2024 NASCAR

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Well that was exciting.
It was an exciting weekend for racing in general since Indycar had a last lap pass for the win and Jimmy Johnson had his first ever top 10 in Indycar.

There needs to be a concern though for NASCAR though.

I am referring to Management of Speedway Motorsports and NASCAR getting an idea from Sunday's race. I mentioned NASCAR because they own race tracks. I don't think we need 10 or more pack races in a season.

Atlanta increased their banking to the point that NASCAR decided to make it a pack racing track. I know Auto Club Speedway is due to be repaved. I have read earlier in the year, that the race track may not be turned into a short track. What I'm getting it is NASCAR now may get the idea of adding a lot of banking to the 2 mile race track and make it into another pack racing track.

There are other tracks on the NASCAR circuit that are due to be repaved in the later half of this decade including Homestead, Charlotte, and las Vegas.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Brad Keselowski and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing lost 100 driver points 100 owners points, and 10 playoff points for modification of a single source supplied part. Crew Chief Matt Mccall has been fined $100,000 and will be suspended for the next 4 races also.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
NASCAR hall of Fame announced their modern era ballot, Pioneer era Ballot. and Landmark Award Ballard. They are going vote on May 4th. Only 2 people can be inducted from the Modern era ballot.

Here is the modern era ballot:
  • Neil Bonnett - Won in cup 18 times including back to back Coca cola 600 wins.
  • Tim Brewer - Crew chief that won 2 driver championships. He has 53 Cup wins as a crew chief. He won the championships with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.
  • Jeff Burton - won in cup series 21 times and won another 27 races in what is now the Xfinity series.
  • Carl Edwards - won in cup series 28 times, and 2007 Xfinity series champ
  • Harry Gant - won in cup series 18 times, won over 300 races in lower levels of NASCAR, and oldest cup driver ever to win a cup race.
  • Harry Hyde - 1970 cup champion crew chief, won 56 cup races, responsible for early success of Hendrick Motorsports, Days of Thunder Harry Hogge was inspired by Harry Hyde.
  • Matt Kenseth - 2003 cup champion, won in cup 39 times, and won in what is the now the Xfinity series 29 times.
  • Larry Phillips - first 5 time NASCAR Weekly Series National Champ and people claimed he won over a 1,000 races.
  • Ricky Rudd - won in the cup series 23 times including winning a race with eyes taped open.
  • Kirk Shelmerdine - 4 championship winning crew chief in the cup series with the late Dale Earnhardt being the driver.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Only one person from the pioneer era gets inducted.

Here is the pioneer ballot:
  • Sam Ard - 2 time champ of what is know know as the Xfinity series
  • A.J. Foyt - 7 cup wins including the 1972 Daytona 500.
  • Banjo Matthews - Legendary car builder that won 72 percent of all cup races from 1974 to 1985.
  • Herschel Mcgriff - won 4 cup races in 1954, won the the 1986 NASCAR West series championship at the age of 58 years old.
  • Ralph Moody - Part owner of the Legendary Holman-Moody racing organization. The organization won 96 cup races without counting all the wins they got from all the Ford teams that used their equipment. Ralph on 5 cup races as a driver back in the 1950s. Holman-Moody won 2 cup championships with David Pearson as a driver. Holman Moody built basically all the Ford Racing vehicles in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
Since some of people are extremely early, I give addition information although personally I feel Foyt has not businesses on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Ballot.

My problem with Aj Foyt is while he is considered one of the 2 top Greatest race drivers of all time in Auto Racing by a lot of people, the Ballot is for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It is like dealing with Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, and Pernelli Jones. Those drivers raced in Multiple series and won in them, but didn't race a lot in NASCAR. What this bad also is people like Smokey Yunick, and John Holman are not on the ballot. Foyt won 7 times, but he didn't race a lot in cup due to the amount races series he raced in and usually raced in his own equipment in NASCAR after 1972. Foyt made his name in Sprint Cars, USAC stock car racing series, sports cars and what is now the Indycar series. Foyt basically in his prime had the capabilities to win in an racing series.

Herschel Mcgriff is a person that made the right decision, but was hurt his racing career. He basically won in the game of life by looking at what was best for his family. He was born and raised in Oregon. Even if he grew up on the East coast, NASCAR had too many races in the cup series that can take a toll on a family.

Herschel Mcgriff is one of the early West coaster NASCAR drivers. He had great promise as a race driver, but didn't want to move to the east coast for multiple reasons including being a business owner. His businesses was Lumber and Mill.

His problem in the cup series was traveling being a huge problem due to his family lived in the west coast and stopped racing for over 10 years starting in 1955. He raced in cup in 1954 doing 24 out of 37 cup races and won 4 times. Car owner wanted to him race full time in 1955 in cup with the cup series having 45 cup races. To put things in prospective, the modern era in the cup series only had 36 points races at a peak. The ride he turned down in cup for the 1955 season ended up being a championship ride for a different driver instead. The Coca cola 600 and the Daytona 500 didn't exist yet. Also to my understanding you did not get a lot of extra for being a cup champion either. The money came from winning individual cup races instead.

He started his racing comeback in 1965 in a West coast regional racing series and won over 30 times from 1965 to 1989 there including winning once at the age of 61 years old.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Here is the Landmark award Ballot:
  • Janet Guthrie - first women to race a Super speedway race in the cup series
  • Alvin Hawks - First NASCAR flagman, and helped established NASCAR racing at Bowman-Grey Stadium with Bill France Sr.
  • Mike Helton - 3rd ever NASCAR President, and track operator at Atlanta Motor speedway and Talladega Superspeedway
  • Lesa France Kennedy - NASCAR executive vice chair and has been named as one of the most influential women in sports
  • Dr. Joseph Mattioli - founder of Pocono
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
I do have a little bit of an insight on potential favorites to get Inducted. Matt Kenseth is an automatic for the modern era ballot. There is not a clear cut favorite for the 2nd person to be inducted from the Modern Era part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Ballot. The best resumes outside of Kenseth to me are the crew chiefs right now. Carl Edwards is hurt from short NASCAR career.

The pioneer ballot favorites to me is Banjo Matthews, and Ralph Moody. Anyone who builds racecars that won over 70 percent of the time for over 10 years is way more than worthy of getting inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The catch is only one of those 2 could get inducted. Ralph Moody is a person who should've been inducted a lot time ago. A lot of Homan-Moody drivers and employees got inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame already, but not the owners is a problem considering the importance of the team in NASCAR history beside having over 90 career cup wins as a race organization.

The Landmark Award is hard me to say who is a favorite. I would think Janet Guthrie as a favorite, but I'm under the impression the France family has some pull with the voters. My reasoning is Smokey Yunick never has been the ballot for the NASCAR Hall of Fame despite his accomplishments because the France family has a grudge against him. The other thing is since the Landmark award first appeared in 2015, there already are 2 France family members that won it. Those France family members are Brian France's grandma and Brian France's uncle.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
The 2023 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class has been announced. Matt Kenseth and Kirk Shelmerdine are the modern era inductees. Hershel Mcgriff is the Pioneer era inductee.

Mike Helton is the Landmark award winner.

I also did read information that Harry Hyde, Neil Bonnett and Harry Gant were the top 3 vote getters that didn't get inducted. A.J Foyt was the person on the Pioneer era ballot with the 2nd most votes.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
My own thoughts on the class is Matt Kenseth is a no brainer.

Kirk Shelmerdine is a nice surprise. Kirk in time became overlooked by Dale Earnhardt Sr. due to him being burned out as being a Crew chief at the age of 33. The legacy of Dale Earnhardt, and Kirk not being good enough as a race driver on the national touring series in NASCAR also played a role in him being overlooked. Kirk in NASCAR as a driver is a field filler and that is what people who first followed NASCAR after 1992 remembered about Kirk Shelmerdine unless they watched the old speed channel biographies on legendary NASCAR drivers, owners, and Crew chiefs.

The fact is Kirk became a name as a Crew Chief at Richard Childress Racing. Kirk had Richard Childress, Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt Sr. as drivers. Kirk won 4 crew chief championships before he turned 33 years old, but he always wanted to be a race car driver. Kirk became a full time race driver after 1992, but was much more successful as a crew chief in racing.

What I am referring with Earnhardt's legacy is a combination of things in terms of Shelmerdine. Earnhardt was different than Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson. Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson won all 7 cup championships with the same crew chief and that was not the case with Dale Earnhardt Sr. at all. Earnhardt's legacy with winning with multiple crew chiefs started in 1980 when his experienced cup championship winning crew chief "suitcase" Jake Elder suddenly left during the season and Earnhardt left with an inexperienced Crew chief named Doug Richert, but Earnhardt still won the championship despite being only his 2 full year as a cup driver. Earnhardt also won 2 cup championships with Andy Petree besides the 4 with Shelmerdine. Earnhardt's winning cup championships with different crew chiefs made people consider him as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time.

What made the Earnhardt Legacy worse for Kirk was Kirk never a NASCAR championship without Earnhardt and only 2 cup wins as a crew chief without Earnhardt. Some people forget that Kirk helped build up Richard Childress Racing though.

Hershel Mcgriff being inducted is not a shock. Herschel is one the early west coast NASCAR drivers and is still alive. Hershel is 94 years old and the oldest person on the pioneer ballot that is still alive.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Trackhouse announced project 91 today. What project 91 is Trackhouse racing team having a part-time ride with the race number 91. The 91 is used for having global stars of racing to NASCAR a few times a year starting this year.

This drivers can be from an racing series including formula 1, Formula 1, Indycar, sportscar racing and other series. It is not known what drivers will Trackhouse use for the 91 car.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
Trackhouse announced project 91 today. What project 91 is Trackhouse racing team having a part-time ride with the race number 91. The 91 is used for having global stars of racing to NASCAR a few times a year starting this year.

This drivers can be from an racing series including formula 1, Formula 1, Indycar, sportscar racing and other series. It is not known what drivers will Trackhouse use for the 91 car.
Daniel Riccardo?
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Daniel Riccardo?
Very possible. I follow Indycar more than F1, but I know the team in question Daniel races for also does have an Indycar team. What I know is Patricio 'O Ward did test a F1 car last year. I do know Patricio 'O Ward won 3 times in the last 2 years in Indycar. He was an Indycar championship contender last year that finished 3rd in points with 2 wins.

I know people that thrown other names in there such as Tony Kanaan, Montoya, and Kimi Kaikkonen. I figured Kimi's name was mentioned because he's not racing in F1 and did race for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2011 for a truck series race and a what is now a Xfinity series race.

Trackhouse is going to do a project 91 announcement tomorrow according to a twitter tweet tease that says 5-26-22. I figure that should answer the driver.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Trackhouse announced Kimi Kaikkonen will driver the 91 car at Watkin's Glen and is the only race the 91 car will be used in this year.

Kimi won 21 times in F1 and is the 2007 F1 champion.

As far as why not Daniel Riccardo, Trackhouse didn't say. I have a feeling what happened is F1 teams as far as I remember usually don't want their drivers to race outside of F1. Right now, The other thing is project 91 got announced when racing season happening in multiple series.
 

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
It was found out during this weekend that Clint Bowyer was involved in a deadly car accident on June 5th with a pedestrian getting killed and it happened around 9 p.m. The crash scene was near Osage Beach, Missouri. Clint's vehicle had heavy front driver's side damage and major damage to the windshield directly in front of the driver's seat.

What happened was a collusion happened on a highway off ramp. The pedestrian was walking against the flow of traffic. Clint stopped and called 911.

The police said Clint was not impaired. There was no alcohol in his system. The pedestrian is pointed to be the one impaired based on what was discovered.

There was a bag contain Crystalline substance found among the pedestrian's personal items at the scene. The police also discover the pedestrian was staying a rv park and campground nearby. It was discovered the pedestrian did meth and alcohol at the rv park and campground earlier in the day according to the pedestrian's friend.

Clint was driving at that time for a reason. Clint Bowyer was was one of the people in the NASCAR tv booth for the Gateway cup race and he was on his way driving to a hotel. That race happened at Madison, Illinois. Madison, Illinois to the crash scene is over 160 miles away according to my check from Madison, Illinois to Osage Beach, Missouri.

The cup race started 2:30 p.m central time. The cup race took over 3 hours and 7 minutes. This time frame information does not include the coverage after the race.
 

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