NASCAR 2020 NASCAR Discussion Thread

Ah, I see. That does not surprise me.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YES!

My goodness im still not over what happened today, the sport's most popular driver is actually a Cup Champion now!

 

Conspiracy theorists have no place in motorsports IMO.

 

With the joke the playoffs/finale always are, conspiracy theories are about the only thing that keep the postseason interesting.

What is a fact though is that Brad’s crew cost us a great finish to that race. He was fast enough to keep up with Chase but he couldn’t recover the 3 seconds he lost on the final pit stop.

 

Hopped on GT Sport to make these two pics cause why not?

 

A surprising departure. He obviously has something lined up, but who knows what. It looks like Preece is coming back to the 37 after all. About the only other full-time Cup ride available is the 2nd Spire car (with Lajoie heavily rumoured to be taking the other). Maybe Spire is actually taking this “effort” thing seriously and somehow convinced JHN to go over there.

I don’t have any guesses for who will go to the 38. Ty Dillon has to end up somewhere I guess but I figured that would be for RCR in Xfinity

 

The truck schedule has been released, they will race on dirt twice as they will be at Bristol with the Cup series as well as Knoxville which replaces Eldora.

https://racer.com/2020/11/19/knoxville-among-additions-to-truck-series-calendar-for-2021/

 

Has NASCAR tested the new Gen 7 Cup car on dirt yet? Dirt cars rely on big, bulky tire for added grip in addition to the suspension. I have a feeling this Bristol Cup race could become an engineering nightmare in 2022.

 

I don't think they have, which I guess gives credence to the theory it's just a one-and-done deal as a way for NASCAR to run the cars on dirt one last time while they are still somewhat suited for it.

 

Yeah, it still feels very strongly of a PR move that's taking advantage of a transitional year. If/when it ends up being a clown show, then they'll use that as the reason why it's dropped, otherwise they'll say it's a cost-saving measure so the teams don't have to build a whole car specifically for that one race.

 

They’re going to come to Pocono. Depending on the COVID situation I may go to the race. My NASCAR knowledge is below zero but would like to experience it at least once.

 

Race day at Texas is enjoyable, so even if it's just a one-time thing I'd recommend trying it.

On the schedule, if they are going to keep racing on dirt, why drop Eldora to add another?

 

I wonder if it has to do with Tony Stewart’s new stock car series?

 

Kaulig will run a part time Cup schedule next year with the aim of going full time in 2022. They seem to have their crap together more than the last few teams that tried making the jump, so hopefully they can continue their success in Cup.

https://www.jayski.com/2020/11/22/kaulig-racing-considering-move-to-cup-in-2022/

 

Sad News - William “Rowdy” & Blakley Harrell - Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site

Three days. Married three days, on their honeymoon. I know it's tangential to NASCAR, but damn.

 

Corey LaJoie has confirmed his move to Spire in the #7 car.

https://racer.com/2020/11/30/lajoie-signs-multi-year-cup-series-deal-with-spire/

For Corey's sake I hope they are as serious as they've been saying they are about improving their performance. I'm guessing the #77 will continue being a revolving door "seat for rent" situation unless Childress ponies up some money to put Ty into the car.

 

While not exactly NASCAR related, ARCA released their schedule and both Iowa and Milwaukee are on it! It's nice to see neither track is completely dead.

https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2020/12/01/arca-menards-series-2021-schedule/

 

And a return to Berlin Raceway. Always a fun race there with it's super grassroots setup.

 

News tidbits for 2021:

AJ Allmendinger will drive full-time for Kaulig in the Xfinity series. Big fish in a small pond?

Driver's names will be on the windshields in the Cup series.

 

I'm wondering how this will affect his IMSA broadcasting duties? Because there surely will be some weekends where IMSA and Xfinity are running at the same time. I thought he did a pretty good job broadcasting for IMSA.

 

It really shouldn’t have too much of an impact since Xfinity usually races on Saturday while the WeatherTech series tends to run Sundays more often than not.

 

And NBC can always put Brian Till in as the third IMSA commentator when there's a scheduling conflict for AJ.

 

New thread is up!