NASCAR 2015 THREAD

[DaveW]

(note: I didn't see the NASCAR Sub Topic on the forums page, mods feel free to place this in the NASCAR Sub Forum once you build it)

 

Thoughts on the NASCAR season thus far? Annoying as all hell to see Jimmie Johnson win yet another race but so far this season has been pretty solid overall, a few of the races have been a tad boring but that is to be expected, the usual heavyweights (#48, #4, #2, #11) have been winning races this year, but it has been exciting to watch some of the underdog drivers/teams like Martin Truex put up strong race after strong race. The future also looks exciting with some talented youngsters 18 and 19 years old making big names for themselves in the Xfinity series, in a few years Erik Jones will be a championship contender in the Sprint Cup Series and Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez will be right behind him. (I think the latter two will be important for NASCAR reaching a broader overall audience hopefully)

 

Thoughts?

On a personal note, was given Hot Passes/All access to this weekends races in Dover, besides the 91 World Series this might have been the coolest sports experience I have been at, I tossed together a quick video below with some of the pics/video I was able to snag in the garage and pits. If baseball really wanted to appeal to the fans more/make it more fan friendly they could take a page out of NASCAR's book which is the most fan friendly sport around. (Oh and start letting people share MLB highlights on youtube)

[nytwinsfan]

Funny (I LOL'd), but still annoying.

[bluechipper]

I am also annoyed with Jimmie Johnson running well again this year, but I think the competition in the Chase is going to be really strong this year. I think the best odds in order are Harvick, Keselowski, Johnson, Logano, Truex, and then probably Kurt Busch.

[DaveW]

 

  On 6/18/2015 at 7:28 PM, bluechipper said:

I am also annoyed with Jimmie Johnson running well again this year, but I think the competition in the Chase is going to be really strong this year. I think the best odds in order are Harvick, Keselowski, Johnson, Logano, Truex, and then probably Kurt Busch.

Keselowski is my favorite racer with Truex not far behind.

 

Harvick is going to be tough to beat overall, seems like he is in contention every. single. race. Truex has been the same as of late, but I think its really really hard for a 1 car team to win it all, would certainly make a fantastic story though, I got him to win the chase at 50:1 before the Daytona 500 in Vegas, so I am rooting for him. Dale Jr running well as well.

 

I would personally rate the odds to win it all as:

 

Johnson 3:1

Harvick 4:1

Busch: 6:1

Truex: 8:1

Keselowski: 10:1

Logano: 10:1

Dale Jr: 10:1

[bluechipper]

 

  On 6/18/2015 at 9:35 PM, SpiritofVodkaDave said:

Keselowski is my favorite racer with Truex not far behind.

 

Harvick is going to be tough to beat overall, seems like he is in contention every. single. race. Truex has been the same as of late, but I think its really really hard for a 1 car team to win it all, would certainly make a fantastic story though, I got him to win the chase at 50:1 before the Daytona 500 in Vegas, so I am rooting for him. Dale Jr running well as well.

 

I would personally rate the odds to win it all as:

 

Johnson 3:1

Harvick 4:1

Busch: 6:1

Truex: 8:1

Keselowski: 10:1

Logano: 10:1

Dale Jr: 10:1

I'm also rooting for Truex. He finally got that monkey off of his back after getting that win a couple weeks ago after dominating numerous races.

 

I've always been a fan of the road course races, so I'm looking forward to this weekend at Sonoma. I was a big Marcos Ambrose fan, and I was hoping that he would be coming back to race there, but unfortunately it doesn't look like he is going to be there.

[DaveW]

I too am a fan of the road course races, I would LOVE to make it up the road to Watkins Glenn one of these years, perhaps this is the year to do it. Is Boris Said racing at least this weekend?

 

They should put a road course in the 1st round of the chase, it would make for a compelling race instead of just a million 1.5 mile tracks that all race the same.

 

 

I would also like to see the sprint cup series run at Iowa one of these years, oh, and more dirt races for the trucks! I grew up going to sprint cars, IMCA modifieds on the dirt tracks in the midwest, so those races hold a special place in my heart.

[bluechipper]

A road course in the Chase makes a lot of sense, and there seems to be a bit of a push for that among fans recently.

 

The Truck races at Eldora have been awesome the first two years. I also grew up going to local dirt tracks in Iowa and Minnesota, so I was really excited to see them there. I also really liked watching the Prelude to the Dream late model races they had there, so I'm hoping they keep doing that as well.

[DaveW]

Yeah that would be great, I would love for them to get an Xfinity race on the dirt as well, would be fun to see Larson and some of those guys hop back in a Xfinity car to duke it out.

 

What NASCAR tracks have you been too? Hoping to finally make it to Daytona next year for the 500

[DaveW]

Thoughts on the Austin Dillon wreck? Can't believe he walked away from that.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 7/9/2015 at 4:09 PM, SpiritofVodkaDave said:

Thoughts on the Austin Dillon wreck? Can't believe he walked away from that.

I'm glad I stayed up to watch that finish. I thought the fence did what it was supposed to, and I was glad to see that everyone was okay. That was scary seeing the car go from about 190 mph to 0 almost instantly, and that was a cool scene seeing the crew members running out to  help.

 

Nice win by Dale Jr. too. What a dominant car.

[DaveW]

  On 7/11/2015 at 7:17 PM, bluechipper said:

I'm glad I stayed up to watch that finish. I thought the fence did what it was supposed to, and I was glad to see that everyone was okay. That was scary seeing the car go from about 190 mph to 0 almost instantly, and that was a cool scene seeing the crew members running out to help.

 

Nice win by Dale Jr. too. What a dominant car.

Ditto, I was on vacation so it was a perfect way to spend a few hours from 10pm to 2am!

 

Junior has looked pretty damn good this year. I'm not a Kyle Busch fan, but his 2 wins in the last 3 races is impressive! The chase will be better off if he can make it in.