2012 NASCAR thread

JRS · 10 Sep 2012 at 08:32

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:

Denny Hamlin - 2012 pts
Jimmie Johnson - 2009
Tony Stewart - 2009
Brad Keselowski - 2009
Greg Biffle - 2006
Clint Bowyer - 2006
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 2003
Matt Kenseth - 2003
Kevin Harvick - 2000
Martin Truex Jr. - 2000
Kasey Kahne - 2000
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.

JRS · 11 Sep 2012 at 17:28

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 ****.

JRS · 11 Sep 2012 at 22:53

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.

JRS · 12 Sep 2012 at 21:51

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:

He reckoned on Showtime Inside NASCAR that it'll be more grey than brown these days!

JRS · 17 Sep 2012 at 00:06

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.

JRS · 17 Sep 2012 at 09:25

sr4470 said:
Surprised you didn't mention JJ given you're a fan of his

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.

JRS · 24 Sep 2012 at 13:42

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.

JRS · 28 Sep 2012 at 22:20

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."

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."

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 · 7 Oct 2012 at 22:08

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.

JRS · 7 Oct 2012 at 22:22

Well....I called it.

JRS · 7 Oct 2012 at 22:29

Amazing that no-one (particularly Smoke) was hurt in all that.

JRS · 7 Oct 2012 at 22:33

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.

JRS · 7 Oct 2012 at 22:46

Part of me really hopes that Brad wins it, simply so that Dodge can leave on a high. I'm gutted that the 2013 Charger won't ever run in anger

JRS · 8 Oct 2012 at 12:14

That final lap: link.

Definitely Smoke's fault, and he copped to it in the post-race interview which was heartening. Just look at Brad's #2 though - involved in the wreck, yes, but didn't get much of it and managed to be 7th when the yellow flag flew. That's the kind of luck champions get.

I do feel sorry for Mikey Waltrip. He had a run that would have seen him past Stewart had Tony not tried to block, or at least get him a top 5 finish if the block had worked. Instead, he ends up 25th with a torn-up racecar.

A side-effect of Brad making it over the line 7th is that Jeff Gordon hasn't really caught up despite another 2nd place. He's made positions up, but no real ground made in the points. Everyone else needs Brad to have a really bad weekend before this Chase is out.

JRS · 8 Oct 2012 at 13:19

They couldn't penalise him for that - the sheer quantity of whining if he'd taken a penalty for it post-race and promoted Jeff Gordon (a Hendrick car, after all) to the win would open up a hole in the space-time continuum!

JRS · 8 Oct 2012 at 23:35

Indeedy. But something has changed, either in the tyre or the aero package, because drivers were saving stuff that looked like a lost cause all day long. Kenseth in particular, that car was so loose it looked almost as though it belonged on a half-mile dirt oval rather than a superspeedway.

JRS · 8 Oct 2012 at 23:57

Not at 'dega, with that banking, those speeds, and traffic. You want neutral, maybe a slight push. Kenseth pretty much had it spun out three or four times in the closing laps, and managed to somehow hold onto it.

JRS · 9 Oct 2012 at 00:52

sr4470 said:
Loose or not, the car obviously worked for Kenseth since he's placed 1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd in the four plate races this year

It's the first time I can recall seeing him fight a car like that in ages. Maybe even years!

JRS · 11 Oct 2012 at 22:53

Well, that's his chances done for another year....

JRS · 17 Oct 2012 at 15:20

Series of updates for the rules in 2013.

1) Qualifying for the Cup series is changing. Firstly, the top 36 lock-in is no more:

In Sprint Cup competition, the series will move to a 36-6-1 format where the fastest 36 cars will make the race on speed.

The next six highest ranking cars in owners points that have not already earned a starting position through qualifying and who have entered the event by the posted entry deadline will also make the field. The final starting position will be awarded to the most recent eligible past champion driver. If there is no eligible past champion driver, then a seventh car will make the field based upon owners' points.

Provisional positions in the 36-6-1 format will be lined up by owners' points, not speed.

Since 2005, the top 35 cars in owners' points were guaranteed a spot in the field. Now, only a maximum of seven cars will be locked into a given race.

Secondly, qualifying order is going back to being a random draw. If qualifying is rained off, the grid will continue to be set by speed in practice sessions.

I don't know if the annual brain-bender of Daytona 500 qualifying is changing, but I suspect not

2) The owners points criteria are changing as well. Currently, the first five races see the previous year's owners points being used. Now, it'll be three races for Cup and Nationwide, four races for the Trucks.

3) Testing.

Beginning next season in the Sprint Cup Series, there will be up to four tests per organization available to teams at tracks at which the series competes. Since 2009, teams could only test at tracks that did not hold NASCAR national series events.

For the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, starting in 2013, there will be up to two tests per organization at tracks where those series compete. If the organization has an official Sunoco Rookie of Year candidate, then that team will receive one additional test. Additionally, NASCAR will open track activity early for extended practice at two additional events per series, to be determined.

4) The maximum field size for the Nationwide series is dropping to 40 cars. Apparently it's "in an effort to strengthen the ownership base up and create a sense of urgency among teams to make races". I suspect it's more down to how difficult it's been of late to find sponsorship for Nationwide cars! Trucks and Cup are holding at 36 and 43 respectively.