I heard on SiriusXM that Jack Roush denied team drafting orders for the NASCAR Talladega last weekend. And if you’re a general auto racing fan, you know that in Formula One racing, team orders are common.
I’m disappointed that Roush is denying the Roush Yates Motors clan order.
There are basically just a few huge teams that make up most of the top tier of NASCAR and I would be totally shocked if there wasn’t something afoot. Come on, back at Richmond when Menard missed his alleged coded radio cue, things seemed suspect back then.
But when it comes to Plate Racing, I see the need to make plans but the racing in the moment can definitely create new or more opportunistic moments.
Bayne even noted earlier this week that depsite his helping other manufacturer drivers, if he’d been given the word, he would have backed another Ford.
And despite Roush’s denial, Jeff Gordon pretty much confirmed in a different media report that everyone knew Ford was going to back Ford.
[click to continue reading…]
Word on the street is that Jack Roush & Ford are rallying the gang for Sunday with an all out collective set of orders for the Ford-backed NASCAR drivers at Talladega.
-
Talladega is a unique beast of a track. It’s fast enough to warrant restrictor plates on the fuel system to limit speeds.
Limited speeds force cars to draft each other to be competitive. This creates packs of cars.
Packs of cars means trouble when your 3×15 in a pack.
That started rule changes being dictated out from NASCAR to try and eliminate the problems.
Every new rule or body change has brought a whole new set of problems at restrictor plate racing.
It’s never ending.
Because of the tenacious, competitive balance in restrictor plate races, it’s all about planning ahead and plotting who you hope to draft with for a successful day.
[click to continue reading…]
This upcoming weekend at the NASCAR events at Talladega, NASCAR is providing teams with decals that they can affix on either their B-posts or their helmets, in memory of the passing of Dan Wheldon.
The reason for the Lionheart Knight imagery is because Dan used to have that logo on the back of all his helmets.
The decals will find their way to the teams on Friday.
Some drivers have their own plans for paying homage and remembering Dan Wheldon.
[click to continue reading…]
NASCAR announced that they will be providing two new rules for the upcoming Talladega Restrictor Plate race…
First up is that the restrictor plate size is going to be changed for the NASCAR race. Maybe I’m a bit hyper about it, but catch the wording:
“that teams will use to prepare and practice for the race will increase by 1/64 inch and is now going to be 57/64-inch diameter.”
I can’t imagine they aren’t racing with the new plate size, but I have a terrible habit of keying in on words.
-
The other modification is that NASCAR will also be tampering with the relief valve on the cooling systems of the cars. Now they are reducing the pressure down by 8 pounds per square inch, compared to the last Talladega race.
[click to continue reading…]
With wallets thinner than normal these days, times aren’t as flush as we’ve become accustomed to. It’s not just the average Joe, but sports and the industries that support those sports that also have to look at their purse strings these days before they pout support/advertising monies into businesses such as NASCAR. When that happens, some things that we’ve become accustomed to tend to have change in the wind. Those changes can range from the sport itself to the participants like Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose and others within the sport… including fan-favorites.
When we watch auto racing, in my case NASCAR, we see the racing of the high powered machines rubbing fenders and chasing each other to the checkered flag. We don’t always see the complications behind those metallic colored beasts running the track of choice each week. The physics of racing, the conditioning of the drivers, the money behind each team and the human story within each car’s cockpit and each team’s infrastructure. It’s a very convoluted set of relationships that intertwine around and throughout the visuals and experience of the race.
It’s a sad thing in this era as monies have dried up and our sport, NASCAR, is no longer living fat and happy and rolling in dough. Yet the financial crisis has had some good impact, believe it or not: NASCAR started listening more intently to what fans had to say and that was one of many changes that got our attention. When NASCAR was in power and didn’t really need to worry about things, they did what they would do, regardless. But now, as they look to keep the survival of the sport flowing, TV ratings afloat, they find themselves paying attention to the fan has become a paramount focus!
But we also see the stands that appear to be sparsely populated. But that’s not because of the racing. The racing is the best I’ve ever seen in the sport. No, some people just can’t afford to drop money on a race weekend. Especially when sometimes weather threatens & events are nonrefundable.
[click to continue reading…]
Headed into Talladega, who will walk away unscathed, and enhance their position in the NASCAR points standings: Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin or Kevin Harvick?
With the portent of restrictor plate races, the real concern is if someone gets sideways and causes a wreck. In NASCAR most wrecks only involve a car or two but if you’ve never seen a race at Talladega, they need draft nose to tail and side-by-side to stay in the hunt for that all important next position in front of the driver that makes it a nervous endeavor if the guy next to or just in front of them gets out of shape.
I never want to see what they call “The big one,” the wreck that takes out up half the field. The speeds the pack travels at injects an unknown into the variables because suddenly, at 190 mph, a car can become a victim of the air and get lifted off the ground or a car can get sideways and run into the inside wall at the same speeds. The worse possible scenario is hitting the inside wall at one of only a few spots that are more conducive to a voilent hit.
[click to continue reading…]
These guys are hauling at 190+... and making it look easy
It’s the big Ebay weekend in NASCAR as the boys are at Talladega this weekend for the AMP Energy Juice 500. Meaning that this track more than any other NASCAR track tends to create a lot of spare sheet metal that can find itself getting auctioned off for good causes.
It’s amazing to watch these guys go lap after lap at 200 mph, these guys make it look like you or I are driving down the freeway… but don’t be fooled! These cars have 700 hp trying to push those rear tires past the front end as the car is always bucking and wanting to spin out, even when going straight. The structure of the car helps, but it still takes a huge bucket-load of skill to keep those beasts under control!
The NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule for the big track is as follows:
- 2:00 PM Friday 10/29 First Practice – on Speed
- 3:30 PM Friday 10/29 Practice – on Speed
- 12:00 PM Saturday 10/30 Qualifying on Speed
- 1:00 PM Sunday 10/31 AMP Energy Juice 500 live on ESPN
(Times Eastern)
Despite the appearance of luck and happenstance during the restrictor plate races, a few drivers still stand out amongst the crowd.
[click to continue reading…]
Is there a sport where blocking isn’t part of the tactics? Football – check. Baseball – check. Hockey – double check! Hell, even Curling has blocking as a part of their tactics, and even chess. But apparently IndyCar, in an attempt to what, keep the racing environment safer, has a rule about blocking.
But in the case of Helio Castroneves, who should not have had his win pulled from him (Hey NASCAR, check it out… a win was pulled at the end of a race for an infraction!), he was penalized for protecting his lead. Or as Carl Edwards would put it, he didn’t want the win taken away from him.
Plus some folk don’t think Castroneves was blocking.
[click to continue reading…]
This is a NASCAR Bits & Pieces Snarky Editorial on Coming to a NASCAR Nerf Dart Fight with a Tennis Ball Cannon:
Dear Carl Edwards, I’m sure you’re still upset about your Talladega flight that came off the nose of Brad’s car a while back, it’s obvious, but Carl, you need to let it go. If by my calculations, a pound for an ounce, you might be flipping Brad for the next 5 years. Besides, you went airborne because you came down on Brad and he actually defended his position. Whoa… I know Carl. You don’t want people defending themselves, you just want them to move over when you force them down out of their own line and not beat you. That’s an understandable attribute.
Despite the fact that you feel it necessary to return a pound of sand for an ounce of trouble, I’d love to make a small suggestion or two.
1) My first thought is that you need to remember that this is not a video game. Sure, slamming into the outside wall might not scrape off too much speed in a game, but Jimmie Johnson can prove, oh wait, has proven, that this particular method won’t work.
[click to continue reading…]
Miss Sprint Cup Paige with Jamie McMurray
Oh, sorry… did I accidentally cut off Jamie McMurray!? Silly computer!
The upcoming NASCAR race this weekend is at Talladega SuperSpeedway! Talladega is the most intense race for this NASCAR fan. Drivers feel like it’s not really a race, but to be able to drive an automobile at 190 mph is an incredible talent. Cars with the power these machines have don’t always want to go straight. They want to power drift when going straight. They’re subject to the buffeting winds created by the pack, and oh, they’re nose to tail, 3 and 5 wide through most of the intense moments of the race.
[click to continue reading…]
