2024 NASCAR

[wdwfan4ver]

There are two pieces of News. I am only going to share one piece of news in this post because is minor compare to the 2nd piece of news.

Kyle Larson does not a standby driver for Kansas because his girlfriend gave birth early. This is minor news because there is NASCAR that is going to rock the land scape of NASCAR for a long time if it happens.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

The 2nd piece of news is NASCAR's majority owners is exploring sale for a majority stake of the company.

The France Family owns a majority stake of NASCAR and has engaged investment bank Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of the sanctioning body.

Names that have been brought up of buying a Majority stake of NASCAR includes Marcus Smith. Marcus Smith is the son of SMI founder Bruton Smith and Marcus smith is one of the people responsible for taking away a race date from New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The other name being thrown around wanting to own a stake of NASCAR is Comcast.

What I know about NASCAR Stockholders is Brian France's sister Lesa France Kennedy owns 74 percent of NASCAR. I believe Jim France owns a share of NASCAR also. I don't know who owns the rest of NASCAR out of the France Family. The truth is Brian France sold his NASCAR stock years ago and does not have any shares under his name.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I'm going to reveal why Brian France has no NASCAR stock. What I gathered is Brian France did divorce in the past and didn't want his ex to have any stock options of any kind from the divorce proceedings. The documents started Brian has no NASCAR stock unless he lied to the court at the time for Child support payment.

Who ever is going to buy NASCAR has to deal with the contracts that NASCAR has with race tracks, along the charter contract, and the tv deal. The race track contract expires in 2020. The other thing is NASCAR has racing series outside of the United States including Europe. That means there is more to NASCAR than the series NASCAR has in the states.

I have a few takes on the potential buyers.

I think Marcus Smith is a red flag for wanting to be a stockholder. There is a big conflict of interest if Marcus Smith becomes a NASCAR stock holder. After 2020, the contracts the race tracks have with NASCAR are up. The catch is a majority of the race tracks are owned by the France Family and the Smith Family. Having Marcus Smith as a stockholder means he can get a rid of Brian France depending the amount of stock he has. The other thing is the Smith Family ruined Bristol and Charlotte Motorspeedway. The Smith Family did changes to Bristol despite being a huge sell out at the time and it drove fans away and never got the popularity back.

What makes Marcus Smith even worse is the fact NASCAR now owns ARCA. ARCA has some races that are own tracks are not owned by the France Family and the Smith Family. The Smith Family is capable of getting a rid of dirt track and short track date in the Midwest that ARCA has for adding more ARCA dates to the Race tracks Marcus's family owns.

Comcast too me is iffy if they are a stockholder. There are multiple problems with this. Comcast is a tv network and they like big markets. In NASCAR, some big markets are not good in terms of Racing. Auto Club is one of the biggest markets NASCAR has, but they had problems selling out 2 races a season before they went to one race a season. Networks care about ratings and that could be a good thing or a bad thing since networks are cable of doing anything for ratings.

I don't think the CEO of Comcast knows anything about racing outside of ratings and I'm assuming Comcast would be hiring people to run NASCAR. The question would be who. I know Comcast has Jeff Burton, Dale Jr, Steve Letarte, Kyle Petty, and Dale Jarrett under contract. Out of that group under Comcat's payroll, I think Dale Jr, Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett are the most qualified although there would be a conflict of interest with Dale Jr. The only issue with Dale Jr. is him being a current owner of NASCAR race teams.

I mentioned Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett because they used to own race teams besides being former drivers besides coming from racing families.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

There are 2 pieces of news.

NASCAR announced the Camping World Truck series will be called the Gander Outdoor truck series. The series named change is due to the CEO of Camping World wanting to promote one of their brands.

The President of NASCAR Brent Dewar told employees by a memo that the France Family is still dedicated to NASCAR. The only thing is back in February of this year that there was rumors about NASCAR being for sale. I think there is some truth to the rumors about the France Family exploring a sale.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

The teams of Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez were penalized 20 driver points and 20 owner points each for rear window violations. Their car chiefs got suspended 2 races each with a $20,000 fines. Their crew chiefs also were fined $50,000 each.

 

[MinnieM123]

The teams of Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez were penalized 20 driver points and 20 owner points each for rear window violations. Their car chiefs got suspended 2 races each with a $20,000 fines. Their crew chiefs also were fined $50,000 each.

Rear window violations? Does that mean that the windows were slightly larger, to give them more of a rear view--thereby, giving them a slighter advantage over other drivers?

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Today, all the races Wyndham will sponsoring Matt was announced. Matt will be racing at Kansas, All Star race, Coca Cola 600, 1st Michigan race, Brickyard 400, 2nd Dover race, 2nd Phoenix race, and Homestead.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Rear window violations? Does that mean that the windows were slightly larger, to give them more of a rear view--thereby, giving them a slighter advantage over other drivers?

Not in the case Daniel Suarez. His Rear Window was not sealed properly.

Clint's Rear window was right size. The Rear Window brace failed and did not meet specifications for keeping the rear window glass rigid in all directions at all times.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Since NASCAR is having the All-star races, I'm sharing some of my thoughts on this season so far.
I am going to mention my biggest surprises of the year so far in this post.

My first surprise was Matt Kenseth going back to Roush. I never expected that, but the reason is driving part time for Roush belongs in my ugly category that I will be mentioning in a future post.

My 2nd surprise is Ford this season. I expected a down year due to the age of the car. Stewart-Haas and Penske is leading the way.

My 3rd surprise is Kevin Harvick being so dominating. I expect Kevin being very good this season, but not this good considering Ford's car is the oldest of the 3. The other thing is this team doesn't make as many mistakes as the 2014 and 2015 teams did. Kevin at this time is middle of a record run for a driver over the age of 40. Lee Petty is the only cup driver ever to win over 10 races in a season over the age of 40 and Lee did that in 1959. At the rate Kevin is going, the modern era of cup wins wins in a season could be in danger this year.

 

[artvandelay]

Since NASCAR is having the All-star races, I'm sharing some of my thoughts on this season so far.
I am going to mention my biggest surprises of the year so far in this post.

My first surprise was Matt Kenseth going back to Roush. I never expected that, but the reason is driving part time for Roush belongs in my ugly category that I will be mentioning in a future post.

My 2nd surprise is Ford this season. I expected a down year due to the age of the car. Stewart-Haas and Penske is leading the way.

My 3rd surprise is Kevin Harvick being so dominating. I expect Kevin being very good this season, but not this good considering Ford's car is the oldest of the 3. The other thing is this team doesn't make as many mistakes as the 2014 and 2015 teams did. Kevin at this time is middle of a record run for a driver over the age of 40. Lee Petty is the only cup driver ever to win over 10 races in a season over the age of 40 and Lee did that in 1959. At the rate Kevin is going, the modern era of cup wins wins in a season could be in danger this year.

I agree with you. I thought Chevy would dominate with the new Camaro this year like Toyota dominated with their new Camry last year.

Did you see the #48 finished two laps down? What is up with that team? Some of it can be blamed on issues with the new car, but for the King of 1.5 milers not to finish on the lead lap is surprising.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I agree with you. I thought Chevy would dominate with the new Camaro this year like Toyota dominated with their new Camry last year.

Did you see the #48 finished two laps down? What is up with that team? Some of it can be blamed on issues with the new car, but for the King of 1.5 milers not to finish on the lead lap is surprising.

I saw Jimmie being 2 laps down. I know Jimmie had to pit early for one of his stops, but it was a bad night to me for him. To me Jimmie hasn't been the same driver since the early part of 2016. Jimmie Johnson had two good stretches during the 2016 season that combined for 17 races with 12 top 10's.

What Jimmie Johnson did starting with the first Bristol race through the final race of the regular season is the problem.

While Jimmie won the 2016 Championship, Jimmie only had 5 top 10's and 5 top 5's from race 8 of the 2016 season through race 26 of the 2016 season. Jimmie struggled most of 2017 also.

I think Jeff Gordon retiring after the 2015 season did something to Hendrick Motorsports although there were signs of Hendrick slowing down that year at times.

The truth is NASCAR a few years ago took away horsepower from the cup cars by using tapered spacers and NASCAR took weight away from the cars. The rule package changes played into hands like Kevin Harvick and some other drivers, but did a negative affect on Jimmie Johnson.

The truth is Jimmie Johnson was a better cup driver than a now Xfinity series driver. What caused that is the cars in the Xfinity had less weight and horsepower of the cup cars. For some reason, Jimmie's at his best when the cars had more weight.


I'll be addressing Jimmie later in general concerning this year under the bad category. The only thing saving Jimmie from the ugly category is him somehow being 12th in points.

I have a good, bad and ugly categories coming up later in the week.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I'm addressing the good in this post.

1.) Clint Bowyer won at Martinsville. This was a feel good win. Clint had first cup win since the 2012 fall race at Charlotte.

2.) People giving Matt Dibenedetto money to race at Phoenx. What happened here was Matt is driving for an underfunded cup team and they needed sponsor money for Phoenix. People that gave Matt Money included Denny Hamlin, Darrell Waltrip, and Kevin Harvick. This is one of the true feel good moments of the year for NASCAR considering how the NASCAR cup count has been this year.

3.) Aric Almirola is proving the 10 car is a good Stewart-Haas car and the real problem was Danica Patrick in that car. Aric also is confirming that Richard Petty Motorsports was holding him down. Aric is not the talent Kevin is, but is doing a good job with the 10 team besides almost winning the Daytona 500.

4.) 6 drivers at Ford led over 200 laps this season already including Kevin Harvick.

5.) Every car at Stewart-haas in the top 11 in points with Air Almirola being the worse of the 3. The catch is Aric actually contended for top 5's this year outside of plate tracks.

6.) Front Row Racing at some races that aren't restrictor plates have been running in the top 20. Front Row Racing before this season usually didn't have the speed to be in the top 20 in a race without strategy outside of a plate track. They may not always have the results this year, but this is an underfunded race team that is showing some speed. They have been at times faster than certain better funded cup teams.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Here is my list of the bad category:
1.) The Fall of Jimmie Johnson. Chevy's has nothing to do with this decline at all. Jimmie really hasn't been in a contention for a win this season.
2.) The race at Talladega in the cup series. Nascar had stinkers at Daytona before, but usually not at Talladega. The rule package for Talladega actually made it hard to race side to side at a wide race track.
3.) Hendrick Motorsports not winning a race yet. This is the latest in a season that Hendrick hasn't won a race since 1993. I think there is a possibility that Hendrick may not win a cup race for the entire cup season since 1985.
4.) Chevy's new car. Kyle Larson for the most part is the only Chevy driver that figured out the car. Kyle almost won at Kansas and led 200 laps at Bristol besides finishing 2nd times this season.
5.) NASCAR not not having a sponsor sponsoring the cup series in 2020.
6.) Long time sponsor Lowe's leaving NASCAR.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Here is the ugly list.

1.) The multiple rumors about NASCAR being for sale. What makes this ugly is the potential buyers includes a son of a Race track company owner and television companies. What is happening is NASCAR has been on the decline for a while and the sport even doesn't have sponsor for sponsoring the cup series after 2019.

2.) Roush's equipment. What makes this ugly is the 6 car has been so bad that Front Row Racing has been beating it despite the 6 car having more sponsorship money. What makes this worse is Penske, Stewart-Haas, even the Wood Brothers with Paul Menard have been competitive this year despite having the oldest cars.

Stenhouse, Bayne, and Kenseth all claimed that cars had problems this year. The fact Stenhouse is in 16th place in points despite the crappy equipment speaks something about him as a driver. I wouldn't be surprised if there is going changes to Roush after this season at this point.

3.) Jamie Mcmurray. I know Chevy is off, but there is no reason the 1 team being 24th in points while Kyle Larson's team has figured out the car.

4.) Ty Dillon. What makes this ugly is he's 30th in points despite having sponsorship money from Geico and having support from Richard Childress Racing. This team after 12 races last year was 22nd in points. What made this organization is deeper than Chevy having a new car. The team get a rid of their crew chief after last season and is a terrible move. When underfunded teams like Front Row racing is a head of you in points, there is a problem.

5.) All the Widow violations this season so far. I'm mentioning this now since Larson's car was taken to NASCAR's R&D center for Windows.

6.) The air guns early this season. The air guns NASCAR gave the teams was supposed to save money, but instead those air guns had parts broke that broke and cause teams lots of spots early this season.

7.) The BK racing saga. What makes this ugly to me is there bankruptcy case revealed information NASCAR didn't want the public to know and the previous own not paying money to multiple people including drivers and engine suppliers.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

NASCAR has announced that the 42 team of Larson lost 20 driver and 20 owner points due to broken Window brace. The car chief has been suspended for 2 races and the crew chief has been fined $50,000.

I am not surprised after Fox spotted that on Saturday night.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Some NASCAR new today.

NASCAR announced no teams are allowed to race with the tires that they qualify on.

NASCAR announced that they are increasing the penalty for window violations. That means $75,000 fine, Car chief gets 3 race suspension, and 40 driver and owner points.

Hertz announced that they will be sponsoring William Byron four points paying races in 2018 and 2019 each as a primary sponsor and will be the primary sponsor for William for the all-star race.

 

[artvandelay]

Some NASCAR new today.

NASCAR announced no teams are allowed to race with the tires that they qualify on.

NASCAR announced that they are increasing the penalty for window violations. That means $75,000 fine, Car chief gets 3 race suspension, and 40 driver and owner points.

Hertz announced that they will be sponsoring William Byron four points paying races in 2018 and 2019 each as a primary sponsor and will be the primary sponsor for William for the all-star race.

They also announced restrictions on power tools that can be used on pit road. I guess they didn’t like Treux’s team using a concrete cutter to trim the wheel well?

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I was too early doing the ugly after finding out what Rob Kauffman, the leader of the Race Team Alliance mentioned on twitter and he is getting a ton of backlash on twitter including from Brad Keselowski's own older brother. I don't have a twitter account, but I found out from a racing website.

What Rob Kauffman posted was he had problem with a revive NASCAR team that is making their first start cup start in 3 years. This what Rob Kauffman tweet: "Ridiculous. Devalues the sport -why give away $ to noncompetitive part time cars. Give to charity or create Driver retirement/disability fund."

I'll be commenting on this on my next post.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Rob Kauffman deserves all the backlash he's getting for his twitter comment and I have no respect for him at all.

NASCAR in the past fined drivers in what they feel were comments that were "detrimental to NASCAR". Rob Kauffman need a Big fine due to his tweet being detrimental to NASCAR. As I care, Rob Kauffman needs to be fined 25 million dollars and split all 25 million dollars to the low funded race teams in cup series, Xfinity series, and the truck series. I said 25 million dollars because Mr. Kauffman has been receiving a lot of money for all the charters in NASCAR each year and he's very wealthy to say the least. He was worth over 1.8 billion dollars in 2007. Mr. Kauffman is no longer listed in forbes, but I think he's worth over 500 million dollars at least.

I have a huge problem with his comment because he's trying to discourage a new team from attempting NASCAR races. The scary thing is he could be one of the people the has a chance to own NASCAR. What Mr. Kauffman did is hurt NASCAR with his comment by wanting less race teams to race every race weekend and that is not good for NASCAR at all.

Furniture Row Racing won a cup championship in 2017, but they were a brand new struggling race team for many years in NASCAR before their first ever cup win in 2011.

Alan Kulwicki was an underfunded owner/driver, but he won a cup championship despite that fact. If Alan started out today, Rob would've tried to run him out of NASCAR by saying he needs to go back to Wisconsin.

Some of NASCAR's biggest names all time actually got their start for underfunded teams in NASCAR such as Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, Benny Parsons, and Darrell Waltrip as examples. Benny Parsons back in 1973 won a cup championship with an underfunded race team.

Darrell Waltrip actually started out as as a struggling Owner/driver in NASCAR back from 1972 to 1975 before he got hired by a well founded cup team after he won a cup race with his own race team. Dale Sr's first races in cup were for under funded cup teams.

The other thing is some of today's current cup teams actually were underfunded in the beginning like Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Childress Racing as an example. If Geoff Bodine didn't win at Martinsville in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports was going to fold.

 

[artvandelay]

Jeff Gordon gets into the HOF with 96% of votes. Who didn’t vote for Jeff Gordon?

The other 4 people getting in are Jack Rousch, Roger Penske, Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki.