2014 NASCAR Cup regular season

[rustyfan]

Nice weekend of stock car road racing coming up!

[JHamilton]

Bring back the carousel! Just once...

[Hendrix]

Some odd sponsor happenings lately.

First, Hendrick will retain Farmers Insurance even though Nationwide is coming on board, making it more weird is (iirc) the fact both the 5 and 88 are prepped in the same shop.

It also sounds like T-Mobile may be merging with Sprint so the series may be renamed the T-Mobile Cup, which sounds like a golf event to me.

And lastly, it seems Comcast is the front runner to replace Nationwide, which could cause issues as they own NBC.

(All sourced from Jayski)

[MJ_N_09]

But nothing as odd as:

M&M's to move to Edwards if he goes to Gibbs? Rumors persist that Carl Edwards' sponsor at Joe Gibbs Racing will be none other than the M&Ms/Mars brand. While even the Edwards to JGR piece of the puzzle has yet to be confirmed, the most recent speculation has the current Roush Fenway Racing driver with America's most popular confection as his livery for 2015. Over the last few weeks, representatives from Gibbs have been actively recruiting throughout the garage for a fourth team but both Edwards and Gibbs remain mum on the driver's status. Where would that leave Kyle Busch? Sources say Monster, a long-time supporter of Busch, would step up to the primary sponsorship level. Still, it's hard to fathom an athlete as health-conscious as Edwards could embrace a brand with so little nutritional value. When Motorsport.com asked the driver two weeks ago about representing a company that he would not personally support off the track, the response was similar to Edwards' previous "no comment" replies regarding next year.(Motorsport)
UPDATE: hearing that the deal between Edwards and Joe Gibbs Racing is done, no word when it will be announced.(6-19-2014)

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

But nothing as odd as:

Hmmm, kind of makes you wonder if M&M's is really happy with Kyle Busch. Though he has shown allot more restraint, there are several times that the "Old" Kyle Busch has come out, this year. His outburst on the radio, a couple of weeks ago was like Jimmy Spencer's segiment, on "Race Hub", about big brother Kurt's radio outbursts, with regards to his pit crew, a couple of years ago, "Kurt Busch, Radio Sweetheart!" It also appeared that he was going to go after who was it that he had the incident with a couple of weeks ago? Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne? His crew chief sounded EXACTLY like his crew chief did a couple of yeares ago, when he went after and put Ron Hornaday Jr. into the wall it the Camping World Truck Series and NEARLY lost his ride at Gibbs. "Kyle, Stop! Let it go Kyle, Don't do this. We don't need this Kyle" He looked like he was going to do the same thing that he did to Hornaday Jr. I think, finally, the only reason he stopped, was because his crew chief said "Kyle, NASCAR said STOP, NOW!" I think, maybe, Kyle doesn't put forth the image that Mars Candy Company wants and if (I'll say when) Edwards arrives at JGR, they will jump at the chance to disassociate themself with Kyle Busch!

[R.Lee]

The first NASCAR "Strictly Stock" (today's Sprint Cup Series) Division ran their first race, at the old .75 mile dirt, Charlotte Speedway. From these humble beginnings, to today's largest and most popular racing series and forum of racing in the U.S.. Congratulations NASCAR! From Jayski's:

First NASCAR race...65 years ago today: Thursday, June 19, marks the 65th anniversary of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' first race, held in 1949. In what was then called the Strictly Stock division, the race was held at Charlotte Speedway, a .75-mile dirt track, and won by #34-Jim Roper. It featured a 33-car field that included NASCAR Hall of Famers Tim Flock(5th), Buck Baker(11th), Lee Petty(17th) and Herb Thomas(29th).(NASCAR), see race results at racing-reference.info. Eventual 1949 Champion, Red Byron, finished 3rd in a Raymond Parks owned car.(6-19-2014

[Salamus]

Glad to see Jeff still in the championship lead. I'll definitely watch Sonoma this weekend.

Originally Posted by gomick

Johnson wins again, 3 out of the last 4 races, 7 of the top 8 are Chevrolet engines, 4 Hendricks cars, blah, blah, blah... Imagine the stink if Toyota dominated like that
Ambrose & his team have turned to poo & will be lucky to finish top 10 next week on the roadcourse - more than happy to be wrong & see the #9 in victory lane

So many different emotions in one post.

Originally Posted by Hendrix

It also sounds like T-Mobile may be merging with Sprint so the series may be renamed the T-Mobile Cup, which sounds like a golf event to me.

Sprint and T-Mobile merging is so ridiculously insane. If something like that were to happen in Canada, it would probably get blocked by the government.

On another note, why would the name change to T-Mobile Cup if Sprint is the one doing the take over?

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by Salamus

Glad to see Jeff still in the championship lead. I'll definitely watch Sonoma this weekend.



So many different emotions in one post.



Sprint and T-Mobile merging is so ridiculously insane. If something like that were to happen in Canada, it would probably get blocked by the government.

On another note, why would the name change to T-Mobile Cup if Sprint is the one doing the take over?

Because they were saying that the Sprint name would go away, that they would be using T-Moble as the name of the merged company.

[Paradise City]

Health conscious as Edwards. Funny stuff. As if Subway wasn't just garbage.

Kyle Busch has actually quietened down somewhat. He's more of a fit for M&M's now than he was.

[JHamilton]

If you're too health concious to even have some M&Ms every once and awhile, you're doing this 'living' thing wrong.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Health conscious as Edwards. Funny stuff. As if Subway wasn't just garbage.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Hendrix

Some odd sponsor happenings lately.

First, Hendrick will retain Farmers Insurance even though Nationwide is coming on board, making it more weird is (iirc) the fact both the 5 and 88 are prepped in the same shop.

It also sounds like T-Mobile may be merging with Sprint so the series may be renamed the T-Mobile Cup, which sounds like a golf event to me.

And lastly, it seems Comcast is the front runner to replace Nationwide, which could cause issues as they own NBC.

(All sourced from Jayski)

It sounds like Xfinity would be the sponsor rather than Comcast, and not sure how that would cause any issues other than to people that have an ax to grind against Comcast.

[Hendrix]

Originally Posted by Salamus

Sprint and T-Mobile merging is so ridiculously insane. If something like that were to happen in Canada, it would probably get blocked by the government.

There is a chance it will get blocked by the government, AT&T tried to buy them back in 2011 but that deal was blocked (technically it fell apart before, but they knew it wasn't going to get approved).

On another note, why would the name change to T-Mobile Cup if Sprint is the one doing the take over?

My guess would be that T-Mobile has a better image than Sprint.

Originally Posted by broadrun96

It sounds like Xfinity would be the sponsor rather than Comcast, and not sure how that would cause any issues other than to people that have an ax to grind against Comcast.

I could see serious concerns about them promoting the races they will carry more than the ones on Fox.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Hendrix

I could see serious concerns about them promoting the races they will carry more than the ones on Fox.

Given the package has included promotion across competing networks in the past, the amount people want to get revenge on Comcast in any way increasing any scrutiny and that Fox gets the first 14 of the season so NBC wouldn't be promoting the other networks races anyway.

[Paradise City]

Smooth win from Edwards, Gordon was very strong as is usual here, Earnhardt strong but controversial with both Harvick and the 'dinger getting entangled.

[gomick]

Bored with Hendricks Chevrolet power - they should have Red Bull sponsorship just to cap it off!
Good to see Edwards & Ford get a win. Pity for Allmendinger & Harvick getting involved in incidents, they where quick. Ambrose did ok for the piece of bs he drives!

[HJJ]

Home Depot leaving NASCAR at end of 2014: Home Depot, which has been a primary NASCAR sponsor since 1999 on the #20 car, will leave the sport after its contract with Joe Gibbs Racing ends this season, said sources familiar with Home Depot's plans.(Sports Business Journal), Matt Kenseth drives the #20 Toyota for JGR.(6-23-2014)

ESPN cancels "NASCAR Now".: The popular daily news show which launched in 2007 and was the first program on ESPN devoted strictly to NASCAR has been on hiatus since the start of World Cup Soccer started last week Network spokesperson Andy Hall said ESPN "just decided to make a change in the programming schedule." And although ESPN will not be an official broadcast partner beyond 2014 as FOX and NBC takeover the entire schedule Hall added the move was "totally unrelated to our telecast of NASCAR races. "We will continue to present the race telecasts at the same high level fans expect from ESPN for the remainder of our final season," Hall said. ""We will continue to aggressively cover NASCAR across our news platforms, including SportsCenter, ESPN.com and others" (like Jayski.com).(Motorsport)(6-23-2014)

.

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by HJJ

.

Neither is unexpected. Since ESPN will not be covering the races next year, there is little need to continue producing and showing "NASCAR Now" Wonder where the people on the show will wind up next season.

Home Depot has been with Gibbs for 15 years. That is a LONG time, probably reorganizing, they are based here, in Atlanta and the company nas not been doing well fincially, not surprised that they would stop sponsorship.

[MJ_N_09]

Short field for Kentucky. 42 cars only, first time since 2001.

[JHamilton]

Hey R.Lee - HD has actually been doing very well since the 2nd quarter of last year... I think this is concerning. HD are a long time sponsor and are leaving two competitors in the sport. Granted, it's been a long time since Steward drove for them, but still.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Home Depot is simply one of a long list of longtime Fortune 500 companies that have left the sport all together in recent years after the fall from NASCAR's popularity peak in 2005.

[Hendrix]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Home Depot is simply one of a long list of longtime Fortune 500 companies that have left the sport all together in recent years after the fall from NASCAR's popularity peak in 2005.

There have also been quite a few that have joined or upped their sponsorship in that same time (Aflac, Fastenal, Pepsi, 3M, McDonalds, Pennzoil among others have).

Anyways, I feel Home Depot didn't feel like Kenseth was a good fit and they didn't want to go through the process of building a relationship with yet another driver.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Also, it must be embarrassing to see a Lowe's/Kobalt car getting so much attention when you're trying to promote Home Depot/Husky.

[Hendrix]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Also, it must be embarrassing to see a Lowe's/Kobalt car getting so much attention when you're trying to promote Home Depot/Husky.

I'd imagine so, especially when they have found a way to make Jimmie seem not so vanilla.

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Hey R.Lee - HD has actually been doing very well since the 2nd quarter of last year... I think this is concerning. HD are a long time sponsor and are leaving two competitors in the sport. Granted, it's been a long time since Steward drove for them, but still.

Didn't know that, JHamilton. Last I had read/heard, they were haviving problems. I know unless you're at the store, in the Smyrna/Vinnings area, across from their HQ building, which is their showcase, the supply of items dwindles and gets worse, the farther "from the flagpole" you go. The people that work at every one of the HD stores that I go to are quality people, eager to help, knowlegable, but I hear too often, I hear, "We're out of stock." "We don't carry that anymore" etc.. Not a long time ago, it wasn't like that. Lowes, on the other hand, I don't have that problem with. Maybe they're improving, I hope so. FIW, I've also heard that the company has a new CEO, that is not a fan of racing. Could also work into the equation. I don't know. Time will tell, I guess.