2020 NASCAR Thread

Last week's Replacements 100 has led to the Replacements iRacing series on Tuesday nights for spotters, crew chiefs, at least one Truex, Junior, Bubba Wallace, eNASCAR competitors ... and NHRA hot shoe Ron Capps.

1stADD: Whichever Truex just wrecked Capps.

 

They shouldn’t because the Cup race should be at Daytona. I’m surprised NASCAR would allow it because the IndyCar race on the roval will feature better racing.

 

Watching the indy race at Watkins Glen made me wonder. I know NASCAR teams build cars specifically for the road courses - but given that they race clockwise - do they put the fuel tank on the other side of the car for their road cars so they are "inside" toward the pit, or do they just have the fuel guy run around to the other side?

 

Originally, they had the guys run around when they ran Riverside. But I believe NASCAR mandated road course cars to have right side fueling for safety reasons. The pits at Sonoma are on the outside of the turn, so the fueling is still left side, but Watkins Glen would be opposite. Somebody can correct me if that's wrong.

EDIT: I think @2muchcoffeeman is hoping to post a photo showing there's no change, even on road courses. I stand corrected.

 

Pit crew prepares for unique challenge of Watkins Glen | Hendrick Motorsports

 

I'm currently watching the 2001 race from Hampton - I mean Atlanta.
Holy cow. There are actual stock cars. Spread out. Passing each other. Racing. Running the advertised distance.

 

Was there anyone that day who was not rooting for Harvick? That was a helluva finish.

 

Might be a dumb question, but are all of the car set-ups the same in iRacing? Just curious how much of a successful NASCAR team is the driver and how much is the crew, the set-up, testing and what goes on at the shop. And luck of course.

 

The NASCAR- and IndyCar-sponsored events the past couple of weekends have all the cars with the same basic setups. It’s like eIROC. Says a lot about Sage Karam, who dominated Saturday’s IndyCar e-race at Watkins Glen but for whom Dreyer & Reinbold can’t find more than four races’ worth of sponsorship. That win got him a 2-minute live spot on SportsCenter (when was the last time a non-Indy winner got a live spot on SportsCenter?), so maybe his sponsorship will start to match his talent.

I kind of suspected that a more expensive iRacing rig would make a positive difference, but I may have been wrong. Timmy Hill, who won Sunday’s NASCAR race, uses a 12-year-old Logitech steering wheel attached to the desk in his home office. No joke.



Compare that to previous week’s winner Denny Hamlin, who has been on iRacing for many years and whose home iRacing rig costs more than your car.