover themselves from the inevitable media shit-storm that would have happened had they let him race when all the stuff was going down, and now that it's all completely over, they're letting him back (AND granting him a Chase waiver, which essentially means he didn't miss any races at all - I'm actually really surprised they did that for him). So at this point, I don't think there's any reason for anyone to still be mad about this. Everyone pretty much got what they wanted. The people who didn't want him racing got to see him sit out a couple weeks, and the people who were completely outraged at Nascar's decision to suspend him without criminal charges (people who, in my opinion are still totally in denial if they don't think they would have done the same exact thing if they were in Nascar's situation, but whatever) get to see him come back with essentially zero consequences to his racing season. So overall, I think it all worked out about as best as it could have. I REALLY, REALLY hope Kurt continues to get help after this and FINALLY ends up learning bettering himself mentally, but all in all, there's not really much else anyone could ask for. Hopefully it's all behind us now. 471. Anonymous posted: 03.11.2015 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (3) (2) NASCAR lost A LOT of credibility today. How can you suspend a guy and then give him a waiver for the races he was suspended from? They pretty much rendered the suspension meaningless, which isn't really all that surprising giving their history of punishing (rather, NOT punishing) the "star" drivers (don't know why anyone would voluntarily choose to be a fan of Kurt's, but whatever). NASCAR's leadership is filled with paper tigers. They'll fine a guy just struggling to make ends meet $200,000 for his engine being a fraction of an inch too big, but when one of their champions embarrasses them repetitively on a national stage, they give him a slap on the wrist and then cover it up like it never happened. Kurt will make a big mistake big again; you know it, I know it, and NASCAR knows it. But they'll just bend over and take the embarrassment he brings. 472. Schroeder51 posted: 03.11.2015 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I wonder how many people who called for NASCAR to reinstate Kurt as soon as he got suspended are now crying foul and saying they should have kept him suspended? 473. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 03.11.2015 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I wonder how many people who called for NASCAR to reinstate Kurt as soon as he got suspended are now crying foul and saying they should have kept him suspended?" I can not handle that type of math but A+B=A lot of f***ing people. 474. The Long Shot posted: 03.11.2015 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (10) (14) I just can't believe so many people are actually supporting Kurt throughout all this. Whether or not you think he did it is up to you (I'm of the "unsure" type myself), but Kurt has done precisely zilch throughout this whole case to win anyone's support. If anything, he should have turned people away with his weird-ass "trained assassin" story, or at the very least more people should have banged on the drum to get him professional help (which evidently he's not going to get). It's just baffling to me. Whatever. I'm sick of this whole situation, but mostly I'm just sick of Kurt Busch. For years now this guy's attitude has been in major question. He's blown up at reporters, his crew, his owner, fans, everyone you can think of. His mouth has gotten him dumped from two top-tier teams throughout his career. He's been suspended three times by NASCAR. And still nothing's changed. He's the same ass he's always been. And then this situation comes up and he has to go into court, and he acts like a complete nutjob. Yet he's more focused on getting back to racing than he is on getting the help he clearly needs (as are the people around him, I'm sure). So that's it for me. Until Kurt leaves racing and actually tries to better/help himself as a person, he's nothing but a piece of trash in my eyes. That's my stance on him; feel free to disagree with it however much you will. 475. The Incredible Mister the Man posted: 03.11.2015 - 8:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (12) Feminazis and chauvenazis abounding here. SMDH 476. racefangurl posted: 03.11.2015 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I don't like Kurt Busch, so I'll abstain from taking a side. I will say he should have gotten what he deserved, though, whatever that is. 477. The Long Shot posted: 03.11.2015 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (13) (8) "Feminazis and chauvenazis abounding here. SMDH" My final comment relating to this subject, and then I will drop it: if you attach the suffix "nazi" to anything that does not involve the heartless slaughter of millions of people, you lose all credibility. No matter what. Thank you, and have a nice evening. 478. Anonymous posted: 03.11.2015 - 9:36 pm Rate this comment: (6) (7) Whoever gave 477 thumbs down is simply incapable of accepting the truth. 479. Hinch5 posted: 03.12.2015 - 5:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (5) "My final comment relating to this subject, and then I will drop it: if you attach the suffix "nazi" to anything that does not involve the heartless slaughter of millions of people, you lose all credibility. No matter what. Thank you, and have a nice evening. " "Feminazi" is a really ugly word that people use to describe extreme feminists (y'know, like the one that stripped nude in the Vatican on Christmas?). 480. Hinch5 posted: 03.12.2015 - 5:15 am Rate this comment: (2) (6) There is a very difficult aspect to the whole Kurt Busch story: in a court of law, one cannot use past cases to prosecute the current case; but in the public eye, the past cases show a pattern of behavior. Which is frustrating for so sides because the whole point of psychology is to examine patterns of behavior in cases like Kurt's. 481. Hinch5 posted: 03.12.2015 - 5:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (8) And to conclude my remarks on the subject, I have actually seen people on internet forums go so far as to suggest that NASCAR may have been egging both sides on throughout the ordeal just to get NASCAR in the news. 482. The Long Shot posted: 03.12.2015 - 9:48 am Rate this comment: (6) (0) ""Feminazi" is a really ugly word that people use to describe extreme feminists (y'know, like the one that stripped nude in the Vatican on Christmas?)." Yeah, I know what the word means. I've seen it used on message boards all the time; the thing is that it's often used as a generalization towards all feminists being extreme. I can say from identifying as one myself (a realization that I only came to about a year or so ago) and from knowing a fair number of them in my personal life, that the vast majority of them are not the man-haters they're made out to be by some people. (But that's a whole other discussion for another time.) Your example also helps further my point: how is stripping nude in the Vatican comparable whatsoever to the attempted extermination of an entire race? Completely agree with your post #480, by the way. 483. Hinch5 posted: 03.12.2015 - 9:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (8) "Your example also helps further my point: how is stripping nude in the Vatican comparable whatsoever to the attempted extermination of an entire race?" The logic is that such people will go to any means to exalt women. Such women as in my example are the extreme side of the already extreme and a small minority in feminism. Such are the ones you see on the web speaking vicious hatred of men in general. I've heard of women aborting male babies just because they wanted to be able to say "I murdered a male." THAT is a feminazi. The internet generalization comes from the mouths of the same type of people who post "It's Bush/Obama's fault." 484. cjs3872 posted: 03.12.2015 - 11:02 am Rate this comment: (12) (8) Well, as far as the Kurt Busch situation is concerned, there are a number of hypocrites on that, which includes NASCAR, Chevrolet, and even SHR. I'm not one of them. I've said from the start that, once they suspended him, he should have stayed suspended for at least half the season, if not the entire season. The problem, in my estimation, is not what he was suspended for in this particular case, but rather the totality of what he's done over his career, since he was suspended by his own team for the final two races of the 2005 season, which I count as his first suspension In the nearly ten years that have followed, he's done almost too many things to list, including his attitude toward other drivers, reporters, teams that he's raced for, and stuff away from the racetrack. That is why he's been suspended three times, and why he should have stayed suspended until at least July on this occasion. As The Long Shot mentioned in post #474, does anyone really think his behavior is going to change as a result of this latest suspension? If anything, it's liable to get worse because of the fact that he only had to sit out three races AND NASCAR made him Chase-eligible, because they may have emboldened him. NASCAR, as well as his team and Chevrolet had a chance to set an example of him for all the rest of the competitors across all of NASCAR, and they a failed miserably, mainly because the leadership, if you can call it that, seems to be under the thumb of the auto manufacturers (Chevrolet, in this case) and the sponsors. Just when we all thought NASCAR that actually made a good decision on something like this, they turn around and show that those in charge are royal screw-ups. 485. racefangurl posted: 03.12.2015 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The people that say Kurt Busch should've been suspended until July, do you think Regan Smith should've remained in the seat all that time? 486. Scott B posted: 03.12.2015 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #29 RAB racing entry now withdrawn from Phoenix entry list. 487. WinstonCup4Ever posted: 03.12.2015 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (2) (4) Just thumb down this comment AND I MEAN REALLY!!! The point I'll be proving will be that this controversy with Kurt and Patrica has gotten to a point where just about everyone who offers an opinion on this situation has or will be scene negatively. Regardless if you think Kurt was innocent or not. Again, THUMB DOWN, DON'T THUMB UP. 488. Hinch5 posted: 03.12.2015 - 6:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (6) ^Come again? 489. Quasar posted: 03.12.2015 - 7:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 485. Yes, he was fast at Vegas, probably had a Top10 going before the speeding penality. He didn't do all that well at Atlanta but still got a Top20 out of it with damage and a new crew chief (on a real track). 490. cjs3872 posted: 03.12.2015 - 7:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Not if his performance didn't improve, racefangurl. I said all along that, even if Busch hadn't been reinstated, Smith was likely going to be short-lived in that car if his performance didn't get better, and although it improved from dreadful to respectable at Las Vegas, he still needed to run better if he was going to stay in that car long-term. So if I were to give Smith a grade for how he fared in that car, I'd give him a C- or D+, at best, meaning if it was an audition for future hires by a top-tier organization, including possibly SHR for the 10 or 14 cars down the road, he did not do himself any favors. And with Tony Stewart looking like Darrell Waltrip did in the last five years of his career, and with Danica not likely to ever be better than mediocre, at best, there are still two seats at SHR that may need to be filled in the future, three if Kurt screws up again, which is bound to happen, they're going to be looking for possible replacements, and Smith didn't help his cause one bit. But this speaks to something Greg Biffle has been saying for some time, as does the situation at JGR's #18 car, and that is a lack of quality drivers for the number of quality rides available. When teams expanded around 10-15 years ago, there were almost more quality drivers than there were quality cars, but now, there are more quality cars than there are quality drivers, and perhaps no organization personifies this more than SHR does. They have four cars, but if Tony never gets near what he was, even two years ago before his sprint car accident that has required at least five surgeries that we know of, and if (and/or when) Kurt relapses, he could have as many as three quality cars without drivers of similar capabilities. JGR's driver development program can now officially be considered a bust, and while Jack Roush seems to be faring better at developing drivers, his cars are another story, and I wonder just how much longer he'll tolerate running this bad before he sells his team and leaves the sport. 491. murb posted: 03.12.2015 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Jack Roush seems to be faring better at developing drivers, his cars are another story, and I wonder just how much longer he'll tolerate running this bad before he sells his team and leaves the sport." I've been thinking about this a lot lately (I'm a big fan of both Bubba and Chris Buescher, two of their future Cup prospects obviously - so their continued ineptitude with these Cup cars is starting to mildly concern me), and I had a thought. First of all, I agree with you. Roush really doesn't seem like the type that would want to suffer through pathetic results like this for very long, especially at his current age. He obviously has plenty of other non-racing things to do, so I don't think it would be that unreasonable for him to walk away relatively soon. So, with this in mind, I can't help but wonder: Could Roush have promised Greg Biffle some type of HMS/Gordon type of post-driving managerial role or something of that nature when he resigned him last year? It might seem a little far fetched at first thought, but after thinking about it more and more it's been something that I think makes a lot of sense. Biffle apparently (or at least, it seemed this way) was very close to leaving last year along with Carl Edwards (people were acting like him going to a third MWR car was a done deal), but then Biffle kind of quickly resigned back with Roush for another multi-year deal. I'm sure a lot of that was Greg just being loyal, but after seeing the way it sort of quietly went down like that, I just can't help but think some other things were maybe promised there. So I don't know. I'm just starting to wonder if maybe Roush's mediocre-ness right now (to put it kindly) could maybe be contributed to him putting all his effort into lining up a regime to succeed him in few years. In addition to resigning Biffle (who I really only see driving for maybe five more years at the most), he's also got Jimmy Fennig back working in a shop role along with Robbie Reiser now, as well as Bob Osbourne back as his lead crew chief. So maybe Roush really is starting to line things up for his exit at some point down the line, and maybe THAT's why they are just so pathetic right now and weirdly don't seem to be doing much to fix it (they did make a lot of personnel changes in the off-season, but knowing Roush's history, I feel like he REALLY would be shaking things up right about now after seeing that they seem to be even worse than they were last year). I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that team over the next couple years. I agree with you overall though. I can't imagine him tolerating his teams running like this for much longer. 492. racefangurl posted: 03.12.2015 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Some people say Roush's problem's his drivers, other say the cars. I know his drivers have done better. Greg Biffle has minor league championships and has won Cup races in Roush cars, when they were handling better. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has 2 Nationwide/Xfinity championships and he and Trevor Bayne won races in that series. Trevor's also a Daytona 500 winner and got a top-10 at Vegas a few years ago, when Roush cars had better handling. Ok, that was with the Wood Brothers, but the car came from Roush. I know the Roushskateers are better than this. 493. Eric posted: 03.12.2015 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) racefangurl, There is a problem with Biffle and it is very common one. Biffle is 45 years old and this is something equipment can't change. Usually cup drivers around 45 to 46 years old are on the decline from a talent standpoint. Mark Martin was not the rule of thumb. Take a look at Jeff Burton. Jeff Burton in 2011 just plain lost it from a competitive standpoint when he was almost 44 years despite winning a Daytona duel race that year. Jeff Burton was a very good cup driver in his prime, but his decline came without warning and not getting a top 10 before Watkin's Glen in 2011 was a shock due. It is very possible that is what is happening with Biffle this year would have happened even without the equipment issues. The other thing is Tony Stewart back in 2013 before he broke his leg was declining as a driver that year at the age of 42. While Tony won at Dover, his season was bad before that point to an extent that wasn't seen before. 494. cjs3872 posted: 03.13.2015 - 12:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eric, in the case of Tony Stewart, we have to remember that his performance started to go downhill in the summer of 2012 when crew chief Steve Addington's input was inserted into the cars. Remember that Stewart had won at Las Vegas and Fontana and looked like the driver that had dominated the 2011 Chase, but after the win at Fontana, his performance took a sudden nosedive when the input of Darian Grubb and HMS left and Steve Addington's input came into the cars. That's the exact point where Tony began to struggle, and he was only beginning to return to form when his sprint car crash took place, resulting in the five surgeries and loss of competitiveness that I seemed to severely underestimate. But the downward spiral actually began in 2012 when Steve Addington's input into the cars became apparent. And as for Greg Biffle, I actually think he's doing a very good job, given what he has to work with. After all, he has two top 15 finishes and sits just outside the top ten in points at 11th. As slow as the Roush cars are, Biffle's doing an outstanding job, and now they're heading to a track where he can actually show what he can do a little better, since aero and horsepower are not as important. Sure, at the age of 45, Biffle's best days are WAY behind him, and in this era, a 45-year old driver is more like a 52 or 53-year old driver was 20 years ago when drivers of that age were contending for victories on a regular basis, but he's better than his equipment, and he could very easily point his way into the Chase. Remember that there might not be the volume of winners this year that we had last year, so more drivers might get into the chase via points, and Biffle might be one of those drivers that sneaks in on points. One thing older drivers tend to lose is their aggressiveness, but I don't see that in Biffle at this point. He just doesn't have the car he needs to run up front like I believe he still can. And speaking of Roush, Trevor Bayne's doing exactly what I expected him to do, hanging around the 20th spot in points (he's 24th now), though Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. continues to disappoint, as he's currently 32nd in points, and could see his ride go by the wayside if he continues on this arc, not that losing the ride in the #17 car would be a bad thing for his career. In fact, it might be the best thing for him to lose that ride, because he might have a better chance to succeed elsewhere. However, I'm not sure that Bob Osborne is Roush's LEAD crew chief, even though he's now the crew chief of what's historically been the flagship car at Roush, the #6. Remember that when Bayne tried to qualify at Charlotte last year with Osborne as his crew chief, they recorded a DNQ, and struggled to make the last two races on time, so I think there may be a chemistry issue there between Bayne and Osborne. 495. The Long Shot posted: 03.13.2015 - 1:31 am Rate this comment: (1) (6) For the life of me I can't tell whether we have a thumbs-up/down troll in our midst or whether our comments over the last day or so have really been that polarizing. 496. Hinch5 posted: 03.13.2015 - 5:24 am Rate this comment: (1) (6) Well, given that I'll make a post, and it'll have 8 (almost always 8, too, which is fishy) thumbs down less than an hour after having 0, I'd agree with The Incredible Mister the Man and say that someone who has a beef is writing a code to target certain people's posts. I think that's what happened to NASCAR Lead Lap Point's post #1 and cjs' post #484 497. racefangurl posted: 03.13.2015 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Biffle is an old guy, but with the younger ones, it's what they have to work with, perhaps, whether it's cars or crew chief chemistry that's off. In the Nationwide/Xfinity series, Ricky was the better driver of Ricky and Trevor. Now that they're both full-time in the Cup, Trevor's higher in points than Ricky, at the moment. Ricky wrecked at Atlanta, so it is skewed. Though I admit Trevor was just ahead of Ricky at Vegas, Ricky has been passed under green more times than Trevor. They were the reverse of this at Daytona, but they were involved in a wreck at the end. Time will tell. I can't judge the younger ones yet. Maybe when Roush starts running 2015 cars, the truth will be revealed. Like is Ricky AAAA or just suffering from bad cars? We need to remember how the younger Roushskateers performed when Roush cars handled better. Trevor has handling problems, at least part of the race, every time this year. Ricky has had handling issues, too, this year. 498. Anonymous posted: 03.13.2015 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (5) "Well, given that I'll make a post, and it'll have 8 (almost always 8, too, which is fishy) thumbs down less than an hour after having 0, I'd agree with The Incredible Mister the Man and say that someone who has a beef is writing a code to target certain people's posts. I think that's what happened to NASCAR Lead Lap Point's post #1 and cjs' post #484" In the space of 7 minutes, this post went from no thumbs down to 5 thumbs down, and TLS's went to 4. It's a bot/script. 499. Hinch5 posted: 03.13.2015 - 7:53 pm Rate this comment: (1) (4) #498 was me. I thought I had put my name in, but I guess not. 500. 88&4Fan posted: 10.19.2015 - 8:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) After this race, Kevin Harvick put on a #41 hat in victory lane as a nod to Kurt Busch who at the time was being wrongly suspended for a crime that he did not commit. Things like this are why I like Harvick so much, he is never afraid to say or do things that NASCAR may not necessarily approve of and he knows the risks but speaks out anyway, unlike many drivers who have no personality and will do whatever NASCAR wants them to. 501. Big King Fan posted: 12.03.2015 - 4:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Top ten If race ended halfway: 1. Joey Logano, finished 10th 2. Brad Keselowski , finished 7th 3. Carl Edwards, finished 42nd 4. Jamie McMurray, finished 11th 5. Kevin Harvick, finished 1st 6. Kasey Kahne, finished 17th 7. Aric Almirola, finished 26th 8. Martin Truex Jr., finished 2nd 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished 4th 10. Paul Menard, finished 12th Win count: Logano-1 Harvick-1 Gordon-1 502. Braindead Zombie posted: 06.20.2016 - 11:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Two Poles and 1 win left for Gordon" This comment ended up being spot on, assuming his pole in this race doesn't count. 503. {}{}{}{}{} posted: 09.02.2017 - 2:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @1 and @502 Crazy that comment was accurate lol 504. Rich posted: 09.25.2020 - 11:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Matt Yocum, Chris Neville and Jamie Little were the pit road reporters. 505. Rich posted: 11.28.2020 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Matt Yocum, Jamie Little and Chris Neville were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Michael Waltrip were in the Hollywood hotel. 506. Rich posted: 12.08.2020 - 9:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joining the race coverage were Andy Petree as the in-race analyst as well as Chris Myers and Michael Waltrip in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: