NASCAR 2015

MOXOMUMD

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Welcome to the Nascar 2015 thread. It seems like 2014 just ended and here we go again. :)

GENTLEMEN....START...YOUR...ENGINES!

Jeff Gordon announced today that 2015 will be his final full season behind the wheel. I see lots of tributes to him throughout the season.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
I am not shocked about Jeff Gordon not racing another full time season after this year. When Kasey Kahne signed another contract with Hendrick, that gave me the message that Jeff didn't have much time left.

I like the move Jeff is doing for a couple reasons. There has been a lot of cup drivers in the past that usually decline in the 44 to 47 year old age range for one reason or another. What Greg Biffle is going through in performance right now is what I am talking about about a divers performance really dips or what Jeff Burton went through from 2011 to 2013. A lot of the good or great cup drivers stop winning in the 44 to 48 year old age range. If Jeff Gordon was racing way past to prime, it would have been like What I saw out of A.J. Foyt and Darrell Waltrip. It would be bad thing to see if you a fan of a once great driver that is washed up.

My second reason I though what Jeff went through at Charlotte last year gave him a rude awakening in terms of his back. His back could give out on him at anytime.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
For those who really don't know A.J Foyt, he was one of the top 2 racing talents any Auto Racing in his prime. The Racing media in the past compared Stewart to his hero A.J. Foyt in terms of versatility and in terms of temper also.

It is a shame that I didn't see him race in his prime when I started to watch Indy Cars in the 1980's.

A.J. Foyt in his prime was able to win at any given time at any form of Auto racing. My dad saw him race in his prime back in the 1960's and 1970's since he is from USAC Country. NASCAR didn't go to the Midwest a lot unlike USAC. USAC had indycar, Stock Cars, Midget cars, Silver Crown and Sprint Cars.

A.J. Foyt won in Sports Cars, Indy Car, NASCAR, Sprint Cars, Midgets and Silver Crown cars. Foyt never did Formula 1, but he would have won if he did. If Foyt focused in NASCAR full time, he would have a lot more than 7 NASCAR wins and Richard Petty wouldn't have won 7 cup championships.
 
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MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
wdwfan4ver said:
For those who really don't know A.J Foyt, he was one of the top 2 racing talents any Auto Racing in his prime. The Racing media in the past compared Stewart to his hero A.J. Foyt in terms of versatility and in terms of temper also.

It is a shame that I didn't see him race in his prime when I started to watch Indy Cars in the 1980's.

A.J. Foyt in his prime was able to win at any given time at any form of Auto racing. My dad saw him race in his prime back in the 1960's and 1970's since he is from USAC Country. NASCAR didn't go to the Midwest a lot unlike USAC. USAC had indycar, Stock Cars, Midget cars, Silver Crown and Sprint Cars.

A.J. Foyt won in Sports Cars, Indy Car, NASCAR, Sprint Cars, Midgets and Silver Crown cars. Foyt never did Formula 1, but he would have won if he did. If Foyt focused in NASCAR full time, he would have a lot more than 7 NASCAR wins and Richard Petty wouldn't have won 7 cup championships.
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That was a very interesting bio. on A. J. Foyt, and thank you for that. He was a legend, no doubt. As for Richard Petty, I'm not saying he was necessarily better than Mr. Foyt; but I do honestly believe that if the two of them were competing in NASCAR race back then, that certainly would have been something to see. IMO, I think Mr. Petty would still have a slight advantage in NASCAR, however, and to me, he's still the "King" ! :)
 
MOXOMUMD

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MinnieM123 said:
That was a very interesting bio. on A. J. Foyt, and thank you for that. He was a legend, no doubt. As for Richard Petty, I'm not saying he was necessarily better than Mr. Foyt; but I do honestly believe that if the two of them were competing in NASCAR race back then, that certainly would have been something to see. IMO, I think Mr. Petty would still have a slight advantage in NASCAR, however, and to me, he's still the "King" ! :)
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jw24

jw24

Well-Known Member
I'm a little late in joining this thread being that I've been a fan of 24 car ever since I first saw NASCAR on TV when I was 7 years old. Can't believe it took me this long to find the NASCAR thread.

Anyway, I knew retirement was going to come at some point but I didn't anticipate it to be soon given the great year he had in 2014. But I'm not gonna lie. I do think the back problems played a bigger role in his decision. I don't think he has lost the drive mentally but physically, I think he is aware his body isn't getting any younger. I also see wanting to spend more time with his kids as another reason. He has a 4 year old son and a 7 year old daughter so I don't have a problem being a loving father. Competition is getting tougher overall and it's not just the Chase exclusively. Drivers getting double digit wins in a season is now a thing of the past and of course, the cars have changed so drastically over the years. And something else to think about is that since 1999, only two drivers won the title when they were 40 or older. (Jarrett in '99, Stewart at age 40 in 2011.) and the great Dale Earnhardt Sr was his last title in '94 at age 43.

So when Gordon retires, it makes me wonder who's next in line for retirement when you consider that Dale Jr, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth are already 40 or older while Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick will be 40 by the end of 2015. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say that Gordon was the last of the 90s stars of NASCAR to depart and I wouldn't be surprised by 2020 if all of the early-mid 2000s stars that I just mentioned also hang up their firesuits and helmets.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
jw24 said:
I'm a little late in joining this thread being that I've been a fan of 24 car ever since I first saw NASCAR on TV when I was 7 years old. Can't believe it took me this long to find the NASCAR thread.

Anyway, I knew retirement was going to come at some point but I didn't anticipate it to be soon given the great year he had in 2014. But I'm not gonna lie. I do think the back problems played a bigger role in his decision. I don't think he has lost the drive mentally but physically, I think he is aware his body isn't getting any younger. I also see wanting to spend more time with his kids as another reason. He has a 4 year old son and a 7 year old daughter so I don't have a problem being a loving father. Competition is getting tougher overall and it's not just the Chase exclusively. Drivers getting double digit wins in a season is now a thing of the past and of course, the cars have changed so drastically over the years. And something else to think about is that since 1999, only two drivers won the title when they were 40 or older. (Jarrett in '99, Stewart at age 40 in 2011.) and the great Dale Earnhardt Sr was his last title in '94 at age 43.

So when Gordon retires, it makes me wonder who's next in line for retirement when you consider that Dale Jr, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth are already 40 or older while Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick will be 40 by the end of 2015. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say that Gordon was the last of the 90s stars of NASCAR to depart and I wouldn't be surprised by 2020 if all of the early-mid 2000s stars that I just mentioned also hang up their firesuits and helmets.
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I know Dale Jr. has said in the past that wants to race in his late 40's in cup based an interview in last year or in 2013.

I don't think age is the reason why only 2 drivers since 1999 only won the cup title. It is caused by a group of drivers that got old at the same time and is why there was no driver between Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart won a cup Championship.

Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte were stars of the 1990's, not winning a cup championship in their 40's was due to Jeff Burton's peak happened before Dale Earnhardt's death despite only being 33 when the 2001 Daytona 500 happened. Bobby Labonte really wasn't quite as good as his 1999 and 2000 seasons were because of the drivers Bobby faced in those 2 years in terms of where they were in their careers. Bobby was a top 10 driver at his prime, not a top 5.

The rule of thumb is a cup driver's abilities decline around their mid 40's unless the driver suffered injuries, or made a bad career choice. A good amount of star NASCAR Drivers of the 1990's also were Star Drivers in the 1980's for NASCAR.

1990's Stars Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, and Dale Jarrett were born in 1956. Bill Elliott was born in 1955. What also made it worse was the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. to the drivers I mentioned. A lot of the Drivers I mentioned were friends or rivals of Dale Sr and Rusty Wallace even admitted that Dale's Death affected him as a race car driver.

What happened to Mark Martin was not age in 2002 and 2009. Mark Martin had a bad habit not winning a cup championships even in the 1990's. Part of that is caused by Mark's driving style and Roush. He always been very conservative on the race track and that is what hurt him against drivers like Earnhardt, and Gordon. Roush also wasn't known to have horsepower compare to Robert Yates Racing.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
As far as Jeff Burton not winning a cup championship does and his final win at the age of 41 goes to a couple things. Jeff Burton's true prime was before Dale's death, but that also happened before the drivers from the early 2000's came into the scene. Jeff through was a more well rounded driver from a talent standpoint than Bobby Labonte was.

Jeff Burton had 4 of his best seasons ever before Dale Sr. died and Jeff did focus on safety after Dale's death based on what I recall. Jeff had a nice resurgence at RCR, but wasn't the Jeff Burton from 1997 to 2000. That is when Jeff got 15 of his 21 wins from despite being a bad qualifier at Roush.

RCR has history of not keeping up with other cup organizations on a constant basis and that did hurt Jeff Burton in 2009.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
I think the next cup driver to retire from full time is Greg Biffle, or Tony Stewart. There is another driver to keep an eye on and that is Brian Vickers.

Greg signed a contract extension with Roush and it ends after 2016 or 2017. Greg turned 45 in December.

I mentioned Vickers because he missed races 3 of the 5 last seasons now coming up relating to his past Blood clots one way or another. We don't know how Vickers future health is going to be.

I mentioned Stewart might retire next because his skills are declining, but I can see him pull a Darrell Waltrip or a Richard Petty. Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty raced way past their prime and even raced when they weren't competitive anymore.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
jw24 said:
I'm a little late in joining this thread being that I've been a fan of 24 car ever since I first saw NASCAR on TV when I was 7 years old. Can't believe it took me this long to find the NASCAR thread.

Anyway, I knew retirement was going to come at some point but I didn't anticipate it to be soon given the great year he had in 2014. But I'm not gonna lie. I do think the back problems played a bigger role in his decision. I don't think he has lost the drive mentally but physically, I think he is aware his body isn't getting any younger. I also see wanting to spend more time with his kids as another reason. He has a 4 year old son and a 7 year old daughter so I don't have a problem being a loving father. Competition is getting tougher overall and it's not just the Chase exclusively. Drivers getting double digit wins in a season is now a thing of the past and of course, the cars have changed so drastically over the years. And something else to think about is that since 1999, only two drivers won the title when they were 40 or older. (Jarrett in '99, Stewart at age 40 in 2011.) and the great Dale Earnhardt Sr was his last title in '94 at age 43.

So when Gordon retires, it makes me wonder who's next in line for retirement when you consider that Dale Jr, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth are already 40 or older while Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick will be 40 by the end of 2015. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say that Gordon was the last of the 90s stars of NASCAR to depart and I wouldn't be surprised by 2020 if all of the early-mid 2000s stars that I just mentioned also hang up their firesuits and helmets.
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The # 24 is one of my favorites, as well. You're probably right: his back problems may have certainly influenced his decision not to participate in full-time racing this coming season. IMO, another thought I had was that the overall stress of the sport (remember the incident at Texas Motor Speedway, when he was disgusted with the situation involving Mr. Keselowski) also had a detrimental effect.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
While this isn't NASCAR, Jamie Mcmurray and Kyle Larson is part of a race team that won this years 2015 24 hours of Daytona. They won it driving for their their cup owner Chip Ganassi. Chip has been a sport car racing owner for years besides Indy Car and NASCAR. Jamie Mcmurray now is the 2nd driver ever to win the 24 hours of Daytona and the Daytona 500. The only other driver that accomplished that is A.J. Foyt.

24 Hours of Daytona is one of the biggest sports car racing events there is and is a big deal for Jamie Mcmurray and Kyle Larson to win the event. It is an endurance race at Daytona International speedway. The Sports Cars use the road course part of the race track. 24 Hours of Daytona is the 1st of a triple crown of endurance racing of a sports car racing season.

Race teams in recent years use anywhere from 3 or 5 drivers that try to race the same car for 24 straight hours without any wrecks or part failures while going fast on the race track for 24 hours of Daytona. The 24 hours of Daytona traditionally has drivers from different racing series to race this event including Indy Car and NASCAR.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Just an interim reminder: TV coverage (Fox) of the Daytona 500 begins on Sunday (February 22nd), at 1:00 PM, EST.

For those of you who can't wait that long for the new season to start, Fox is also broadcasting "live" Daytona 500 qualifying, this coming Sunday, February 15, at 1:30 PM, EST.
 

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