2021 NASCAR Discussion ThreadNASCAR 

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After the Truck and Xfinity series I thought, could we get a new winner in the Cup Series? I was thinking that either Daniel Suarez, Matt DiBenedetto or Bubba Wallace would win because why not? Talladega has a strange habit of picking unlikely winners, but I was still quite shocked to see that Bubba had actually won the race! What a great result.
 
Well, I'm a bit upset that I missed today's race.

I'll have to watch today's replay, but to say the absolute minimum, I am MEGA psyched about Bubba getting his first win today. Superspeedways have always been his strongest tracks, so I figured it was a matter of time, but still super stoked that he was finally able to grab one, even if it was due to poor conditions. Plus, I always enjoy it when a non-contention driver throws a bit of chaos into the Playoffs. :dopey:

That being said, I really hope 23XI can utilize the off-season to help the team, Bubba especially, excel at other tracks besides superspeedways. Bubba will probably never be a championship contender in all honesty, but when all goes well, he's quick, and I think he and 23XI are capable of causing the occasional upset. What's needed is improved consistency, as it's still not great that the team and driver are only threats 4 times a year. Hopefully with Kurt coming on board, they'll be able to pull from his experience to perform better more often.

But, yeah. So damn happy! :D

Happy Coca Cola GIF by NASCAR
 
Seen the segment on Sportscenter. Got a good laugh when his team is cheering for rain, and then goes crazy as they get the win. You didnt accomplish anything 23XI that Justin Haley did years ago. The difference being Haley's team actually had some class and didnt carry on like a bunch of middle school kids who got a participation trophy. NASCAR keeps digging the hole deeper with their sports entertainment mentality and wonders why nobody attends the races or watches on TV anymore.
 
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Didn't watch the post race stuff, flipped to something else as soon as it was called.

Congrats to Bubba on winning 62% of a race.
 
Adamgp
Didn't watch the post race stuff, flipped to something else as soon as it was called.

Congrats to Bubba on winning 62% of a race.
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Yet still not even the shortest race in history by either laps, distance or percentage so at the very least, he is equal with Chris Buescher and Justin Haley.
 
I don't really understand how people can hate on Bubba so much. Is he top tier driver? No. But I bet he would admit that to your face if you asked. Let him enjoy his rain shortened win.
 
Blood Eagle
I don't really understand how people can hate on Bubba so much. Is he top tier driver? No. But I bet he would admit that to your face if you asked. Let him enjoy his rain shortened win.
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Typical "He didn't deserve it" BS (At a type of racing where to a degree its luck anyhow nowadays) because it wasn't side-by-side to the line, only now it's also due last year because people can't wave their special flag.
 
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I don't hate Bubba, he just gives me Danica Patrick vibes. He's more famous for his off track stuff than his actual on track performance. Also like Danica, unrealistic expectations were set on him from the start of this year. Particularly from team owner MJ, saying Bubba would have multiple wins this year, etc. So far, aside from Daytona & Talladega, he has for the most part failed to live up to those expectations despite being in what is supposed to be decent equipment.
 
Adamgp
I don't hate Bubba, he just gives me Danica Patrick vibes. He's more famous for his off track stuff than his actual on track performance. Also like Danica, unrealistic expectations were set on him from the start of this year. Particularly from team owner MJ, saying Bubba would have multiple wins this year, etc. So far, aside from Daytona & Talladega, he has for the most part failed to live up to those expectations despite being in what is supposed to be decent equipment.
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I agree there is a somewhat similar media circus around him, which didn't really exist until last year (Not even of his own making unlike Danica). Even I wasn't expecting him to win for a team as new as 23XI in their first year despite the JGR equipment and I've been a Bubba Supporter since his days at Revolution Racing (Something I'm willing to bet not alot of his fans can say). Once again though, the media doesn't play to the fact so much as they play to what is currently relevant regardless of how overplayed it is so it unfortunately in light of what went on last year, we have abit of Danicamania syndrome going on. I'm just glad he won ignoring all that off-track nonsense, sure it was just the same way Justin Hailey and Chris Buscher did but it also just the way Aric Almarola got his win AND David Reutimann got his win and at the end of the day, he was there at the front when the flag fell (and from what I was able to watch, he actually worked his way up there and had actual pace so its not like it was entirely a luck of the draw as many people want to make it seem).
 
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A win is a win. Full points are awarded (unlike the win by that Dutch bloke in Belgium this year), so idk where that puts him in the fight for 17th, but surely goes a long way to move him closer to that.

Plus, with all of this talk, a more impressive stat is that Bubba’s win was the first in the playoff/chase system by a non playoff/chase competitior since 2013. So that shows some guys not in the running for the title haven’t fully packed it in and are trying to win and compete.
 
Adamgp
I don't hate Bubba, he just gives me Danica Patrick vibes. He's more famous for his off track stuff than his actual on track performance. Also like Danica, unrealistic expectations were set on him from the start of this year. Particularly from team owner MJ, saying Bubba would have multiple wins this year, etc. So far, aside from Daytona & Talladega, he has for the most part failed to live up to those expectations despite being in what is supposed to be decent equipment.
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Personally speaking, I think MJ saying Bubba would win multiple races, let alone 1 race, was to build up hype more than anything else imo. Hamlin has actually said that Bubba and 23XI have just about met his own expectations this year, which is basically hovering around 16th-20th (currently they're 21st) I personally thought MJ was being a bit silly to expect a Brawn GP-like performance from any new-to-Cup team nowadays, even if it's his own.

Also, I have a hard time seeing the Danica comparison for a couple reasons. One, a lot of his media attention over the past year wasn't 100% of his own doing, whereas Patrick's media coverage was arguably the sole reason she was able to get a funded NASCAR ride (I do think she might've gotten better results if she stayed in Xfinity for an extra year at least). The other aspect is that Bubba is a much better driver. He's taking a brand new team and is keeping them around 20th-22nd, which I think is solid. Danica, meanwhile, was racing for a team that had the resources to win races and even championships, but always had a difficult time breaking out of the Top-30, provided she wasn't getting caught in a wreck (a lot of which admittedly were just pure bad luck). That's of course ignoring Bubba's previous results in lower series and the fact that he's shown an overall much greater respect to his fellow drivers on track than Danica had.

I do fully acknowledge that I'm quite biased in Bubba's favor, though, especially with my previous post.
 
Michael Annett has announced he will retire from full time competition after this year. Hopefully his sponsors stick around as they usually have nice liveries.

 
The Dutch are invading! 2019 NASCAR Euro champ Loris Hezemans will be driving the road courses and potentially some ovals, Jacques Villeneuve is also set to test the car, not sure if he will actually race though.



I really hope this team doesn't fall through like so many new teams have over the years as that car looks very good.
 
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Blitz24
Another stat: This race marks the end of a 27 year drought of a McDonald's sponsored car winning a Cup race. The previous victory was by Jimmy Spencer in 1994 at Talladega.
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And on that day, he was driving car number.... 27.

When I think of Jimmy Spencer, I always think of the last Joe Camel-sponsored car in that vibrant yellow, blue, and purple. That car number? 23.
 
AISUYU
AJ was leading by 9 seconds! That's insane at a road course!
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Didn’t hurt Cindric was being dogged by Mayer and Haley either.

Really good job by Sage Karam in the Jordan Andersen car. Got in the wreck at the end, but a showing good speed and adjustments to stock car racing.
 
Allmendinger seems unstoppable at the Roval, hopefully he can play spoiler tomorrow.

Also, Whelen will be on Creed's car for the whole 2022 season, shame it's not #31 though.

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Hasn't RCR always run the 2? Other then the Holiday Inn car and its revolving driver lineup, I don't remember them always running the 31 (unless I'm mistaking that for another car, its been a while).

Edit: That was the 29 I was thinking of. Told you its been a while :lol:
 
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RACECAR
Hasn't RCR always run the 2? Other then the Holiday Inn car and its revolving driver lineup, I don't remember them always running the 31 (unless I'm mistaking that for another car, its been a while).

Edit: That was the 29 I was thinking of. Told you its been a while :lol:
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I don’t think they had the 31 in Xfinity. Blaney ran the Whelen livery for Marsh Racing (?) in the mid 2000s part time, but never a full RCR car. Always 2, 21, and 29.
 
RACECAR
Hasn't RCR always run the 2? Other then the Holiday Inn car and its revolving driver lineup, I don't remember them always running the 31 (unless I'm mistaking that for another car, its been a while).
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You are correct. I don't think they've ever ran the #31 in the secondary series, Whelen is kind of synonymous with the #31 though.
 
Northstar
You are correct. I don't think they've ever ran the #31 in the secondary series, Whelen is kind of synonymous with the #31 though.
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Fair point now that you mention it, I can't remember any Whelen cars that didn't have the 31. Ironically, there was Whelen sponsored RCR 31 in Cup:



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