NASCAR 2016

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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
There is starting to be rumors on what companies could be sponsoring the cup series starting in 2017. The rumors mentioned Microsoft and Kroger. I am guessing there is more companies in the running, but haven't be mentioned.

I do know a couple weeks ago that Brian France mentioned that a new sponsor for the cup series will be announced in September or October.

Kroger has been NASCAR for a very long time. Kroger has been involved in NASCAR since 1982 at least. Kroger sponsored Busch Series races aka now the Xfinity series for many years before being a cup sponsor for the 47 team.

Microsoft has a lot of money, but is very new to NASCAR. Microsoft did Sponsor Dale Jr. for a couple races in 2015 and became An Official Technology Partner in NASCAR in the same year.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Dale Jr. is out at New Hampshire with a concussion and Alex Bowman will be his replacement. A timetable for Dale's return hasn't been established yet. Dale mentioned that he didn't feel good at Kentucky. He thought he had severe allergies, but the medication wasn't working. It sounded like it was caused by the crashes at Michigan and Daytona.

What needs to be kept in mind is Dale very susceptible to be concussions due to his history with my thinking this is his 6 concussion in his racing career. Dale's first 2 concussion happened in 1998 Busch series race Daytona and 2002 cup race at Auto Club Speedway race at time. Safer Barriers didn't exist in 1998 and Indy Car installed the precursor to safer barriers that year. At the time Dale Jr. got his concussion in 2002 at Auto Club, safer barriers were only installed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that year. Dale got a concussion in 2003 at Dover, but I forgot it safer barriers up for that track. I mentioned that because some track didn't have any safer barriers installed yet.

I know Dale got two concussions in 2012 with being coming from testing in August and the other from the fall Talladega race.
 
MOXOMUMD

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
635821597762761489-USP-NASCAR--CampingWorld.com-500-At-Talladega-Qual-1.jpg


New Hampshire 301, New Hampshire

1. Matt Kenseth
2. Tony Stewart
3. Joey Logano
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Hendrick Motorsports announced Dale Earnhardt Jr. can't race at the Brickyard 400 and at Pocono due to his concussion. It is unknown when Dale Jr. will be back in the 88. Dale himself said earlier this week said he suffered from nausea and balance issues.

Jeff Gordon will be racing the 88 car for those two races.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Stewart-Haas announced that they are going to fielding a xfinity team in 2017. They will be announcing the sponsor, and the driver sometime before the conclusion of the 2016 season.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Pam Hates Penguins said:
Will Matt Dibenedetto ever win a race?
And will Danica Patrick ever win a race?
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I don't see Matt winning a race unless he moves to a better organization unless the win is at Daytona or Talladega. Daytona and Talladega is where any driver has a shot winning a race.

I hate to say it, but I don't see Danica winning a race in the cup series unless it is at Daytona or Talladega. Danica only won 1 race in her entire racing career in the 21st century and expecting her to win a race is pretty low at this point.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Dale Jr is going to give a health update next week, but it sounds like he could missing more races from a precaution standpoint. What I am willing to say is Rick Hendrick had drivers that had concussions before and Rick knows what he's doing.

The first of the two is Ricky Craven, a driver that started to make a name for himself at Larry Hedrick. Ricky Craven in 1996 was having a good season for Larry Hedrick, a former cup owner that never had elite equipment at the time Ricky suffered a concussion at Talladega and Ricky never missed any races in 1996. Ricky's car went up in the air hit the catch fence at Talladega before being thrown back into the track and hit another car. This was the same spring Talladega race that Bill Elliott suffered a broken leg and missed multiple races.

Ricky before Talladega was 4 in points after 8 out of 31 races in and Ricky struggled after that Talladega crash with him finishing 20 in points. During early 96, cup owners and drivers in the garage though Ricky had the potential to be a star driver and explains why Hendrick Motorsports hired Ricky for 1997 after Ken Schrader announced he was leaving Hendrick the 1996 season. That talent I mentioned showed itself at Carl Wells from 2001 to 2004 with Ricky winning 2 times for an organization that hadn't have good equipment.

Ricky suffered his 2nd cup concussion during a 1997 test for Texas Motor speedway. The thing is that Ricky was racing through that concussion and Ricky early in the 1998 season started suffering from post concussion syndrome.

Hendrick Motorsports had to deal with NASCAR legend Terry Labonte suffering a concussion that had him out of the car for multiple races back in in 2000. What Happened to Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven has to be pointed to how the difference in race safety than and now for on oval tracks such as barrier walls was a work in progress combined with there was no Head and Neck restraints in NASCAR back in 1996,1997 and 2000.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Big sponsorship news. Target has announced they will not being sponsoring any Ganassi Indycar driver in 2017, but still will be Sponsoring Kyle Larson in NASCAR for 2017.

This is big news for a couple reasons.
1.) Target has been with Ganassi for 27 years in CART/Indycar and it was easy to identify Chip's race teams in Indycar with that Sponsorship.
2.) Target's NASCAR sponsorship for Ganassi is up after the 2017 season and Kyle Larson's contract is up after 2017 also. I think Target is planning to leave NASCAR after 2017 or not many years after that. If Target leaves, it wouldn't affect Kyle Larson because I am under the impression that he would leave Ganassi even if Target still would be the sponsor of the 42.

I going this on based on what I read a statement from Tony Stewart last year that he wanted Kyle Larson to take over over the 14 car with him talking to Kyle, but wasn't able happen due to Kyle's contract. I think Hendrick Motorsports would be after Kyle after 2017 for Dale Jr. or Kasey Kahne despite Kasey's contract is through 2018. Dale Jr.'s contract is up after 2017 and is unknown if Dale wants to race after 2017 considering the amount of concussions he had.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Pam Hates Penguins said:
Will anyone retire next year? If anyone was to, I would say either Matt Kenseth, or Dale Jr.
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I haven't read about any cup driver retiring after the 2017 yet, but I there could be one or two drivers for a retirement. I don't see Matt retiring after 2017 because his contract isn't up till 2018. Matt even has mentioned that he has no plans of retiring anytime soon even for after the 2017 season.

I think Greg Biffle is going to after after the 2017 if he's not retiring after 2016. Greg is on the decline as a driver right now with him turning 47 in December. I know Biffle's contract is up with Roush after this year and there hasn't been announcements at all yet with him.

Dale Jr's contract is up after 2017 and I do see him retiring then. The only thing is Dale might be forced to retire before than. I've seen drivers retire due to head injuries in Indycar and NASCAR. In NASCAR, Ernie Irvan had to retire from a head injury in 1999 besides Jerry Nadeau in 2003.
 
Pam Hates Penguins

Pam Hates Penguins

Well-Known Member
wdwfan4ver said:
I haven't read about any cup driver retiring after the 2017 yet, but I there could be one or two drivers for a retirement. I don't see Matt retiring after 2017 because his contract isn't up till 2018. Matt even has mentioned that he has no plans of retiring anytime soon even for after the 2017 season.

I think Greg Biffle is going to after after the 2017 if he's not retiring after 2016. Greg is on the decline as a driver right now with him turning 47 in December. I know Biffle's contract is up with Roush after this year and there hasn't been announcements at all yet with him.

Dale Jr's contract is up after 2017 and I do see him retiring then. The only thing is Dale might be forced to retire before than. I've seen drivers retire due to head injuries in Indycar and NASCAR. In NASCAR, Ernie Irvan had to retire from a head injury in 1999 besides Jerry Nadeau in 2003.
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I heard Jeff Gordon say that Greg Biffle is one of those drivers who will probably race in their 50s. But I doubt it.

The drivers I believe that will be gone by 2020 will be:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Dale Jr.
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Ryan Newman
6. David Gilliland
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Greg Biffle
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Ernie Irvan was a NASCAR star in the 1990's that won 15 times including the 1991 Daytona 500 and winning 3 time after he retired from his near fatal crash.

Ernie irvan's career was altered during an August 1994 practice crash at Michigan in the cup series that was caused by a blown tire. Ernie didn't race in NASCAR again till September of 1995 in a truck series race.

At the time of the crash he was 27 points behind the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. after 20 of 32 cup races. That wasn't a lot of point between the drivers at the time because more points were offered in a race at the time. the lowest amount of points a driver could get was 34 and the highest amount of points was 185 points back in 1994.

Ernie was having his best season ever when his near fatal crash happened with him able to control his aggressive driving. Ernie Irvan was taught to slow down At Robert Yates in 1994 after not being taught at Morgan Mcclure since Robert Yates Racing had better equipment.

Ernie Irvan before his August 1994 crash was able to win at any type at any given time.

Ernie almost died from that crash with the doctors only giving him a 10 percent chance to live. Ernie suffered critical brian and lung injuries and somehow he pulled through. Ernie also suffered nerve injuries to his left eye and had to wear a patch or glasses after that depending on the public appearance you see from him.

Ernie won 3 times after coming back full time from late 1995 season to August 1999, but was not the same driver. Ernie was competitive, but he was not the driver as he was before the Injury from a talent standpoint. Ernie turned from being an elite talent to a good talent. To make things worse for Ernie, he suffered concussions after his 1994 near Fatal Michigan crash including a concussion in 1996 at Charlotte Motor speedway. Ernie was forced to retire from a crash he had at Michigan in August of 1999 with him getting another head injury.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Pam Hates Penguins said:
I heard Jeff Gordon say that Greg Biffle is one of those drivers who will probably race in their 50s. But I doubt it.

The drivers I believe that will be gone by 2020 will be:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Dale Jr.
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Ryan Newman
6. David Gilliland
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Greg Biffle
Click to expand...
For me it is Dale Jr., Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, David Gilliland and maybe Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman. I think Matt Kenseth could be another Mark Martin and that means he could race into his 50's, but what NASCAR teams would want an old driver full time though. I am not sure on Newman since I know wants to resign at Childress and that is a 3-4 years contract if it happens. I mentioned Bobby Labonte because he still does plate races, but it is possible that his cup career could over at some point before 2020.

I am not 100 percent sure on Kevin's new contract ends, but it could after 2020 season.I think Kevin is going to retire in the early 2020's. The Contract is according to Jayski says 2018+ since the long term contract extension announcement didn't say the length of the contract. What I know about long term contract for NASCAR drivers is, they usually are 3 to 5 years long.

Clint Bowyer to me isn't going retire after 2019 since Clint is Carl Edwards age. Both of the them are going to be 40 in 2019. Clint's struggles this year is caused by the team he is with.

I don't see Jimmie Johnson retire before 2020 although I can see him retire in the early 2020's.
 
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