The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

Rick looks like he's pushing three bills at this point.

 

Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee ... or NASCAR Veteran Ken Schrader

 

Chip Ganassi says, "I'm out."

Ganassi gets 'great offer,' sells NASCAR team

 

Surprised, but you can’t blame him for cashing out. I wonder if Chastain keeps his ride in 2022.

 

So here's a scorecard:

Rick Hendrick Racing: After Ricky died, Jeff Gordon is now the logical heir.
Chip Ganassi Racing: Justin Marks just bought both charters.
Petty Motorsports: Richard is 83. Andrew Murstein's money.
Roush Fenway: Jack is 79. John Henry's money. Brad Keselowski could be the heir.
Stewart Haas Racing: Tony has skin in the game, but Gene pays the freight.
Childress Racing: Richard is 75. Mike Dillon is the logical heir.
Penske Racing: Roger is 84. I'm guessing one of his sons eventually takes over.
Joe Gibbs Racing: Joe is 80. J.D. died in 2019. Would Kyle (and Kurt?) consider buying him out at some point?

 

Shows how out of touch I am. What in the world are they doing in Wisconsin today instead of Daytona?

 

Used to be one of the great days of the racing season: 400 miles at 11 a.m. on the Fourth (no matter what day of the week it was), then head to the beach. NASCAR has no sense of history at all, or worse, has decided it doesn't need fans who know that history.

 

The idea of making the last race before the cutoff being a wild card is intriguing, but moving the 400 is just as bad as pulling the Southern 500 from Darlington and then putting it back there in the middle of May in an attempt to assuage friends. Make the last pre-playoff race be Watkins Glen or the Indy roval.

 

I tend to agree that the weekend of the Fourth ought to be the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, but I seem to remember reading that Daytona and/or NASCAR wasn't wild about it for all the reasons you would expect. It involves being outside in Florida in July for 4-6 hours, and the only way that such a venue is climatologically bearable is if it's raining. And as good as it was that the 400 got them to put lights up, I don't think TV liked it because most folks are around a campfire or a local fireworks show this time of year, plus I'm guessing they wanted the 400 to 'matter' more.

I don't know how things went at Road America, but I could see that working out fairly well. Lots of places to camp and have a fun rural weekend. I figure as far as NASCAR is concerned, it's a low-risk, low-reward kind of enterprise.

 

The Firecracker 400 traditionally started at 10 am to avoid the heat and inevitable afternoon thunderstorms. Then TV got involved, and we know the rest of the story.

 

Officially the final weekend for the current asphalt and configuration at Atlanta Motor Speedway.