NASCAR 2014 / 2015

And Keselowski and Kenseth will start in the back and work their way up ... should be fun.

(At least this week the "unapproved modification" to Kenseth's car was more than a decal.)

 

Not a good day for Hendrick Motorsports with three of the four eliminated drivers coming from their company. Kyle Busch from Joe Gibbs Racing rounds out the eliminated. The two guys with the most wins are still in the chase, Brad with (now) 6 and Joey with 5. Two guys with no wins (Ryan and Matt) also remain. But six time will have to wait until next year to become seven time and Steve Letarde will be leaving NASCAR without a championship.

With Junior (emotional favorite) and Jimmy (logical favorite) out of the chase does anyone have an unbroken Chase Grid? I am still at 6 out of 8 in the chase. (I got one wrong in the first round, eliminating Hamlin, and one wrong in this round, eliminating Newman.) I did not pick a final four but Joey and Brad are doing the right things to stay in the chase ... they are winning in each round.

There are still seven guys in the chase I'd rather see win than Keselowski. I'd be happy seeing any of the other seven win. Kenseth and Gordon are old time favorites, champions from more than a decade ago. Edwards is a lame duck (Aflac!) who could win his first championship. Newman is a local boy doing well (actually seeded 3rd). Hamlin, Harvick and Logano all have a good story to tell.

Next week is Richmond.

 

4.328 million watched Talladega on EPSN, 5.096 million watched Charlotte on ABC broadcast one week earlier. Not shabby.

Talladega was the 9th highest rated program on cable that week. People are watching.

 

When the content is available people watch it. Next year it will be Fox and NBC, with FS1 and NBCSN on the cable side. While many will miss races because they are not on the "available in every package" 8000 pound gorilla ESPN, they are probably too young to remember when only major races were carried live if at all on television. Expansion to cable channels meant more race coverage.

 

Is this the "Eliminator" round or the "eliminated" round.
Maybe Kahne can win next week?

Next Week:
Logano and Hamlin can make it in by finishing 11th or better.
Winless Ryan Newman can make it in by finishing 9th or better.

Everyone else is within six points of each other: Gordon one point ahead of Kenseth and Edwards, Keselowski five points out. Unhappy Harvick sitting in last place six points out. No one eliminated yet, even if none of the eight win next week. Phoenix should be fun.


Sunday night boxing has returned.

 

I've heard people compare NASCAR to WWE ... but this was more like a bar fight. The kind where a whole room of men are sitting peacefully until someone throws a punch and then everyone jumps in on the "fun". People end up fighting just because there is a fight ... those guys are throwing punches - why not me?

In previous fights crew members that got involved got fined. I suspect the same will follow this fight. (The caveat being Kenseth not being fined for his flying leap on Keslowski a few weeks ago. So I expect fines against identified crew members and/or crew chiefs for not controlling their crews - not against the drivers.) If I were writing the rules I would say let the drivers fight ... and let the crew members stop the fight. But crew members piling on offensively - doing more than standing between the drivers or holding their own driver back - just seems unfair.

Most drivers and many crew chiefs are built like quarterbacks ... or punters. While some may be athletic like Edwards or Johnson or bulky like Stewart or Newman, they are not the linemen with physiques designed to tackle and take down an opponent (or in NASCAR, move around tires, jacks and gas cans like they were nothing). Crew members giving a driver a beat down is an unfair matchup.

 

The fines are out ...
Two fighters from the 24 team out $25K and six races (continues into next season).
One fighter from the 5 team also out $25K and six races (continues into next season).
Their crime was "fighting with a driver on pit road".
An additional crew member from the 24 team is out $10K and three races (through Daytona) for fighting with another crew member on pit road.

For not controlling their crews ... the crew chiefs of the 24 and 5 are fined $50k (each) and are both out on probation for six races. NBC is reporting that Hendrick will not be filing an appeal.

Official Release

"While the intensity and emotions are high as we continue through the final rounds of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the actions that we saw from several crew members Sunday following the race at Texas are unacceptable," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president/competition and racing development. "We reviewed the content that was available to us of the post-race incident along pit road, and identified several crew members who crossed the line with their actions, specifically punching others."

"We therefore have penalized four crew members as well as their crew chiefs, as they ultimately are responsible for members of their team per the NASCAR rulebook," Pemberton continued. "A NASCAR championship is at stake, but we can't allow behavior that crosses the line to go unchecked, particularly when it puts others in harm's way."

Team Members:
24 Mechanic: Dwayne Doucette
24 Engine Tuner: Jason Ingle
24 Hauler Driver: Dean Mozingo ($10K)
5 Rear Tire Changer: Jeremy Fuller

 

So it is Kenseth's fault when Brad does not leave a hole for Kenseth (and runs him into the wall) but Gordon's fault when Gordon does not leave a hole for Brad??? I suppose Brad should complain that Gordon didn't get out of his way - even though Brad certainly didn't get out of the way for Kenseth's faster car a few week's earlier.

Have you been imbibing Brad's sponsor's product? :goodjob:

I will be very surprised if someone doesn't find a reason to race Brad extremely hard next week - especially near the end of the race where there would be no recovery time to repair and get enough points to advance to Homestead. I would not want to see Kahne be the hit man because of his team's involvement in the Texas fight ... but Brad has run out of friends on the track. The "you race me clean and I'll race you clean" code of conduct has been broken.

The radio chatter during the 5 vs 55 on track battle is what I expect ... "oops, the car didn't turn" ...