NASCAR Sprint Cup Round 3: Las Vegas

[Cynic]

Entry list (from Nascar.com so probably wrong...)

Car# Driver Sponsor
---------------------------------------
1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's
2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite
5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance
7 Dave Blaney Sany
9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley
10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com
11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office
13 Casey Mears No. 13 GEICO Ford Fusion
14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Racing/Bass Pro Shops
15 Clint Bowyer 5 Hour Energy
16 Greg Biffle American Red Cross
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zest
18 Kyle Busch M&M's
19 Mike Bliss Plinker Tactical / Stratosphere Hotel, Casino & Tower
20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General
21 Trevor Bayne Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil
24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger
27 Paul Menard Menards / Schrock
29 Kevin Harvick Rheem
30 David Stremme Swan Racing
31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar
32 Ken Schrader FEDERATED AUTO PARTS
33 Landon Cassill TBA
34 David Ragan TBA
35 Josh Wise MDS Transport
36 JJ Yeley Accell Construction
38 David Gilliland Long John Silver's
39 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans
42 Juan Pablo Montoya AXE APOLLO
43 Aric Almirola Farmland
47 Bobby Labonte Kingsford
48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's / Kobalt Tools
51 Austin Dillon TAG HEUER
55 Mark Martin Aaron's Dream Machine
56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts
78 Kurt Busch Furniture Row Racing
83 David Reutimann Burger King-Dr. Pepper
87 Joe Nemechek Maddie's Place Rocks.com
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Orange
93 Travis Kvapil Burger King-Dr.Pepper
95 Scott Speed TBD
98 Michael McDowell Ambient Edge HVAC
99 Carl Edwards Aflac

[gomick]

Is Aric Almirola close to a top 5 finish/win?

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by gomick

Is Aric Almirola close to a top 5 finish/win?

Top 10 more likely. He tends to run well nowadays, but like last week, the car fades a bit at the end of the race, similar to Ambrose.


Also, we have rain in Vegas today. I don't know if practice or qualifying will happen.

[Cynic]

Qualifying rained out, so starting grid set by 2012 owners points.

[gomick]

Half the field lapped in first 50 laps - lots of poor handling cars...

Dont understand why Ambrose didnt take the wave around like the other 11 drivers!

[Cynic]

Cue the phantom debris caution...

Not only does the Gen 6 car look the dogs, it handles like one too.

[Paradise City]

No! No! No! Michael Waltrip's pink tie! Michael what are thinking lad?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Best Vegas race since 2006, it actually had passing. Can't say the same about 2010, 2011, and 2012 at this track...

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Also, Matt Kenseth already the number 1 driver at Gibbs: no suprise.

The F1 commercials showed me that the networks have NO CLUE on how to promote Formula 1 in the U.S. "Hey lets show B List celebrities, movie star looking drivers, supermodels and exotic locations like Monaco", and on top of that not show the actual broadcast times for the race itself (and on top of that it looked like they were saying the race would be on NBC not NBCSN).

Yep, that ought to get the people watching a NASCAR broadcast excited.

*not sure why thumbs down showed up*

[fieldodreams79]

FOX broadcasts are nearly unwatchable. One Waltrip idiot with a mic is enough.

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Best Vegas race since 2006, it actually had passing. Can't say the same about 2010, 2011, and 2012 at this track...

Yeah I was amazed. The battle for the lead was close for most of the race. The car may have begun to shine on the 1.5 ovals. Let's see how Bristol goes.

[The Original Instag8or]

Last couple Vegas NASCAR races have been pretty good. The 'progressive banking' makes both grooves usable.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by The Original Instag8or

Last couple Vegas NASCAR races have been pretty good. The 'progressive banking' makes both grooves usable.

2010 and 2011 at Las Vegas were some of the worst races I've seen, even by 1.5 mile standards.

[Cynic]

I'll concede that the last 30 laps were pretty good, but lets not forget that it took two highly suspect cautions (one for debris and another one for Ambrose's powerslide) to prevent the lead-lap car count being in single figures at the end. Even by 1.5 mile standards that is poor.
I've never been part of the 'if they ain't wreckin they ain't racing' school, but if I wanted to watch 150 laps of cars proceeding in single file and only overtaking in the pits I'd go back to watching F1.