Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
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.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

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.

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.

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.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

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

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.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

https://twitter.com/JTGRacing/status/958717037630644225

biiiit of a mouthful

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

DEMAG posted:

Hell yes, NASCAR is finally bringing the party with Hawkeye!


> Describe yourself in one gif

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

WindyMan posted:

Yeah, if NASCAR is going to keep making double-file a thing on tracks where single-file is the only thing, letting drivers decide where the sweet spot is between track position and optimal line would be great.

The only problem I would have with this is how you would implement it without making cautions last too long. I guess the drivers would line up single file and start picking a lane with a two to go?

They don't line up the double-file until one or two laps before the restart anyway, so it wouldn't make a big difference

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

iwentdoodie posted:

Is it not already a rule that 1st place picks his lane? I always thought it was.

No one behind should get a choice, because they're loving losing. That's how this poo poo works.

The leader picks their lane, no one else does.

The problem this is trying to solve is the scenario that happens all too often where you'd rather restart 4th than second.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Ryan Blaney, Tom Brady fan, has turned heel in my heart

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

The fox football graphics are tight as hell so I'm on board with this

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Elephanthead posted:

I can't wait for 199 single file parade laps, I mean the daytona 500.

That's unfair, the single file parade is reserved for the middle third of the race and the last 20 laps.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

bigbillystyle posted:

Bowman did OK when he filled in for Jr. I mean judging by how the 88 ran for most of the last few years with Jr. in the car he pretty much ran what Jr. probably would have run. Bowman's average finish in 10 races was 19.7. I would hope that putting in a full off season with the team and then the full season that they would be able to put up a little bit better numbers but really an average finish of 19.7 is also ran status if your last name isn't Earnhardt I guess. E: Earnhardt had an average of 16th before hanging it up after 18 races that year. Really I'm just trying to justify defending Bowman because I like him and don't want him to be a bust.

Elliott I don't like but just seeing the way he ran last year he knows all the wrong moves and ways to lose races so I could see him putting at least one together and getting a win. Maybe he'll have like a sophomore slump other than picking up a win but all you need is a win to get in the chase so he would be able to run mediocre all year and still technically have his season be a "success".

Bowman's come closer to winning a race in the 88 in the past two years than Jr ever did. Anyway,

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Duuuaaaaalllsss

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Yo this top 5 right now is some tight stuff

Suck it cup guys

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

gently caress

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

this is the most xfinity plate race race

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Feels Villeneuve posted:

This race is bad

disagree

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

What a good, stupid race.

Hell of a drive, Spence.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

uhm i think you mean ナスカー you loving baka gaijin

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

sup idiots the daytona five hundred is on. hell yeah

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Mahoning posted:

I was a huge NASCAR fan from like 95 to somewhere around a decade ago. I keep trying to get back into it but every year I turn on the Daytona 500 and everyone has different sponsors, different numbers, and there’s like 20 new drivers. It’s so inaccessible.

And yes I realize I sound like a really old guy, get off my lawn.

edit: that being said, I love watching the 500 every year anyways. Which young driver should I adopt? I don’t want some Trump supporting idiot like Chase Elliot either.

Blaney and Wallace

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Feels Villeneuve posted:

why did all the not-that-old veterans leave anyway, is it a cost-cutting thing of rookies being cheap as poo poo compared to Matt Kenseth's giant-rear end contract

In Kenseth's case specifically, yes. Junior dipped before his brain turned to mush.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Stenhouse is on the loving warpath

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Mahoning posted:

Thanks for the Blaney suggestion everyone. His dad is from NE Ohio about 30 min from me so it’s a good fit.

This has absolutely nothing to do with him currently leading. No siree.

He's also a total dreamboat

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

That was the craziest five laps I've ever watched

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

exploded mummy posted:

You watched NXS last night

I said crazy, not endless

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

holy poo poo

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

that race ruled

i feel super bad for aric

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Hopkins FBI posted:

I just wanna thank the good Lord up above for givin' me a rich grampa *dabs violently*

New thread title please mods

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Bubba with the :iceburn:

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

12th place finisher: Justin Marks??????

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Feels Villeneuve posted:

how long has austin dillon been in the #3 car now. like holy poo poo i think everyone gets that dale used to drive that number. why is every sports site leading with RIP DALE angles on this race

because it sells

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

algebra testes posted:

I saw people on Twitter say Aric was blocking so wasnt hung up that he got wrecked? Was that a thing?

He was upset he lost, but said that he threw a block and wasn't blaming Austin because no one's going to lift there.

https://twitter.com/jeff_gluck/status/965373534301315072

kidcoelacanth fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Feb 19, 2018

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

SpitztheGreat posted:

On a different topic, did anyone else catch Wallace referring to Richard as "The King"? I know that Kyle refers to him as The King, and I've always found that super weird, but hearing Wallace refer to him as The King made me stop and ask if Richard actually wants to be called The King to his face. If that's true, if Richard Petty actually goes by "The King" in his daily life it makes me wonder just how obnoxious he must be. I mean, the man is a legend, and I hope he's an all around decent guy (though there are red flags concerning Tim Richmond, kneeling for the anthem, to name two) but man, if you tell people to call you "The King" that's something else.

It's either that or the entire garage just respects him that much, I guess.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

Feels Villeneuve posted:

eliminate the wretched, pathetic xfinity series

But... but where will names be made?

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

It's kind of wild that they came to that resolution after how hard that deal imploded last year.

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

PFTCommenter tearing discord through NASCAR. They should bring on another driver

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

kidcoelacanth
Sep 23, 2009

I highly recommend following Dale Jr on instagram for his vaguely bewildered adventures in South Korea

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply