NASCAR Thread

[AZ Snake Fan]

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Fast Friday: Talladega

Talladega is a bigger track than Daytona, over 2.5 miles/lap.
Talladega is wider than Daytona and has a longer backstretch.

Has Toyota solved their engine issues during long runs at big tracks ?
We will find out Sunday.

In recent years, both of these restrictor plate race tracks have been plagued by freight training.
I'm hoping the larger spoilers on the Gen 6 cars at Talladega will counter bumpers lining up.
More down force on the nose.
I would love to see these cars passing each other on Sunday.
We'll see.

Personally, I dislike the 20+ car trains, hope we don't see that.
Team mates may try to help each other but I don't think we'll see solid bumper to bumper runs.

First practice today was kinda willy-nilly, lots of teams trying different things.
It was real cloudy and very windy.
Most of the top ten cars were flirting with close to 200 mph laps.
Expect those speeds to increase a lot if conditions are better Sunday.
Fuel and tire strategy; this race will be won in the pits, lots of crew chief nail biting.

Very few teams participated in final practice.
Gordon entered a turn at 214 mph, Brad K was fastest over all in final practice.

Later, the weather forecast came out for Saturday; 90+ chance for all day rain.
The ARCA race today was called for rain during the last few laps.

Quals are scheduled for Saturday.

If qualifying is rained out, by rule, the pole will be determined by today's first practice.
So....if quals are rained out:

Pole: Carl
2. Truex
3. Ambrose
4. Logano
5. Newman
6. Kenseth
7. Hamlin
8. Johnson
9. Gordon
10. Kahne


Behave yourselves drivers and enjoy Talladega !!!

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[Peanut]

I vote AZ for our personal NASCAR reporter. Good stuff.

I'm glad Denny is out of the car. It would not help his back if he were involved in a crash.

Like the one that just happened. There goes my teams.

[BroncosFanInPA]

Typical Talladega!

But what else was i expecting? :doh:

[roushmartin6]

Congrats to David Ragan and the whole Front Row Motorsports group. Love seeing the underdog teams grab a win every now and then. Front Row Motorsports has come a long way since they showed up almost 10 years ago.

[Peanut]

Typical Talladega!

But what else was i expecting? :doh:

Rain delays are fun. Went shopping and came back in plenty of time to watch the end of the race.

Congrats to David Ragan and the whole Front Row Motorsports group. Love seeing the underdog teams grab a win every now and then. Front Row Motorsports has come a long way since they showed up almost 10 years ago.

I agree. Congrats to them!

[BroncosFanInPA]

Congrats to David Ragan and the whole Front Row Motorsports group. Love seeing the underdog teams grab a win every now and then. Front Row Motorsports has come a long way since they showed up almost 10 years ago.

I'm with ya there & i would think most anybody you ask would say the same, it's really nice to see some of the teams with less funding than the powerhouse teams of the sport get a win. :clap:

But that's what Talladega can do, it's the great equalizer as they like to say & gives every driver in the race a legitimate chance at winning unlike at other tracks.

And besides it gets to be a bore at times when you have the same cars running up front of most of the races so it's refreshing to see the little guy get a shot, even if i don't always care for how the plate races end up with a bunch of torn up cars, but it's the nature of the beast.

[AZ Snake Fan]

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I agree with all of you also...Congrats to David Ragan, two huge wins for that kid.

Speaking of the less funded teams,
How 'bout that Denver Furniture Row Team ?
They've been putting up a good fight and have been in it almost every race.
Kurt has been driving the wheels off of that car all year.
They just can't seem to catch a break, something always happens to them.
~~~
On another note:
Hat's off to to Tony, MW and a few others for voluntarily starting at the back.
Like him or not, Hamlin is really busted up.
Smoke showed his class again by crossing team and manufacturer lines to help protect an injured driver.
The fast swap to Vickers using the roof hatch was cool, nice try but # 11 wrecked anyway.
I liked Mikey's paint job too !

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[roushmartin6]

And as one underdog team breaks through the history column, one decides its time to move on. I read on Jayski Phoenix Racing is shutting down after Indy. Sad to see them go, they have been around forever and the last few years their team has ran as competitively as they ever have. The car is 13th in owners points. Sad that they still can't find a sponsor after their great runs.

[AZ Snake Fan]

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Fast Friday: Darlington

First practice fastest cars were Paul Menard, Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Dale Jr, Carl, Kyle, Truex, Montoya, Kenseth and Biffle in that order. During the day there were many of the usual scrapes with the wall, Danica scraped bad enough to have to go to a back up car.

Second practice had Montoya fastest with Stenhouse, Carl, Jeff Burton, Kurt, Biffle, Kenseth, Gordon, Truex and Kyle in the top ten in that order.

Track conditions for practice were sunny and hot; during quals there was cloud coverage for some that helped them stick better. As you know, the race will be at night, set ups calcs will be just as critical as staying out of the Darlington wall. I expect some even faster times than we saw today.

Quals : Another track qualifying record was smashed again this year at Darlington.
Pole: Kurt
2. Johnson
3. Kyle
4. Kahne
5. Truex
6. Hamlin
7. Kenseth
8. Gordon
9. Biffle
10. Harvick

Behave yourselves drivers, be safe and enjoy Darlington !

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[BroncosFanInPA]

Time for "The Lady In Black" "Too Tough To Tame" So how many Darlington stripes will we see?

I think there is going to be alot of action tonight & i think maybe some tempers will flare up & we may see some scraping, it's a narrow track & i can see alot of rubbing on each other.

Also it's Denny Hamlin's first full race back & you can bet he hasn't forgotten about Logano costing him 4 or 5 races & all the pain he has dealt with, watch & see if something don't go down with them two.

I think there may be others getting into it as well & perhaps it's time for smoke to settle up some scores with a few tonight. Either way i think it should be an exciting race.

[roushmartin6]

Had to work tonight so I missed the race, but it sounds like I didn't miss much. Listened to it on my phone when I had the chances and basically it was Kyle's night up until a tire problem and Kenseth keeps making Jack Roush look more and more foolish. Also Mark finishes 4 laps down while Truex finishes in the top 10. I had bigger expectations than this for this season. MWR needs to figure out whats wrong with the 55 team because the other 2 run up front more consistently.

[BroncosFanInPA]

Time for "The Lady In Black" "Too Tough To Tame" So how many Darlington stripes will we see?

I think there is going to be alot of action tonight & i think maybe some tempers will flare up & we may see some scraping, it's a narrow track & i can see alot of rubbing on each other.

Also it's Denny Hamlin's first full race back & you can bet he hasn't forgotten about Logano costing him 4 or 5 races & all the pain he has dealt with, watch & see if something don't go down with them two.

I think there may be others getting into it as well & perhaps it's time for smoke to settle up some scores with a few tonight. Either way i think it should be an exciting race.

HA HA! Boy i really nailed it right? :doh: What i snooze fest, 1 caution in the first 300 laps & that was a phantom debris one at that Yep i hit it out of the park

Maybe i shouldn't give any predictions on what kind of race we will see. :nono:

Or better yet perhaps i should say something like...well this race will probably be another sleeper & maybe even go caution free & when it ends there will be 3 cars on the lead lap.

[roushmartin6]

HA HA! Boy i really nailed it right? :doh: What i snooze fest, 1 caution in the first 300 laps & that was a phantom debris one at that Yep i hit it out of the park

Maybe i shouldn't give any predictions on what kind of race we will see. :nono:

Or better yet perhaps i should say something like...well this race will probably be another sleeper & maybe even go caution free & when it ends there will be 3 cars on the lead lap.

Sadly that's what most of the races end up being now. They need to go back to less restrictions with the gear ratios and such. Every team shouldn't be able to shoot for the same laps window to make it on fuel every week.

[Peanut]

Sad News - Dick Trickle: Retired race car driver Richard "Dick" Trickle, 71, died Thursday from an apparent self inflicted gun shot wound, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The incident occurred at 12:02 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery on Highway 150 East in Boger City. The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call apparently from the victim that "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Communications Center workers tried to place a return call to the number but did not get an answer. The first emergency units arriving on the scene located the body lying near the victim's pickup truck. Trickle was a Lincoln County resident and had lived there since the early 1990's.(wbtv.com)
Trickle was the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year, started 303 Cup races with 15 top-fives [with a best finish of 3rd, five times), 36 top-tens and 1 pole (Dover 1990).(Racing-reference.info)(5-16-2013)

Very sad. Thoughts and prayers to the family.

RIP, Mr. Trickle.

[Thors Hammer]

Very sad. Thoughts and prayers to the family.

RIP, Mr. Trickle.

Very sad. The man was a Wisconsin short-track legend .