The NASCAR Thread

[6bblgt]

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

IMO NASCAR's $$ bottom line are not directly related to fans in the seats (a dollar profit from a fan in a seat is a lot of work)

sign a TV contract worth $Ms takes lawyers and a few executives

making $Ms at a venue involves hundreds of contracts, thousands of vendors, 10s of thousands of employees, 100s of thousands of fans (the logistics to allow/make this all happen) all to net less profit than a single multi-year TV contract

[Mike DC]

 
If the grandstands are empty then TV viewership will be down too.  It's a major indicator for fan enthusiasm in general.  This Covid lockdown is a temporary exception.  

Nobody in the sports world seems to think NASCAR's next TV contract will be as good as their existing one.   

     

[Ponch ®]

The 2001(?) Fox deal was supposed to be NASCARS big moment. Then the wheels came off (pun intended): DE Sr. died, Gordon started to decline*, over expansion into too many cookie cutter tracks and the COT (again, legitimate complaints about the on track product), Toyota (bc Pearl Harbor!), 7 years of the #48 dominating**, and the 2008 crash made for a bad decade. It has not recovered since.


* You either loved Gordon or hated Gordon. Either way you tuned in or went to the track to see him win or wreck.

** Not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, an impressive feat to watch. Just not good for the entertainment/competition aspect of the sport.

[odcics2]

Read today that Jimmie Johnson has COVID-19 along with his wife.
He's missing the Indy race tomorrow.

[odcics2]

Hearing that Maurice Petty died.
RIP.

[Mike DC]

 

[JB400]

Sounds like Nascar is going back to its roots with the Truck series pitstops:

https://m.nascar.com/news-media/2020/07/29/nascar-modifies-pit-stop-procedure-for-stand-alone-gander-trucks-race/

I believe this was the original pitstop format

[nvrbdn]

They had basically the same rules for xfinity. You had to be in the pits for 60 seconds. And could be there up to 80 seconds. As long as you didn't break any rules, you retain your spot and no one can advance due to pit stops.

[Aero426]

They had basically the same rules for xfinity. You had to be in the pits for 60 seconds. And could be there up to 80 seconds. As long as you didn't break any rules, you retain your spot and no one can advance due to pit stops.

I believe what they ran at Road America, you could change tires or add fuel, but not both at the same time.

[nvrbdn]

That's right!! Plus if you had rain tires on, if you came in for tires you had to put dry tires on. it was confusing to me. If you want gas, you can't have tires. If you want tires you can't have gas. If you change tires, it has to be different tires than what you are using. No gaining spots while in the pits. Next they will have you pit by car colors, and everyone gets a participation trophy. NASCAR has become the most boring thing out there. With all these stages, point systems, "the Chase", every car has to be exactly the same etc..... Every year it goes down hill. The same 4-5 cars are in the top 5 every race. But then you can have a guy that can't get a top 10 if every other car wrecked out, and if by some freaky accident he wins a race, he automatically gets into the chase. Doesn't matter if he was in last place in points. Only winners should be in the chase (according to NASCAR) so with that one lucky happening, someone with tons of points that hasn't won a race gets knocked out of contention. Just stupid.  Ok, I am done.

[odcics2]

William Byron - first win at Daytona wreckfest.     

[JB400]

He really wheeled it threw the middle of the wrecks last night.

[Aero426]

William Byron - first win at Daytona wreckfest.     

Does he gets a free session with Becki Falwell? 

[odcics2]

William Byron - first win at Daytona wreckfest.     

Does he gets a free session with Becki Falwell? 

[JB400]

Looks like Ray Evernham is at it again, this time, starting a new IROC based series called SRX.  Bill Elliott, amongst a few others, will be racing.

https://racer.com/2020/10/01/bill-elliott-joins-srx-series-field/

[JB400]

Bowman is in the 48 next year.  It'd be nice to see Hendrick bring back the 5 or 25

[6bblgt]

Jimmie Johnson's ride for next year 

[RallyeMike]

Congrats Chase 

[odcics2]

Jimmie Johnson's ride for next year 

Wonder what the CD is of his new ride?

[JB400]

6 races in, what's everyone's opinion on the new car?

[RallyeMike]

It certainly looks like the playing field has been levelled... at least for now while everyone figures it out. The rear toe bar needs to be beefed up for collision resistance so there can be more door banging without the consequence of bending that thing. 

[nvrbdn]

I agree!! A different winner every week. The cars are really equal. The new drivers are running the show. The tires suck. If you spin, you are getting flats. The single lug holding the wheel on is causing some problems. Teams are trying to figure out how to cheat and Nascar says they will be harder on the ones that get caught. The cars seem to take a little more punch before they fail. That being said, I am not a fan of the new wheel/tire combo. I am totally ok with every camp having a shot at the win instead of 2 race teams winning every weekend.

[RallyeMike]

It seems they are having about the same % of lug problems they have with one lug versus five. Previous years we were always hearing about errant lugs and loose wheels too. Thing is though.... shouldn't the problems be 1/5th as frequent? 

Although we are seeing variety in the winner's circle, it seems the same top 15 or so cars/drivers seem to still be be mostly populating the front of the pack. ....And let's hear it for old guys last week 

[djcarguy]

            i liked the dirt   racing  action