2015 NASCAR Thread - And then there was 1

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jahgee
  • 10,978 comments
  • 335,744 views
Somehow, just somehow, they have to let Ken and Ned call the race at Homestead. Pigs flying might have a better chance of happening than that, but still- that would be epic.

Dale Jarrett said that he barely wanted to talk because he wanted to sit back and let Ken and Ned lead the broadcast. I can't blame him at all for that, and I personally think that Dale is a fairly decent commentator himself. I'm sure that even with his successes as a broadcaster (he didn't royally suck on ESPN, so that in itself is a win) and as a race car driver, getting to be in the both with two broadcasting legends (one of them being his father) is probably going to be something he will cherish as much as his championship win.
 
I was able to catch the last 70 laps. That 20 lap battle betweem Kes, Harvick and Edwards was awesome, tires and aero package mixed so well, we need that for next year. Please NASCAR, pleaseeeeee!

And kudos to Edwards crew, finishing the pit stop in 12s and beating Kes by 0.0xx to the end of the pits to give him the lead and consequently the win was the move of the race, easily. I though that Kes would be able to go by Edwards on the end but thanks to teammate Hamlin that never happened.

YEAH YEAH YEAH! WIN #2!
 
Lol, NASCAR fans on Facebook: "That caution screwed Brad, gave the win to Edwards."

No, Edwards beat Kes off pit road. If anything, Kes's pitcrew screwed him.

Now, here's my main problem for Richmond:

Do I root for Larson to get the win to put himself in the Chase, or do I root for Kyle Busch to win so he can be at the top of the standings come Chicago?

Decisions...decisions...
 
Lol, NASCAR fans on Facebook: "That caution screwed Brad, gave the win to Edwards."

No, Edwards beat Kes off pit road. If anything, Kes's pitcrew screwed him.

Now, here's my main problem for Richmond:

Do I root for Larson to get the win to put himself in the Chase, or do I root for Kyle Busch to win so he can be at the top of the standings come Chicago?

Decisions...decisions...

Unless Johnson wins at Richmond, Kyle Busch will be tied at the top of the standings because of his 4 wins... so I would say Larson.
 
Larson for sure. I'd also be okay with Gordon getting another win, and I'd like to see Jr. win (but then again, I want him to win every week). My gut, however, says it'll probably be a Gibbs car, JJ, or a Penske car that wins at Richmond.
 
I saw most of the 2015 Bojangles Southern 500. All I can say is that it was very cool seeing all the throwback and all of the different classic paint schemes. Seeing many of those interpretations of those classic paint schemes was just beautiful. My only disappointment was that Jeff Gordon could have rocked that rainbow car like he did at the Bristol night race. All congratulations to Carl Edwards on winning the Cup race at Darlington. I thought initially that it was Daniel Suarez in that car since I'm so used to seeing that orange car in the XFINITY Series. If you want to further discuss the Southern 500 and all the nostalgia, here's my question to you all...

Grade the 2015 Southern 500.

My answer: A-. I loved the nostalgia and a lot of the hard racing.


This weekend of NASCAR Racing is all about Richmond, and both Cup and the XFINITY Series will race on this course. The pressure will really be on the Cup side for those on the outside looking in to make this season's Chase for the Cup. Those on the outside can't afford to screw up too much to have a chance at winning the championship this season. So Richmond will mean EVERYTHING on the Cup front.

My favorite short track is Iowa, but Richmond is also a great short track. I recalled seeing a lot of the IndyCar Series races around Richmond as well as the many different NASCAR races there. Richmond is pretty fast for a short track. Nothing like seeing some good racing action at Richmond, and I'm pretty sure one native Virginian- Denny Hamlin- will want to put on a good show there.


Good luck to all drivers and teams this weekend across all levels of NASCAR.
 
"It's the package we need to run from now on." -Denny Hamlin.

Sounds like we have one fan of this aero package.

I'm in the minority of people here, but I only give the race a D; Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett on commentary and Kyle Larson's paint scheme saved it from being a complete failure. Maybe I just can't stand Darlington anymore since the 2007 repave, but the race I saw didn't look much different from recent years apart from 18 cautions. Unfortunately they're running the regular 2015 aero package for the Chase, so everybody get your pillows ready and/or switch over to football to avoid dying of boredom. 👎
 
Last edited:
I still maintain that as good as the racing was last night, it would be even better if the cars were forced to be symmetrical like they are on road courses
 
I only caught the last 100 laps or so, but it was easily some of the best racing I've seen in a NASCAR race this year.

Also, as much as I liked the throwback theme, I can't help but feel that next year will just be a re-hash of what they did this year, which would kind of ruin it in my mind.
 
In the last 70 laps, when they had the one and only long green flag stretch, watching Harvick feather the throttle in the corners and still nearly lose it was incredible. I want to see drivers struggle with handling, not just cruise through the corners wide open.

If they would put that extra 150 horsepower back into the cars, trim a little more downforce, and always bring a softer tire that wears quickly and falls off brutally, the actual racing could be a lot of fun to watch again.

Between test races at Kentucky and Darlington, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the drivers after both races, hopefully NASCAR realized this and can move more toward that style of racing in 2016.
 
Once everyone got through with crashing, the racing was good, especially with how 2nd and 3rd could catch, pass and lose ground to the leader. And then gain that ground back all over again.
More than just that. Carl was stuck in the 30s until he finally got back on the lead lap around 2/3 race distance and somehow climbed back up all the way to the front and won. I doubt he would've even sniffed the Top 10 with the regular package.
 
I decided to start writing a journal for this weekend as I cover my first ever races as a reporter in person. I plan to write them once a day, usually when I'm back at my hotel roomat the end of it.
Entry #1: September 8th
I'm pretty nervous about this to be honest. This isn't the first time I've covered a sporting event, but those other events were just high school/college stuff. This might as well be an NFL game in comparison.
At 2 months away from 21 I'll be shocked if I'm not the youngest in the press room. Originally, my plan was to go to next year's May race at Richmond, but I decided to go a little bit earlier for a couple of reasons-
1. Following the race all 16 Chase drivers will be fielding questions in the press room, not just the top 3.
2. This is my only opportunity to cover Jeff Gordon and possibly Tony Stewart as drivers, and I wouldn't want to regret having never covered them.
I'll be going down there on Thursday. Between then and now it's just school work and waiting.
 
Back