2017 NASCAR Discussion threadNASCAR 

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I just lost a lot of respect for Harvick.

Tuesday night on his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show "Happy Hours," Harvick said what makes each sport go around is success. Dale Earnhardt Sr. became who he was, to Harvick, because he was grinding every week and won seven championships.

"The growth in [NASCAR] has not reached the levels that it should have because our most popular driver has not been our most successful driver," Harvick said. "Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won the 'Most Popular Driver' for however many years in a row (14) and he has been our most popular driver, but he hasn't been anywhere close to being our most successful driver."

"When you look at other sports, and you look at basketball and you look at football and you look at their most popular [athletes], they're also right up there on the top of the list as their most successful," said Harvick. "So, for me, I believe Dale Jr. has had a big part in stunting the growth of NASCAR because he's got these legions of fans and this huge outreach of being able to reach different places that none of us have the possibility to reach, but he's won nine races in 10 years at Hendrick Motorsports and hasn't been able to reach outside of that.

"I know those aren't the most popular comments, but those are real life facts that you look up and see on the stat sheet. Imagine how popular he'd be if he had won two or three championships?"
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RACECAR
I'm wondering what's taking Ford so long to come up with a V8 Fusion ;)
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I have a 2016 Fusion with the 2.0L turbocharged engine. I would rather keep the all wheel drive than swap to a V-8.
 
As much as I hate to admit it, I completely understand what Harvick is saying. There isn't a single driver on the level popularity that the big name Basketball or Football players have. The closest would be Dale Jr, and when people who don't regularly watch, they'll turn on and see him mid pack most likely. It's not good for marketability when you're most well known and popular driver is quite average in the grand scheme of things.
 
Mr popular in NASCAR was only synonymous with Mr dominant when Bill Elliot was in championship form. The only two drivers I know of to "win" Most Popular were Bill and Jr.

All that said, the fans are gonna see it all differently than the drivers will. I fat what Harvick is saying because, well, he's not wrong. By that same note, the fans flock to Jr, some for the wrong reasons, because he isn't like any other driver. This is a mass of gray area where there really isn't an absolute because we don't kno absolutely everything.
 
LumpiestFish
As much as I hate to admit it, I completely understand what Harvick is saying. There isn't a single driver on the level popularity that the big name Basketball or Football players have. The closest would be Dale Jr, and when people who don't regularly watch, they'll turn on and see him mid pack most likely. It's not good for marketability when you're most well known and popular driver is quite average in the grand scheme of things.
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There's also the fact that big name stick-and-ball players are building a brand around themselves, and promoting the sport they play in is a secondary thing at best. Junior (and most NASCAR drivers in general, really) always put the sport ahead of himself and never really went out of his way to talk about his life away from the track on social media, which in turn limits any secondhand exposure that people who only have a passing interest would get.

I guess some people would say that's kept away the know-nothing bandwagon fans that make other sports a huge pain to keep up with, but bandwagon fans still put butts in the seats and cash in the registers.
 
I thought Jeff Gordon was the most popular back in the day. Then, I heard Jimmie Johnson won like three championships. I thought, "The football coach?". Then, Kyle(?) Busch(guess because he was always in a fight).
I hadn't kept up on NASCAR.

I watched races once in a while. So, as a person unfamiliar with the stars of the sport, I can see what Harvick is saying.
 
I'm sorry but I completely disagree. Dale Jr's popularity unfortunately exists mostly due to him being the son of Dale Earnhardt (an issue he's had to struggle with for a long time). I'm pretty sure the successful athletes in other stick and Ball sports aren't having nearly as much of an issue with this. Like I said elsewhere, I feel the idea that Dale Jr being the biggest factor in how successful or unsuccessful NASCAR is falls in the same logic of how WWE is doing terrible solely because its PG: It completely misses the true underlying issue while pushing a band-aid as the solution to a far worse injury.
 
I mean, if he wanted to reach a global audience, he could have mentioned Hamilton, Rossi, Loeb, Lowndes. For the USA audience, where are Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Dale Sr, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Labontes in today's NASCAR? When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, those names rang out the same as Bird, Magic, Dr.J, Unitas, Walter Payton, Young.
 
First race back in a truck, and he does it against Bell AND Kyle Busch!

Xfinity Edit: Custer's race has already gone to hell, and apparently Sheldon Creed is racing today.
 
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I'm sure it's probably been mentioned somewhere, but I am curious as to why Diffey is in the booth again instead of Rick Allen? Not that I mind at all, just wondering.
 
Hard to say if Khane misjudged Suarez and thought he was clear or he lost it and cut across him after he got loose. Either way, he and Suarez both had some hard impacts with the wall.
 
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No need for the flow chart today!!!!! Kind of ironic that he won off that restart because if he was in the front row, the chart probably would have had to get posted again.

Northstar
I hate when this happens as Larson is one of my favorites, but I loathe Ganassi. :lol:
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Just be happy that Larson won and pretend that Ganasty doesn't exist. It works sometimes, once in a while, occasionally. :lol:
 
Dolph Drago
Well that was unexpected. Furniture Row cars got swept up in no time flat.
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Larson had fresher tires. Even then, he needed a great restart and got it.

That finished saved what I felt was an otherwise dull race. Lots of speed but not a lot of passing at all.
 
Tried to watch the last laps of the race, but had to leave the house when they put out the red flag. Listened to the rest on satellite radio in the car. Wish I was able to hang around and watch the final restart, but I figured Larson had a good shot at the restart with fresher tires.
 
Did Kenseth cut a tire on the final restart? He went from 3rd to 24th in two laps.
 

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