2025 NASCAR Discussion ThreadNASCAR 

  • Thread starter Dylan
  • 164 comments
  • 21,099 views
Not the most exciting race. Tire wear would have spruced it up.

It is nice to see some new players up front. Gibbs finally put together a full race. Also the Spire cars have been running well, and it looked like they could have put a couple in the top 10. But Haley seemed to lose the handle late, and Hocevar lost a sure top 5 with that slow, final pit stop.
 
Excellent news for Rockingham this weekend!

I would love to see Cup back there, but I doubt it will ever happen with the saturation of tracks in the NC area and it being kinda out in the middle of nowhere if I recall correctly. The racing there was always great since the asphalt ate tires.
 
I would love to see Cup back there, but I doubt it will ever happen with the saturation of tracks in the NC area and it being kinda out in the middle of nowhere if I recall correctly. The racing there was always great since the asphalt ate tires.
Only way it gets a date is if Darlington loses one in my eyes.
 
Hello from truck series day at Rockingham!
IMG_3901.jpeg

IMG_3924.jpeg
 
Tyler Ankrum breaks a 130 race winless streak in a fuel mileage thriller in NASCARs return to Rockingham.
 
@Dylan I haven't watched NASCAR in 7-8 years. Maybe I should go back to watching the news and races online if I can because we don't have cable. I'm sure I can find some recorded races that people record and post on Youtube. I just spotted this thread just now. I wonder how Jeff Gordon's doing. He was one of our best favorite drivers in the whole series. Of course we miss Dale Earnhardt. It's a shame he lost his life early all because he wanted to take part in the big races.
 
Race started out great. Really good battles for the lead and lots of action in the pack. Then the cautions started coming. Got a bit silly. Jesse Love put the bumper to Sammy Smith to get the win in overtime. Lots of fun. Can’t wait to go next year.

Edit: I have been informed that Jesse Love was DQ’d for a rear suspension violation, and Sammy Smith has been declared the winner. So that kinda blows.
 
Last edited:
5 last lap crashes in the 6 races between Cup/Xfinity/Trucks already and you never know what the officials are going to do. The Iceberg broke down each one in his latest video. To be fair, it would be a moot point if the drivers could just make it through the final lap without wrecking.

Holy crap, that crash in the middle of the video was downright insane...

Goodness, I bet the crowd was tripping out when they saw it live.
 
Legge needs to be banned. Two races, many incidents that ruined other drivers races.


Legge left the bottom lane pretty wide open. The #48 car went through with no issue, and Kasey Khane was clearly setting himself up to take the same line. Sawalich meanwhile was straddling between lanes and let himself run into the back of a slower car that was giving space to pass.

Personally, I'd put this one on Sawalich. That being said, I do think and hope that Legge needs to get some more time with the Xfinity and Cup cars before her next races in them.
 


Legge left the bottom lane pretty wide open. The #48 car went through with no issue, and Kasey Khane was clearly setting himself up to take the same line. Sawalich meanwhile was straddling between lanes and let himself run into the back of a slower car that was giving space to pass.

Personally, I'd put this one on Sawalich. That being said, I do think and hope that Legge needs to get some more time with the Xfinity and Cup cars before her next races in them.

She suddenly slowed right in front of everybody like she didn't know what to do. The announcers clearly pointed this out. She should never have been where she was on the track considering how slow she was.
 
She suddenly slowed right in front of everybody like she didn't know what to do. The announcers clearly pointed this out. She should never have been where she was on the track considering how slow she was.
Again, she left a lane wide open on the bottom, a lane that one car got through without any issue whatsoever. Khane was clearly getting ready to take the same lane before the incident. Looking at the actual replay, she didn't "suddenly slow down." She was slower for sure, but she pretty consistently maintained her speed and position through the corner before Sawalich ran into her. Hell, if anything, it looked like she was actively trying to get out of the way of the faster cars by taking a higher line.

==============================================

In other exciting news:

 
Last edited:
Changes for this year's All-Star weekend:
  • There is no option tire this year, and there is no mandatory tire change.
  • The Pit Crew Challenge will help set the lineups for both the All-Star heat races (same as last year) and the Open (new this year), with all teams participating in the 3-lap total/mandatory 4-tire stop on lap 2 competition (teams in the Open first). The overall time will set the lineups, while the pit crew time will set the order of pit stall selection.
  • The All-Star race itself goes from 200 laps to 250 laps, with a guaranteed competition "break" around lap 100 (last year had competition breaks at lap 100, with a mandatory tire change, and lap 150)
  • An optional "promoter's" caution can be thrown in the All-Star race anytime before lap 220, unless a natural caution happens after lap 200 before the promoter's caution is thrown.
  • The Open race, which will remain at 100 laps, will have a competition break at lap 40 (it was at lap 50 last year, with a mandatory tire change).
  • The heat races, which will remain at 60 laps, will have no competition break (there was one at lap 30 last year, with a mandatory tire change).
  • There will be a Manufacturer Showdown in the All-Star race, with all of the drivers from the least-represented manufacturer and an equal number of drivers from each of the other 2 manufacturers (set by final qualifying position for the main; presumably the fastest) participating. The winning manufacturer will be the one with the best cumulative finish among the participating teams, with the tiebreaker being the best-finishing participating team.
What's not changing:
  • The qualifications for the All-Star race (points-race winners from 2024/2025, past All-Star/Cup champs racing full-time, the top 2 finishers from the Open, and the winner of the fan vote from the remaining drivers)
  • The results of the first heat race will set the inside row for the All-Star race, and the results of the second will set the outside row.
  • If necessary, one attempt at overtime will be done in the Open and heat races, while unlimited attempts will be done in the All-Star race.
(5/5 update) - The heat races will now be 75 laps each, with a competition break around lap 30.
 
Last edited:
Race started out great. Really good battles for the lead and lots of action in the pack. Then the cautions started coming. Got a bit silly. Jesse Love put the bumper to Sammy Smith to get the win in overtime. Lots of fun. Can’t wait to go next year.

Edit: I have been informed that Jesse Love was DQ’d for a rear suspension violation, and Sammy Smith has been declared the winner. So that kinda blows.

Here’s the rear end infraction that disqualified Jesse Love last weekend.

 
Last edited:
There were two disqualifications from Sunday at Talladega, neither of which were appealed:
  • Ryan Preece lost his runner-up finish for having an extra shim in the spoiler assembly
  • Joey Logano lost his 5th-place finish and stage points for having a loose bolt on the surface of the spoiler
Also, in the denial of Legacy Motor Club's attempt to make the temporary restraining order on Rick Ware Racing a preliminary injunction, several juicy details came out:
  • The signed contract was for Rick Ware Racing to sell charter #36 (the one currently used by the #51 team) to Legacy Motor Club for $45 million effective the 2026 season, despite it being encumbered by a pre-existing agreement between RWR and Roush Fenway Keselowski for RFK to lease that charter during the 2026 season for the #60 team.
  • RWR says that at a meeting 2 weeks after the the agreement was signed, Legacy wanted to up the offer to $50 million to buy charter #27, the one currently being leased by RFK for the #60 team.
  • Legacy, for its part, is claiming that, the language of the contract notwithstanding, the agreement was to get charter #27, and that the signed agreement was a result of a mistake by RWR.
  • Related to leases, NASCAR now allows charters to be leased only once every seven years instead of the original once every five years.
 
Last edited:
The heavily rumored return to Homestead for next year's Championship weekend has been confirmed. They will also have a rotation for the the final race which could go either way depending on the tracks (Phoenix will be one of the tracks in the rotation, so already off to a bad start).

 
They really need to change things up because my Sunday evenings are getting boring with the current racing.
 
Christopher Bell passes Joey Logano in the closing laps to win a very entertaining 2025 NASCAR All Star race!

And with that Fox Sports portion of the season is complete. For the next 5 weeks, the NASCAR Cup Series will air exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
 
Currently watching the recap of Mexico last weekend, I kinda wish they enforced track limits like the yellow line on super ovals...
 
I thought I share my very brief first-time NASCAR experience at Pocono from the truck race. I'm not an oval or NASCAR fan in general, I prefer sportscar and touring car racing on natural road courses (hate city tracks) but the ovals have their own spice, for sure. Add a bunch of NA V8s screaming over 150mph and that's a package I want to see in person. My wife (the best!!) accompanied me, she doesn't care much about racing in general, but she has very good eyes (both literally and she's much better noticing things) and the truck race was an ideal length for her. We forgot the earplugs but it wasn't that bad.

We were up in the shaded area which I deemed a bit too far away. When I asked here earlier about preparations, I was told to bring binoculars. Unfortunately, both of us were busy with our work and we left in a big hurry (~2 hour drive) that we didn't have time to prepare, hence no binoculars or earplugs. Parking is free but as we arrived quite late, we had to walk a lot, not a big deal though. Foodwise I can't say anything due to my allergies, my preferred soda (Coke Zero or regular Coca-Cola) tastes pretty much the same in the typical 20oz bottles across the US anyway :) I bought 2 baseball caps (one of them was from a 2009 collection :D ) and 2 T-shirts (a Pocono one and a general NASCAR one), not an easy task if you don't know the series', the teams or the drivers :)

We also noticed a lot of people sporting Race Electronics gear. I looked it up while there and was quite shocked how expensive they are. Then I found on their website that you can rent them - based on the RE bags those people had, I must assume they picked them up from the RE truck we saw after the race - next time I'm gonna go for that, too. I was also surprised how many people were there in the grandstands, the amount of RVs inside the track, the amount of cars parked and the RVs outside. I'm always amazed about the number of race fans, no matter the series. I was surprised last year at Mid-Ohio (IMSA), same last Friday at Pocono. I work from home and don't meet many people who'd be car enthusiasts or race fans too often (maybe some at Cars & Coffee). Atmopshere was good, just can't stand the smell of beer :)

Given the lack of binoculars we couldn't follow too much, even though we could see a big screen, as well - but I'm too distracted by the place in general to have the same awareness what I'd have when watching a race from home. That's not a complaint, I know what I'm getting into :) I also had the NASCAR app open on my phone which was a bit delayed, so we didn't really know why Heim lost the lead and fell back so hard. I plan for us to watch the race on YouTube (I was quite surprised how many races are available at NASCAR's YouTube page).

All in all, it was a good experience, we most likely will be back. We didn't become fans but it was absolutely worth it! I wish Lime Rock would be closer to us, that one looks super interesting for me, I love that track, will catch that race on YouTube for sure!

EDIT: I tried to convince my wife to go to Dover, it's actually a bit closer to us but she wasn't enthusiastic, maybe next time :)
 
Last edited:
I thought I share my very brief first-time NASCAR experience at Pocono from the truck race. I'm not an oval or NASCAR fan in general, I prefer sportscar and touring car racing on natural road courses (hate city tracks) but the ovals have their own spice, for sure. Add a bunch of NA V8s screaming over 150mph and that's a package I want to see in person. My wife (the best!!) accompanied me, she doesn't care much about racing in general, but she has very good eyes (both literally and she's much better noticing things) and the truck race was an ideal length for her. We forgot the earplugs but it wasn't that bad.

We were up in the shaded area which I deemed a bit too far away. When I asked here earlier about preparations, I was told to bring binoculars. Unfortunately, both of us were busy with our work and we left in a big hurry (~2 hour drive) that we didn't have time to prepare, hence no binoculars or earplugs. Parking is free but as we arrived quite late, we had to walk a lot, not a big deal though. Foodwise I can't say anything due to my allergies, my preferred soda (Coke Zero or regular Coca-Cola) tastes pretty much the same in the typical 20oz bottles across the US anyway :) I bought 2 baseball caps (one of them was from a 2009 collection :D ) and 2 T-shirts (a Pocono one and a general NASCAR one), not an easy task if you don't know the series', the teams or the drivers :)

We also noticed a lot of people sporting Race Electronics gear. I looked it up while there and was quite shocked how expensive they are. Then I found on their website that you can rent them - based on the RE bags those people had, I must assume they picked them up from the RE truck we saw after the race - next time I'm gonna go for that, too. I was also surprised how many people were there in the grandstands, the amount of RVs inside the track, the amount of cars parked and the RVs outside. I'm always amazed about the number of race fans, no matter the series. I was surprised last year at Mid-Ohio (IMSA), same last Friday at Pocono. I work from home and don't meet many people who'd be car enthusiasts or race fans too often (maybe some at Cars & Coffee). Atmopshere was good, just can't stand the smell of beer :)

Given the lack of binoculars we couldn't follow too much, even though we could see a big screen, as well - but I'm too distracted by the place in general to have the same awareness what I'd have when watching a race from home. That's not a complaint, I know what I'm getting into :) I also had the NASCAR app open on my phone which was a bit delayed, so we didn't really know why Heim lost the lead and fell back so hard. I plan for us to watch the race on YouTube (I was quite surprised how many races are available at NASCAR's YouTube page).

All in all, it was a good experience, we most likely will be back. We didn't become fans but it was absolutely worth it! I wish Lime Rock would be closer to us, that one looks super interesting for me, I love that track, will catch that race on YouTube for sure!

EDIT: I tried to convince my wife to go to Dover, it's actually a bit closer to us but she wasn't enthusiastic, maybe next time :)
My best friend was at the Cup race Sunday and I was invited to go last minute. If I wasn't busy I would have been in the infield stands at the S/F line.
 
I thought I share my very brief first-time NASCAR experience at Pocono from the truck race. I'm not an oval or NASCAR fan in general, I prefer sportscar and touring car racing on natural road courses (hate city tracks) but the ovals have their own spice, for sure. Add a bunch of NA V8s screaming over 150mph and that's a package I want to see in person. My wife (the best!!) accompanied me, she doesn't care much about racing in general, but she has very good eyes (both literally and she's much better noticing things) and the truck race was an ideal length for her. We forgot the earplugs but it wasn't that bad.

We were up in the shaded area which I deemed a bit too far away. When I asked here earlier about preparations, I was told to bring binoculars. Unfortunately, both of us were busy with our work and we left in a big hurry (~2 hour drive) that we didn't have time to prepare, hence no binoculars or earplugs. Parking is free but as we arrived quite late, we had to walk a lot, not a big deal though. Foodwise I can't say anything due to my allergies, my preferred soda (Coke Zero or regular Coca-Cola) tastes pretty much the same in the typical 20oz bottles across the US anyway :) I bought 2 baseball caps (one of them was from a 2009 collection :D ) and 2 T-shirts (a Pocono one and a general NASCAR one), not an easy task if you don't know the series', the teams or the drivers :)

We also noticed a lot of people sporting Race Electronics gear. I looked it up while there and was quite shocked how expensive they are. Then I found on their website that you can rent them - based on the RE bags those people had, I must assume they picked them up from the RE truck we saw after the race - next time I'm gonna go for that, too. I was also surprised how many people were there in the grandstands, the amount of RVs inside the track, the amount of cars parked and the RVs outside. I'm always amazed about the number of race fans, no matter the series. I was surprised last year at Mid-Ohio (IMSA), same last Friday at Pocono. I work from home and don't meet many people who'd be car enthusiasts or race fans too often (maybe some at Cars & Coffee). Atmopshere was good, just can't stand the smell of beer :)

Given the lack of binoculars we couldn't follow too much, even though we could see a big screen, as well - but I'm too distracted by the place in general to have the same awareness what I'd have when watching a race from home. That's not a complaint, I know what I'm getting into :) I also had the NASCAR app open on my phone which was a bit delayed, so we didn't really know why Heim lost the lead and fell back so hard. I plan for us to watch the race on YouTube (I was quite surprised how many races are available at NASCAR's YouTube page).

All in all, it was a good experience, we most likely will be back. We didn't become fans but it was absolutely worth it! I wish Lime Rock would be closer to us, that one looks super interesting for me, I love that track, will catch that race on YouTube for sure!

EDIT: I tried to convince my wife to go to Dover, it's actually a bit closer to us but she wasn't enthusiastic, maybe next time :)
I may be a little bias here but Bristol puts on a good show most of the time. Hardly a bad seat in the house.
 
Currently watching the recap of Mexico last weekend, I kinda wish they enforced track limits like the yellow line on super ovals...
Wow, I didn't know that NASCAR had races in Mexico, that's something new for me. I'll have to see if I can find some Youtube videos showing these races there.
 
Back