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kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Wow it's NASCAR again! Still not dead, despite all efforts.

Vital information for new NASCAR fans: http://www.clickhole.com/article/11-simple-rhymes-help-you-remember-how-dale-earnha-5632
Discord server for all SAS racing threads: https://discord.gg/kg3d2Uu



Martin Truex Jr won the championship last year with in a dominant performance. It was pretty cool. Stages were less horribly implemented than some might expect and helped make the best driver all year champion.

A lot of driver changes this year, with retirements and rookies aplenty. A quick overview:

Dale Earnhardt Jr has retired and will be working for NBC Sports (not just racing!). Alex Bowman will be the new driver of the #88 for Hendrick Motorsports.
The Hendrick reshuffling continues with Kasey Kahne ousted to be replaced by rookie William Byron, who will be running the #24 as Chase Elliot shifts to the #9.
Kahne will be replacing Michael McDowell in the Leavine Family Racing #95.
McDowell moves to the Front Row Motorsports #34, replacing Landon Cassill, who is tragically still without a ride.
Ryan Blaney moves to a new Penske Racing entry in the #12, leaving the Wood Brothers #21 entry open for Paul Menard, who moves over from the Childress #27, which has been shuttered.
However, Richard Petty Motorsports has entered an alliance with Richard Childress Racing, with the #43 now acting as a quasi-teammate to RCR as they move to Chevy.
Bubba Wallace is the new driver of the #43, as Aric Almirola takes his Smithfield sponsorship to Stewart-Haas Racing, replacing the retiring Danica Patrick in the #10.
Patrick will be running the #7 car for Premium Motorsports in the Daytona 500, in addition to attempting one final Indianapolis 500.
Erik Jones is replacing Matt Kenseth in the Joe Gibbs #20, and a rideless Kenseth has more or less retired.The Furniture Row #77 that Jones is leaving has shuttered.

Schedule:



I'll put some links to other stuff here when people who are less lazy than I collect them.

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OJ MIST 2 THE DICK
Sep 11, 2008

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes
And I am taken to a place
Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings
Take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chica cherry cola

-Cheap Trick

Nap Ghost
SRA retired from selling merch

iospace
Jan 19, 2038


I wonder if anyone else is going to figure out "set the car up for 1.5 mile tracks, the rest can be bonus points" thing that Furniture Row did last year.

iospace
Jan 19, 2038


exploded mummy posted:

SRA retired from selling merch

RIP the hats.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Title is directly from Kyle's dumb thing, btw

quote:

"All you're doing is advertising all these younger guys for fans to figure out and pick up on and choose as their favorite driver," Busch said during the NASCAR preseason media days at the Charlotte Convention Center. "I think it's stupid. I don't know, I'm not the marketing genius that's behind this deal.

OJ MIST 2 THE DICK
Sep 11, 2008

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes
And I am taken to a place
Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings
Take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chica cherry cola

-Cheap Trick

Nap Ghost
Kyle is basically Jeff Jarrett from late stage WCW so this all checks out.

iospace
Jan 19, 2038


Wait.

Wait.

Charlotte road course...

Is at night?

:worship::devil:

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

I'd like to think his pettiness stems in part from the fact that promoting younger drivers somehow hinders his ability to run the lower series.

I still think this is the best way to describe the points system:

Harveygod
Jan 4, 2014

YEEAAH HEH HEH HEEEHH

YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN

THIS TRASH WAR AIN'T GONNA SOLVE ITSELF YA KNOW

Charlotte Roval's new layout looking good.

WindyMan
Mar 21, 2002

Respect the power of the wind

kidcoelacanth posted:

Stages were less horribly implemented than some might expect and helped make the best driver all year champion.

Stages, and the playoffs, were also what allowed the likes of Chase Elliot to come maybe-too-close to seriously competing for the championship.

Just because everything worked out in the end still doesn't mean the current format isn't without its major pitfalls.

That being said, I did watch a lot more NASCAR last year than I did in the years previous. We'll see how things go in 2018.

iospace
Jan 19, 2038


WindyMan posted:

Stages, and the playoffs, were also what allowed the likes of Chase Elliot to come maybe-too-close to seriously competing for the championship.

Just because everything worked out in the end still doesn't mean the current format isn't without its major pitfalls.

That being said, I did watch a lot more NASCAR last year than I did in the years previous. We'll see how things go in 2018.

I think it really helped that it was a fresh face leading the pack this year instead of JimmieBot.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

WindyMan posted:

Stages, and the playoffs, were also what allowed the likes of Chase Elliot to come maybe-too-close to seriously competing for the championship.

Just because everything worked out in the end still doesn't mean the current format isn't without its major pitfalls.

If anything I think stages helped neutralize the bullshit of the playoff format, which still sucks and I hate it, but at least the drivers who've actually been doing the best all season have an advantage built in.

WindyMan
Mar 21, 2002

Respect the power of the wind

iospace posted:

I think it really helped that it was a fresh face leading the pack this year instead of JimmieBot.

Absolutely. Truex and Furniture Row was a fantastic story all year. Thank goodness they won it all in the end.

kidcoelacanth posted:

If anything I think stages helped neutralize the bullshit of the playoff format, which still sucks and I hate it, but at least the drivers who've actually been doing the best all season have an advantage built in.

True, but that advantage only carries you so far and only accounts for things up to a certain point. I despite the format of the final race, which is inconsistent with the goals of the regular season and rest of the playoffs: Winning the race is everything, consistency is everything else.

The advantages that Truex built up during the year were all taken away from him in Miami. If he caught a bad break in any other point of the season, those advantages would help him get over that bad break. There is no such safety net (constructed of his own hard work) available in the finale.

The field racing conservatively in the last race to avoid screwing with the Champ 4 drivers is dumb as hell, too. When someone else going for a win says "you can't race your hardest" then there's something wrong.

Here's the fix: Make the last race a literal winner-take all. If one of the Champ 4 wins the race, they win the championship. If none of them win it, the points leader is the champion. (This would make the stage points in the last race actually matter.) Same amount of drama, but with enough fairness in there to avoid a bullshit ending if something happens during hard racin' to take out a championship contender.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

WindyMan posted:

Absolutely. Truex and Furniture Row was a fantastic story all year. Thank goodness they won it all in the end.

True, but that advantage only carries you so far and only accounts for things up to a certain point. I despite the format of the final race, which is inconsistent with the goals of the regular season and rest of the playoffs: Winning the race is everything, consistency is everything else.

The advantages that Truex built up during the year were all taken away from him in Miami. If he caught a bad break in any other point of the season, those advantages would help him get over that bad break. There is no such safety net (constructed of his own hard work) available in the finale.

The field racing conservatively in the last race to avoid screwing with the Champ 4 drivers is dumb as hell, too. When someone else going for a win says "you can't race your hardest" then there's something wrong.

Agreed on all counts.

WindyMan posted:

Here's the fix: Make the last race a literal winner-take all. If one of the Champ 4 wins the race, they win the championship. If none of them win it, the points leader is the champion. (This would make the stage points in the last race actually matter.) Same amount of drama, but with enough fairness in there to avoid a bullshit ending if something happens during hard racin' to take out a championship contender.

This isn't a bad solution at all. The frustrating thing about any good solution is that it comes at the cost of yet another change, which has already worn extremely thin as they keep tweaking things.

runoverbobby
Apr 21, 2007

Fighting like beavers.

WindyMan posted:

If one of the Champ 4 wins the race, they win the championship. If none of them win it, the points leader is the champion.

Does this mean it is currently possible for a Champ 4 to win the last race and NOT be the points leader?

:aaaaa:

I think that's stupid.
I don't know.

WindyMan
Mar 21, 2002

Respect the power of the wind

runoverbobby posted:

Does this mean it is currently possible for a Champ 4 to win the last race and NOT be the points leader?

:aaaaa:

I think that's stupid.
I don't know.

That's been the format ever since the Chase was originally implemented.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

https://twitter.com/jeff_gluck/status/956242932805357568

Peanut President
Nov 5, 2008



I hate NASCAR.

WindyMan
Mar 21, 2002

Respect the power of the wind

He will be! In the booth. At some races?

big nipples big life
May 12, 2014

I believe that's called actions detrimental to stock car racing right there

runoverbobby
Apr 21, 2007

Fighting like beavers.

WindyMan posted:

That's been the format ever since the Chase was originally implemented.

I know it was possible under the old Chase because it was essentially a points reset with 10 races to go. I’m confused because I thought the latest format resets the points for the top four cars before the final race. You can win and end up with fewer points?

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

runoverbobby posted:

I know it was possible under the old Chase because it was essentially a points reset with 10 races to go. I’m confused because I thought the latest format resets the points for the top four cars before the final race. You can win and end up with fewer points?

No, because the points are reset after every round. The top 4 all have the same amount of points going into Homestead so the top finisher will have the most points. The actual number of points is manipulated to serve the results.

wicka
Jun 28, 2007


WindyMan posted:

He will be! In the booth. At some races?

von Manstein
Jul 30, 2005

Panzer P.I.M.P
A certain 1990 Daytona 500 winner has a charter now!
http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2018/story/_/id/22202209/starcom-racing-acquires-charter-full-cup-season

Elitist Bitch
Sep 13, 2007



Kyle Busch is still sad he wasn't one of the Gillette Young Guns.

DEMAG
Aug 14, 2003

You're it.

WindyMan posted:

He will be! In the booth. At some races?

There was such a weird aura at the track when BZF showed up randomly at Richmond last April. The telephone game circled fast all over the track in anticipation of his comments. Some thought we were going to get bad title sponsor news. Some thought he was going to step down or make some new appointment in the inner circle. I was with Gluck and Pockrass when word came down he was going to do a presser and Jeff just goes "uh oh, that's unexpected." When BZF took the stage he rambled on about driver attitude and and making them more appealing, and reiterated the sport is healthy everything is good in the face of departing sponsors and dwindling viewership. He had zero prepared statement. He literally sat down to the media pool and was like "What up dudes. Say hi to my six year old."


TL:DR France is a weird loving dude.

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

Good insight both here from Jeff Gluck about Kyle Busch's comments and how the now-"veteran" drivers are less apt to hustle like the younger drivers do because they were brought in when NASCAR was thriving (as well as NASCAR's marketing strategy overall): http://jeffgluck.com/media-tour-day-3-to-promote-or-not-to-promote/

DEMAG posted:

There was such a weird aura at the track when BZF showed up randomly at Richmond last April. The telephone game circled fast all over the track in anticipation of his comments. Some thought we were going to get bad title sponsor news. Some thought he was going to step down or make some new appointment in the inner circle. I was with Gluck and Pockrass when word came down he was going to do a presser and Jeff just goes "uh oh, that's unexpected." When BZF took the stage he rambled on about driver attitude and and making them more appealing, and reiterated the sport is healthy everything is good in the face of departing sponsors and dwindling viewership. He had zero prepared statement. He literally sat down to the media pool and was like "What up dudes. Say hi to my six year old."


TL:DR France is a weird loving dude.

...and in this post.

big nipples big life
May 12, 2014

People say the season is too long but I like that it seems like it just ended and the shootout, or whatever they call it this year, is only 3 weeks away.

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

Watching a couple old races from the Charlotte Roval in 15 minutes in honor of the reconfiguration. Let's all watch and laugh...or shudder...:

https://cytu.be/r/SASCARWinterHeat

OJ MIST 2 THE DICK
Sep 11, 2008

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes
And I am taken to a place
Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings
Take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chica cherry cola

-Cheap Trick

Nap Ghost

CBJSprague24 posted:

Watching a couple old races from the Charlotte Roval in 15 minutes in honor of the reconfiguration. Let's all watch and laugh...or shudder...:

https://cytu.be/r/SASCARWinterHeat

10 minutes in and 3 cars are wrecked

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

https://twitter.com/AwesomeWrecks/status/957062248802926593

:effort:

e- https://twitter.com/MattWeaverAW/status/957055703159537664

CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jan 27, 2018

gret
Dec 12, 2005

goggle-eyed freak


The Trucks should really be racing at the tracks ARCA is racing at like Elko, Salem, DuQuoin, etc.

big nipples big life
May 12, 2014

I would love to see the trucks have less shared dates with cup.

OJ MIST 2 THE DICK
Sep 11, 2008

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes
And I am taken to a place
Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings
Take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chica cherry cola

-Cheap Trick

Nap Ghost

why would you want to avoid Vince Russo


https://i.imgur.com/X3jtsCV.mp4

harperdc
Jul 24, 2007

exploded mummy posted:

why would you want to avoid Vince Russo

next thing you know there'll be a Brian France on a Pole race happening sometime in June.

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

Ben Kennedy has been named competition director for CWTS.

One step closer to:

harperdc posted:

next thing you know there'll be a Brian France on a Pole race happening sometime in June.

?

e- Jeffrey Earnhardt gets a ride for some reason: https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2018/01/30/jeffrey-earnhardt-starcom-racing-ink-deal-2018-season/

CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Jan 30, 2018

Slickdrac
Oct 5, 2007

Not allowed to have nice things

von Manstein
Jul 30, 2005

Panzer P.I.M.P
1990 Daytona Winner Derrike Cope giving an Earnhardt a ride is like poetry or something

Peanut President
Nov 5, 2008




but the new blood were the bad guys

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DEMAG
Aug 14, 2003

You're it.

CBJSprague24 posted:

Ben Kennedy has been named competition director for CWTS.

One step closer to:


?

e- Jeffrey Earnhardt gets a ride for some reason: https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2018/01/30/jeffrey-earnhardt-starcom-racing-ink-deal-2018-season/

Because muh legacy? I mean it's StarCom racing (Sounds like a backwoods cable company). Doubt they will be making waves this season. Even with the esteemed leadership of past 500 Champion Derrike Cope.


Kennedy will be interesting. He's young enough to completely gently caress everything up because of 'immaturity'. But at the same time, young enough to really shake things up and buck the status quo of the old guard. It will be interesting watch what happens over the next couple of seasons.

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