The NASCAR Thread

[6bblgt]

 
Newman in the 6
Kenseth in the 42

[nvrbdn]

Great to see Newman back!! Kenseth too. Enjoying the race so far. Especially with Hendrick cars struggling!!! JJ out!!!

[birdsandbees]

Looks like the lads are a tad rusty! Wrecked car on lap one and Jimmy rear ends a guy and wrecks 100 yards before winning the first phase.. 

[odcics2]

Harvick wins the Corona 400.

[RallyeMike]

Jimmy for the next two days:     

It would have been nice to see him get a win or even a good finish.

[Aero426]

Newman is ready to return......

https://m.nascar.com/news-media/2020/04/26/ryan-newman-plans-to-return-to-no-6-ford-when-racing-resumes/

to video games.   

This would not be a bad plan.   You only get so many get out of jail free cards.     Ask Neil Bonnett.   

[JB400]

I like this aero idea from F1.  Maybe Nascar should do something similar:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fia-approve-reduced-2021-f1-cost-cap-and-new-sliding-scale-rules-for-aero.7Hkn5yOebeUXnCes3v22L.html

[billssuperbird]

Banning the Confederate flag I just don't know

[70sixpkrt]

I think it's someones first amendment right if they want to hang it or not on their RV.

[billssuperbird]

I have a General Lee golf cart up camp with the Confederate flag on the front I can't wait to see this weekend when I drive it around what kind of reaction I'm going to get

[BrugeeRT]

I have a General Lee golf cart up camp with the Confederate flag on the front I can't wait to see this weekend when I drive it around what kind of reaction I'm going to get

So is a time coming where the Confederate flag will be illegal to display at all because some consider it associated with hate?   Then all the General Lees....

[RiverRaider]

As a former stockcar driver my desire to follow nascar has been fading with their poor choices over the past few years.
But now it is not about the cars, drivers and the tracks its political correctness and that puts the nail in the coffin for me. 
The days of stopping everything on a nice sunny day to watch a nascar race are over.     

[RallyeMike]

Race cars and racing is still the same with or without a rebel flag flying.

I do wonder what they tell the attendees at the gate who have it tattooed on their arm, chest, shoulder, leg, forehead, etc.  No admittance 

[Mike DC]

                  
If NASCAR wants to ban rebel flags, that's their right.  Just like the NFL has the right to ban players from kneeling during the anthem.  Freedom of speech laws don't apply.  These are corporate events on private property.    


NASCAR is not in the politics business.  If there was a politically-neutral way to handle the flag then I'm sure they would take it.  But there isn't one anymore.  NASCAR has to make a choice and they won't go against the mainstream & younger crowd.  The sport needs a future.  They are in deep financial trouble and their fan base is pretty old.  Sacrificing a 15yo fan to please a 65yo fan is not good business. 
       

[DownZero]

The thing is 65 year old fans have the money to spend, not the 15 year olds.

[Mike DC]

   

The thing is 65 year old fans have the money to spend, not the 15 year olds.

True. 

But rebuilding a younger fan base is not a 6-month process.  It takes years to do it.  The investment pays off for decades after that.   

[Ponch ®]

I love seeing the comments in NASCAR's social media accounts:

"You went political, I'm out"
"Shut up and drive, no politics!"
"But my first amendment right!"
My favorite one was one that I wont repost here, let's just say it integrated a racial slur into the word "NASCAR" and suggested that's how it should be known from now on.

NASCAR has been about as political as it gets since it's inception. It just happened that the politics were the kind that its fans were ok with so no one complained bc either they didn't care or simply didn't see it. The military worship, having Presidents as guests, allowing campaigns to sponsor cars, etc.

Mike DC, as usual, is on point. NASCAR needs a bigger fanbase and the $ that comes with it. As we have seen, people are not willing to be ok w a corporations questionable stands on certain issues. Unless Cracker Barrel or Joe's Brake and Transmission Emporium is willing to spend the 8 or 9 figures it takes to sponsor a team/series, they need to do whatever they need to do to keep the coca colas and McDonald's and Targets happy. They may be losing a few die hard old timers, but this latest move is garnering a lot of good publicity that offsets those lost fans.

We can - and God knows we have, to no end - get into a debate about what the flag means, but ultimately this was a business decision by NASCAR.

[RiverRaider]

This thread reminded me about something that I laughed off as just talk and had forgotten about.  Over 30 years ago I was part of a conversation in the pits at an Indy car race.  The topic was the fan base of Indy staying the same and Winston Cup rising.  And one gentlemen said its all about Timexes and Rolexes.  Everyone laughed (all were Indy guys) but I didn't get it so I asked him to explain.  He said the watches they wear.  He said Indy and for that matter Formula racing overall is marketed is to an specific crowd "the Rolex's"  which is a far smaller group than the "Timexes"  which is the stock car fan base.  He said Winston Cup Racing will grow until they abandon the Timex's for the Rolex's.  At the time I took it to be just about the income level but thinking back I think he was just being nice to a young stockcar guy.  I believe his real meaning was what he thought of the stereotypical stock car fan.  NASCAR has been trying to distance itself from the "stereotypical stock car fans for years now and are looking past the Timexes to the gain the approval of the Rolexes.  Remembering that conversation behind the Foyt team trailer so long ago clears up any question I had about what NASCAR'S intent is.  What do you all think?  Is NASCAR looking to unload Timex fans like me for a new Rolex?

[Mike DC]

NASCAR has been about as political as it gets since it's inception. It just happened that the politics were the kind that its fans were ok with so no one complained bc either they didn't care or simply didn't see it. The military worship, having Presidents as guests, allowing campaigns to sponsor cars, etc.

Mike DC, as usual, is on point. NASCAR needs a bigger fanbase and the $ that comes with it. As we have seen, people are not willing to be ok w a corporations questionable stands on certain issues. Unless Cracker Barrel or Joe's Brake and Transmission Emporium is willing to spend the 8 or 9 figures it takes to sponsor a team/series, they need to do whatever they need to do to keep the coca colas and McDonald's and Targets happy. They may be losing a few die hard old timers, but this latest move is garnering a lot of good publicity that offsets those lost fans.

We can - and God knows we have, to no end - get into a debate about what the flag means, but ultimately this was a business decision by NASCAR.
   

Pretty much (and thanks for the compliment). The sport is on the ropes.  Big winning teams are struggling to make it.  Appeasing fans who like a controversial symbol is a luxury that they don't think they can afford anymore.    

This thread reminded me about something that I laughed off as just talk and had forgotten about.  Over 30 years ago I was part of a conversation in the pits at an Indy car race.  The topic was the fan base of Indy staying the same and Winston Cup rising.  And one gentlemen said its all about Timexes and Rolexes.  Everyone laughed (all were Indy guys) but I didn't get it so I asked him to explain.  He said the watches they wear.  He said Indy and for that matter Formula racing overall is marketed is to an specific crowd "the Rolex's"  which is a far smaller group than the "Timexes"  which is the stock car fan base.  He said Winston Cup Racing will grow until they abandon the Timex's for the Rolex's.  At the time I took it to be just about the income level but thinking back I think he was just being nice to a young stockcar guy.  I believe his real meaning was what he thought of the stereotypical stock car fan.  NASCAR has been trying to distance itself from the "stereotypical stock car fans for years now and are looking past the Timexes to the gain the approval of the Rolexes.  Remembering that conversation behind the Foyt team trailer so long ago clears up any question I had about what NASCAR'S intent is.  What do you all think?  Is NASCAR looking to unload Timex fans like me for a new Rolex?

The next generation of Timex-wearers do not like the flag as much as previous generations did.  That's what is different now.  

If the flag's mainstream image had been as problematic a generation ago as it is now, NASCAR would probably have banned it back then.  NASCAR follows the money.  Always has.  Bill France didn't name it "Grand National" to sound like a down-home rural Southern series.  He was always looking for mainstream acceptance.     
 

[JB400]

I think with this coronavirus, it has proven that NASCAR is willing to run without the fans support.  It's all about pleasing corporate money.  What you want, and what I want, means nothing to NASCAR

[Mike DC]

            

I think with this coronavirus, it has proven that NASCAR is willing to run without the fans support.  It's all about pleasing corporate money.  What you want, and what I want, means nothing to NASCAR

NASCAR wouldn't be financially viable without selling tons of tickets to each race.  The virus changes are temporary.  


The top teams are struggling to keep sponsored.  The league's long-term TV contract ends in a couple more years and they doubt next one will be as good.  The recent changes are not signs of indifference, they are signs of desperation.  
   

[Ponch ®]

NASCAR is in a tough spot with a traditional fan base that absolutely hates any type of change - be it on/off the track. Just look at the hissy fit some in the Timex crowd threw when the single hub wheel was revealed a couple of months ago.

[Mike DC]

NASCAR is in a tough spot with a traditional fan base that absolutely hates any type of change - be it on/off the track. Just look at the hissy fit some in the Timex crowd threw when the single hub wheel was revealed a couple of months ago.

I agree with the older fans about that.  

The races are made interesting because of uncertainties like pit stop goof-ups.  There is no need to increase pit stops speeds.  The 5-lug deal wasn't posing a safety threat.  Changing tires is one of the only remaining things in racing that the normal guy can relate to doing with his own cars.  

Not a big deal.  I just see some minor downsides to the single lug and no real upsides.  Why do it?  Change for the sake of change? 


But then, I would run things so differently if I was in charge . . . . don't even get me started.  

[Ponch ®]

NASCAR is in a tough spot with a traditional fan base that absolutely hates any type of change - be it on/off the track. Just look at the hissy fit some in the Timex crowd threw when the single hub wheel was revealed a couple of months ago.

I agree with the older fans about that.  

The races are made interesting because of uncertainties like pit stop goof-ups.  There is no need to increase pit stops speeds.  The 5-lug deal wasn't posing a safety threat.  Changing tires is one of the only remaining things in racing that the normal guy can relate to doing with his own cars.  I see a downside to the change and no upside.  


But then, I would run the league so totally differently if I was in charge . . . . don't even get me started.  

The way you phrase your objection is pretty rational though.  As opposed to "this is all part of a libtard/communist conspiracy to ruin the sport" which is more or less the argument presented by 87.3%* of the old timers when it comes to these changes.

*Scientifically accurate number 😂

[Mike DC]

         

The way you phrase your objection is pretty rational though.  As opposed to "this is all part of a libtard/communist conspiracy to ruin the sport" which is more or less the argument presented by 87.3%* of the old timers when it comes to these changes.

*Scientifically accurate number 😂

Wait . . . . are you telling me Hillary Clinton didn't play some role in the switch to single lugs?