2015 Atlanta - QuikTrip Folds of Honor 500 - Pre Race Thread

Please eliminate this knockout qualifying garbage. It's not entertaining and incredibly stupid. Half the drivers spend the final round parked on pit road and a guy can set a track record and not win the pole. Riveting television
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Sunday pit stall selections.....

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Once Hornaday parks, Earnhardt will have a clear pit ahead of him. Not bad.
 
Harvick's pacing final practice right now.

Look at that. That no talent cowboy Austin Dillon running in the 3rd spot. Gandpappy must be putting him in the best equipment.
 
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dpkimmel2001 said:
Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck: Teams 'pushing it' in pre-qualifying inspection

Thirteen teams failed to pass pre-qualifying inspection Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and failed to post a speed during group qualifying. The problems transcended the series from struggling low-budget teams to those of Sprint Cup Series stars Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart.

The Cup series director, Richard Buck, addressed questions about the problems encountered during Friday's inspection process, in which every team made it through inspection but 13 could not fix their issues in time to participate in qualifying.

Q. Richard, was there a common issue with most of the cars, or what was the predominant problem for people being unable to get through inspection?

Buck: I think we saw different areas where the teams were pushing the limits to get through it. We've got a new rules package here, and obviously the history of Atlanta and the grip is so important here, I think we've seen that with the test yesterday, teams getting to the limits, and we were open yesterday for all day on the laser inspection station and templates and such, and we had quite a few cars that came through. We did see the area of the laser inspection station where teams were pushing it, and that's their job. They're trying to get every bit that they can. We made every effort ‑‑ our goal was to make sure everybody has a fair opportunity to get through there, so our focus was to make sure that we ran ‑‑ were able to run every car across there at least once to give them an opportunity, and that's what we did.

Q. Did you consider delaying the start or increasing the length of the first round even more, and then also, there were some people who said that you kind of stopped giving out sheets of paper as far as go or no go, and they felt like you were kind of more lax near the end or once kind of the qualifying session started.

Buck: Yeah, as far as the time goes, we worked with the teams, we worked with everybody. Obviously we have partners with television and we're time certain, but we could see the trend starting to develop there, so our job was to try and work with the teams and allow them to meet the parameters, the rules that we have set in place, and so we were able to push it 15 minutes in an effort to give them as much time as we could, in answer to that question.

In answer to your second question as far as slacking off at all on that, we don't do that. We treat everybody the same. There was cars that came through there two and even a couple cars that came through three times, effort. Everybody got a fair shot at coming through there in a timely manner, and then obviously at the end, we saw the time frame and we were hustling and pushing. I was pushing all of our officials, but that pushing on the officials was ‑‑ is pushing to physically keep the same accuracy when it was a mechanical job, but the laser itself, it's automated, so there's no ‑‑ there was no difference from the first cars that went through there to the last ones.

You can read the rest here
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And of course I believe every word this guy say's. No PR spin there. No siree.
 
@jeff_gluck

Kevin Harvick, who is leading Sprint Cup Series final practice, may have just blown a motor. Smoke coming from car, per @GuruGarrow.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
@jeff_gluck

Kevin Harvick, who is leading Sprint Cup Series final practice, may have just blown a motor. Smoke coming from car, per @GuruGarrow.
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I really hope he doesn't have the black cat following him once again this season
 
Oh well, he'll have plenty of company coming up through the pack.
 
"It's hard for me to tell you what it's doing," says Tony Stewart "Because I can't make it do the same thing two laps in a row. It's still needs to turn in better" Team is going to change the bump stops
 
"A little bit tighter on entry - the whole run," says Dale Jr Adds the car is still loose through the enter of the corners of 1 & 2
 
DaBiff1618 said:
Please eliminate this knockout qualifying garbage. It's not entertaining and incredibly stupid. Half the drivers spend the final round parked on pit road and a guy can set a track record and not win the pole. Riveting television
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Knockout qualifying is dumb, but it's the drivers' fault, not NASCAR's fault. Of course, what's in the best interests of the fans, in terms of producing a better race, isn't in he drivers' interests at all.
 
Oops! I spoke too soon, make that 15 champeenship drivers starting in the back. One chumpeenship driver in the first 17 rows. Like I said, it's gonna be interesting.
 
Knockout qualifying is great imo, still have to be fast to win the pole (with the exception of the plate tracks and the Trucks at some high speed tracks) and it's not a snoozefest.
 
The Nature Boy said:
If NASCAR makes this a weekly thing then I'm not sure if Jimmie Johnson will ever do another qualifying run again. Expecting a Chad Knaus car to pass inspection without trouble is like expecting a fish to sprout legs and walk on land. It's not happening.
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LOL and that is funny, I'll bet they are all lined up and most pass the first time thru in Vegas. Message received loud and clear.
 
Gordon has a good long haul car so take it easy around the children and get to the front methodically.

He shows in the top 5 in all the 10 lap average speeds. The ones he ran for that long anyway, going back to the test sessions.

But that won't do any good if he gets wrecked, so patience.
 
Wunderground say's It'll be gone by 11 o'clock and the radar looks like it might be. I hope so.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Knockout qualifying is dumb, but it's the drivers' fault, not NASCAR's fault. Of course, what's in the best interests of the fans, in terms of producing a better race, isn't in he drivers' interests at all.
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The first prerequisite for the interest of the fans should be to actually get 43 plus cars to make a qualifying attempt.

And the stop watch drama should be about lap speeds rather manipulating taking the green within a thousandth of a second before the session ends.
 
Greg said:
The first prerequisite for the interest of the fans should be to actually get 43 plus cars to make a qualifying attempt.

And the stop watch drama should be about lap speeds rather manipulating taking the green within a thousandth of a second before the session ends.
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That's a novel idea , I dont think it will take them long to agree with this theory!
 
I'm happy this morning I decided not to go to the track. It is raining and will be until this afternoon. If I was there I would be stuck in the camper with 4 other people or sitting in a chair just outside the door under the canopy watching it rain. I would be more unhappy that I couldn't get any pictures because a pit pass when it's raining is a waste of money. And since there will be jet dryers on the track, the cars will not be parked against the fence before the race. Half of my enjoyment at the track these days is taking pictures so I can share AMS with other fans who have not been there.
 
Pat said:
I'm happy this morning I decided not to go to the track. It is raining and will be until this afternoon. If I was there I would be stuck in the camper with 4 other people or sitting in a chair just outside the door under the canopy watching it rain. I would be more unhappy that I couldn't get any pictures because a pit pass when it's raining is a waste of money. And since there will be jet dryers on the track, the cars will not be parked against the fence before the race. Half of my enjoyment at the track these days is taking pictures so I can share AMS with other fans who have not been there.
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Aw, just go to the track already,

It's never too early to start drinking . . .
 
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The biggest issue with qualifying is the drivers playing mind games with eachother. Maybe they should require them to be on track within a certain amount of time after the session starts? If you aren't on track within 3 minutes you don't get a lap. Then you won't have 11 out of 12 trucks not getting a time in the last round.
 
I've seen and heard all things wrong and right with qualifying, I'll go with Greg on this one, it should be about a fast lap not playing around trying to manipulate the system to qualify. That is and was the intent of qualifying. See who has a fast car and put them in order so we can race. Any improvements they try to make Teams figure out how to manipulate the system. Go back to single car runs with 2 laps or do heat races. Or just go with practice times fastest 2-5 lap average. Just my humble opinion
 
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