2017 NASCAR Cup Series

[Paradise City]

Do these "changes" include Daytona 500 and the Coke 600? Are they going to slice n' dice those races as well? That's a real crime if even the majors are going to be shredded.

I don't like changes personally. And they cut up the races in a messy way. What's this France guy's obsession with "playoffs"? He always has "playoffs" ringing around in his head. But the only surprise here is that this wasn't done sooner to appease the goldfish attention-span of the smartphone generation.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Do these "changes" include Daytona 500 and the Coke 600? Are they going to slice n' dice those races as well? That's a real crime if even the majors are going to be shredded.

I don't like changes personally. And they cut up the races in a messy way. What's this France guy's obsession with "playoffs"? He always has "playoffs" ringing around in his head. But the only surprise here is that this wasn't done sooner to appease the goldfish attention-span of the smartphone generation.

I think it's every race, which is a travesty.


Playoffs are what we do in America and the nascar playoffs happen prior to the other major sports, so he's trying to keep pace and keep interest down to the end. Having the championship decided before the last race is just not good enough for him in the sport so it MUST go down to the last lap of the last race.

Quite frankly, the last race was the only Speedway race I recall watching/ listening to the whole thing last year so job done, I guess. I pretty much missed the rest of the season, however.

[GTRMagic]

Danica Patrick Sponsor Problems

SHR seems to have 3 programs (Mr Busch, Ms Patrick & Mr Bowyer) with not all rounds paid for...

[NaBUru38]

It's a better championship format than 2016, but that's not saying much.

There will be controversy about drivers not winning the race earning more points because of the intermediate stages.

[canamman]

The number 9 not being used this year
and is available. Hmmm.

[fieldodreams79]

It'd be nice to have Chase take the 9 but I think he's 24 until Mr. Hendrick and Case part ways.

---------------------------------------------------------

MWM had a good chat / laugh regarding the new format / rules.

[jimmer]

Cant wait for the season to start...

[FIRE]

All these changes to points and format shows one thing: they are desperate.

[R.Lee]

I have been reading through the numerous changes that the IDIOT, Brian France and him equally IDIOTIC group are going to put into place for this upcoming season and I have to say that I see no reason to be optimistic! Since he took over, his changes have driven the sport farther and farther away from what it is suppose to be and he has alienated many old time, grassroots fans! The B.S. practice session-style qualification system and the final 10 race of the season FARCE of selecting a champion have come very close to being the "straw that broke the camel's back" for me! All of this NON-SENSE that they will put into place this season, breaking up races into individual segiments and the rest of this lunacy, just might be what finally drives this once, lifetime fan away for good!

This leaves me in a serious dilemma. I have been a NASCAR (and other stock car series) fan, for practically my entire life. I know little else, and care for very little else, outside of stock car racing! Now, NASCAR, through it's completely INEPT leader and his crew are taking the sport completely away from me! My problem is, as a racing fan, I have nowhere else to go. ARCA would be good, but it is extremely difficult to follow. Most of their races are shown on minor networks that do not get into most homes and besides, with today's ARCA, as goes NASCAR, sooner or later, so goes ARCA. USAC folded their stock car division YEARS ago. There is not another major stock car racing series in existence. As for the local short tracks, well, as we have discussed, there are no longer any paved track, that run late model stock cars in North Georgia. Dirt track racing and late models are okay, but they just don't appeal to me like paved track racing does and it is GONE! I like drag racing, but major league drag racing (NHRA) only comes around these parts about once a year and the TV coverage is usually on at bad times for me. So there it is, there is really no where else for me to go. I've got no interest in other forms of racing. DO NOT like sportcars and/or road-racing. NO interest in formula cars and I absolutely HATE those things that run in Indiana, around Memorial Day weekend! So for me, this could very well be the end of the line, as a racing fan. Sad, when an organization's head does things that so anger and alienate their loyal, longtime fanbase, that they leave. Especially when one of those fans is someone, like myself, that had been a loyal, diehard, hardcore fan for 58 of the 63 years of his life! I don't know whatelse I can say, except that this is a VERY SAD day!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by R.Lee

I have been reading through the numerous changes that the IDIOT, Brian France and him equally IDIOTIC group are going to put into place for this upcoming season and I have to say that I see no reason to be optimistic! Since he took over, his changes have driven the sport farther and farther away from what it is suppose to be and he has alienated many old time, grassroots fans! The B.S. practice session-style qualification system and the final 10 race of the season FARCE of selecting a champion have come very close to being the "straw that broke the camel's back" for me! All of this NON-SENSE that they will put into place this season, breaking up races into individual segiments and the rest of this lunacy, just might be what finally drives this once, lifetime fan away for good!

This leaves me in a serious dilemma. I have been a NASCAR (and other stock car series) fan, for practically my entire life. I know little else, and care for very little else, outside of stock car racing! Now, NASCAR, through it's completely INEPT leader and his crew are taking the sport completely away from me! My problem is, as a racing fan, I have nowhere else to go. ARCA would be good, but it is extremely difficult to follow. Most of their races are shown on minor networks that do not get into most homes and besides, with today's ARCA, as goes NASCAR, sooner or later, so goes ARCA. USAC folded their stock car division YEARS ago. There is not another major stock car racing series in existence. As for the local short tracks, well, as we have discussed, there are no longer any paved track, that run late model stock cars in North Georgia. Dirt track racing and late models are okay, but they just don't appeal to me like paved track racing does and it is GONE! I like drag racing, but major league drag racing (NHRA) only comes around these parts about once a year and the TV coverage is usually on at bad times for me. So there it is, there is really no where else for me to go. I've got no interest in other forms of racing. DO NOT like sportcars and/or road-racing. NO interest in formula cars and I absolutely HATE those things that run in Indiana, around Memorial Day weekend! So for me, this could very well be the end of the line, as a racing fan. Sad, when an organization's head does things that so anger and alienate their loyal, longtime fanbase, that they leave. Especially when one of those fans is someone, like myself, that had been a loyal, diehard, hardcore fan for 58 of the 63 years of his life! I don't know whatelse I can say, except that this is a VERY SAD day!

I have been and always will be a "motor racing" fan, in that I've never really had a single focus in racing. I like it all but have only recently hit the drags. Love the NHRA in person. The highlight shows are okay, but like you, I didn't think there was a more fun series and set of drivers to follow for a full season and 30 plus races than the Cup series. It was ruined for already me but this is more dirt over the coffin.

Try to come to the Mitty at Road ATL in April. You could walk the paddock and check out a wide variety of machines and get really close track side. It's grass roots for the most part - there's some serious set ups for those "Indy Types" and some of the others. Sure it's not a "series" so to speak, but it's cool cars and good fun. There's usually about a half dozen stock cars and watching them down the back stretch is okay in my book.

Regardless, hope you find something to get some racing enjoyment.

[MaskedRacer]

I still don't get what NASCAR did. This form of racing is so dumb now due to their gimmicks. They should have gone with running two 200 mile races on a weekend. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. Took that idea from how the Blancpain GT sprint series works.

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I have been and always will be a "motor racing" fan, in that I've never really had a single focus in racing. I like it all but have only recently hit the drags. Love the NHRA in person. The highlight shows are okay, but like you, I didn't think there was a more fun series and set of drivers to follow for a full season and 30 plus races than the Cup series. It was ruined for already me but this is more dirt over the coffin.

Yes, it is really sad when diehard fans, that really enjoy something, like you, myself and so many others, is driven away by someone that had NO CLUE about the sport and does not have enough common sense to look at how his Grandfather and Father handled things! They have RUINED it, as you said. Drag racing is fun to watch, but it isn't the same as a day at the track, watching a 400 or 500 mile stock car race. Plus, like I said, they are only here one time and then the nearest they get again is over a 150 mile drive, one way. Can't afford that. No other options for a Cup fan.

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Try to come to the Mitty at Road ATL in April. You could walk the paddock and check out a wide variety of machines and get really close track side. It's grass roots for the most part - there's some serious set ups for those "Indy Types" and some of the others. Sure it's not a "series" so to speak, but it's cool cars and good fun. There's usually about a half dozen stock cars and watching them down the back stretch is okay in my book.

Not even sure what a Mitty is, I presume some form of vintage exhibition. Really though, I just do not like road-racing, even if it is stock cars. Half a dozen stock cars just doesn't really appeal to me, especially since most likely, I saw those cars race, when they were in their prime running in the Cup Series. There just wouldn't be anything outside of the small handful of stock cars that I would be interested in. Thank you for the thought/idea though.

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Regardless, hope you find something to get some racing enjoyment.

About the only thing I will attend, motorsport wise, this year, will be an event in a series that is trying to make a comeback. On the 25th of March, the American Motorcycle Association will run the American Flat Track Series at Dixie Speedway. For years, going back to the 1920s, flat track motorcycle racing was a huge sport. Very intense competition highlighted by the competition between Harley-Davidson and Indian. The two had such an intense rivalry, that it became know as the Harley-Davidson, Indian Wars! They took the World War II years off, but started back up after the war. This feud lasted until the original Indian Motorcycle Company went out of business, in 1953. Triumph and other foreign bikes provided competition for Harley, but it just wasn't the same. Last year, Polaris Industries, who acquired the rights to Indian, ran a new bike in the series, for the last three or four races of the season and they are running the full season, this year. The revival of the Harley-Indian Wars is set to give a big boost to the comeback of this sport. I have a good friend and fellow Marine, that rode in this series for 11 years. He won an AMA Grand National Championship, back in the early 60s, in the singles class. He and I went to the Great American Motorcycle Show, this past Saturday, in Marietta. We ran into several riders that he had competed against back in the day. All of them are excited about this upcoming race and this upcoming season! So my buddy and I will be going to that race, in March. But sadly, that will be the only chance that I will get to see it. Aside from their season opener, at Daytona and a race in Charlotte, there are no other races for this series anywhere near here and those two are too far away for me. So that will be it for me. Sadly there will be no auto racing anywhere near or anywhere nearly as affordable, the GREEDY smith had priced tickets at Atlanta WAY TOO HIGH for me to attend and there is NO other paved track, stock car racing either amateur or Professional, anywhere near this area, so as I said, I have no options. My guess is that I will just slowly fade away, as a fan, until I no longer follow racing anymore. EXTREAMLY sad that it will end for someone that has been a fan for 59 years of his life. Afraid there isn't much more that can be said about it.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Danica Patrick Sponsor Problems

SHR seems to have 3 programs (Mr Busch, Ms Patrick & Mr Bowyer) with not all rounds paid for...

SHR Files Suit For Unpaid Contract

[canamman]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

SHR Files Suit For Unpaid Contract

This may be the beginning of the end of the 10 program
unless a new sponsor comes forward quickly. I knew
that the bakery was in over its head when I heard the size
of the company last year. Been a while since I have
seen a sponsor cave in like this, too bad.

[fieldodreams79]

Good and somewhat of a downer read on Robert Yates:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/spo...131209324.html

I wish him the best.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Try to come to the Mitty at Road ATL in April. You could walk the paddock and check out a wide variety of machines and get really close track side. It's grass roots for the most part - there's some serious set ups for those "Indy Types" and some of the others. Sure it's not a "series" so to speak, but it's cool cars and good fun. There's usually about a half dozen stock cars and watching them down the back stretch is okay in my book.

The Mitty is an HSR (Historic Sportscar Racing) event, they run several events each year. They have a vintage stock car class, Daytona and Sebring will draw more then a dozen. They are a hoot to watch bounding around Sebring, and must be a hoot in R Atl esses.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

SHR Files Suit For Unpaid Contract

Is that even a real company? I did a little reading, they seem a bit dodgy. Ongoing mold problems seems like a downer for a food company.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by skycafe

Is that even a real company? I did a little reading, they seem a bit dodgy. Ongoing mold problems seems like a downer for a food company.

When reading about this company initially, it looked like an investment bank play, welding a number of brands together to build something not already in the market place. Seems that pathway isn't paved with gold.

Presumably SHR did their due diligence....

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Presumably SHR did their due diligence....

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I imagine there are going to be a lot of legal actions. I don't think there is going to be very much money at all resulting from those legal actions.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by skycafe

The Mitty is an HSR (Historic Sportscar Racing) event, they run several events each year. They have a vintage stock car class, Daytona and Sebring will draw more then a dozen. They are a hoot to watch bounding around Sebring, and must be a hoot in R Atl esses.

They're fun. The K&N series was fun to watch there too, bounding off the T3 curb, two wheeling for a bit, "drifting" through T4, laying rubber down the whole way. Good stuff.

[Number4]

Originally Posted by R.Lee

I have been reading through the numerous changes that the IDIOT, Brian France and him equally IDIOTIC group are going to put into place for this upcoming season and I have to say that I see no reason to be optimistic! Since he took over, his changes have driven the sport farther and farther away from what it is suppose to be and he has alienated many old time, grassroots fans! The B.S. practice session-style qualification system and the final 10 race of the season FARCE of selecting a champion have come very close to being the "straw that broke the camel's back" for me! All of this NON-SENSE that they will put into place this season, breaking up races into individual segiments and the rest of this lunacy, just might be what finally drives this once, lifetime fan away for good!

This leaves me in a serious dilemma. I have been a NASCAR (and other stock car series) fan, for practically my entire life. I know little else, and care for very little else, outside of stock car racing! Now, NASCAR, through it's completely INEPT leader and his crew are taking the sport completely away from me! My problem is, as a racing fan, I have nowhere else to go. ARCA would be good, but it is extremely difficult to follow. Most of their races are shown on minor networks that do not get into most homes and besides, with today's ARCA, as goes NASCAR, sooner or later, so goes ARCA. USAC folded their stock car division YEARS ago. There is not another major stock car racing series in existence. As for the local short tracks, well, as we have discussed, there are no longer any paved track, that run late model stock cars in North Georgia. Dirt track racing and late models are okay, but they just don't appeal to me like paved track racing does and it is GONE! I like drag racing, but major league drag racing (NHRA) only comes around these parts about once a year and the TV coverage is usually on at bad times for me. So there it is, there is really no where else for me to go. I've got no interest in other forms of racing. DO NOT like sportcars and/or road-racing. NO interest in formula cars and I absolutely HATE those things that run in Indiana, around Memorial Day weekend! So for me, this could very well be the end of the line, as a racing fan. Sad, when an organization's head does things that so anger and alienate their loyal, longtime fanbase, that they leave. Especially when one of those fans is someone, like myself, that had been a loyal, diehard, hardcore fan for 58 of the 63 years of his life! I don't know whatelse I can say, except that this is a VERY SAD day!

Amen to that.
I am so disappointed.
I used to watch every lap of every division, now I am not sure I will be able to force myself to watch much at all.
It's not just the gimmicks, it's the fact that you know the commentators will spend most of the broadcast selling these gimmicks.
I just can't bear it.
Mr France needs to follow the lead of Mr Ecclestone.

[R.Lee]

Originally Posted by Number4

Amen to that.
I am so disappointed.
I used to watch every lap of every division, now I am not sure I will be able to force myself to watch much at all.
It's not just the gimmicks, it's the fact that you know the commentators will spend most of the broadcast selling these gimmicks.
I just can't bear it.
Mr France needs to follow the lead of Mr Ecclestone.

I agree, France needs to be GONE and he needs to take ALL of his IDIOIC ideas and gimmicks with him! I would think that Jim France would be far more suited to run NASCAR! I don't know, but at this point, practically ANYONE, would be better than "BRAINFART Brian!"

[fergus_r]

Interesting finish to 'The Clash'

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

Interesting finish to 'The Clash'

As long as the weaving/blocking is allowed we'll keep seeing the same at all restrictor plate tracks. I fully expect the Daytona 500 to be decided in a similar fashion.

What annoys me the most about the Clash, however, is that Joey Logano won

On a side note it'll take some getting used to the fact that once a car heads to the garage, it's gone. I do look forward to seeing what sort of drama we'll have on pit road though, when teams try to fix crash damage there within the 5-minute window.

[fieldodreams79]

I missed the Clash and many others probably did:

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/video/nasc...094404755.html

Marty Smith is someone I respect and even he's moved to cover other areas of media. Related? Not sure....