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NASCAR 2017 lots of changes, sounds good

3K views 58 replies 6 participants last post by  jimmie57 
#1 ·
Drivers retiring,
new young drivers taking their place,
SHR changed to Fords,
changing the format of all races so that they are 3 segments and the first 10 finishers in each segment gets points awarded.
Less bad timing commercials !!!! Yeah !!!!
All sounds like improvement to me.
 
#35 ·
More changes coming. In the All Star race they will have a set of softer tires they can choose. However if they do they have to go to the back of the pack. It will be interesting for sure.
 
#36 ·
Top ten in a 10 lap green flag only shootout with all other cars off the track. If any team has burned up their one set earlier in the race they would be stuck in the front and likely passe ... 1st is better than 10th but I expect every crew chief will do the same thing.
 
#37 ·
The rain in Tennessee falls mainly on the track.

Set your timers for 1pm (ET) Monday on your local Fox affiliate.
 
#38 ·
Big change for 2018. No Dale Jr. He's retiring at the end of the year.
 
#39 ·
I am not surprised. I was surprised that came back after all those injuries to his head. He has a good looking honey now instead of a steering wheel. Needs to stay sharp for her.

I am guessing that Alex Bauman will step into the 88 next year.
 
#41 ·
Yep, with her man Ricky. Very glad to see that he won.
She was running a good race. Finished 8th in stage 1 and 15th in stage 2. She had avoided the big wreck until she got hit from behind,
 
#42 ·
Good to see Truex win another one ... but still holding my breath for Aric Almirola.

Sorry for your "bad luck" Danica - but you get to go home tonight. At least Joey managed to show an appropriate response to the incident (without favorable editing by Fox Sports).

The traveling medical crew got a workout tonight making sure Aric was taken care of. I look forward to positive updates.
 
#43 ·
You must have watched that interview on twitter. It is all jerky and gives the impression or is cut up to shorten it.
I have it recorded from the actual race and I did not see or hear anything that was not appropriate . She has been running very good in the last 2 races and each time was taken out of the race from no fault of her own. I would definitely call that bad luck.
I have looked on all sites that I know of and can not find an update on Aric so far this morning.
 
#44 ·
I watched the coverage live.

Joey's interview was as he saw the wreck for the first time. He was giving the usual "something broke I'm sorry" interview while seeing the wreck. His tone changed when he saw Danica hit the wall (although he seemed concerned for Danica at the beginning of the interview the concern changed from "I'm sorry you wrecked out" to "I'm sorry that the wreck was that bad"). I remember thinking as he said "oh God" that he might want to save that exclamation for the end the wreck. A few seconds later he saw Aric's hit and the concern shifted. I don't recall him saying anything about how unlucky he was this season. His performance this year certainly was not the focus of the interview.

Danica's interview was all about her and her bad luck. "How do you blow a brake rotor at a track where we don't use the brakes." As she rattled on about her bad year I was screaming at the TV - SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT ARIC. She eventually mentioned him with the "his car looked the least damaged of all of ours" answer and showing some concern. But the concern shifted to "one of these times these accidents are not going to go good for me" adding "they are not all fake" (which opens another kettle of worms).

The end of the interview and commentary on the comments can be found here:
Craven concerned over Patrick's comments - ESPN Video

In post race Fox edited the two interviews together, removing most of Danica's "woe is me" and inserting her comments between Joey's comments. Danica's interview needed to be shortened up. Joey did his editing in real time - realizing the importance of his woes (he needs and unencumbered win) were less important than Danica's or Aric's.

Logano & Patrick Accident Quotes
 
#45 ·
I watched the coverage live.

Joey's interview was as he saw the wreck for the first time. He was giving the usual "something broke I'm sorry" interview while seeing the wreck. His tone changed when he saw Danica hit the wall (although he seemed concerned for Danica at the beginning of the interview the concern changed from "I'm sorry you wrecked out" to "I'm sorry that the wreck was that bad"). I remember thinking as he said "oh God" that he might want to save that exclamation for the end the wreck. A few seconds later he saw Aric's hit and the concern shifted. I don't recall him saying anything about how unlucky he was this season. His performance this year certainly was not the focus of the interview.

Danica's interview was all about her and her bad luck. "How do you blow a brake rotor at a track where we don't use the brakes." As she rattled on about her bad year I was screaming at the TV - SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT ARIC. She eventually mentioned him with an "I don't know how he got hurt, his car looked less damaged than ours" answer and showing some concern. But the concern seemed to be "that could have been me".

In post race Fox edited the two interviews together, removing most of Danica's "woe is me" and inserting her comments between Joey's comments. Danica's interview needed to be shortened up. Joey did his editing in real time - realizing the importance of his woes (he needs and unencumbered win) were less important than Danica's or Aric's.
The main thing I took from the interview was that her car and Joey's were a total disaster and that Aric's did not look bad but he was the one that was hurt and why is that.
I am not going to argue with you about this.

I think Nascar has gone a little bit too far with the less downforce on these really high speed race tracks. It is causing an unwanted side effect of the speeds increasing so much in the straightaways that they are using too much brakes to slow them down. Almost everything that caused the cautions was blown tires and then this one with whatever that was that came flying thru the top of the fender of the 22 car.
They have made major strides in the safety for the drivers,
 
#46 ·
I have edited my comments after reviewing video. If you (or anyone reading) still has the race on their DVR I recommend that you go back and watch the interviews.

(Danica's interview was just over two minutes long and she did not mention Aric until the end ... 100 seconds into the interview. The entire mention of Aric is in the clip in my previous post. Joey's interview was 90 seconds and he mentioned Aric at the beginning as well as later when the replay showed the impact.)
 
#47 ·
Aric Almirola Released from Kansas Hospital
Aric Almirola Released from Kansas Hospital

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - (May 14, 2017) - Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, has been released from a local Kansas hospital and will fly back to his home in Mooresville, N.C. today.

Almirola suffered a compression fracture to his T5 Vertebra after a multi-car accident at Kansas Speedway Saturday night. Almirola is mobile and will follow-up with his doctors in Charlotte.

Richard Petty Motorsports will provide further updates when available.

t5 vertebra - Bing images
 
#48 ·
Wow, it is silly season in Nascar. Lots of drivers out, sponsors changing teams and quitting all together.
 
#49 ·
NASCAR is in trouble. For the past few years they have been manipulating the sport trying to make races "more exciting". "The Chase" was started to tighten up the field at the end of the season and bring the top 10 then 13 and now 16 closer together to make the end of the season "more exciting" ... and it seemed to work for a while but NASCAR kept tweaking to the point where they now have a system where one race matters way too much. This year's "stage points" has reversed that to some extent granting a massive lead to one driver who dominated the first 26 races ... and for every fan who wanted a "regular season champion" just look at the forced smile on Martin's face. Whoo hoo, I got a trophy.

I believe they have listened too much to "the fans" and "the drivers" over the past couple of years. The fans want this? OK. The drivers want that? OK. There doesn't seem to be anyone willing to stand up and say NO. NASCAR is NASCAR it doesn't need to modify the rules every few weeks to make different factions happy. And the changes have been noticeable enough that they are now explaining "no no, this isn't a rule change, this is a penalty change". When the kids want pizza and ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner it is up to the parents to say NO and do what is best for the child. NASCAR has given in so much that it is all pizza and ice cream and the kids are getting sick.

The most popular driver in the sport called out NASCAR for their "BS debris cautions" a few years ago. Yet cautions make the race closer so it seems one is thrown whenever there is the hint of the opportunity. Saturday's race was the worst ... not only did they call a caution for tire smoke (early enough that no one was hurt) but they had a hair trigger looking for that late race caution to take the race to overtime. Kyle Busch called NASCAR rigged a couple of years ago when he didn't like a call. NASCAR has done a poor job of proving that the races are not rigged ... especially when they keep having manipulated races.

BTW: Is it Wednesday yet? Is NASCAR sure that Kyle Larson's win is not encumbered? Perhaps Joey's second place finish? Or will it take until Thursday until fans can be 100% sure of who will be in the 16 at Chicago? And if the 16 doesn't change when will the bad taste of the word encumbered leave NASCAR and the media's mouth?

The other major screw up Saturday was the ambulance. I am glad that no one hit the vehicle but with it caused an accident that took out a person contending for a position in the playoffs (who fortunately got it anyways because a previous winner won). It also caused several cars to violate the commitment box ... most who continued to pit and were not penalized (despite a previous race where cars avoiding a safety vehicle in the wrong place were penalized). Some drivers who violated went back out on the track to avoid the violation (the correct move). But it was yet another inconsistency of NASCAR (not to mention waiving the commitment rule but putting Matt on the clock for damage that was NASCAR's fault).

10 more races ... 10 more chances to get it right. Somehow I expect more controversy.

An as far as the driver changes go ... Matt has no ride yet for 2018. Kasey Kahne is finally out of the car (he has not performed in a few years). Danica is finally out of the car (although someone may pick her up for the novelty value - she never lived up to the promise of being a great driver). Smithfield dumped the King!!! (NOBODY dumps the King.) And it appears Aric will be fueling the #10 with bacon. It is good to see Chase headed back to the 9.

Will Danica find a 20th place team so she can finish in the top 30? Will Kasey drive again? Where will Matt end up? Will Greg Biffle return in 2018 and drive the 43 full time or will that be Matt or yet another "young blood" car? Will anyone care?

If the next 10 races are not pristine with no hint of questionable judgement calls and controversy perhaps NASCAR has a chance. But another race or two like Richmond and it will be much harder to recover. God forbid any bad officiating happens at Homestead.

<sigh> There are days I wish I did't like NASCAR and didn't have to care.
 
#50 ·
I think Matt will be at SHS racing next year. He and Tony are good friends and I can see Smithfield sponsoring him.
 
#51 ·
Ryan Newman was Tony's friend until they ran out of race cars (sorry bud, the third car goes to Danica) and Gene decided to sponsor Kurt as the new fourth car.

I believe Ryan is still Tony's friend ... but that didn't give him a ride.
 
#52 ·
And, as predicted, ratings are down yet again. The new gimmicks were Market rejected, just like the previous ones have been.

We are seeing the shakeout. In sponsor terms the big issue is not the teams in competition with one another (as with Petty and Hass over Smithfield) but NASCAR as a whole in competition with every other form of possible advertizing. With ratings this low, the return on investment viz buying 10000 billboards or 100 radio jingles or whatever is just not there. So more and more sponsors are becoming ex-sponsors.

What NASCAR will look like, after another 2 or 3 years of ratings losses and yet more Market rejected gimmicks, will be shocking. The truck series, which is going to go to a spec engine, will probably die out soon. In the big series, we will see teams just shut down and go away.
 
#53 ·
And, as predicted, ratings are down yet again. The new gimmicks were Market rejected, just like the previous ones have been.

We are seeing the shakeout. In sponsor terms the big issue is not the teams in competition with one another (as with Petty and Hass over Smithfield) but NASCAR as a whole in competition with every other form of possible advertizing. With ratings this low, the return on investment viz buying 10000 billboards or 100 radio jingles or whatever is just not there. So more and more sponsors are becoming ex-sponsors.

What NASCAR will look like, after another 2 or 3 years of ratings losses and yet more Market rejected gimmicks, will be shocking. The truck series, which is going to go to a spec engine, will probably die out soon. In the big series, we will see teams just shut down and go away.
I don't know about the ratings but the racing is much better now than I can remember. The stages are a big plus.
Jr sounded off a few weeks ago about the salaries of the drivers being so high and said he was one of them. It is costing way too much to operate these huge teams and high salaries.
 
#54 ·
The Petty vs Smithfield issue us turning in to a war. Old school King doing business on a handshake vs corporate office wanting to sponsor a better car. They are professional enough to finish out the year but it looks more like a divorce or carriage dispute than a parting of ways.

I forgot that Aric was leaving and Bubba was coming for the 43 next year. And that Kurt does not have a ride. Perhaps the new guys are cheaper or more marketable.

I am reminded of how secretive NASCAR has become. No attendance figures since they are down. No winnings reported. It is a bunker mentality.

43 car fields cut to 40 or less and a lot of talk about cost saving measures. Yes, there are problems with the sport. Even the die hard "fan boys" in the media are noticing the problems.

It is Wednesday. How many in NASCAR are holding their breath untill they are sure last week's race was not encumbered? It is a shame that is even a possibility.
 
#55 ·
The Petty vs Smithfield issue us turning in to a war. Old school King doing business on a handshake vs corporate office wanting to sponsor a better car. They are professional enough to finish out the year but it looks more like a divorce or carriage dispute than a parting of ways.

I forgot that Aric was leaving and Bubba was coming for the 43 next year. And that Kurt does not have a ride. Perhaps the new guys are cheaper or more marketable.

I am reminded of how secretive NASCAR has become. No attendance figures since they are down. No winnings reported. It is a bunker mentality.

43 car fields cut to 40 or less and a lot of talk about cost saving measures. Yes, there are problems with the sport. Even the die hard "fan boys" in the media are noticing the problems.

It is Wednesday. How many in NASCAR are holding their breath untill they are sure last week's race was not encumbered? It is a shame that is even a possibility.
Yep, if they are caught cheating after the race they should go to the rear of the pack , period. Loss of win, position, money, etc.
 
#56 ·
If it were only for "cheating". I hate that term in NASCAR. Every rule violation is not "cheating". I have seen some cheating, such as body slamming the car during pit stops to change the aerodynamics, pulling the skirts out, perforating the tires and excessive burnouts done to damage the cars. But out of spec should be considered a rule violation, not cheating. It is a derogatory word that makes "pushing the limits" sound worse than it actually is. (And then "the world" sees NASCAR as embracing cheaters.) I wish no one used that term.

I like "encumbered" because it does not change the race outcome, it only applies a penalty that makes it worth less. Joey Logano still won his race and has a nice trophy. He just doesn't have the points, money and playoff position that win would normally give him due to the rules violation.
 
#57 ·
But he got that at the expense of the next in line that was in the rules.
Call it what you want to but it is cheating when you design a part to shift out of spec in the race and he should lose all of what he was given. I look for encumbered to go away in the next year. That is just total BS. No other sport that I know of allows you to keep your space if you don't stay within the rules.
 
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