2020 NASCAR Discussion ThreadNASCAR 

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After watching the replays a few times, the second hit causes Newman’s entire car to bend like a banana. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more violent impact.

I’m happy to hear he’s alive, but am still very worried about his condition.

So far we’ve seen an incredible amount of support from across the motorsport community, which is always incredible to see. Not many other sports have to deal with these situations on a semi regular bases, and incidents like this really show how tight-knit the motorsports family is. On the other hand, I’m seeing many people who would not be considered race fans claiming that this is Karma for Ryan’s personal politics, which is beyond sickening. I’m not a fan of politics in sports, and this is perhaps the worst example of it that I’ve ever seen.
 
Any penalties to be handed out, or is NASCAR just going to pretend this **** is okay?
 
Yeah I'm not sure who they would penalize and for what exactly. Saying that, NASCAR does need to think about what kind of racing they are encouraging. These cars just don't bump draft well and stuff like this will keep happening until NASCAR makes some changes to either the cars or rules (preferrably both)
 
Northstar
Yeah I'm not sure who they would penalize and for what exactly. Saying that, NASCAR does need to think about what kind of racing they are encouraging. These cars just don't bump draft well and stuff like this will keep happening until NASCAR makes some changes to either the cars or rules (preferrably both)
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Yeah there’s a lot of things with the current speedway package that just add up to creating problems. The big spoiler creating huge runs and low rear stability, the bumpers lining up, unrestricted blocking, the yellow line rule....but really the racing at Daytona and Talladega is just an anachronism. It’s traditional and part of the lifeblood of the sport but it’s unsustainable. Like a lot of other things in racing like Indycar on ovals, modern sprint car racing, top fuel and funny car dragsters, motorcycle road races like the Isle of Man TT, and modern open wheel cars on ancient street circuits like Monaco and Macau. They’re all living on borrowed time.

Other than maybe Indycar on ovals, Daytona and Talladega are unique in that they’re unpopular with the actual participants as well.
 
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opelgt1969
Penalties for what? Racing, this is racing, what would you even think a penality would be for? Only thing I could think a penality would be for is against NASCAR for restarting the race until something like this could happen.
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Granted, they've largely never penalized hitting and tapping. Or hell, most fender banging. But I'm fairly sure hitting/tapping the car in front of you and causing an accident because the driver in front happened to be faster isn't racing, isn't sporting, and shows what a farcical form of motor sport it really is.

I guess Hamlin threw the first tap on Blaney, and that sort of sets up the rest of the lap.

Northstar
Saying that, NASCAR does need to think about what kind of racing they are encouraging. These cars just don't bump draft well and stuff like this will keep happening until NASCAR makes some changes to either the cars or rules (preferrably both)
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It's wrestling with wheels; driver behavior has gotten even more piss-poor over the years. Can't find a way to pass? Just cheat yourself into their position and force them off. And the sanctioning body is advocating this kind of sore-loser behavior.

Sorry, I really used to enjoy this sport.
 
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Pupik
Granted, they've largely never penalized hitting and tapping. Or hell, most fender banging. But I'm fairly sure hitting/tapping the car in front of you and causing an accident because the driver in front happened to be faster isn't racing, isn't sporting, and shows what a farcical form of motor sport it really is.
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If said driver in front happened to be faster How could slower driver behind him hit him, this was a simple case of blocking gone wrong.
When NASCAR built these superspeedways the cars they ran could not reach the speeds they do today, it was hard for said cars to finish races without blowing up. The best thing to do is to run the road courses at Daytona/Talladega.
 
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Blood Eagle
No, NASCAR isn't going to penalize themselves for creating dangerous situations on the track so the fans can watch crashes and they can use the footage for promotional purposes.
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I feel like having a Monster right now, for some reason.
 
Newman was blocking for one. Before plate racing, cars were running a lot faster with less safety equipment.

Rubbing is racing in Nascar.

Last nail in the coffin for Nascar if they pulled Daytona and Dega.

Lets hope the next car/rule package makes for better racing at these tracks.

We really should still be sending positive thoughts and prayers to Ryan & his family right now.
 
bloodyboyblue
Yeah there’s a lot of things with the current speedway package that just add up to creating problems. The big spoiler creating huge runs and low rear stability, the bumpers lining up, unrestricted blocking, the yellow line rule....but really the racing at Daytona and Talladega is just an anachronism. It’s traditional and part of the lifeblood of the sport but it’s unsustainable. Like a lot of other things in racing like Indycar on ovals, modern sprint car racing, top fuel and funny car dragsters, motorcycle road races like the Isle of Man TT, and modern open wheel cars on ancient street circuits like Monaco and Macau. They’re all living on borrowed time.

Other than maybe Indycar on ovals, Daytona and Talladega are unique in that they’re unpopular with the actual participants as well.
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I have to disagree with this sentiment. The idea that because something is dangerous, it should stop being a thing, is ridiculous in my opinion.

No one is forcing these drivers to race, no one is coercing them to race. If the drivers themselves do not want to race at Daytona or Dega, then they should opt out.

I guess my background is a little different. I grew up immersed in the big mountain ski and snowboard scene. I have been there when friends have been air lifted off the mountain, I’ve sat with my friend for almost 5 hours waiting for an ambulance while he was in agony with a broken femur. I’ve lost friends and acquaintances to the mountains. Every single fall, when all the new films come out, nearly every single one of them has an “in memoriam” part of the film. The risks involved with the sport have definitely caused me to tone down my own personal risk taking when on the mountain, but I would never in a million years suggest that people should stop big mountain riding as a whole.

The only reason people suggest ending something like super speedway racing is because it has crossed a threshold of popularity. You stop it, no one will get hurt, ok. But you won’t stop people from wanting to push boundaries and limits. People will find a new activity that is far more dangerous, and no one outside the sport will care about the dangers until said sport crosses that popularity threshold. Put an end to super speedway racing, maybe Reno Air Racing will start to draw bigger crowds, which will eventually lead to Air Racing being shut down. Then it’ll be pod racing on the moon or something.
 
twitcher
I have to disagree with this sentiment. The idea that because something is dangerous, it should stop being a thing, is ridiculous in my opinion.

No one is forcing these drivers to race, no one is coercing them to race. If the drivers themselves do not want to race at Daytona or Dega, then they should opt out.

I guess my background is a little different. I grew up immersed in the big mountain ski and snowboard scene. I have been there when friends have been air lifted off the mountain, I’ve sat with my friend for almost 5 hours waiting for an ambulance while he was in agony with a broken femur. I’ve lost friends and acquaintances to the mountains. Every single fall, when all the new films come out, nearly every single one of them has an “in memoriam” part of the film. The risks involved with the sport have definitely caused me to tone down my own personal risk taking when on the mountain, but I would never in a million years suggest that people should stop big mountain riding as a whole.

The only reason people suggest ending something like super speedway racing is because it has crossed a threshold of popularity. You stop it, no one will get hurt, ok. But you won’t stop people from wanting to push boundaries and limits. People will find a new activity that is far more dangerous, and no one outside the sport will care about the dangers until said sport crosses that popularity threshold. Put an end to super speedway racing, maybe Reno Air Racing will start to draw bigger crowds, which will eventually lead to Air Racing being shut down. Then it’ll be pod racing on the moon or something.
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I feel the same, people are free to try to kill themselves however they want as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else, but I still don’t see speedway racing in its current form lasting too much longer (ie 5 years or so). I just don’t know what the solution is because it’s not like the Daytona 500 can be run anywhere else. And “unrestricted” won’t be a thing once the new engines that are designed for 550hp arrive.
 
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bloodyboyblue
I feel the same, people are free to try to kill themselves however they want as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else, but I still don’t see speedway racing in its current form lasting too much longer (ie 5 years or so). I just don’t know what the solution is because it’s not like the Daytona 500 can be run anywhere else. And “unrestricted” won’t be a thing once the new engines that are designed for 550hp arrive.
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Sorry, but I think labelling participating in dangerous activities as “people trying to kill themselves” is kind of a gross way to phrase things. Whether it’s auto racing, or skiing, or skydiving, none of us are trying to kill ourselves. For me, it’s more about living life to its fullest, as opposed to trying to get myself killed. If it was about getting yourself killed, there’s far simpler and cheaper ways to go about it.
 
Roush released another statement a little while ago.

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I can see an argument for making the super speedway races non-championship so that competing in them becomes less mandotary for drivers who don't wish to do so.
 
Basically what Nascar needs to do with Daytona is run it as a road course using the same layout as the ROLEX 24. That will slow down the top speeds and provide good entertaining racing.

Talladega also has a built in road course as well. Tracks such as Charlotte offer plenty of high speed running without being as dangerous on the longer superspeedways.

The risk to lives and for injury under the current format is gambling and can you imagine the amount of money that was basically thrown into the dumpster between the Arca race, Busch Clash, Truck race, xfinity race and the cup race from crashes this past week?

Teams surely would appreciate the lessened car, parts repair and replacements that eliminating the superspeedways could offer.
 
While I wouldn’t be averse to them running the road course at Daytona (I don’t know how good Talladega’s is) I don’t think it’s a necessary change.

The drivers demonstrated themselves that they can run for extended periods safely and provide entertaining racing. NASCAR really just needs to actually punish blocking and bump drafting as it seems like crashes are usually caused by one, or both, of those things.
 
Northstar
While I wouldn’t be averse to them running the road course at Daytona (I don’t know how good Talladega’s is) I don’t think it’s a necessary change.

The drivers demonstrated themselves that they can run for extended periods safely and provide entertaining racing. NASCAR really just needs to actually punish blocking and bump drafting as it seems like crashes are usually caused by one, or both, of those things.
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But what about the cost to the teams in torn up equipment. Regardless of the class pretty much every Daytona race has "the big one" and tears up the cars for half the field. I heard them say on the busch clash commentary that a ready to roll cup car was around 250,000 u.s.dollars and that during speedweeks quite a few of them would end up as no more than dumpster fodder by weeks end.

There is a reason that there are so few smaller independent teams racing nascar anymore.
 
VFOURMAX1
But what about the cost to the teams in torn up equipment. Regardless of the class pretty much every Daytona race has "the big one" and tears up the cars for half the field. I heard them say on the busch clash commentary that a ready to roll cup car was around 250,000 u.s.dollars and that during speedweeks quite a few of them would end up as no more than dumpster fodder by weeks end.
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The more they police driving the fewer wrecks there will be, which will mean fewer totaled cars.

There is a reason that there are so few smaller independent teams racing nascar anymore.
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There’s lots of reasons for that, none of which are restrictor plate races. In fact that’s usually the only time we do see them as there is a much higher chance of them getting a good finish due to the random nature of the races.
 
Just a thought, would it do anything if they misaligned the bumpers again? I know that matching the front and rear bumpers was a big thing with the COT, but if the bumpers don't match you can't hit near as hard without possibly lifting the car ahead and killing your aero. Drivers might back off it some and be able to maintain control somewhat?

I see what policing bump-drafting and blocking could do, but how tightly would you have to police it, and how would you be able to gauge it?

For what it's worth, here's hoping Ryan recovers with no lingering effects. Glad he's awake and coherent.
 
They tried a no-bump rule at Talladega in 2009. It resulted in a single file parade for pretty much the whole race, total snoozer. The drivers hated it. Fans too.

In a bit of irony, Ryan Newman had a nasty wreck in that race as well. Even he hated the no-bump rule.
 
I don't think they need a rule change, or even a package change, the drivers just need to be reminded they're not invincible and that despite all the safety improvements, playing games with blocking and pushing at 200mph could have some catastrophic results.

I don't really know why seeing how the situation is not exactly similar, but I've had a thought of Rusty Wallace's speech to the other drivers before the 1994 500.
 
-Fred-
I don't think they need a rule change, or even a package change, the drivers just need to be reminded they're not invincible and that despite all the safety improvements, playing games with blocking and pushing at 200mph could have some catastrophic results.

I don't really know why seeing how the situation is not exactly similar, but I've had a thought of Rusty Wallace's speech to the other drivers before the 1994 500.
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This video needs to be shown at every drivers' meeting at Daytona and Talladega. Reminds me of a video they would show to the rookies every year they went to Darlington.
 
I think you’ll be hard pressed to get NASCAR away from places like talledega and Daytona as those are a huge part of the sports history. However, there are plenty of other areas where NASCAR is far behind many other series. The two that already spring to mind are

1: regulating that drivers have to wear 8860 helmets. This is something I only discovered recently, but many drivers don’t even have 8859 helmets. They need to enforce the top helmet standards.

2: Moving to a carbon monocoque. They’re already switching to one chassis supplier, have them provide a monocoque for every car and allow the teams to develop their body’s and whatnot. The crash was so devastating due to the steel frame chassis buckling when hit like that. Creating a carbon safety cell for the driver seems like an obvious move to me
 
Carbon safety cells are usually suitable for one big impact, which is not ideal for pack racing where multiple impacts will undoubtedly happen. Just look at Anthoine Hubert's fatal accident, the tub was already weakened/had done its job when he got broadsided.
 
Northstar
While I wouldn’t be averse to them running the road course at Daytona (I don’t know how good Talladega’s is) I don’t think it’s a necessary change.

The drivers demonstrated themselves that they can run for extended periods safely and provide entertaining racing. NASCAR really just needs to actually punish blocking and bump drafting as it seems like crashes are usually caused by one, or both, of those things.
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Right up until the “all or nothing” finishing laps mentality. I haven’t been a fan of the new package because of the huge runs the drafting car can get. I just think it’s too much speed difference. Both big crashes resulted in drafting cars having big pulses of speed and trying to push their way through traffic. Heck, Logano took out his own teammate by pushing the car in front of him (Almirola I think?) into Keselowski. Joey couldn’t have known what a train effect he was having without his spotter warning him. Why didn’t his spotter warn him by the way?

My biggest concern is for the seriousness of Ryan Newman’s injuries. When Robert Wickens crashed at Pocono, it took quite a while for a statement to be released sharing the severity of his injuries. Hope Newman’s able to make a full recovery. And I’m still pulling for Wickens to continue improving in his own therapy.

For the record, I think Ryan Blaney was pretty shaken up after the race. He looked very nervous and anxious. I can actually sympathize with him. It’s just an all or nothing culture where there’s so much to gain for taking risks. Hope this results in a teaching moment with minimal consequences to Ryan Newman’s long term health.
 
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