2012 NASCAR thread

I'm not sure to be honest.

Historically, Smoke goes well there - three wins in Cup competition at the track. And his win last year was the start of a fairly incredible run to the title with him winning half of the Chase races. Brad Keselowski has gone well there too. But I'm going to say....Greg Biffle. He's been talking up their 1.5mile track programme, and this is the most cookie-cutterish of all the cookie-cutter tracks.
 
Heh, Jeff Gordon made a promise to his crew that if he made the Chase he'd regrow his moustache. Looks like he's going through with it as well. Now all we need is the rainbow DuPont paintscheme back :)

This is what he looked like waaaaaay back:

jeffgordon1993displayim.jpg


He reckoned on Showtime Inside NASCAR that it'll be more grey than brown these days!
 
So, I talk up Greg Biffle. And what happens? He has a bad Chase opener, and falls three places in the standings. Shows what I know I guess!

Congrats to Brad Keselowski for his win, he effectively swaps with Denny Hamlin in the table to lead going into Loudon. Jeff Gordon's lack of luck from earlier in the season came back with a literal bang - a stuck throttle put him in the wall quite hard. How things look after the Talladega cluster-**** next month should paint a clearer picture of how the Chase is shaping up.
 
sr4470 said:
Surprised you didn't mention JJ given you're a fan of his ;)
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He's started well. Trouble is, his luck at plate tracks lately has been utterly appalling so he may well take a wobble down the order after 'dega.
 
Right, so Denny Hamlin pretty much dominated that one....ye Gods, that car was good.

Another second place for JJ, Mr Consistent. Puts him top by a single point over Brad Keselowski right now. Good run for Gordon to finish third, but he's still a loooooooooong way back in the standings. He's going to need a few people to have an appalling day at Dover and 'dega to catch up.
 
Heh, I was too distracted by the Nationwide furore, what with the whining over Danica Patrick and Johanna Long's respective performances\media coverage at Kentucky...

Anyway, Sprint Cup.. what's up with Roush? They've been terrible in the last two races.
 
Roush haven't been stellar all year, really. Kenseth had some decent runs, but now he's on his way out that's over. The Braindead Moron™ didn't make the Chase. And while Biffle is a good driver, and their 1.5 mile program for the #16 has been good, the Chase is a whole different ballgame compared with the regular season.

There's been some driver shuffling for next season in the Cup series, but one move stood out for me. Kurt Busch is replacing Regan Smith in the #78 Furniture Row Racing car. Now, several things bother me here.

1) Regan is getting screwed over. He's laid the groundwork for that team, he and his wife moved out of North Carolina (where most other NASCAR teams are based) out to Denver to be close to where FRR are based. And now he's tossed aside for some arrogant **** like Kurt Busch? Who's been sacked by Penske and Roush? Just not on.
2) This quote:

NASCAR.com said:
"The 51 -- we're running equipment that's 4 years old, all 2008 stuff. We did the best we could with what we had. Everybody knows this 78 car has much more potential. ... [The 78] is a diamond in the rough, a program that's not reached its full potential. I can't wait to get in the car and deliver."
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Emphasis is my own. What was it someone once said about bad workmen blaming their tools? :rolleyes:
3) Busch is now taking lessons in press relations from folks that he really shouldn't:

"I was following my 'Zen master' Charlie Sheen, and that wasn't going very well," Busch said during Friday morning's introductory press conference at Dover.

"So, I had to look around, and I followed a fellow top-10, most-hated athlete -- LeBron James. He brought his talents down to Miami and won a championship, and I'm going to use that as motivation. I'm going to take my talents to Denver [home of Furniture Row] and bring the championship out there."

But Busch said he's found further inspiration.

"I decided I [still] needed a new 'Zen master,' and I found him," he said. "It's Bryce Harper."

Harper, 19, hasn't won a championship yet, but with 21 homers in his rookie season, he's helped bring the long-struggling Washington Nationals to the brink of a division title with a no-nonsense approach, including refusing to answer what he termed a "clown question" from a reporter earlier this season. Like Busch, Harper was raised in Las Vegas.

"He's so wise," Busch said. "He says 'no more clown questions.' I'm not going to answer any more clown questions. So, I'm really looking up to 19-year-old Bryce Harper to help me through this."
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Yeah, that's a good idea Kurt. Get narked with the press who get your name and that of your sponsors out on the airwaves....you're a ******* genius.
 
JRS said:
Roush haven't been stellar all year, really. Kenseth had some decent runs, but now he's on his way out that's over. The Braindead Moron™ didn't make the Chase. And while Biffle is a good driver, and their 1.5 mile program for the #16 has been good, the Chase is a whole different ballgame compared with the regular season.
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True, not that many wins. Their Nationwide program doesn't have the same problem, it looks like Stenhouse has a second straight title in sight and he's being moved to Cup next year.

JRS said:
There's been some driver shuffling for next season in the Cup series, but one move stood out for me. Kurt Busch is replacing Regan Smith in the #78 Furniture Row Racing car. Now, several things bother me here.
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Joey Logano got the #22 and he's had less than stellar results in good equipment (Gibbs). Unless you count buschwhacking. I think Hornish deserved another shot in Cup, he's proved himself in the Nationwide team for Penske and even become somewhat decent on the road courses (not that Nationwide is brimming with RC talent or anything). Driver choices aren't always logical from the fans' point of view.
 
No doubt that Kurt Busch is a talanted driver, its his hot head that gets in the way!.
I believe also Smith got bummed on that deal with FRR.
Then again maybe he can go to Pheonix Racing now where Kurt did his best to screw up that deal.
I think though as it was 'handshake' deal that Kurt was always using as a way to get a better ride and subsequently using it to race week in week out and 'show' what he can do and still stay in the limelight.
 
Getting pretty dicey. Lots of near-misses. This one is either going to end in a huge wreck, or a fuel mileage gamble, or both.
 
Racing to the flag, **** got a bit close. Smoke got down in front of Waltrip, turned dead left, went into the pack, it just exploded from there. JG must have seen it coming because he'd backed off enough to be able to get around the mess. Kenseth was the only one to be in front of it all really.

~20 cars involved all told.


***edit***

Aha, Jeff did get part of it. He just managed to get it all straightened out.
 
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