2015 NASCAR Thread - And then there was 1

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Just to throw my two cents in, I would love to see NASCAR go to more road courses!!

I don't watch NASCAR, haven't for a good 15+ years. I still half ways pay attention though, so I have a small idea of what's going on.

I started getting into watching replays of other racing series on YouTube about 2 years ago...everything from WTCC, PWC, WEC...anything I can find. One of the most enjoyable and exciting to watch is the Aussie V8 Supercars.

Watching the V8 Supercars, I started wondering about NASCAR again, so I found the Sonoma race from a few weeks back. I have to say, I enjoyed the hell out of that. Not necessarily the best road racing (I don't think I saw one person take a defensive line entering T11), but it was really great to see those big brutes carving up those hills and curves. After watching that, I definitely market the race at Watkens Glen on my calender.

I was so impressed with Sonoma, I watched a replay of the Kentucky race, and I have to say, that was the first bit of oval racing I've enjoyed for a very long time. It was close, but not so close it was predictable / gimmicky (I consider a 500 mile which comes down to a GWC, giving anyone on the lead lap a shot at winning, as gimmicky).

It got me thinking, "have I been missing out on something all these years??" So I found another race to watch (Pocono), and I fell asleep. I just couldn't do it. I know Pocono is a special track and all (cooler than Daytona and 'Dega IMO), but I just couldn't get into the racing.


I don't have anything against NASCAR, I think it deserves its spot near the top of the motorsport ladder, as there's no denying to complexities of winning. I think maybe it's time to evolve a little though.

So with all that in mind, I would be thrilled to see more road courses. There's so many good ones in the US which are under used and under exposed.

The Rovals at Daytona and 'Dega would be really exciting. Sonoma and Watkins Glen are obvious staples. I think Road Atlanta, Leguna Seca, Mid Ohio, Barber, COTA, Gille Villeneuve, CTMP (Mosport) would all make for some very exciting racing. No idea if it would be possible due to size restraints, but Limerock would be really cool too. The full Sebring is maybe a bit long, but one of the short courses could work well. I Love Road America too, but don't know if it's really suited to NASCAR.

I don't want all the ovals to disappear...they're what make NASCAR, NASCAR. But I think its time to say bye to some of the super speedways, and some of the "boring races", of which I'm sure the regular posters here know much more about than I do.

I know it'll probably never happen because of politics and revenue and all that stuff...but from a dreamer's point of view, I think it would be great. I think it could really help out many of the struggling road courses, both it terms of attendance at races, and more people being interested in attending track days and schools and whatnot. I think, after a few generations, it would really help America become more prevelent in the global road racing scene, having more young drivers with more exposure to road courses.
 
Allow me to blow your minds with a "Where are they now" kind of post, gentleman.

Remember this guy?

011112-NASCAR-Kevin-Conway-JW_20120111111845817_660_320.JPG


For those who don't know, this is Kevin Conway. This is the guy that bought Z-Line Designs to Nascar when he drove with Joe Gibbs Racing (Before they went Toyota and they replaced him with Kyle Busch in the 18) and as you can see, he bought extenze to Nascar in his short time with Front Row Motorsports. That of course happened through the COT years of Nascar (which was about 2006 to 2010), where he ended up winning rookie of the Year in Cup.

What's so mind blowing that I felt the need to bring him up today?

lamborghini-driver-kevin-conway_1424466296.jpg


lamborghini-driver-kevin-conway_1424466427.jpg


That man in those picture, from last year, is Him. That's right, the same guy that couldn't even go race without being a lap down in any of NASCAR's divisions, won this race at Watkins Glen in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series. And you want to know how well he did in THAT series? So well he's a 2-time defending champion. No you are not reading that wrong, he is a 2-Time defending champion.


In short, this is basically what he has been doing after he left NASCAR. Let that sink in...
 
Yeah its still relatively new given it just started in 2013 (well, the one in the US anyway), but I just thought it was amazing to see him not just jump in a completely different car but to do so in a brand new series ontop of that, which Just seemed like a perfect situation for things to go wrong quickly. And then to pull off consecutive championships just really adds to it.
 
I didn't watch the Espy's this year, but in the news I saw Kevin Harvick won the Espy this year for best driver.

Other nominees included:

Erica Enders-Stevens - NHRA
Lewis Hamilton - Formula One
Juan Pablo Montoya - IndyCar
Will Power - IndyCar
 
Ok with the Michigan & Indy package i feel its not going to be pack racing. The top cars are still going to pull away due to having better setup cars. I would expect a race more like the Indy 500 the last couple years at Michigan but at Indy who knows
 
Swagger897
Um... SMI did, we only go to Atlanta once this season..
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Read my post again. I said ISC & SMI wouldn't give up a race date to a track they do not own. In fact, your example of Atlanta perfectly proves my point. SMI didn't give up the Atlanta date to an non-SMI-owned track. SMI gave Atlanta's second race date to Kentucky, which SMI had just purchased.

Kentucky was opened in 2000, and hosted numerous racing series. They basically had everyone except the Sprint Cup coming to town each year. They tried and tried to get a Sprint Cup date, but never did. It got so bad that the ownership group at Kentucky sued ISC and NASCAR for violating anti-trust laws, claiming that they single-handedly controlled the Sprint Cup schedule and restricted legitimate non-ISC tracks from gaining scheduled races. Kentucky Speedway ultimately lost the court case.

Later, SMI purchased the track for about $78M (the initial construction cost was over $150M), and gave the second Atlanta race date to Kentucky.

GTPorsche
Should have been Hamilton, but ESPN can't do anything right to begin with..
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The ESPYs are decided by fan vote. Blame the readers of ESPN.com.
 
Swagger897
Sorry I never knew that... I never recall Kentucky really being a big venue and didn't realize Burton owns it..
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Other than Dover and Pocono, ALL tracks on the Cup schedule are owned by either the France Family (NASCAR/ISC) or Bruton Smith (SMI).
 
Too bad Bozo Fail- oops, I mean Brian France, probably would let his big head and disillusion from reality get in the way and still try to Daytona-ize everything despite drivers and fans saying that the reduced aero package produces better racing. The guy has completely forgotten the fact that good racing makes people want to watch motorsports more than seeing big crashes that take out half the field does. I get that the big one is a byproduct of restrictor plate racing, but leave that novelty at Daytona and Talladega.
 
AnthonyD1993
Too bad Bozo Fail- oops, I mean Brian France, probably would let his big head and disillusion from reality get in the way and still try to Daytona-ize everything despite drivers and fans saying that the reduced aero package produces better racing. The guy has completely forgotten the fact that good racing makes people want to watch motorsports more than seeing big crashes that take out half the field does. I get that the big one is a byproduct of restrictor plate racing, but leave that novelty at Daytona and Talladega.
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^This...this I agree with.
 
AnthonyD1993
Too bad Bozo Fail- oops, I mean Brian France, probably would let his big head and disillusion from reality get in the way and still try to Daytona-ize everything despite drivers and fans saying that the reduced aero package produces better racing. The guy has completely forgotten the fact that good racing makes people want to watch motorsports more than seeing big crashes that take out half the field does. I get that the big one is a byproduct of restrictor plate racing, but leave that novelty at Daytona and Talladega.
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I don't think that its going to be pack racing as goodyear we're in Chicago testing out the packages on there tires but i just find that the race is going to get spread out after the first 10 laps. The Michigan package i hope is mostly too see the opposite of the Kentucky package
 
I'm going to be honest: a third road course race probably isn't happening.
You'd need for SMI or ISC to agree to take one of their races off the schedule and thus tell their stockholders that they are taking millions in revune just to add a roadcourse race.
Really the only hope we have is if ISC changes its mind about NASCAR not running at Laguna Seca whenever they finish the buying process.
EDIT: there is some hope in Dover Motorsports owned Dover losing its second race as there for a roadie, but let's be honest. That's probably the second Vegas race.
 
Ganon83
Really the only hope we have is if ISC changes its mind about NASCAR not running at Laguna Seca whenever they finish the buying process.
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There's also Road Atlanta under NASCAR's ownership, granted I'm not sure if they would need any upgrades to run a Cup race.

They also aren't buying Laguna Seca, they are just taking over the operations of the track (the county technically owns the track).
 
Northstar
There's also Road Atlanta under NASCAR's ownership, granted I'm not sure if they would need any upgrades to run a Cup race.

They also aren't buying Laguna Seca, they are just taking over the operations of the track (the county technically owns the track).
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And a long term lease of Sebring.
 
Northstar
There's also Road Atlanta under NASCAR's ownership, granted I'm not sure if they would need any upgrades to run a Cup race.

They also aren't buying Laguna Seca, they are just taking over the operations of the track (the county technically owns the track).
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Thing is if they were going to run Road Atlanta they'd of done it already (They have rationalized they already have a "perfectly fine" track in Atlanta as it is). Sebring won't happen because then there are too many Florida races.
 
Northstar
There's also Road Atlanta under NASCAR's ownership, granted I'm not sure if they would need any upgrades to run a Cup race.
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Pretty sure they'd be able to race it without modification since this went just fine:



Same configuration the ALMS used to use as well.
 
The Bman
How ironic that Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are going to be in Sharknado 3... along with an actress named Ryan Newman. :lol:
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Wait, Joey is in that movie too? Oh hell no :lol:

Also, looks like I'm not the only one that noticed that. I was like "Whoa, did I read that right?"
 
Holy ****, I just remembered the time that a bunch of us on the NASCAR subreddit raided the Ryan Newman subreddit which is about the actress posting pictures of the driver :lol:
 
Xfinity Series about to gear up to take on New Hampshire in mere moments. Good luck to all drivers and teams today as well as for the Cup drivers tomorrow.
 

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