2012 NASCAR thread

sr4470 said:
Just watched some Nationwide highlights from Montreal where Justin Allgaier made a late pass to win ahead of Jacques Villeneuve. Danica Patrick had another eventful race after leading early on, ending just 27th following mechanical problems.
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Watched it last night, still can't believe Villeneuve gets away with blatantly taking out drivers in every race he is in. The commentators were even joking at the fact that once he made contact with Tagliani, he kept his foot down to complete the spin, rather than let off to allow Alex to straighten up. :(:confused:

Also, I have always believed that green cars are unlucky (my mum had a green Metro, and within one week of ownership, a car came through our front garden wall and wrote it off). This is what I believe is causing Danica to have the worst luck of anyone in the series. I mean, when have you ever heard of another driver hitting a shoe during a race :eek: Also, didn't she win her only race in Indy driving a black car?
 
El_Watcher said:
Watched it last night, still can't believe Villeneuve gets away with blatantly taking out drivers in every race he is in. The commentators were even joking at the fact that once he made contact with Tagliani, he kept his foot down to complete the spin, rather than let off to allow Alex to straighten up. :(:confused:
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Jacques is a good driver, but he seems to have a habit of punting people up front. Most of the field were criticising him after the race. He's only there for 2 races a year so his antics draw more attention. The kamikaze on Ambrose last year was pretty bad:


El_Watcher said:
I mean, when have you ever heard of another driver hitting a shoe during a race :eek: Also, didn't she win her only race in Indy driving a black car?
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The shoe probably didn't help, but it wasn't the start of the problem. Danica reported her car was already damaged before the race, but the crew chief didn't do anything about it. Combine that with a low ride height and taking the kerbs...
 
I don't think Labonte was even on the same lap there... :rolleyes:

Hornish Jr is doing very well, as is Trevor Bayne (I was beginning to wonder if he still had a seat this year).
 
Mixed day at the office for the Hendrick engine department. Four motors go bad, two end up getting Top 5 finishes. Either quality control slipped, or they're pushing the envelope just a little bit too much.
 
JRS said:
Mixed day at the office for the Hendrick engine department. Four motors go bad, two end up getting Top 5 finishes. Either quality control slipped, or they're pushing the envelope just a little bit too much.
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Yeah, Johnson had the race in the bag pretty much before that blow-up. Keeps the championship more interesting I guess...

Seems I jinxed Hornish and Bayne as well. :p
 
Steep penalties for RCR and Paul Menard after their car was judged illegal during post-race inspection:

NASCAR has issued penalties, suspensions and fines to the #27 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as a result of rules infractions discovered this week during post-race inspection at the NASCAR Research and Development Center following last Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway.

The #27 team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4K (race equipment that has been previously certified or previously approved by NASCAR for use in an event, pursuant to sub-section 8-12, has been altered, modified, repaired or changed in any manner. Intentionally modifying frame rails for the purpose of deceiving NASCAR's inspection gauges) of the 2012 NASCAR Rule Book.

As a result, crew chief Slugger Labbe has been fined $100,000, suspended from NASCAR until Oct. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Car chief Craig Smokstad has been suspended from NASCAR until Oct. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31, while crew member Grant Hutchens has also been suspended from NASCAR until Oct. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Driver Paul Menard and owner Richard Childress have been penalized with the loss of 25 championship driver and owner points, respectively. (NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications 8-2-2012)
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Meanwhile Tim Peters remains at the top of the Trucks championship after winning at Bristol yesterday, leading every single lap of the race.
 
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sr4470 said:
Hornish Jr is doing very well, as is Trevor Bayne (I was beginning to wonder if he still had a seat this year).
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That's the problem for Bayne, because the Wood Bros team are only part timers, he's only at every 3rd race or so, so he never really has a chance to settle into the swing of things, which is why he still makes some rookie mistakes, but when he is running, he does tend to run well, except on restarts where he almost always falls backwards
 
Seems as though the return of the 'old' Bristol style racing surface had the desired effect anyway. Nine times in the Nationwide race the caution flag came out, someone invoking the 'bump-and-run' to improve their position right at the end (Stenhouse Jr. on Sadler)....just like old times.

Pleased for Danica getting 9th, that's her second-best Nationwide finish of the year IIRC. Not bad for starting 34th, and picking up a pit-lane speeding penalty along the way!
 
Ceryndrion said:
That's the problem for Bayne, because the Wood Bros team are only part timers, he's only at every 3rd race or so, so he never really has a chance to settle into the swing of things, which is why he still makes some rookie mistakes, but when he is running, he does tend to run well, except on restarts where he almost always falls backwards
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I know, but I was referring to Nationwide as well when I said that. As it happens, Roush Fenway announced him full-time in their Nationwide entry for 2013, and he's still going to be part-time Cup in the #21.

JRS said:
Seems as though the return of the 'old' Bristol style racing surface had the desired effect anyway. Nine times in the Nationwide race the caution flag came out, someone invoking the 'bump-and-run' to improve their position right at the end (Stenhouse Jr. on Sadler)....just like old times.

Pleased for Danica getting 9th, that's her second-best Nationwide finish of the year IIRC. Not bad for starting 34th, and picking up a pit-lane speeding penalty along the way!
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I don't think the doubters will be satisfied until she's in the top 5 of the Nationwide standings. Given that Danica is transferring to Cup next year I'm not sure that will be happening.

I'm getting tired of the constant yellow throwing though, it was particularly egregious in the last few laps of Montreal with the needless GWCs. No wonder people were speculating that NASCAR wanted JV to run out of fuel :p
 
Biffle, JJ and Junebug are all now secured in the Chase.

Wild night, all told. Smoke obviously pretty unhappy with Kenseth!

NASCAR.com said:
"We weren't that great of a race car, but we were definitely faster than [Kenseth's car] after that restart [on Lap 329]," Stewart said while his car spent 25 laps in the garage for repairs. "I checked up twice to not run over him, and I learned my lesson there.

"I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now till the end of the year -- every chance I've got."
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So, Richmond has been dealt with and the Chase positions are set. And some way, somehow, Jeff Gordon is in. Didn't look likely - hell, didn't even look possible - for most of the race. At one point he was the 8th car a lap down. But they tweaked the car, made a damned good pit call, and suddenly they were fighting for the win. Now to see if he can carry the momentum he has right now through the next ten races. He'll need a good start at Chicago.

The 12 Chasers are as follows:


  1. Denny Hamlin - 2012 pts
  2. Jimmie Johnson - 2009
  3. Tony Stewart - 2009
  4. Brad Keselowski - 2009
  5. Greg Biffle - 2006
  6. Clint Bowyer - 2006
  7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 2003
  8. Matt Kenseth - 2003
  9. Kevin Harvick - 2000
  10. Martin Truex Jr. - 2000
  11. Kasey Kahne - 2000
  12. Jeff Gordon - 2000


As you can see, Kyle Busch didn't make it. As Gordon's night in Richmond improved his went away, including what turned out to be a bad call to stay out of the pits at Lap 277 from his crew chief Dave Rogers. A shame for those guys, missing out by three points (I think?) in the end.
 
I've long since stopped reading the comments section at the bottom of NASCAR.com articles. Life's too short to spend any of it reading that ****.
 
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