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NASCAR 2015 No OT please Chase for the Sprint Cup CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND Final Race: Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway

25,141 707 February 14, 2015 at 05:42 PM in Autos
I haven't ever seen much love around here for Nascar but I figured I would see if there is enough discussion to warrant a thread.

If you don't like Nascar, if you don't get Nascar, if all it looks like to you is driving around in a circle then just go away.

If you aren't aware of the huge changes that Nascar has made in recent years it may be worth another look. Quite a few years back they started a "playoff" system known as The Chase. Last year they made a huge change in that by using an elimination system in the playoff to reduce the remaining racers eligible for the championship after each round. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the details now, but I'm interested in other opinions on both having a playoff and the way Nascar is doing it.

I welcome negative comments, but just keep it respectful and including reasons for them. If you just want to insult Nascar and oval-racing then go somewhere else.

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BeauS4304
02-16-2015 at 10:08 PM.
02-16-2015 at 10:08 PM.
Jamie Mac!
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Beartrkkr
02-16-2015 at 10:21 PM.
02-16-2015 at 10:21 PM.
Sorry, but Nascar has jumped the shark.

In an effort to modernize and sanitize the sport, it got rid of the quirky tracks and replaced them with the boilerplate tri-oval tracks in areas that had no roots to the sport. The death of Sr. was the beginning of the end of the drivers that drove to win for the sake of winning and not just to please their sponsors.


All the gimmicks now are a desperate effort to make them relevant again. Cousin Oliver ring a bell?
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AtomicLush
02-19-2015 at 08:46 AM.
02-19-2015 at 08:46 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Big year for Danica, being the last year of her contract with Stewart-Haas. She would have to pretty much completely fail this year to not be back with them though. She brings a stupid amount of money to the team with GoDaddy and she will remain very popular even if she remains at the average level of driver that she has been. Most likely she will remain a middle of the pack driver who may occasionally pull off some good finishes or even win a couple of races. But even with the level of equipment she has with Stewart-Haas she most likely won't ever be a contender for the championship.
Give her a car that is worth a damn, and she can win some races. She's not bad by any means, and she brings in waaaay more money than any other driver at her level.

You're driving an f'ing car for 300 miles, not running it. Female/Male physiology has nothing to do with it. Nascar needs to step up the game to bring more diversity into the mix. You got Kyle Larsen who is half non-white male. Then you have Danica who is a woman. I can't think of anyone else in the Sprint Cup level that otherwise isn't from the same mold of all other Nascar drivers.

I understand why they changed to the Chase system. People that had huge leads in points - there's just not as much excitement at the end and it's anticlimactic. And I prefer the old Chase format. The new Chase format is just too cutthroat. As you saw with Ryan Newman taking out Kyle Larsen in order to secure himself in top 4 and thereby knocking down Jeff Gordon's ranking - it's good strategically, but he could have killed someone. It should be about how well you can race, not how many people you can knock out of the race to get into a contender slot.
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Loooooooooooong
02-19-2015 at 09:49 AM.
02-19-2015 at 09:49 AM.
Quote from AtomicLush :
Give her a car that is worth a damn, and she can win some races. She's not bad by any means, and she brings in waaaay more money than any other driver at her level.

You're driving an f'ing car for 300 miles, not running it. Female/Male physiology has nothing to do with it. Nascar needs to step up the game to bring more diversity into the mix. You got Kyle Larsen who is half non-white male. Then you have Danica who is a woman. I can't think of anyone else in the Sprint Cup level that otherwise isn't from the same mold of all other Nascar drivers.

I understand why they changed to the Chase system. People that had huge leads in points - there's just not as much excitement at the end and it's anticlimactic. And I prefer the old Chase format. The new Chase format is just too cutthroat. As you saw with Ryan Newman taking out Kyle Larsen in order to secure himself in top 4 and thereby knocking down Jeff Gordon's ranking - it's good strategically, but he could have killed someone. It should be about how well you can race, not how many people you can knock out of the race to get into a contender slot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvSgJDIsRnc

If I remember correctly, Alain only had to finish the race to be the champion that year. He is taken out on the first corner and Senna is the champion. It has been happening for a long time...
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Original Poster
Iaaaiws
02-19-2015 at 02:48 PM.
02-19-2015 at 02:48 PM.
Quote from AtomicLush :
Give her a car that is worth a damn, and she can win some races. She's not bad by any means, and she brings in waaaay more money than any other driver at her level.

You're driving an f'ing car for 300 miles, not running it. Female/Male physiology has nothing to do with it. Nascar needs to step up the game to bring more diversity into the mix. You got Kyle Larsen who is half non-white male. Then you have Danica who is a woman. I can't think of anyone else in the Sprint Cup level that otherwise isn't from the same mold of all other Nascar drivers.

I understand why they changed to the Chase system. People that had huge leads in points - there's just not as much excitement at the end and it's anticlimactic. And I prefer the old Chase format. The new Chase format is just too cutthroat. As you saw with Ryan Newman taking out Kyle Larsen in order to secure himself in top 4 and thereby knocking down Jeff Gordon's ranking - it's good strategically, but he could have killed someone. It should be about how well you can race, not how many people you can knock out of the race to get into a contender slot.
Danica has been running cars equal to the ones that Harvick drove to the championship and they are powered by Hendrick engines, arguably the best in the industry. She isn't a bad driver, just another middle of the pack entry among a bunch of other drivers you hardly ever hear about. If she wasn't Danica there wouldn't be much publicity about her. And the money she brings in has nothing to do with her driving. Her butt will always gather more attention out of the racing seat than when she is sitting in it.

Again, she isn't terrible, she just has a talent level lower than the enormous expectations that followed her into the sport. She should have spent a couple more years developing her skills in the Nationwide-now Xfinity Series before jumping up to the Sprint Cup. But there is no way GoDaddy or the fanbase would have tolerated that. I think she will gradually get better if she keeps her ride but I don't see her ever being talked about as one of the top tier Sprint Cup drivers.

And as far as the new Chase format, if taking someone out to get to the championship was the primary mentality I think we would have seen at least a hint of it in the final race when you had the remaining four drivers at the front of the pack with any one of them less than a second away from the lead. And if there is a little bumping and banging when it comes down to it I think that is what we need again in Nascar to make it interesting like it used to be.

They haven't been showing the '79 Daytona 500 finish for the last two weeks for nothing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRDmNpw_Vhc

And Dale Earnhardt Sr didn't get hugely popular by avoiding taking another driver out to get a win. laugh out loud
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Iaaaiws
02-19-2015 at 03:19 PM.
02-19-2015 at 03:19 PM.
Budweiser Duels tonight to finalize the qualifying for the Daytona 500. Those races are on Fox Sports 1 and I think coverage starts at 7:00 Eastern.

I start night shift tonight so I have to get some sleep and won't be able to watch them live. I am recording them and will at least watch part of them maybe tomorrow. But I know I will be listening to the Sirius Nascar channel at work tonight so I will already know the results. But at least I am night shift through the weekend as well so I will be able to watch the 500 Whee
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cav
02-19-2015 at 03:36 PM.
02-19-2015 at 03:36 PM.
not to mention she is a woman driving...
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Iaaaiws
02-19-2015 at 04:13 PM.
02-19-2015 at 04:13 PM.
There is a chance Danica won't even make the Daytona 500. To race her way in she has to start from the back of the field in her backup car and needs to finish 15th or better. If not she could still be eligible for a provisional spot depending on how the rest of the drivers finish. I think there are 24 cars in her race tonight.
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Iaaaiws
02-19-2015 at 04:39 PM.
02-19-2015 at 04:39 PM.
I love the new in-car camera I think they started using last year. It is mounted on a gyroscope and stays vertical which really gives the perspective of the banking in the turns compared to the previous cameras that were solid mounted and just stayed parallel with the track surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql1vIXhKBMk
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The Raddish
02-19-2015 at 04:43 PM.
02-19-2015 at 04:43 PM.
I saw the exit sign on I-20 for Talladega once. Does that count?
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w3kn
02-20-2015 at 07:07 AM.
02-20-2015 at 07:07 AM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
There is a chance Danica won't even make the Daytona 500. To race her way in she has to start from the back of the field in her backup car and needs to finish 15th or better. If not she could still be eligible for a provisional spot depending on how the rest of the drivers finish. I think there are 24 cars in her race tonight.
Welp, she barely made it, thanks to Kurt Busch.

Duels weren't overly exciting up front, but the pack was pretty exciting.

From the way things looked yesterday, I'd say the favorites have to be Kenseth, Gordon, Johnson, and Junior. So in other words, every driver that has been a favorite for the last 5-6 years. laugh out loud
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Bright_Eyes
02-20-2015 at 11:17 AM.
02-20-2015 at 11:17 AM.
This might be fun -
Just pick the 10 drivers you think will finish 1st through 10th for each race and your top 15 races count as your overall score. Win great prizes!
https://slickdeals.net/f/7677468-upickem-auto-racing-contest?v=1
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Last edited by Bright_Eyes February 20, 2015 at 12:14 PM.
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Iaaaiws
02-20-2015 at 12:06 PM.
02-20-2015 at 12:06 PM.
Quote from w3kn :
Welp, she barely made it, thanks to Kurt Busch.

Duels weren't overly exciting up front, but the pack was pretty exciting.

From the way things looked yesterday, I'd say the favorites have to be Kenseth, Gordon, Johnson, and Junior. So in other words, every driver that has been a favorite for the last 5-6 years. laugh out loud
I haven't watched the second race yet but I did catch most of the first one.

Kenseth and Junior really caught my attention as being impressive. Both Johnson and Gordon have a way of being at the front of the pack without ever standing out, but there is a pretty good chance one of them will win the 500.

For long shots, I would love to see someone like Cole Whitt or Ty Dillon pull off the impossible and win at Daytona.
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Bright_Eyes
02-20-2015 at 03:46 PM.
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Bright_Eyes
02-20-2015 at 03:48 PM.
02-20-2015 at 03:48 PM.

Busch has been indefinitely suspended
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