NASCAR running thread

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that either Michael Waltrip or Casey Mears would have won that race had Tony not blocked the two of them.

With Mears pushing, they had an incredible run, timed it right and were on their way to easily suprassing Tony and the tandem in front of them.

Casey Mears has shown me more driving for that underfunded No. 13 team than he ever did at Ganassi.

 

When they actually let him drive the whole race, yes.
I don't think he's start-and-parking the rest of the year.

 

I like Stewart, and yeah, he was pretty forthright. But I suspect if the wreck had been someone else's fault he wouldn't have been nearly so accommodating.

 

Got a chuckle from this. I like Stewart, as well. And I suspect you're right.

 

And another thing ... ESPN kept going "NASCAR NonStop" or whatever in those closing laps, yet 4 out of five commercials were ESPN promos! Last I checked, those don't pay. Why not just show the damn paid-for commercials and let us spend the rest of the time watching the race?

 

What I want to know from all of these drivers is what they want NASCAR to do about restrictor plate racing. What's their solution? Take the plates off and run 220-230 mph and have one of those cars get launched out of the track or into the stands? I agree that having every plate race have "the big one" that takes out 20 or so cars is dangerous, but what's the better solution?

 

They need to make the front bumper less robust, so bump-drafting's not nearly so feasible. Secondly, they should rework the cars' sheet metal so that they exhibit true(er) stock shapes, leading to more aerodynamic variety. You break up the packs, but you make it so that not every car (virtually) is in that lead pack.

 

I LOve how the sport promotes the shit out of the crashes and now the drivers are grousing about the pile-ups.
You can't have it both ways.

 

Insofar as grousing pertaining to Sunday's race, I didn't see any (not that there wasn't some).
It's Talladega. It's inevitable. Last lap craziness in this one.

 

Years ago, both Dale Earnhardt and Robert Yates suggested going with smaller engines (say 305 cubic inches in place of the regular 358s) as a way to reduce horsepower but bring back throttle response. That idea went nowhere. IIRC, the main argument against doing that was the cost involved with having special engines for just four races a year. That argument never made sense to me, based on how much teams spent trying to find just one more horsepower from a plate-choked motor.
I believe at least Earnhardt (perhaps Yates as well) also talked about taking out the first rows of seats. There have also been cries over the years for reducing the banking at both 'Dega and Daytona, tracks owned by NASCAR's sister-but-unrelated (wink, wink) company. Plates haven't kept cars on the track (Jimmy Horton, 1993 DieHard 500) or out of the fence (Niel Bonnett 1993 plus Carl Edwards 2009).
Bottom line, if NASCAR truly wanted to get rid of the 'Big One' they would have worked with team engineers years ago to figure out a solution. But NASCAR doesn't want that. France and Co. have been convinced from day one fans love plate rating (I always hated plate racing back when I watched NASCAR and know of many others who shared my view) and they must love the attention they get with spectacular wrecks, otherwise things would have been changed.

 

Jr. has a concussion and will miss the next two races.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2012/10/11/dale-earnhardt-jr-to-miss-at-least-two-races-with-concussion/1626515/

So long title hopes.

 

Would be great if the 88 somehow won the owner's points, and Smith got a win or two.