NASCAR running thread

I'll stipulate that winning Daytona is not a reliable predictor of driver skills, but neither is it a crapshoot. There have been plenty of years where there were dominant teams at plate races.

 

What happens today in the duels? I am always intrigued by these races. Clearly Patrick has (as does Gordon) an incentive to get time in with the new car under real racing conditions. On the other hand, if she wads that car up it's back to the back on Sunday for her. (Not mentioned often is the fact that her winning the pole isn't some trivial thing ... she's locked in to both Sunday's race AND next year's Sprint Unlimited (or whatever the eff they'll call it)). On the other hand, track position's not quite so important at the plate races, because you can come from way the hell back if you have a good car. I don't know how I'd play it if I were her (or Gordon's) crew chief.

 

Why race if you don't have to?

 

The cars are different this year. Bump drafting ought not to work. The best way to find out what does work is to be in there racing today, so you'll know Sunday.

 

Don't they have practice?

 

With minimal bump drafting, this race might wind up being like one straight out of the late 1990s.

As a refresher for those who forget those days, that means more single file racing than we used to see and a Chevrolet (or Dale Jarrett) usually won.

The NASCAR and Fox line so far is "yay, these new cars look cool and really look like the ones you can find at the dealer! But everyone is conveniently ignoring the fact that these cars, at least so far, have produced lackluster racing.

The tandem racing was irritating and annoying to no end, but at least you could pass the leader. Can't do that right now.

The Daytona 500 is still a crapshoot, but I'd be stunned if anybody other than Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon or Greg Biffle won. Haven't seen much from anybody not in that group.

Most underrated impressive drives of the day? Michael Waltrip in a mediocre car, Casey Mears in that Geico Ford and Austin Dillon staying out of trouble and showing Danica and Stenhouse how it's done. The 3 will return for him, and I think he has the charisma to help NASCAR out of their current yawn-inducing driver doldrums.

 

As much as I enjoy ragging on Mickey Walltrip, I give him credit for being a damn good driver in the plate races. Sure he won two Daytona 500s while driving strong DEI mounts, but he has long been good at Daytona. Nearly won it in 1992, for example, until his Pontiac died with 10 laps to go. But how many Cup points races has Mickey won aside from Daytona and Talladega? Yep.
Then again, if I was a NASCAR driver and I could only be good at one track, I'd sure as heck pick Daytona. It wouldn't mean as much as a driver as winning at a place like Bristol, Darlington or a road course, but there is a prestige that comes with Daytona. What sounds more impressive to the Average Joe: two-time winner of the Daytona 500 or two-time winner of the Food City 500?

 

She'd also have more Daytona 500 victories than Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio, which is just as relevant to the discussion as the number won by Foyt and Andretti.

 

Foyt raced in 28 Daytona 500s.

 

True. And if he had raced in zero Daytona 500s, people would still consider him one of the greatest racers in history.

 

Nice attempt to cover your ass, but Daytona is an important part of A.J. Foyt's legacy. The same is true for Mario Andretti. Their wins there validated them to NASCAR fans who would be happy to tell you Formula One is fine if you like fast cars and easy driving.

 

Easy driving? You did mean to use the blue font for that, right?