2024 NASCAR

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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
I didn't watch much of the race. Mcdowell winning the Daytona 500 is not as much as upset as people think. Michael Mcdowell now has 7 out of his 13 top 10's at Daytona and his crew chief now has his 3rd out of 4 career cup wins at Daytona. Front Row Motorsports is known for bringing good cars for Daytona and Talladega. Front Row from winning the Daytona 500 gets over 2 million dollars if the purse money is the same as last year.

Mcdowell was not going to be playoff driver before the win, but I saw him as a possible top 22 in points threat because he is not a bad road course driver and there are 6 of them during the regular season.

Mcdowell winning does not affect Bubba Wallace's chances of making the playoffs. I have Bubba not making the playoffs because this is new team despite having sponsorship money Bubba is not know as road course driver. I think Mcdowell is going to affect Matty D, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, William Byron and Ross Chastain's odds of making the playoffs.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Superstar Racing Experience announced Michael Waltrip as a driver. I am underwhelmed by this announcement. I don't like the last 2 driver picks.

I question why Superstar Racing Experience picked Michael Waltrip. Michael Waltrip actually was a racing champion, but it was in the Goody's dash series in 1983 at the age of 20 years old. He only lasted in NASCAR for the cup series so long due due to who his brother is and his connections.

Michael Waltrip actually was a better lower driver in the Xfinity series and I felt he could've been a champion if he was full time competitor. The problem Michael with the cup series is he only won 4 points paying races with all of them being restrictor plates. I felt his DEI ride era was him underachieving. Michael got the DEI ride because he was friends with Dale Sr. and due to his brother Darrell.

Michael with DEI had his 2001 Daytona 500 win, but only had 2 more top 10's compared to his teammate Steve Park in that season despite racing in 36 cup races that season. Steve Park before his career altering Busch series crash at Darlington had 1 win, 5 top 5's and 12 top 10's in just 24 cup series starts. What I'm getting at is Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not receiving all the good equipment at DEI at all and Michael didn't take advantage of it.

I know Greg Biffle last year wanted to join Superstar Racing Experience as a driver and I think he would've been a much better pick instead of Michael Waltrip. Michael was more popular and has Daytona 500 wins, but Greg had championships in higher levels than Michael Waltrip and has 15 more cup series wins despite Greg first being a full time cup series driver at an older age than Michael Waltrip was.
 
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MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
wdwfan4ver said:
Superstar Racing Experience announced Michael Waltrip as a driver. I am underwhelmed by this announcement. I don't like the last 2 driver picks.

I question why Superstar Racing Experience picked Michael Waltrip. Michael Waltrip actually was a racing champion, but it was in the Goody's dash series in 1983 at the age of 20 years old. He only lasted in NASCAR for the cup series so long due due to who his brother is and his connections.

Michael Waltrip actually was a better lower driver in the Xfinity series and I felt he could've been a champion if he was full time competitor. The problem Michael with the cup series is he only won 4 points paying races with all of them being restrictor plates. I felt his DEI ride era was him underachieving. Michael got the DEI ride because he was friends with Dale Sr. and due to his brother Darrell.

Michael with DEI had his 2001 Daytona 500 win, but only had 2 more top 10's compared to his teammate Steve Park in that season despite racing in 36 cup races that season. Steve Park before his career altering Busch series crash at Darlington had 1 win, 5 top 5's and 12 top 10's in just 24 cup series starts. What I'm getting at is Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not receiving all the good equipment at DEI at all and Michael didn't take advantage of it.

I know Greg Biffle last year wanted to join Superstar Racing Experience as a driver and I think he would've been a much better pick instead of Michael Waltrip. Michael was more popular and has Daytona 500 wins, but Greg had championships in higher levels than Michael Waltrip and has 15 more cup series wins despite Greg first being a full time cup series driver at an older age than Michael Waltrip was.
Click to expand...

Just thinking here, that if we revisit Mark Martin's racing careeer, he was 54 in 2013, (per the NASCAR Cup Series data). If I'm correct, I think that was his last major race, and I believe he eventually retired after that.

Michael Waltrip is now 57 in 2021. This will be interesting to see how he does.

I'm a bit on the fence about age in relation to which drivers are selected. It is a physically and mentally challenging sport; yet, not everyone in a specific age group, may react in the same way.

(As a side note, I also think Greg Biffle would have been a fine choice as well. Like yourself, I'd also like to know the actual reasons why Michael was chosen over Greg.)
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Lebron James is now added as a partner of Fenway Sports Group. This is NASCAR news because he is now one of the owners of Roush Fenway Racing since he's a partner of Fenway Sports Group. I know he is worth $480 million dollars at least and he gets money outside of his basketball contract.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Dirt track racing -- what's old is new again. ;)

Fyi: Here's an interesting article from NASCAR, about the history --

www.nascar.com

A history of the NASCAR Cup Series on dirt

Bristol Motor Speedway announced that the NASCAR Cup Series spring race at the short track will be contested on dirt.
www.nascar.com www.nascar.com
Click to expand...
NASCAR didn't mention the truth why Eldora is not the truck series schedule. Tony was not happy that the Xfinity series or the cup series not going to Eldora. He decided not renew the truck series contract.

racingnews.co

Tony Stewart frustrated Bristol got the NASCAR dirt race instead of Eldora

Tony Stewart frustrated Bristol got the NASCAR dirt race instead of Eldora. He explains why the NASCAR Trucks aren't back at Eldora Speedway.
racingnews.co racingnews.co
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Dead2009 said:
Apparently NASCAR wants to do dirt tracks now. Interesting.
Click to expand...
NASCAR started to do dirt tracks in 2013 for the truck series. Information came out that Fox demanded Bristol to have a dirt race because they didn't like the spring tv ratings. That information came out before this season started with the source being the former owner of the Leavine Family Racing.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
wdwfan4ver said:
NASCAR started to do dirt tracks in 2013 for the truck series. Information came out that Fox demanded Bristol to have a dirt race because they didn't like the spring tv ratings. That information came out before this season started with the source being the former owner of the Leavine Family Racing.
Click to expand...

I think the dirt tracks are an interesting idea to mix up the racing season.

Yet, as an observation from watching Bristol on TV, there were multiple times that the overhead camera shots were blurred out, from all the dust kicked up from the cars on the track. It made it a bit of a challenge to watch the race, and I only tuned in intermittently. (The ground level camera images were clear.)
 
Mr Bill

Mr Bill

Well-Known Member
There were a few issues with the Bristol dirt race, mainly the visibility and the tires wearing out too fast to run a full stage. But it was generally all stuff that can be tweaked and improved upon for next year. I'm hoping they can get some more testing in and Goodyear can come back with a harder tire next time.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
NASCAR is testing rain tires tomorrow at Martinsville for potential of using them in damp conditions in an actually race. Here is where I got the information:
www.nascar.com

NASCAR to explore rain-tire potential for short tracks in Martinsville test

NASCAR competition officials plan a test session Thursday at Martinsville Speedway to assess the feasibility of rain tires on shorter ovals.
www.nascar.com www.nascar.com

What I know about testing about rain tires on ovals is NASCAR tried it in 1994 or 1995 with Terry Labonte at Martinsville. The results were terrible at the time and Terry Labonte himself gave feedback on the rain tires when the test happened.

I'm guessing NASCAR is doing this now because the test was in the mid 1990s with NASCAR thinking technology has improved for race tires on flat tracks that are 1 mile or less. NASCAR is not looking at high banked tracks like Bristol due to the speeds.
 
King Panda 77

King Panda 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Mr Bill said:
There were a few issues with the Bristol dirt race, mainly the visibility and the tires wearing out too fast to run a full stage. But it was generally all stuff that can be tweaked and improved upon for next year. I'm hoping they can get some more testing in and Goodyear can come back with a harder tire next time.
Click to expand...
I think the tyre wear is nearly there. Tyres lasting a whole stage takes away the skill needed to look after your equipment. maybe a bit harder but not much more.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Just thinking here, that if we revisit Mark Martin's racing careeer, he was 54 in 2013, (per the NASCAR Cup Series data). If I'm correct, I think that was his last major race, and I believe he eventually retired after that.

Michael Waltrip is now 57 in 2021. This will be interesting to see how he does.

I'm a bit on the fence about age in relation to which drivers are selected. It is a physically and mentally challenging sport; yet, not everyone in a specific age group, may react in the same way.

(As a side note, I also think Greg Biffle would have been a fine choice as well. Like yourself, I'd also like to know the actual reasons why Michael was chosen over Greg.)
Click to expand...
Mark Martin advocated health and fitness in the grueling sport of NASCAR. That's probably why he could race into his early 50s. He also was a national spokesperson for Viagra, do commercials promoting the pills and a huge Viagra sponsorship logo pasted on his racing car.
 
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wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
Superstar Racing Experience announced their Amateur All-stars. How this works is they have a different all-star driver at each track.
Here the list of the Amateur all-star drivers:
Stafford - Doug Coby
Knoxville - Brian Brown
Eldora - Kody Swanson
Lucas Oil - Bobby Santos III
Slinger - Slinger Nationals 2021 Champion
 
Mr Bill

Mr Bill

Well-Known Member
SHR in general is off pace this year. There was some tricks they were doing with the wheel well last year to generate downforce that NASCAR cut down on. I thought they'd be better this weekend at Martinsville with less aero-dependency, but even that wasn't the case. It can't help that Tony's spread thin with starting his own series.

Kyle Busch has generally been off ever since NASCAR cut practice sessions last year. The #18 team seems to get better speed-wise throughout a race still. I think he and his team are good at getting the car dialed in, but now the first opportunities to do that are in-race, instead of during practice.
 

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