Speedweeks starts this weekend! Woot! For those of you unaware, there are some pretty big changes to...well, everything this year: • Points system is completely different. 1st place gets 43, second gets 42, and so on down to last place getting 1 point. Winning nets you three points and leading a lap gets you one. So the maximum points awarded in any given race are 48. • Qualifying is now backward. Based on practice speed, the slowest car gets the pole and so on back to the fastest car bringing up the rear. • Top ten racers after 26 races make the chase; the final two “wild cards” are determined solely based on the most amount of wins during the regular season. • The front air dam has been removed. • Body templates are going back to manufacturer specific. • “Eco-fuel” system is now in place. It’s been used in the trucks since last year (I think) and means that the catchcan man is no longer required. From now on, it’s six guys over the wall. These are just the major ones off the top of my head. Focus: All things NASCAR. Alt. Focus: I’m contemplating suicide if Johnson goes for six.
The reverse starting thing is going to backfire. And JJ's douchehole is going to be the first one to tank. Forget a 200 mile per hour lap. Try 20 mph. That being said, I am a HUGE fan of the new points system (I never bothered learning the old one, too complicated), and an even bigger fan of the revised chase format. I think/hope it will be either Kyle Busch or Hamlin that wins it this year. NASCAR needs to do everything they can to keep Johnson from winning, because that would literally be the death of their sport. It's not the chase that's fucking ratings, it's Johnson's douchebag no-personality unlikeable unbeatable ass. I'm excited to see how this season plays out. I follow NASCAR like I do football -- there's only a select few teams/players I passionately hate (Saints and Steelers; Johnson, Jr, Stewart), and a handful that make me happy as hell when they win. Hamlin, Martin, Edwards, either Busch, Logano. Also, Travis Pastrana's running this year in Nationwide. That'll be cool.
I like most of the changes - presuming the aeropackage allows for good passing and contact on the track - except the reverse qualifying order. This, to me, is a giant red dot for safety. One can assume that now NO car will go flat-out during practice, so any kinks or problems may not be seen until race day. Also, the reason people are slow is because they have either bad drivers or shitty equipment (or both). Those are the guys you want waaaay at the back so that when they wreck they don't take the good cars with them. This is going to be a disaster. And good call, Samr. I totally forgot Pastrana was racing this year. I loves me some Travis Pastrana. Now there is a giant contradiction: all of Jimmie Johnson's sponsorship-appealing wholesomeness and 100% batshit crazy. And hawt.
The reverse order will fail. The only time I've seen it work is when there are 2 races one after the other, both with equal point values up for grabs. Like the GP2, the F1 feeder series. They have a short race that is generally 1/2 the laps of the big race, and the first 10 finishers are started in the reverse finishing order for the major race. This is to help promote passing and competition rather than see the fastest guy just pull away from the rest of the field. And it works. There is no value in fucking around or jockeying for position, it's balls out all the time to win. Not so with this crap NASCAR is trying... there will be jockeying and fucking around and it won't be good. Anything that stops people from going all out at all times is counterproductive. Unless they provide some sort of point values for qualifying to provide incentive to do as well as you can. Fucking NASCAR. I like the idea of the bodywork, though... but we'll see major issues with aerodynamics come about because of it. Some designs will prove better, and there'll be shit as a result.
We're still weeks away from the green flag and I'm already sick of Earnhardt stories. I'm from NC, grew up on NASCAR, and am basically an encyclopedia of the sport (sport?). If I've had enough, the general public has too.
I think you guys are off on the qualifying. The race lineup isn't going to be based on the reverse order of qualifying. The order in which cars take the track to take their qualifying laps will be determined by the speeds posted in practice, slowest to fastest. If you run the slowest recorded lap in practice, you will be first on the track TO MAKE YOUR QUALIFYING LAPS. If you're the fastest in practice, YOU GO LAST IN QUALIFYING. The fastest lap in qualifying still gets the pole and the slowest guy is sitting by himself in row 22 on race day. They used to draw numbers to determined who qualified first. Now, all of the "go or go home" guys will usually qualify together, making it more fan-friendly (by being able to hit mute and not listen to DW) for those who watch qualifying.
This makes way more sense. It's all about drawing people to watch the qualifying sessions (snooze fest), so they put the fastest guy last, as he's got the best shot (theoretically) of winning pole. It can be a crap shoot though, as depending on the time of day and temps and stuff the track can get slower or faster as the day goes on.
My bad. After a conversation with my father - who was confused about the rule change - I misread this article. Thank god they aren't reversing qualifying order. What a nightmare that would be.
I've always had respect for Tony Stewart for the fact that it seems like you could put him in anything with four wheels and he could win. Pastrana's the same way, except with any number of wheels.
Two more rule changes that haven't been mentioned, and will have a major effect on competition: - Drivers can only race for points in one series, determined by them before the season starts. - New fuel. Worse gas mileage, longer pit stops. I think the new body styles has been mentioned already. The cars look sweet. It'll be interesting tonight. If you're a NASCAR fan, you better be watching the shootout tonight.
A Busch won, so I'm happy. I like the new cars, I really like the new daytona track, and I'm really really looking forward to the 500. A bunch of wrecks tonight, but not huge ones because only the decent drivers were out there (though that doesn't explain why JR was there...). I cant wait to see it on the new track with a bunch of idiot "can't-afford-to-race-the-whole-race" drivers go 4 wide at 400 mph.
I don't watch NASCAR, but I found this ESPN headline to be really cool: <a class="postlink" href="http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=6118303&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cu ... NHeadlines</a>
They won't restrict them anymore because the restrictors are a standard template and I doubt anyone carries a set of "the track was too fast" spare restrictor plates. And they don't have time to design, fabricate, ship, apply, and test new plates for everyone. You're right, though. NASCAR will find a way to fuck it up. If not by Sunday, they will by the time the Firecracker rolls around in July. I'm not sure how I feel about the new style of racing. I think the 2-car teams are exciting . . . for now. It was fun to watch in practice and for 75 laps. 200 laps might be a different story. As much as I hate restrictor plate racing, watching them go 4 wide in the pack gets kind of fun. With the aero advantage of the 2 cars vs the big pack, the "Big One" could be a thing of the past.
I was thinking the same thing. I liked the 2 car "groups". I just wonder how this will translate to the full 500 mile race, with 43 cars instead of 30 or so. While not changing the restrictor plate, they did tweak a few things to help break up the 2 car mini packs. <a class="postlink" href="http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=6118605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cu ... id=6118605</a> What it boils down to is that they are making the air inlet holes smaller on the front of the cars, and they're decreasing the pressure that the release valve blows on the cooling system. This will (in theory) prevent one car from following another car that close for more than a few laps at a time. I think we should be in for an adventure this week with the duels, and on Sunday with the 500.
Looks like I owe you 10 bucks. NASCAR announced Wednesday morning that the Sprint Cup teams will now use a 57/64 inch restrictor plate at Daytona for the Gatorade Duel and Daytona 500. The 1/64" plate is smaller then the 29/32nd inch plate that was being used. The change will reduce horsepower 12-13 hp and slow the cars down a bit.
I was JUST coming on here to point that out to you, and you beat me to it. Toldja. I'm interested to see how ARCA handles it...if it's too fast for Nationwide, holy Christ. Those ARCA boys will be in trouble.
I'm watching the Duels, and it seems to be working out with a limited number of people on the track, but, this will get really messy when 21 cars are all switching places in their 2 up packs. We may see some really spectacular wrecks on Sunday. Which is A-OK with me, and, it may be what the powers that be wanted to achieve. It usually takes 2-3 months for me to get pissed off at NASCAR, but they've managed to do it in a week this year. Really, 4-5 changes to the car in 5 days? That's awesome. It's no wonder this sport isn't taken more seriously. All of this because they HAD to switch to the COT. Now they're fixing problem after problem that the new design has created.
Jeff Burton is fucking due. I'd like to see him win the championship. If the truck race is any indication, the Cup race will be a shitshow. The person who wins it will be the one who can pedal the tattered remains of their car across the finish line first.