|| *Comments on the 2017 Quaker State 400:* View the most recent comment <#217> | Post a comment <#post> 1. StenhouseFan17 posted: 07.04.2017 - 9:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #66 will be Timmy Hill. #15 should be Gray Gaulding. Unless they stick him in the #55. 2. StenhouseFan17 posted: 07.04.2017 - 9:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #23 will be Joey Gase. 3. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.04.2017 - 10:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm gonna say Gray gets the 15 since that is the team's chartered car 4. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.04.2017 - 11:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael McDowell comes of a 4th place finish at Daytona and is hoping to improve his best finish here being 38th 5. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.05.2017 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The sponsor on the 15 is a pretty accurate description of Premium. 6. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.05.2017 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Any guesses on driver of the #51? (Assuming they don't withdraw) 7. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.05.2017 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe we'll see the return of Norm Benning after 24 years 8. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 07.05.2017 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Any guesses on driver of the #51?" I'm guessing it will be Timmy Hill, barring anything big happening. 9. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.05.2017 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Timmy is supposed to be in the 66 for Long/MBM 10. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 07.05.2017 - 10:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Timmy is supposed to be in the 66 for Long/MBM" I guess the entry list hasn't been updated yet then. In that case, I have no clue whatsoever. Maybe they'll withdraw? They did that last week with no driver on the entry list. 11. dooper posted: 07.06.2017 - 7:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #7: Honestly wouldn't mind it if Norm was in the 51 this weekend but it's doubtful. Who knows 12. Canadianfan posted: 07.06.2017 - 8:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) From TheOrangeCone. "Hearing a current powerhouse four-car team may be reduced to three cars in 2018." He said it is most likely not SHR and he does not say if it is or isn't a Cup team. So HMS, JGR, JRM, RCR (Xfinity), ThorSport are all the possibilities. 13. Danish Pie posted: 07.06.2017 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, it's confirmed Timmy Hill in the 66. (Carl Long's Facebook) I have an feeling that Stanton Barrett could drive the 51 this week. He's been in the Rick Ware Xfinity stable off and on over the last several years, and he was one of the drivers Rick Ware announced could run for this team back in February. (Along with Timmy Hill, Cody Ware, and Kevin O'Connell) Don't know why Ware stopped putting Timmy in the 51. He hasn't run it since Charlotte. RWR seems intent on putting Cody Ware in the car, keeping it all in the family I guess. (Excluding Bilicki at the road courses) Its really anyones guess of who they put in, or even if they withdraw like they did at Michigan. 14. JR-TV posted: 07.06.2017 - 9:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm really worried the #51 will withdraw like they did at Michigan because Cody Ware can't run. I really hope I'm wrong and they'll put somebody(anybody!) in the #51 for the race. J.J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek or even Morgan Shepherd are cup veterans that are already in Kentucky for the xfinity and truck races. They would be good choices to keep the car clean. 15. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.06.2017 - 10:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'd like to see a Cup return for Front Row Joe, but I don't think the 51 is the right car. Premium should lone Cope since he's always at the track working on the 15 and 55, and his car is taken this week. 16. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.06.2017 - 10:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) We barely get full fields so it sucks to see a team possibly withdraw when we could end up having a full field. :( 17. JR-TV posted: 07.06.2017 - 11:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 15, If not the #51 what car for Joe? But Cope would be a good choice as well. 18. possum posted: 07.06.2017 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @14 - Sheperd was a good journeyman driver back in the day - I can recall him winning Atlanta, a track he always ran well at, for the Wood Bros - but his time is long past. His last Cup race he was being lapped every 8 laps under green, he was so much slower than the leaders. He'd be nothing but a hazard, a rolling roadblock, if someone put him in a Cup car now. There are plenty of young guys who'd benefit from a chance at a Cup ride. 19. Tide1732 posted: 07.06.2017 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Top 10 best drivers to never visit the victory lane in NASCAR Cup series 1 Rick Mast 2 Mike Skinner 3 Joe Ruttman 4 Kenny Irwin Jr. 5 Dick Trickle 6 Buddy Arrington 7 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 8 Kenny Wallace 9 Hut Stricklin 10 David Gilliand 20. JSPorts posted: 07.06.2017 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Top 10 to never win: 1. G.C. Spencer 2. Jimmie Lewallen 3. Neil Castles 4. Tommy Irwin 5. Ted Musgrave 6. John Sears 7. Joe Ruttman 8. Chase Elliott 9. Don White 10. Kenny Wallace Rick Mast, who you list as #1, only finished 2nd one time in his career. G.C. Spencer, on the other hand, finished 2nd 7 times and had 55 top 5s in his career, compared to Mast's 7. He also had a 4th place finish in points. 21. cba2442 posted: 07.07.2017 - 12:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently,B.J. McLeod will be in the 51 this weekend. 22. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.07.2017 - 1:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @21 Where'd you hear this? 23. JR-TV posted: 07.07.2017 - 9:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^It's true. B.J. McLeod will be in the #51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet for his second career cup start. 24. JSPorts posted: 07.07.2017 - 9:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some 1.5-mile stats from 4 races so far this year: Martin Truex, Jr.: 2 wins, 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s Austin Dillon: 1 win, 1 top 5, 1 top 10 Jimmie Johnson: 1 win, 1 top 5, 1 top 10 Brad Keselowski: 2 top 5s, 3 top 10s Kevin Harvick: 2 top 5s, 3 top 10s Kyle Larson: 2 top 5s, 3 top 10s Joey Logano: 2 top 5s, 2 top 10s Kyle Busch: 2 top 5s, 2 top 10s Chase Elliott: 1 top 5, 2 top 10s Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: 1 top 5, 2 top 10s Denny Hamlin: 1 top 5, 2 top 10s Matt Kenseth: 1 top 5, 2 top 10s Ryan Blaney: 1 top 5, 2 top 10s Jamie McMurray: 3 top 10s Clint Bowyer: 2 top 10s Kurt Busch: 2 top 10s Daniel Suarez: 1 top 10 Erik Jones: 1 top 10 Ryan Newman: 1 top 10 Trevor Bayne: 1 top 10 These 20 drivers have all scored top 10 finishes at 1.5-mile tracks this year. These 20 will most likely make up most of the top 20 on Saturday night. This is important as it is the last 1.5-mile race before the playoffs, which features five 1.5-mile tracks. 25. RaceFanX posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Former Cup champion Matt Kenseth dropped a bombshell when he told the world he did not expect to be in Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2018 season the day before this race. 26. most1305 posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) If Kahne leaves HMS, I see Bowman in one car and Kenseth on a 1-2 year deal keeping the seat for Byron. I don't think HMS is as sold on Bowman as everyone thinks though, probably delaying to name a driver to see if he or someone has some sponsorship to bring. So I think Bowman could be more hinging on Kahne leaving vs. Jr's seat. So ideally lets say Bowman to the 5, Kenseth to the 25 (was 88), Kahne to the new GMS ride. I also haven't given up on my scenario that is crazy where Kahne goes to GMS and Johnny Sauter comes to HMS to fill in for 1 year until they bring Byron up. That's a crazy idea though. 27. JSPorts posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) So that essentially guarantees Erik Jones in the 20 car next year. Kenseth could slide to the 77 team, go to HMS, or retire. I see Hendrick as the most likely possibility, though I don't think it would be a good move for the organization (signing someone who is 2 years older than Dale, who is already retiring). I'm still 50-50 on whether or not I believe Kasey Kahne will remain in the 5 car. Byron seems like he would be the only possible replacement there, because he has sponsors that the 5 car doesn't, though Kenseth could take that ride if he was able to put together enough sponsorship. For the 88, it will all depend on whether or not Nationwide re-signs. If they do, I expect Alex Bowman to be behind the wheel. If they don't, I expect it to be Kenseth. However, I still wouldn't rule out Ricky Stenhouse for that ride, if Nationwide re-signs or if they don't. That Sauter scenario you brought up is certainly interesting, though for Johnny's sake, I hope that doesn't happen. I'm afraid he would get dumped after 1 mediocre year in Cup, and then be out of a ride for good. He's at a point in his career where I believe he's perfectly comfortable competing for the title every year in the trucks. 28. Ultimate Warrior #18 posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Why is this surprising everyone knows the #20 was Erik Jones's ride when Gibbs was ready to put him in it. Second he might end up at Hendrick in the #88 or simply swapping over to the #77 to replace Jones. 29. JSPorts posted: 07.07.2017 - 11:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I never said I was surprised, I just said that Jones will drive that car next year. The 77 has an interesting sponsorship situation, because 5-hour cannot sponsor a car other than the 77 (their current contract) as long as Monster is the title sponsor of the series. So, if they decide to return, the 77 would already have sponsorship. Kenseth wouldn't have to bring much, if any, added money. 30. Corey posted: 07.07.2017 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What about retirement? He's 45, has been racing in Cup since 2000 and has a young family. 31. Stewart14rocks posted: 07.07.2017 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Alex bowman could posdibly go over to GMS cup operation in 2018, it is hendrick affilated 32. possum posted: 07.07.2017 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @30 - Kenseth has repeatedly said he doesn't feel ready to retire. As Ultimate Warrior said, this was obvious from way back, when Gibbs didn't automatically extend Kenseth's contract in the off-season. Furniture Row will definately run 2 cars next year, so Kenseth would be a good fit there. Hendrick doesn't seem so likely, unless it's setup from the start as a one or two year deal until Byron is ready. Flying under the radar a bit is the rumor of Penske expanding to 3 teams with Blaney, which would leave the Wood Bros open - I think Kenseth would be an excellent fit there. Speaking of 3 teams, I see Roush has announced they'll be 2 cars for sure next season, which means they'll need to play some games to keep their 3 charters...unless they've decided to be 2 cars forever, in which case they could let the 3rd charter go. The rumor still goes around about Patrick being out of the 10 car, sometimes coupled with SHR scaling back to 3 cars for sponsorship reasons. If that happened, would Patrick look for a new ride? Would anyone take a chance on her? No offense to Most1305, but Sauter's not Cup material. Best uncommitted driver in the lower ranks is Regan Smith. Most likely candidate for a ride is Bubba Wallace (because a sponsor could work a campaign around him outside the usual NASCAR audience). 33. Corey posted: 07.07.2017 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @32 Given his age, I'm throwing it out there as a possibility. If and when he gets a contract, it is going to be short term as he's more then likely going to retire within the next five years anyways. I just wouldn't dismiss the notion so easily. 34. RaceFanX posted: 07.07.2017 - 6:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica Patrick and the #10 team wheeled out a surprising sponsorship for this race as her orange Ford Fusion has split branding for Nature's Bakery and Feeding America. Nature's Bakery was Patrick's 2016 sponsor but the deal ended up terminated before the 2017 season began leading to a lawsuit amid payment concerns. Nature's Bakery agreed to sponsor Stewart-Haas again for four races in 2017 from here on out, sponsoring Patrick's car here and teammate Clint Bowyer in three later events, as part of the deal to settle the lawsuit. 35. Damon posted: 07.07.2017 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "The rumor still goes around about Patrick being out of the 10 car, sometimes coupled with SHR scaling back to 3 cars for sponsorship reasons. If that happened, would Patrick look for a new ride? Would anyone take a chance on her?" I think she would look just to see what's out there and then when she's there are little to no options available, she retires after Homestead. 36. Canadianfan posted: 07.07.2017 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is a must read. nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/07/07/podcast-whats-ahead-for-nascar-with-the-gen-7-car-splitter-overtime-line-debris-cautions-and-more/ Summary of potential changes: O'Donnell said NASCAR would be meeting with team owners in the next 10 days to begin working on the long-term strategy for the Gen 7 car, which could make its debut in the next two to four years. The overtime line likely would move from the backstretch to the start-finish line for overtime finishes next season. O'Donnell acknowledged a general dissatisfaction with the splitter, which has drawn negative reactions from drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. for causing extra damage on spins through the grass. Driver biometrics, a digital readout visible on cars that indicates their positions on track (a la the IMSA and IndyCar Series) and real-time speeds from the pit lane also should be available with the new model. The debut of a visor camera that was used at Sonoma by Danica Patrick and at Daytona by A.J. Allmendinger should become more widespread, with the whole field wearing them. O'Donnell said NASCAR might start its second and final stages under green rather than under yellow, counting the caution that divides the segments in the previous stage. 37. Anonymous posted: 07.07.2017 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Mostly shitty top-10 38. 42Fan posted: 07.07.2017 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) My 2018 Predictions: *1-Jamie McMurray, Chip Ganassi Racing *2-Brad Keselowski , Team Penske *3-Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing *4-Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing *5-Alex Bowman or Matt Kenseth, Hendrick Motorsports *6-Trevor Bayne, Roush-Fenway Racing 7-Multiple drivers, Tommy Baldwin Racing (Part-time) *10-Darrell Wallace Jr (R), Stewart-Haas Racing *11-Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing *13-Ty Dillon, Germain Racing *14-Clint Bowyer, Stewart-Haas Racing (*?)15-Multiple drivers, Premium Motorsports *17(16?)-Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Roush-Fenway Racing *18-Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing *19-Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing *20-Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing *21-Ryan Blaney, Wood Brothers Racing *22-Joey Logano, Team Penske *23-Kasey Kahne, GMS Racing (Leases charter from #33 CircleSport) *24-Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports *27-Paul Menard, Richard Childress Racing *31-Ryan Newman, Richard Childress Racing *32-Matt DiBenedetto, Go Fas Racing 33-Ryan Sieg (R), CircleSport (Leases charter to #23 GMS Racing) *34-Landon Cassil, Front Row Motorsports *35-TBA (Corey LaJoie or Danica Patrick?), Front Row Motorsports (Charter from current #72) *37-Chris Buescher, JTG Daugherty Racing *38-David Ragan, Front Row Motorsports *41-Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing *42-Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing *43-Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports *47-AJ Allmendinger, JTG Daugherty Racing *48-Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports 55-Multiple drivers, Premium Motorsports (Part-Time) 66-Carl Long, Carl Long Motorsports *77-Christopher Bell (R), Furniture Row Racing *78-Martin Truex Jr, Furniture Row Racing *83(Current #23)-Jeffery Earnhardt, BK Racing *88(17?,25?)-Matt Kenseth or Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports 93(Current #83)-TBA (Ross Chastain?), BK Racing (Unchartered) *95-Michael McDowell, Leavine Family Racing (*?)(Possible?)99-Ryan Reed, Roush-Fenway Racing (If runs, leases charter from #15 Premium Motorsports) *-Chartered team 39. Corey posted: 07.07.2017 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @38 Roush still has 3 charters. the 6, 17, and 37. JTG Daugherty is leasing it from them. Roush gets it back next year but I believe the rules prevent them from leasing it again. They can just outright sell it to the JTG though, which I see them doing as they already said they are running two cars next year. Richard Petty Motorsports also a second charter that is being leased to Go Fas Racing, so they will need to do something with that. Also I think its too early for Bell to be running Cup. I see him full time in Xfinity next year 40. 42Fan posted: 07.07.2017 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @39 I forgot about that 37 charter, mabye Roush uses that 37 charter for the 99 and JTG Daughty leases the 15 charter. Also, I believe that RPM might just outright sell their second charter to Go Fas. As for Bell, I think he would do the same thing Kurt Busch did in 2001. 41. JeffGordon24FanForever posted: 07.07.2017 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^You believe Bell is ready for Cup, that would be interesting 42. 42Fan posted: 07.07.2017 - 9:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @41 Sure, why not. It might start out rough, just like Kurt Busch's 2001 season, but he will eventually become a breakout star in 2019 (Kurt's 2002 season). Heck, he might even replace Denny or Kyle when they leave. 43. Sector posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Joe Gibbs will be a fool to let Kyle go. On a side note, Kyle ties his career best 3rd pole of the season. The previous two times he won 3 poles were in 2013 and 2014. 44. Sector posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad Keselowski had the similar start up to Kurt Busch. To say Bell would have a similar career path is unpredictable. He may win 3 wins just like Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson did, or 2 like Davey Allison or Denny Hamlin. You never know. 45. Danish Pie posted: 07.07.2017 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) My 2018 Predictions that I put WAY too much Time Into #1-Jamie McMurray - Chip Ganassi #2-Brad Keselowski - Penske #3-Austin Dillon - RCR #4-Kevin Harvick - Stewart-Haas #5-Kasey Kahne - Hendrick #6-Trevor Bayne - Roush *#7-MULTIPLE DRIVERS - TBR (Part-Time) #10-Danica Patrick - Stewart-Haas #11-Denny Hamlin - JGR #12-Ryan Blaney - Penske *#13-MULTIPLE DRIVERS - Germain #14-Clint Bowyer - Stewart-Haas #15-Reed Sorenson/MULTIPLE DRIVERS - Premium #16-Chris Buescher - Roush #17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - Roush #18-Kyle Busch - JGR #19-Daniel Suarez - JGR #20-Erik Jones - JGR #21-Darrell Wallace Jr. - Wood Brothers #22-Joey Logano - Penske #23-Paul Menard - GMS #24-Chase Elliott - Hendrick #25-Justin Allgaier - Hendrick #27-Ty Dillon - RCR *#30-Corey LaJoie/Ryan Sieg/MULTIPLE DRIVERS - The Motorsports Group #31-Ryan Newman - RCR #32-Matt DiBenedetto - Go FAS #33-Jeffrey Earnhardt - Circle Sport #34-Landon Cassill - Front Row #35-Dylan Lupton - Front Row *#37-Regan Smith - JTG Daugherty #38-David Ragan - Front Row #41-Kurt Busch - Stewart-Haas #42-Kyle Larson - Chip Ganassi #43-Aric Almirola - RPM #47-AJ Allmendinger - JTG Daugherty #48-Jimmie Johnson - Hendrick *#51-Cody Ware/MULTIPLE DRIVERS - Rick Ware *#55-MULTIPLE DRIVERS - Premium *#66-Timmy Hill/Carl Long/MULTIPLE DRIVERS - MBM (Part-Time) *#72-Cole Whitt - TriStar *#75-Brendan Gaughan - Beard (Part-Time) #77-Matt Kenseth - Furniture Row #78-Martin Truex Jr. - Furniture Row #95-Michael McDowell - Leavine Family *#96-Jeb Burton - Gaunt Brothers (Part-Time) *#99-Ryan Reed - Roush (Part-Time) [*Non-Chartered Team] â?ĒBK Racing shuts down after Indianapolis of this year. â?ĒPenske fields a third Cup team. â?ĒRoush fields a third Cup team, despite reports saying otherwise. â?ĒGMS Racing fields a Cup team. â?ĒFront Row fields a third Cup team as planned. â?ĒThe Motorsports Group goes back to fielding their own car after merging with Circle Sport for 2017. â?ĒDanica is given one more year to prove herself, and Kasey Kahne runs well enough in the second half of 2017 to stay in the #5 car. â?ĒRyan Blaney moves over to the third Penske car, leaving a void for the Wood Brothers. Bubba Wallace fills that void. â?ĒChris Buescher goes back to Roush after one year at JTG. He brings the #16 back to Cup. Daugherty replaces him with Cup veteran Regan Smith. â?ĒErik Jones and Matt Kenseth inevitably swap rides. â?ĒPaul Menard leaves RCR and moves over to the brand new GMS Racing #23, allowing Ty Dillon to officially joins his grandfathers team in the 27. With Ty gone, Germain uses many young drivers to run a full schedule. (Much like the #24 JGL car in Xfiniy now.) â?ĒDylan Lupton is given a shot in the 3rd Front Row Ford. â?ĒJustin Allgaier replaces Earnhardt, #88 is changed to #25. Alex Bowman replaces Allgaier in the #7 for Xfinity. â?ĒRyan Reed runs a handful of races in the #99, like he did at Fall Talladega last year. =Charter Moves for 2018= -Returned After Being Leased in 2017: #37-JTG Daugherty Racing returned to #16-Roush Fenway #21-Wood Brothers Racing returned to #32-Go Fas Racing #72-TriStar Motorsports returned to #35-Front Row Motorsports #32-Go Fas Racing returned to #44-Richard Petty Motorsports -Sold In the Middle of the 2017 Season: #23-BK Racing sold to #51-Rick Ware Racing -Sold Before 2018 Season: #51-Rick Ware Racing sold to #12-Team Penske #44-Richard Petty Motorsports sold to #23-GMS Racing -Leased for 2018: #13-Germain Racing leased to #21-Wood Brothers Racing NON-CHARTER TEAMS FOR 2018 #7-Tommy Baldwin Racing #13-Germain Racing #30-The Motorsports Group #37-JTG Daugherty #51-Rick Ware Racing #55-Premium Motorsports #66-Motorsports Business Management #72-TriStar Motorsports #75-Beard Motorsports #96-Gaunt Brothers Racing #99-Roush Fenway Racing 46. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.07.2017 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (1) (5) My 2018 Roster 1. #1 McMurray 2. #2 Keselowski 3. #3 Dillon 4. #4 Harvick 5. #5 Bryon 6. #6 Bayne 7. #7 ? (Plate Races and random races) 8. #05 Spencer G (Part-Time) 9. #10 Kahne 10. #11 Hamlin 11. #12 Blaney 12. #14 Bowyer 13. #15 Gaulding 14. #17 Stenhouse Jr 15. #18 Kyle Busch 16. #19 Suarez 17. #20 Jones 18. #21 Bubba 19. #22 Logano 20. #23 ? (GMS new team) 21. #24 Elliott 22. #30 Jeffery/Brandon Jones 22. #31 Newman 23. #32 Matt D 24. #33 Ty Dillon 25. #34 Cassill 26. #35 Reed 27. #37 Buescher 28. #38 Ragan 29. #44 Poole (Part-Time) 30 #41 Kurt Busch * (I can see him getting suspended this off season but could be wrong) 31. #42 Larson 32. #43 Almirola 33. #47 Allmedinger 34. #48 Johnson 35. #55 Soreneon or whoever can pay Jay the most lol 36. #66 Carl Long (Attempts the 500 and makes it, gets a top 20 finish) 37. #72 Cole Whitt 38. #77 Matt Kenseth 39. #78 Martin Truex Jr 40. #88 Alex Bowman 41. #95 McDowell 42. #96 Kennington/Jesse Little (Little will run Dover 2) Notes BK gets shut down by the IRS and #96 buys there shop out Bryon wins the NXS title and get the #5 ride Menard drops to the NXS series, to run the #22 or #12 full time Kahne and Great Clips go the #10 car, Great Clips returns to sport Kenseth and Jones swap, Bell replaces Kenseth in 2019 RCR takes the #33 number back and #27 teams become the #33 Circle Sport takes the #30 and Jones runs part-time Kennington runs the full deal beside Dover 2, because they want give Little a shot GMS runs the #23 full time and Spencer part time Germain shuts down after Ty takes Geico to RCR with him, Germain and Todd Bodine go back to trucks to go after one more title Ryan Blaney will get sponsorship from PPG and Discount tire to go the full deal Ryan Reed moves to cup with FRR in the #35 and will replace Bayne in 2019 Poole finally get a shot at cup and Mcmurray retires after 2018, Poole runs the #1 in 2019 Gauling runs the #15 for most of the season until his dad can't foot the bill anymore Non Charter teams #7 ? #05 #30 #44 #55 #66 #72 teams gets the #13 charter Possible entries next year #51 ? (Don't expect Ware to run cup next year) #39 or #93 Ryan Sieg (I expect RSS to move up in couple of years) #73 or #74 Derrike Cope (Gets a car from Premium and attempts the 500) #87 Bell (Could see this happening at the end of 2018) #? BJ McLeod (Could move his team up to in the next few years) #86 Brandon Brown (I can see him attempted a few races next year) #00 Cole Custer (Listed as a second Go Fas car but really a SHR car becuase of the 5 car limit. Possibly homestead to get ready for 2019) Matt Tifft and Noah Gragson don't make it too Cup 47. racefangurl posted: 07.08.2017 - 1:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 46, I agree with the Bowman-88, Byron-5 thing. Byron has sponsors and so does the 88. I think the 88 sponsors still have contract time left. But the only way I see Ryan Reed as a T-Bayne replacer is MS reason force the latter out of NASCAR.:( 48. nascarfan posted: 07.08.2017 - 6:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @46 Kurt hasn't done anything stupid since 2012, and he has also calmed down since then so there is no reason for a suspension. 49. JSPorts posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:50 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @48 I wouldn't say he hasn't done anything, but he's certainly given the appearance that he's a better guy. There were a few incidents. In 2013, he had some run-ins with other drivers, then some more in 2014. Of course, he was suspended for domestic violence in 2015. 50. DaleSr3Fan posted: 07.08.2017 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch getting suspended? What are you talking about? 51. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 5:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Points leader Kyle Larson qualified LAST for this race after he failed to post a time during qualifications. Larson and the #42 Target team didn't get their Chevrolet SS through the NASCAR inspection process in time to make it out for a qualifying run, they gave up even trying to get through it with about five minutes left in Q1 and just pushed their car back to the garage. 52. DaleSr3Fan posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is my take on the current stage format: Instead of making the stages mini-races and whoever is leading gets max points, the points should be awarded based on laps led in the stage. For example, if there is a 100-lap stage, and Driver A leads 85 laps and finishes 2nd in the stage, and Driver B leads 15 laps and 'wins' the stage, give top points to driver A, then B and so on (ties broken by finishing position). This way it truly awards points based on who was 'the best' during a certain stage (1 or 2) during races. -DaleSr3Fan 53. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Gibbs has axed Kenseth. No reason given. 54. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It looks like to me Truex has the car to beat tonight so that's my pick 55. JSPorts posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I hope Truex runs well. However, I have a feeling that either Kyle Busch or Matt Kenseth will win. Busch is on the pole and has been too strong lately to not win eventually, while Kenseth has more motivation because he doesn't have anything solidified for 2018 yet. 56. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There will be a competition caution at lap 30 probably due to the rain from last night I think 57. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We're racing at Kentucky 58. Punk Move posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) 53 - They didn't fire him, they just didn't re-sign him. For a very simple reason - 11/01/2015 59. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ty Dillon has a big tire rub 60. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to timing and scoring, the 55 car did not take the green flag. 10 laps run, and 10 laps down. 61. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 7:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The 55 team had a left rear axle problem so that's why they did not complete a lap yet 62. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) That smoke from Ty Dillon was actually from his brakes. He's on pit road with the hood up to try and diagnose the problem 63. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ty Dillon's #13 lost the brakes, his Chevy sits on pit road receiving repairs but losing laps. 64. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) LOL at Hamlin whining about McMurray making a great pass on the apron and barely grazing him for 3rd. He made a bold move and barely touched you, this is supposed to be a RACE right? What a puss. 65. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kentucky Speedway put a ton of rubber down with its Tire Dragon tractor earlier today. They used it again to put more rubber down after the Xfinity Series race. 66. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Competition caution is now out 67. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Most of the leaders take two tires under caution 68. Chris posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lots of cars a lap down in 30 laps. As an aside, anyone see Allmendinger moving on from the 47? Crap luck this year but not sure if his attitude will prevent him from getting a better ride. 69. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:09 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Crazy how fast the #78 is every single week. Just out of the blue in 2016 they went from a mid-20s team to the fastest car in the garage. It's unprecedented and idk what to make of the team or Truex. 70. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last night's planned Xfinity Series race was rained out by a severe thunderstorm and run earlier today as the first half of an impromptu doubleheader with this Cup race. Kyle Busch won that race and leads early from the pole tonight looking to become the first driver to win a Xfinity and a Cup race on the same day. Rowdy is one of 11 drivers pulling double duty along with Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick, Ty Dillon, Joey Logano, Ryan Sieg, B.J. McLeod, Joey Gase, Paul Menard, and Timmy Hill. 71. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Wallace, Jr. is in the top-20 early. This could be Wallace's last ride in the #43 Ford as it is rumored Aric Almirola will be back at Loudon next week. 72. Alex Jones of InfoWars posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Isn't that Dale call commercial from 2012? They still show it? 73. JeffGordon24FanForever posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'd get rid of Hamlin instead of Kenseth, he'd skip a race over a tummy ache and whines about people racing him hard. 74. Maverick19 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "As an aside, anyone see Allmendinger moving on from the 47? Crap luck this year but not sure if his attitude will prevent him from getting a better ride." He made the poor decision to sign on until 2020, so no. 75. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex to the lead 76. Corey posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @73 The problem is Kenseth's contract expired this year. Hamlin's goes to 2020. 77. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex wins stage 1 78. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) only 20 on the lead lap after stage 1. Also just 3 cars 1 lap down, everyone from 24th on back are at least 2 down. 79. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lap 84, yellow flag stops, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin both nabbed for speeding on pit road! 80. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Make that 21 on the lead lap, i thought they passed stenhouse but didn't 81. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Larson and Hamlin too fast on pit road 82. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch takes the lead back Keselowski Johnson and Bowyer wreck behind them 83. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Keselowski, Johnson and Bowyer all wreck in turns 3 and 4 after the lap 88 restart! Big damage to the 2 and 48 cars, the 14 appears to have escaped without much damage. 84. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Keselowski and Johnson are in the wall and Bowyer's spinning in a multi-car wreck. Big damage to the #2 and the #48. 85. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 2, 14 , and 48 all wreck on the restart 86. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnson and Keselowski are done for the night 87. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne and Bayne wreck out of turn one caution is out again 88. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 6, and 5 wreck on the restart. 89. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another crash shortly after the lap 93 restart, this one takes out Kasey Kahne and Trevor Bayne in turns 1 and 2. Appears to be a razor's edge out there in terms of grip. 90. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kahne to the garage will be done for the night 91. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Call a spade a spade: Kasey Khane sucks 92. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Clint Bowyer is still in the top-10 despite that spin. 93. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bowyer back up to ninth after spinning out not to long ago could be good to go the rest of this stage on fuel 94. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bayne spins out again caution is out 95. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rutledge Wood uses the caution to hang out with a bunch of drunk University of Louisville students. 96. Jones posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Rick Allen was a solid Truck announcer for Speed, but seems spooked by the bigger stage. He is truly cringeworthy. 97. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bayne has parked the #6 Ford. 98. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex back to the lead 99. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Gase into the wall caution is out 100. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Gase is into the wall and the #23 brings out a yellow. 101. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Gase crashes, he was 7 laps down in 34th. 102. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) About half the field mainly in the back pits under caution 103. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lap 138, under caution, Ryan Blaney caught speeding on pit road. Rats! 104. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) noone is 1 lap down. Auston Dillon will get the lucky dog to get 1 of his 2 laps back, then should be back on the lead lap at the end of stage 2 with that lucky dog. 105. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Blaney too fast exiting pit road 106. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This will be Jimmie Johnson's second career last-place finish in 40th. Johnson's first last-place result was a 40th last August at Watkins Glen. 107. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gray Gaulding passes Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski for 40th and 39th. Jimmie Johnson will finish dead last for the second time of his career, in 40th. Brad 39th. The first time Jimmie Johnson finished dead last was at Watkins Glen last year (2016). This mark the second year a row Jimmie Johnson finishes dead last, but avoided a dead last finish the first 14 full time seasons of his career. This only occurred since the field was cut from 43 cars to 40 in 2016. 108. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex wins stage 2 Austin Dillon should get back on the lead lap here 109. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Logano and Blaney stay out under caution and will be the new leaders. Hamlin the first car off pit road takes two tires Truex the first car off pit road with four tires 110. Senninha posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The broadcast didn't show 9th and 10th for the second stage. I have Bowyer and Elliott. Is that correct? 111. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ninth and tenth was Hamlin then Elliott 112. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Truex back to the lead 113. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Logano comes to pit road for his scheduled pit stop 114. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green flag pit stops for the leaders starting 115. jensenators posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Since NBC was in commercial i'll play the role of Rick Allen: Cole Whitt comes to pit road with "PROBLEMS" from 3 laps down in 26th. 116. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truex pits from the lead 117. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looks like Junior has lost some of his restrainers for his windshield 118. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Truex now cycles back to the lead just about 11 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch 119. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr. takes the lead on a green flag pit cycle. He's been slow tonight. 120. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:30 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Can someone elaborate exactly how the playoffs will work? Are all of Truex's points going to carry through all the way to Homestead instead of just being used in the first round? If so, does this mean with all of these playoff points he's been obtaining, is this going to work to his favor? 121. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 15 laps to go and Martin Truex Jr. is smoking the field. The 78 has a 14-second lead over Kyle Larson. 122. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 50% of the top 8 is Furniture Row/Ganassi. And it seems like the norm nowadays. Imagine saying that 2 years ago. 123. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kurt Busch blows a motor with two laps to go! Truex Jr. was leading by 14 seconds, and now he has to contend with a green-white-checkered restart! 124. Toyota Hater posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) YES!!! Kyle Larson can now win instead of a stupid Toyota. 125. Wil047 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ku Busch blows up as Truex is coming to take the white and caution waves. I think everyone (including other teams, drivers, fans) beside the 78 and 41 guys are thrilled. 126. joey2448 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:40 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Many cars pit under this late yellow, but race leader Truex stays out, as well as several others. Harvick speeding on pit road. 127. Josh posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR couldn't live without their late restart. 128. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Honestly it was worth it. It goes to show how damn good Truex has became in Cup. He held off a field of fresh tire after having 40+ laps on his own tires. Wow. 129. Lucstar88 posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Clean air helps a lot, especially after Larson's shove, 42 wasn't able to catch up on 4 tires. That's something. 130. TeamDCR fan posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Meh 131. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) He still pulled away a distance. It's official, it was Kevin Harvick, now it's Truex. Truex is the dominant driver right now. 132. Altracing posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Finally I get a prediction right in the NASCAR side. Truex gets his third win of the year and first at Kentucky and sweeps the stages for the second time this year the other coming at Las Vegas 133. Ralph posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Another messy finish 134. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Hey guys, Kyle Larson finished 2nd after starting 40th. 135. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Darrell Wallace, Jr. finished a strong 11th for the King. 136. Corey posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @120 I believe the playoff points will count for the first three rounds. So as of right now True is getting an extra 28 points for each of the first three rounds of the playoffs. Essentially an extra 9th place finish for each round. 137. JSPorts posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Congrats to MTJ! He and that team have figured out these 1.5-mile tracks, and as you could see tonight, his teammate is starting to get there as well. Also, great run up through the field by Kyle Larson. And a good run for Bubba Wallace, I hope that impresses a team owner enough to give him a shot next year (or maybe even later in 2017.) 138. BMan0213 posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That was probably the worst race of the year, and that isn't because Truex destroyed the field. It looked way to hard to pass throughout the field which is kind of odd because last years race here after the first repave went pretty well. 139. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Weirdly at the finish Larson was the first driver to cross the finish line, passing Truex under yellow although it of course didn't count. Strange. 140. Cooper posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Larson actually completed the race in less time than Mr. Truex weird indeed considering this was a race. 141. RaceFanX posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch fell from second to fifth on the restart after he got loose and dropped back. Still Rowdy comes up just four spots short of pulling off the doubleheader sweep and he certainly had a run where he could have legitimately done it. 142. Nucl3ar Wa4le posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #1 - Beechcraft / General Hydroponics #18 - Snickers Rowdy #6 - Roush Performance / Lebanon Ford #34 - Love's Travel Stops "#OurMVP" #37 - Breyer's / Klondike / Cheez-It #42 - Target / Coca-Cola #47 - Kroger ClickList / Cheerios / Tide 143. Sector posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Kyle Busch fell from second to fifth on the restart after he got loose and dropped back. Still Rowdy comes up just four spots short of pulling off the doubleheader sweep and he certainly had a run where he could have legitimately done it." July Daytona race back in 2007 was still the closest ever with him trying to pull that off. 144. 2 & 88 Fan posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) After his dominating win tonight Martin Truex Jr. is one point behind Kyle Larson in the standings. Everyone else from Kyle Busch on back is 100 or more points behind. 145. StenhouseFan17 posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #18 - Snickers Rowdy/Hangry #1 - General Hydroponics/Beechcraft #19 - Arris High-Speed Modems #38 - Brandeis Machinery #32 - Anest Iwata/CorvetteParts.net #66 - MBM Motorsports #51 - Rick Ware Racing #72 - TriStar Motorsports (plain black car) #2 - Miller Lite Patriotic 146. Mannoroth posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) 143. Yes, he won the Xfinity Series race at Daytona (his only win) and was the best car in the Cup race in the end. Even the commentators were so sure he's gonna win, but McMurray was just better and beat him by 0.005 seconds. It was only one of three Kyle's loses in a photo finish (the others were at Talladega in Xfinity in 2012 and at Homestead in Trucks in 2012), otherwise it was always Kyle who was better in photo finishes. 147. Jared DiCarlo posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What was up with that weird rewinding noise before Joey's interview? 148. Cooper posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Trivia: Who has completed more laps this year? Gaulding with 14 races or Keselowski with 18 races? 149. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 07.08.2017 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^Obviously Gaulding, as stupefying as that sounds 150. Danish Pie posted: 07.09.2017 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) MY ENTRY LIST PREDICTIONS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE: *#7-J.J. Yeley #15-Reed Sorenson #23-Corey LaJoie #43-Aric Almorola *#51-Stanton Barrett *#55-Gray Gaulding *#83-Ryan Sieg [40 CARS - FULL FIELD] - I could definitely see Tommy Baldwin entering, being from New York, nearly a hometown track for him. J.J. Yeley would run as he did for Texas and Charlotte. -Premium Motorsports keeps the same line up that they had at Kentucky. -BK Racing uses the same rotation that they had for July Daytona. -Aric Almorola comes back. -Rick Ware Racing is basically a shot in the dark until Cody Ware comes back. I could see them bringing Stanton Barrett back to Cup this weekend. -MBM and the #66 won't enter. They will return the week after and run ndianapolis. 151. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.09.2017 - 12:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Busch with 1 loose lug nut 152. STATMAN posted: 07.09.2017 - 12:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 148 and 149, You'll find a lot of interesting things if you go back and look at laps completed statistics from a single season. Usually they don't hold much merit. Quite often a mediocre driver who isn't even top 20 in points will end up near the top and some of the better drivers for that year can be down near down the bottom of the list out of those who ran a full schedule. 153. Chunks posted: 07.09.2017 - 1:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was the Alsco 300 stormed out on Friday? 154. racefangurl posted: 07.09.2017 - 1:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't home most of the race, but I checked on it once I got home. 155. joey2448 posted: 07.09.2017 - 4:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The reason Keselowski has a low number of laps completed this year is due to several early crashes he has been involved in. At the Coke 600, he was out after just 19 laps after a hard hit into the back of the ailing Chase Elliott car. Then, the very next week at Dover, he was collected in a restart crash with Kurt Busch 66 laps in, and then there's tonight's race, where he lasted 89 laps before the wreck with Boywer and Jimmie. It's all early stuff. 156. Corey posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:15 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Look at the stats even further and you'll see that Michael McDowell has completed the most laps and the most mileage but has finished on the lead lap only 8 times. 157. 23andJoe posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:34 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "In a world...where Martin Truex Jr. has as many wins this year as Jimmie Johnson..." #153: Yes it was. 158. Mannoroth posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:34 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) It took 7 years that somebody, who doesn't buschwhack, won the race. Martin Truex Jr. is not the part of the Buschwhacker gang and all the previous winners of this race were buschwhacking (Kyle Busch in 2011 and 2015, Brad Keselowski in 2012, 2014 and 2016 & Matt Kenseth in 2013). 159. Me posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 91. Wil047 - Hate much? Truex 14 years 10 wins Kahne 14 years 17 wins 160. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Updates #77 Sirius XM #66 MBM Motorsports #51 Rick Ware Racing #55 #CheckIt4Andretti "Schedule Your Colonoscopy Today" #2 Miller Lite Patriotic 161. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.09.2017 - 8:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lap 174 Caution should be frontstretch not backstretch 162. Pickles posted: 07.09.2017 - 10:18 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I am still dumbfounded by Martin's career resurgence. In four years he went from mediocre driver with occasional flashes of brilliance to the most dominant driver in NASCAR. In the last season and a half, he has led about 20% of the laps. 163. cjs3872 posted: 07.09.2017 - 11:55 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) With the way Martin Truex, Jr. annihilated the field in the second half of this race, building a lead that approached, if not exceeding half a lap in just 50 laps, one wonders if this is a repeat of what happened in the 1980s when another team with it's headquarters outside of the hub of NASCAR dominated the sport for a few years, and was doing something nobody else was doing simply because they had no idea what that team was doing. The team I'm referring to was Melling Racing when the Elliotts were firmly in control, with Bill behind the wheel and Ernie as the crew chief and engine builder. In the mid-80s, coinciding with the demise of the legends that built the sport throughout the 70s, as well as the origin of the Winston Million program, Ernie Elliott discovered something regarding the engines that made the #9 Melling car unbeatable for two or three years on the big tracks. What Ernie Elliott had done, something that wasn't discovered until earlier this decade (the 2010s), was that he was pressurizing the air and/or fuel into the engine, giving it much more horsepower than the competition, and something that was, and still is HIGHLY ILLEGAL. Many felt what the Elliotts had done was gain an advantage through aerodynamics, but it was really through tinkering with the air/fuel pressure into the engines that the Elliotts got the advantage they used in 1985, and to a lesser extent, 1987. But another advantage the Elliotts had was being away from the sport's hub in Charlotte, and since they were away from the sport's hub, whatever advantage they had gained, they kept for longer than usual. Furniture Row Racing has that same edge. Being far away from the sport's hub, being based in Denver, any advantage they have, which they clearly showed off last night, they figure to be able to keep for a longer period of time than they ordinarily would be able to if they were in Charlotte, where most of the teams are located. Truex's car seemed to have about 20-30 more HP than everyone else had, including the JGR cars, when he wanted to use it, which makes one wonder if the Furniture Row Racing team, and specifically crew chief Cole Pearn, has found a way to tinker with the engines in a way similar to what Ernie Elliott did 30+ years ago to gain a significant edge in horsepower, without NASCAR realizing what's going on. The one drawback to gaining such a horsepower edge is the higher risk of engine failures, and the #78 team does seem to incur more engine failures than any of the other top teams in the sport. In fact, it was those engine failures that may have cost Truex a spot in the championship finale last year. That may be something to watch out for once the Chase starts. 164. Corey posted: 07.09.2017 - 12:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @163 I get what your saying but there are 2 things about all this. 1) As far as I'm aware FRR and JGR get their motors from TRD. They come in and are immediately put into the race car and the teams are not allowed to touch them. I'm basing this off Kenseth's penalty from a few years ago where one of the rods came up underweight. So there should be no chance for Pearn to tinker with them directly in any way. 2. I don't know about the eighties, but NASCAR tear down all race winning motors and cars and the 78 car is heading to the R&D Center for inspection. So even if the 78 team is tinkering with the motors in some way, NASCAR should have found illegal something by now. 165. possum posted: 07.09.2017 - 12:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @159 - well, you're correct that Wil047 doesn't seem to care for Kasey Kahne, but he has a point - Kahne's success mostly came early in his career. As a driver for Hendrick, meaning he arguably has one of the best cars on the track, he has only 5 wins in 6 years, none in the last 3 years, and never finished in the top 10 in the standings. Truex, on the other hand, has been one of the best drivers over the last 6 years (even tho two of those were with the ill-fated Waltrip team). So at least from a current perspective, yeah, Kahne pretty much sucks. 166. cjs3872 posted: 07.09.2017 - 1:56 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @164, but what if the system that a team might be using to pressurize the air/fuel into the engine is from outside the engine to funnel the air/fuel into the engine in such a way to get it into the engine faster, thus giving the engine more horsepower? I believe something fishy may be going on, something NASCAR might not be able to detect, even with their more expansive inspections. There's no way, as close and deep as the competition is today, that a driver should be able to gain a half lap on the entire field at a 1.5 mile track in just 50 laps, as Truex did from laps 171-220, unless something's going on that shouldn't be going on. 167. Scott B posted: 07.09.2017 - 2:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kyle Larson also came through the field twice, and would have had the win if the race went a few more laps. I'm not ready to jump on the FRR/Truex/Pearn cheating bandwagon without something more substantial. 168. Scott B posted: 07.09.2017 - 2:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #156 McDowell has become the kind of driver he needs to be for the type of team he's driving for in recent years. This season he's been running at the finish 17 of 18 races so far. 2016 was 29/31 and 2015 was 15/16. Those numbers will keep you employed for an organization where not tearing stuff up is a high priority. 169. Maverick19 posted: 07.09.2017 - 2:38 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) "I'm not ready to jump on the FRR/Truex/Pearn cheating bandwagon without something more substantial." I don't think so either because lately the satellite teams are really beginning to outperform their parent teams. SHR was one step below Hendrick until 2014, and then Harvick and Kurt's runs in 2015 pretty much showed that SHR had the upperhand over Hendrick. Ganassi is a satellite team for Hendrick and right now Larson and McMurray are running better than any of their cars. Aside from Johnson's wins and a couple good runs by Chase, Hendrick is sputtering while Ganassi is flourishing. Blaney's shown a lot more speed than Logano at Penske. Even with RCR, Germain and LFR aren't that far behind Menard and Austin Dillon. And then with Truex, Gibbs was ultra fast in 2016 and so was FRR. Gibbs probably missed their setups for this year while FRR didn't, and now Truex has been crazy fast every week. So I don't think they're cheating, after all Truex kept a near death DEI afloat so he was underrated to begin with. All I know is that aligning with Gibbs was their best decision ever and that almost all satellite teams are doing something that their bosses don't know about. 170. cjs3872 posted: 07.09.2017 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I'm not saying that Furniture Row Racing is definitely cheating. Maybe they are, and maybe they aren't. What raised the red flag for me wasn't that his was the fastest car, but rather the margin by which his was the fastest car. There's no way that ANY car should be between one-third and one-half of a second per lap faster than the field on a 1.5 mile track, given the depth of competition today among the top teams. The advantage they seem to have on everyone, unless something is found that I'm not aware of, appears to be legitimate. I was simply raising the possibility that something was up. And if they have gained a competitive advantage within the rules, they figure to hold onto it for longer than usual because of where the team is based, because being in Denver, they're about 1700 miles from the hub of NASCAR, where most of the other teams are located, so it's not that the other teams can try to figure out what they may be doing to gain an advantage, because the team's based two-thirds of the way across the country. The biggest reason I compare what Furniture Row Racing is doing to what Melling Racing did 30+ years ago has nothing to do with how they're gaining an advantage on everyone else, but rather because they're doing so away from the hub of the sport, and because of that, whatever secrets they have to make their cars go faster than everyone else's, they'll be able to keep for longer because of their location in the Rockies, much like the Elliotts were able to keep their speed secrets for longer being based in Georgia, away from the hub of the sport (though not nearly as far away as Denver is). And by the way, if the advantage they've gained on the field is a legitimate one, which appears to be the case, I don't think NASCAR should do anything about it. After all, they didn't do anything to mitigate the advantage the Elliotts had on the field in the mid-80s, other than the natural progression of the bodies of the cars changing and allowing the older GM bodied cars to have sloping rear windows, which did affect how dominant the Elliotts were by letting the field catch up to them. 171. Lame posted: 07.09.2017 - 3:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) So it can't just be Truex is finally in a team that is providing him with quality cars...it has to be cheating...no other way he could be doing good...cheat cheat cheat... Seriously it is extremely lame and pathetic to accuse the 78 team of cheating...they don't dominate every single race...Martin has always had talent, just never had strong cars like he has these past few seasons. Its nothing but a douche move sitting there and saying the only reason he is doing well is because of cheating engines. 172. murb posted: 07.09.2017 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Ganassi is a satellite team for Hendrick" Other than sharing engines, there's really no satellite affiliation going on there. I don't consider them an official Hendrick satellite at all. They're an independent team that happens to use Hendrick engines. I believe you have to share everything else like chassis and bodies as well (like SHR was, or like JGR/Furniture Row or Penske/Wood Brothers are now) for it to officially qualify as a satellite. "So it can't just be Truex is finally in a team that is providing him with quality cars...it has to be cheating...no other way he could be doing good...cheat cheat cheat..." At this point I now don't think it's cheating (they've arguably been at their best this year and they haven't had any inspection issues at all other than maybe a couple at the beginning of the year - others like the #42 and #4 teams have had way more inspection issues recently). I think what Cole Pearn is doing is much more parallel with what Matt Borland was doing in 2003, except instead of fuel mileage trickery it's some sort of setup wizardry. It's something completely new being done that nobody can wrap their heads around, so "cheating" is naturally the default word that's brought up. For a while fairly recently the fad was having former drivers as crew chiefs (Paul Wolfe, Rodney Childers, Matt McCall, Trent Owens, etc), and now I think Pearn is ahead of his time and will start a new trend of these super analytical deeply entrenched engineers becoming crew chiefs (Kyle Busch burning through his whole string engineers for his interim crew chiefs lately when they have others like Todd Berrier and Dave Rogers available in that organization is an example of this shift towards even more aggressive analytics style engineers I think)... Obviously engineers already have been becoming crew chiefs for years now (and I think Borland was actually a big pioneer in that at Penske), but I think Pearn is bringing out this completely whole new side of it that no one has seen yet, and now I'm guessing in the next couple years teams are gonna be trying a whole bunch of Pearn knockoffs by bringing up their deep in the trenches computer whiz engineers as crew chiefs (almost similar to NBA front offices becoming even more and more analytics driven in recent years). I don't know if any of them will work, but I do think it'll be awfully hard to mirror the chemistry Truex/Pearn have, which is clearly a massive part of their success whether you believe they're "cheating" or not. 173. Ultimate Warrior #18 posted: 07.09.2017 - 4:30 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) How about giving Barney Visser some credit he self sponsors the team he can spend unlimited amounts of money. Why do people think he has to cheat just because it's not the normal big 4 owners winning it's simply times maybe changing Furniture Row 10 years ago were getting DNQ every other week. Barney has poured his soul into creating a competitive juggernaut give credit stop the cheating accusations. 174. JeffGordon24FanForever posted: 07.09.2017 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Barring mechanical issues, the 78 shouldn't have a hard time making the final 4 with all the playoff points. 175. cjs3872 posted: 07.09.2017 - 4:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) And @173, that's another link between what Furniture Row Racing's doing now and what Melling Racing did in the 1980s. For a number of years, Barney Visser's team was a good team with not much in the way of funding, outside of Furniture Row in Denver. Not very people noticed them until Regan Smith had some great runs in 2011, topped off by the upset win in the Southern 500. Smith also fared great in the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 that same year in the #78 car, and that's when people began to take note of the team from Denver. Now flash back to the team that became Melling Racing in the late 1970s, and you'l see some eerie parallels. Nobody began to notice that team until Bill Elliott had a strong SpeedWeeks in 1978, finishing fifth in his qualifying race and then eighth in the Daytona 500. But it was when Elliott finished second in the 1979 Southern 500 that people began to notice what that family-run team could be capable of. Harry Melling noticed, and with the advice of Benny Parsons, began sponsoring the Elliotts before they sold the team to Melling, and then they really began to run well, starting in 1982 with a fifth place finish in the Daytona 500, and by the fall of 1983, had finished second in each of NASCAR's crown jewel races at least once, sometimes doing so in outdated cars, such as the car in which Elliott finished second at both Daytona and Talladega in 1983, which was a 1982 T-Bird, compared to the more aerodynamic '83 T-Birds that teams like Bud Moore, Junie Donlavey, and the Wood Brothers ran. Then after securing their first win at the end of the '83 season, they began to take off in the summer of 1984, and the rest, as they say, is history. They won three times in '84, setting up what would become one of the greatest runs of speedway dominance NASCAR has ever seen in the second half of the 80s. So the rise of Barney Visser as a car owner to the level of elite status is very much like the rise of the Elliott-Melling combination in the 1980s from a second or third-tier team (Elliott's was considered to be an independent team until Melling bought the team in 1981) to one of the sport's true powerhouses. And that, more than the method of how the #78 has become one of the true powerhouse teams in the sport, is why I compare the rise of the #78 team since 2015 to what Harry Melling and the Elliotts did from 1983 through the rest of the decade of the 80s. 176. chevyfan98 posted: 07.09.2017 - 5:57 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) We all know Cole Pearn cheats, that's no secret. But what do you expect when you have a sport that essentially lets teams cheat and only punishes them with pocket money fines and points that become irrelevant when the chase, er, playoffs start? Don't blame the teams for trying to push the issue, blame NASCAR for letting them. And I'll never understand why so many fans have turned on Truex because of this. Oh wait, yes I do, its because he's *GASP* winning. Two years ago all you ever heard people say was "Truex is such a good guy and he's overcome so much, I wish he'd win more races." Well guess what, you got that. But now he wins too much? Example #850185 of how NASCAR fans are only happy when they're angry. 177. JSPorts posted: 07.09.2017 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think the reason people have turned on Truex is that they believe he's cheating. I wouldn't be happy if a driver started winning just because they were cheating. Now, whether or not the team is actually cheating is worth debating, because I don't recall them failing post-race inspection this year. 178. Ak47 posted: 07.09.2017 - 6:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @177 people must be stupid then. It's 2017 and NASCAR has strict inspection standards. They aren't just winning because "they cheat". If anything, they've found room within the rules to give themselves an advantage, to which I say "well done". If they haven't been caught after half a season, 3 wins, and 1000 laps led, then they aren't "cheating". 179. 2 & 88 Fan posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think alot of the sudden hate for Truex has to do with the fact that many fans just flat out hate Toyota. Look at the comments on any NASCAR related article at Yahoo! Sports or a Youtube video of a toyota driver winning a race(especially if it's Kyle Busch or any of the other JGR drivers) and you'll see tons of people bitching about how either they cheated(because only TRD "works the gray area", amirite)or Toyota is supposedly ruining the sport(clearly NASCAR's constant gimmicks and the lackluster racing have nothing to do with it). I've never been one for brand loyalty and I have nothing against those who root for specific manufacturers but many of the Toyota bashers really take it too far. 180. Punk Move posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 165 - So you think success in NASCAR is 100 % driver? The car, crew chief and crew have nothing to do with it. Okay, we'll go with that. 181. Dank Meme Professor posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Lmfao Truex dominates on mile and a halfs and all of the sudden he's a cheater but Johnson winning 5 titles in a row is "skill" or "talent". Stupid people are in fact stupid. 182. cjs3872 posted: 07.09.2017 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) And Truex is the kind of driver that most people would like to see become a champion in NASCAR's highest series, because he's had to work for much of what he's got, and until the last couple of seasons, has had some of the worst luck any driver has had over at least the last 15 years. He's been with at least two organizations that have had the rug pulled out from underneath them. The first was Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and then a few years after that, having found a comfortable place at Michael Waltrip Racing, he had the same thing happen to him again. Truex also got removed from the Chase in 2013 as a result of the whole rhubarb regarding Clint Bowyer's intentional spin. While there was obvious collusion involving MWR, Truex's team was never involved in that at any time themselves, but because of the ramifications involving how the race played out and it's implications for the Chase that year, Truex was bounced out. Then consider all the races Truex seemed to have won in 2015 and early in 2016, only to be snatched away by poor pit stops and ill-timed caution flags, the fact that he's finally finding ways to hold on and even steal wins that he seemingly had no chance to win, such as his win in the Southern 500 last year, and the last couple of seasons have been a quest for redemption for Truex, and while hardly the most flamboyant of drivers (he's actually one of the least flamboyant drivers on the circuit), Truex has always been one of the fairest drivers out there and should he grab a championship, not only would it be deserved, but he would also make a very good champion for the sport, given that he would fit the traditional profile of what a stock car driver used to have to go through to get to the top rungs of the sport, with all the struggles he had over the years since coming to the Cup Series in 2006. 183. chevyfan98 posted: 07.09.2017 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Lmfao Truex dominates on mile and a halfs and all of the sudden he's a cheater but Johnson winning 5 titles in a row is "skill" or "talent". Stupid people are in fact stupid." This is a joke right? Johnson is Exhibit A of a driver who is hated because "he wins a lot" and has had the cheater label attached to him since 2006, most of which has been grossly exaggerated simply due to the fact that he's been so dominant and would be ignored if he were just an okay driver with an okay team (such as RCR, which is the most penalized team for cheating this century). "I think alot of the sudden hate for Truex has to do with the fact that many fans just flat out hate Toyota. Look at the comments on any NASCAR related article at Yahoo! Sports or a Youtube video of a toyota driver winning a race(especially if it's Kyle Busch or any of the other JGR drivers) and you'll see tons of people bitching about how either they cheated(because only TRD "works the gray area", amirite)or Toyota is supposedly ruining the sport(clearly NASCAR's constant gimmicks and the lackluster racing have nothing to do with it). I've never been one for brand loyalty and I have nothing against those who root for specific manufacturers but many of the Toyota bashers really take it too far." That's probably a big part of it among THOSE types of fans but still, everyone here at least loved him even early last year. I remember when he won the Coke 600 it caused the site to shut down for a brief period on my computer and a few other people that was how popular that win was. It was around last fall when he won Darlington, Dover, and Kansas in quick succession and had a lot of inspection issues around that time when a lot of people started to turn against him. 184. Ultimate Warrior #18 posted: 07.09.2017 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) So we're gonna sit here and act like Truex didn't win back to back Busch series championships when he came outta nowhere as a Dale Jr discovery. Truex always had the talent look at his 2007 Season at DEI basically the end point for that team he was running strong leading laps. DEI fell apart and he was never the main focus at MWR and now he's here at Furniture Row getting all the funding and finally having stability and he's finally excelling at his job and now you guys wanna hit him with the Cheater BS and the owner must be cheating and oh yea Toyota is cheating for him to huh. Give me a break yes Cole Pern isn't a saint but the old saying goes if you ain't cheating you ain't trying. No powerhouse team has had a squeaky clean image during there time at the top it's the nature of the sport. To me the real key is Barney Visser being able to spend as much as he wants cause he self sponsors the team no contracts just his own money. 185. Damon posted: 07.09.2017 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) 184, Him winning those titles was a loooooong time ago. And while you bring up his 2007 and point to that as a reason why he's been under the radar, I point to his 2009 at Ganassi when Montoya smoked him AND made the Chase while Martin didn't. Then the next year in 2010, the 1 car that Martin drove with the same crew chief (Bono Manion) won 3 races with Jamie McMurray, including the Daytona 500/Brickyard 400, as well as finishing ahead of Montoya in points. I also point to the fact that in 2012 with a guy of equal talent (Bowyer) at that time came to MWR in his first year (Truex in his third with the team) and elevated MWR's performance to a level Truex failed at doing in 2010/2011, so if he wasn't the main focus at MWR, which I find laughable, those two years are the reason why. 186. Sector posted: 07.09.2017 - 9:11 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "And I'll never understand why so many fans have turned on Truex because of this. Oh wait, yes I do, its because he's *GASP* winning. Two years ago all you ever heard people say was "Truex is such a good guy and he's overcome so much, I wish he'd win more races." Well guess what, you got that. But now he wins too much? Example #850185 of how NASCAR fans are only happy when they're angry." "I think the reason people have turned on Truex is that they believe he's cheating. I wouldn't be happy if a driver started winning just because they were cheating. Now, whether or not the team is actually cheating is worth debating, because I don't recall them failing post-race inspection this year." The biggest issue with our society is that people get way to salty over every little detail. Another is they like to argue and bring attention to themselves. Truex has been gosh damn impressive. Instead of savoring the moment as fans, fans rather whine and make excuses such as "cheating" or "he made the race super boring, I wish Kyle Larson won instead." Guess what, if the prediction of Kyle Larson ends up being a dominant-10-win-season in the next several years, he'll get booed and whined about also. I find people complaining less about Kevin Harvick because he lost away so many wins, however had he won those races, he'd be next in line behind Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson as "he wins to much, we should all hate him now." 187. Sector posted: 07.09.2017 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I think alot of the sudden hate for Truex has to do with the fact that many fans just flat out hate Toyota. Look at the comments on any NASCAR related article at Yahoo! Sports or a Youtube video of a toyota driver winning a race(especially if it's Kyle Busch or any of the other JGR drivers) and you'll see tons of people bitching about how either they cheated(because only TRD "works the gray area", amirite)or Toyota is supposedly ruining the sport(clearly NASCAR's constant gimmicks and the lackluster racing have nothing to do with it). I've never been one for brand loyalty and I have nothing against those who root for specific manufacturers but many of the Toyota bashers really take it too far." To hate a driver because of a manufacturer or a car, just shows how arrogant they are. Sure, they can bring up the LeBron & Heat/Cavs or Durant & Thunders/Warriors, however Motorsports is a whole different animal compared to Stick & Ball sports. Besides, does Truex really have ANY OTHER options other than the paths he has taken? Not sure what other options he had to choose aside from MWR, but those were his decisions, not the fan's. Bottom line is, people should stop accusing of ANYONE cheating until proven otherwise. As a competitive gamer (and plays a lot of First Person Shooter), I get accused SO MUCH about hacking, cheating, aimbotting and whatever by other idiots because they can't take a spanking. Same concept, except among the fans rather than the competitors here. 188. chevyfan98 posted: 07.09.2017 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Truex has been gosh damn impressive. Instead of savoring the moment as fans, fans rather whine and make excuses such as "cheating" or "he made the race super boring, I wish Kyle Larson won instead." Guess what, if the prediction of Kyle Larson ends up being a dominant-10-win-season in the next several years, he'll get booed and whined about also. I find people complaining less about Kevin Harvick because he lost away so many wins, however had he won those races, he'd be next in line behind Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson as "he wins to much, we should all hate him now." This. There are some fans out there that will never be happy unless we have at least 20-25 different winners every year (which, don't get me wrong, that would be awesome, but it would also be completely unrealistic). I honestly find it sad when the only reason people have to not like a driver is because "they win too much" because often times once their period of domination is over then they warm up to them and wish they'd appreciated them more while they were most dominant. And one of the excuses I hear all the time is "if it were a likeable driver dominating people wouldn't complain" which Truex has proven is total bullshit (if Gordon and Johnson didn't already prove that). Honestly I'm convinced that if Mother Teresa drove in NASCAR and dominated people would bitch about her "winning too much." 189. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 07.09.2017 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Nice too see people coming too how view this fanbase or should I say "fanbase." Transplant Petty and Earnhardt Sr. success too modern times and 'fans' would complain about them too. Or throw in Frank Kimmel. Look at his domination in ARCA. Put that in NASCAR and oh boy.... Kimmel would be compared along the likes of the devil or something. "NASCAR fans are pretty much the most hypocritical and hardest to please fans you will ever find." This quote taken from B.J. McLeod driver page (of which he got hated for just driving a Cup car at a race and didn't do anything wrong.) Sums this 'fanbase' perfectly. 190. Anonymous posted: 07.09.2017 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) I guess poster 189 is enjoying the fact NASCAR has been having attendance problems and the tv racing have been going down. I guess poster 189 also wants NASCAR to be turned into the IRC series and ASA. I'm referring to racing series that no longer exist. I am judging by poster 189's history of bashing fans and wants less fans show up to races. 191. Ferret posted: 07.09.2017 - 11:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't hate Truex for which manufacturer he drives for, or that he dominated the race..if he had the best car on the night he proved it. That being said, wait...what, the arrogant fans think a foreign nameplate is ruining asport that's suffered through an economic downturn....so if Toyota left the sport it'd be in a worse place, given that I doubt Chevy and Ford would step up and supply every team. 192. Stewart14Rocks posted: 07.10.2017 - 7:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sad thing is that this foreign manufacture has more manufacturing plants in america than ford and chevy. 193. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 7:46 am Rate this comment: (3) (1) "And while you bring up his 2007 and point to that as a reason why he's been under the radar, I point to his 2009 at Ganassi when Montoya smoked him AND made the Chase while Martin didn't. Then the next year in 2010, the 1 car that Martin drove with the same crew chief (Bono Manion) won 3 races with Jamie McMurray, including the Daytona 500/Brickyard 400, as well as finishing ahead of Montoya in points. I also point to the fact that in 2012 with a guy of equal talent (Bowyer) at that time came to MWR in his first year (Truex in his third with the team) and elevated MWR's performance to a level Truex failed at doing in 2010/2011, so if he wasn't the main focus at MWR, which I find laughable, those two years are the reason why." You're speaking with a bit of ignorance on the subject. Chip Ganassi didn't want Truex but he had to keep him for the year cause of the contract after he inherited the 1 car. Every single week, their web site posted what cars they ran. Every single week, Montoya was in new stuff. Truex was running old chassis. However, TWO races... yes, TWO races that year... Truex ran new Ganassi chassis. And he was incredibly fast. Pole, t5s. When Jamie McMurray came back to Ganassi, guess what? New cars every week. As confirmed by the Ganassi website. Go look through archive.org if you don't believe me. Ganassi wanted McMurray, and he did not want Truex. As far as Clint Bowyer, it must be said that 2012 MWR was considerably better than 2010 and 2011. Almost everyone knows this was a result of Scott Miller coming aboard at the very end of the 2011 season. Scott Miller was a gigantic reason that RCR became extremely competitive in that time period, where Harvick had by far the best 2010 of any driver from Daytona through Homestead. The new MWR car of Bowyer also brought Brian Pattie aboard. Chad Johnston was new to the crew chiefing gig at the time. Brian Pattie was a wizard of speed. Even so, Bowyer and Truex put up comparable numbers... except Bowyer won a few races before Truex got back to victory lane. And if you go back and watch those races, you'll notice a bunch of races Truex lost due to bad luck & bad strategy, and you'll notice Brian Pattie made PHENOMENAL calls to win with Bowyer. The next year, Truex won a race... Bowyer did not win again in his next 3 years with MWR. Truex is the perfect example of a driver that some people are shocked he had this in him... and others paid attention to races he dominated in the 56 and knew that he had this potential. 194. Doug posted: 07.10.2017 - 8:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I agree with everything in 188 except this: "And one of the excuses I hear all the time is "if it were a likeable driver dominating people wouldn't complain" which Truex has proven is total bullshit (if Gordon and Johnson didn't already prove that)." This line in particular is a total and utter lie unless you have serious, debilitating character issues 195. Damon posted: 07.10.2017 - 9:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) "Truex is the perfect example of a driver that some people are shocked he had this in him... and others paid attention to races he dominated in the 56 and knew that he had this potential." And let this not distract us from realizing Bowyer won more races in 1 year at MWR than Truex did in 4, that David Reutimann won more races at MWR than Truex or that Brian Vickers won the same number of races at MWR than MTJ did. 196. most1305 posted: 07.10.2017 - 10:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) People are debating HMS a lot right now, they won the title last year but they have not had much speed for a year or so now. Not saying the didn't earn it but they played the wildcard Chase scenario well last year, they weren't the fastest team at all though. This year it is showing big time. Chad and Jimmie will find a way to win, Jr is well past time to hang it up and Kahne became the R&D car long ago so the 88 would run better. HMS is struggling bad right now. 197. DaleSr3Fan posted: 07.10.2017 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Truex is a likeable guy. Lol that people hate winners. Yep, I'm a Kyle Busch fan and it does get frustrating getting outperformed week in and week out, but I don't understand why people would hate someone who has worked hard and is getting rewarded now. Also great how Barney Visser is getting lots of wins. 198. racefangurl posted: 07.10.2017 - 2:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 193, due to not being able to watch races after 2000 and before 2011, I didn't know about Truex until that year. In May of that year, I decided I liked him, but he wasn't a strong favorite. Until last month, anyway. 199. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "And let this not distract us from realizing Bowyer won more races in 1 year at MWR than Truex did in 4, that David Reutimann won more races at MWR than Truex or that Brian Vickers won the same number of races at MWR than MTJ did." If you won't take Scott Miller and the personnel overhaul into account at the end of the 2011 season, you're just unwilling to look at the situation with any sort of nuance whatsoever. How about the fact that Truex hopped in the NAPA car that finished 33rd in points with it and nearly won Homestead with it (until a loose wheel took that win away from him). I like both Reutimann and Bowyer but I never lost sight of Truex. For instance, in 2012 when Bowyer won 3 races and Truex won 0, Truex led 434 laps on the year compared to Bowyer's 388. In 2013 when Truex won 0 race and Bowyer won 0, they matched in laps led. If you're going to disregard all the races 56 dominated before losing on pit road or being on a bad strategy, then of course you're going to be surprised by Truex, because you simply weren't paying attention. 200. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 6:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) To correct a poorly written sentence (I should proofread): "How about the fact that Truex hopped in the NAPA car that finished 33rd in points the previous year and nearly won Homestead with it (until a loose wheel took that win away from him)." Sure, Bowyer won more races than Truex. But if you look at Martin's MWR years, you'll find that he was in position to win far more than 4 races before circumstances took him out of it. 201. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Also, feel free to take into account that Vickers had Rodney Childers and Bowyer had Brian Pattie. Chad Johnston has looked good as of late, but let's not forget that his stock wasn't high a few short years ago. Meanwhile, people look at Rodney Childers as another Knaus/Pearn/Wolfe level crew chief. There's no doubt that Furniture Row is a great team. Cole Pearn is a great crew chief. Jazzy putting in work with engineering is phenomenal. But this isn't surprising. I mean, Truex has led in 135 of his 423 starts. That's not a bad stat. He beat Kyle Busch for one of his Busch championships. He beat Clint Bowyer for the other. I know that's ancient history, but it's still relevant. I did the math on Truex's first win at Dover in 2007, and he was so dominant there that had the race remained green at the end for as long as Kentucky's 100 lap run, he would've had about a 23 second lead. He won Dover by 7.355 seconds with only a 39 lap run to end it. And obviously, Dover laps are notably shorter than Kentucky's. This is a driver who, while at MWR, pulled massive, dominating leads before heartbreaking loss. I mean, it was his trademark. I was skimming through parts of his old races, and multiple times I found him having 9+ second leads 50 laps into a run. The idea that it's a surprise that Truex could dominate with JGR-level equipment is like the most obvious thing to understand in the world. The only people who I can understand being surprised are people who started watching in 2014. 202. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) To correct another mistake, "In 2013 when Truex won 1 race and Bowyer won 0, they matched in laps led." I need to proofread. 203. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Another thing to keep in mind is that when the 78 has an issue with tech before practice, the 77 also does. I believe those 2 cars are being set up quite similarly. And Erik Jones in his Cup debut drove Kyle Busch's 18 into the top 5 at Kansas and was, by far, the fastest car on the track. He got loose and wrecked the car, but his skill was undeniable. Erik is having a solid rookie year and he has the same stuff, running 6th at Kentucky while Truex was way out front. After Vegas, Truex was asked how he was running the line in 1 & 2 that he was. He responded that it was extremely loose. Truex is a really, really smooth driver. You usually can't tell that he runs cars on edge. That's a sign that you can wheel a race car. Being sideways and overdriving looks fast, but it means you're losing speed. Truex has done all of the above, but he's very good at being right on the limit without stepping over it. 204. Damon posted: 07.10.2017 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Also, feel free to take into account that Vickers had Rodney Childers and Bowyer had Brian Pattie. Chad Johnston has looked good as of late, but let's not forget that his stock wasn't high a few short years ago." I do, which made Truex's job easier As for Chad, his first CC job was with MTJ at the 56 starting in 2011, so those years when led 300+ laps in 2012/2013, it was Chad who was CC, don't forget that either 205. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I certainly don't forget that Truex had great performances with Chad Johnston. When they unloaded well, they kept speed. When they didn't unload well, the adjustments didn't usually help. Kyle Larson unloads well every week this year. And uh... give me Rodney Childers over Chad Johnston with equal engineering departments any day of the week. And give me Brian Pattie over Chad Johnston in 2012 any day of the week. 206. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 7:40 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I found Truex's performance with JGR-level equipment easier to predict than Logano's performance with Penske, and there's no doubt that Logano is a great driver. 207. possum posted: 07.10.2017 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @CJS - couple of thoughts here - while Smokey Yunick figured out a way to pressurize the air flowing into the motor, that was a long time ago (and Smokey was smarter than anyone in the sport today). Under the current rules, what you suggest is simply not possible - the air has to come in thru the opening at the base of the windshield, and the airbox between that point and the throttle body is very tightly controlled by the rules, and very closely inspected by NASCAR. Not to mention, as Corey said, the engines come as a complete package from TRD. But more to the point, if you think Truex has extra power, you haven't been watching the races. At Kentucky it was clear that Truex's advantage was driving into the corner faster, and staying lower thru the middle of the corner. His car was simply rotating better than everyone else, and he was gaining yards in every corner, especially as the other cars tires wore. That's handling, pure and simple, not engine. 208. Watto posted: 07.10.2017 - 8:48 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) possumâ?" I'm with you. It seemed especially noticeable center-off in 3 & 4. He was hauling the mail through there. 209. Archie posted: 07.12.2017 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #42 has received a 35 point post-race penalty & a big fine/suspension for the crew chief. 210. JSPorts posted: 07.13.2017 - 10:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This penalty has championship implications. It takes Larson from a 1-point lead over Truex to a 34-point deficit. Remember, the top position in the regular season gets 15 playoff points, while 2nd place only gets 10. Those 5 playoff points could make a difference at the end of one of the rounds. Also, I find it quite ironic that the 42 was caught cheating after all this talk on here about how the 78 team are the biggest cheaters in NASCAR history. 211. Clint posted: 07.13.2017 - 10:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Truex gets that top seed and gets another win and a few more stage wins before the playoffs i don't see anybody knocking him off on the way to Miami. He is on pace for 37 playoff points before the end of the regular season and the top seed would give him 52, that would be a huge advantage going through the playoffs! That's almost a whole race's worth of cushion, it would definitely get him to the round of 8 and if people don't lock in with wins i don't see how he could get outpointed. 212. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 07.16.2017 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor update: #27 Sylvania LED/Menards 213. Dorsal Fin posted: 10.27.2017 - 12:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) The race where Toyota's massive cheating began. 214. JSPorts posted: 10.27.2017 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Just like Chevrolet's massive cheating from 2003-2015! 215. Michael Schwartz posted: 10.30.2017 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Wallace Jr.'s (#43) best NASCAR Cup race finish to this point in his career: 11th. 216. RaceFanX posted: 07.11.2019 - 9:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the last of the four races where Bubba Wallace subbed in the #43 Ford for Aric Almirola before the latter returned from his injuries earlier in the season at Kansas. When Almirola jumped to Stewart-Haas for 2018 Wallace would take over the #43 full-time in 2018 and immediately scored a runner-up finish at the Daytona 500 in his first race as its regular driver. 217. Rich posted: 12.13.2020 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte were the commentators. Marty Snider, Dave Burns and Kelli Stavast were the pit road reporters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: