2018 Chicagoland -- OVERTON'S 400 - Pre-Race Thread

Johali

Johali

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THE RACE: Overtons 400

TRACK: Chicagoland

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race #17 of 36

Date: Sunday, July 1st, 2018 Joliet IL.

Scheduled Green Flag (approx): 2:45 pm/et
=======================================

Friday, June 29

4:30 PM, NXS Chicagoland practice, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NCWTS Chicagoland qualifying, FS1
7:30 PM, NXS Chicagoland final practice, NBCSN
9:00 PM, NASCAR RaceDay: NCWTS, FS1
9:30 PM, NCWTS Chicagoland race, FS1

Saturday, June 30

9:00 AM, NCWTS Chicagoland race re-air, FS1
11:30 AM, MENCS Chicagoland practice, NBCSN
12:30 PM, NXS Chicagoland qualifying, NBCSN
2:00 PM, MENCS Chicagoland final practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NXS Countdown to Green, NBCSN
3:30 PM, NXS Chicagoland race, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NXS Post Race, NBCSN
7:00 PM, MENCS Chicagoland qualifying, NBCSN

Sunday, July 1

7:30 AM, NXS Chicagoland race re-air, NBCSN
2:00 PM, Countdown to Green, NBCSN
2:30 PM, MENCS Chicagoland race, NBCSN
5:30 PM, MENCS Post Race, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

 
I’m trying to find it within myself to go on Sunday, but it’s supposed to be 91. Wish it was a night race like it was in 08-11
 
Snappy D said:
I’m trying to find it within myself to go on Sunday, but it’s supposed to be 91. Wish it was a night race like it was in 08-11
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That's rough. Going to be in the 90s here too, making me more likely to stay in the AC and watch.
 
Snappy D said:
I’m trying to find it within myself to go on Sunday, but it’s supposed to be 91. Wish it was a night race like it was in 08-11
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Why this race is during the day is beyond me. If Kentucky was a day race I wouldn't be going. Is Chicago during the day for the simple reason that NASCAR doesn't want 3 Saturday night races in a row?
 
Snappy D said:
I’m trying to find it within myself to go on Sunday, but it’s supposed to be 91. Wish it was a night race like it was in 08-11
Click to expand...

When they first started racing at Chicagoland in 2001, the races were on Sunday afternoons in mid July and fans, more often than not, simply roasted sitting in the hot sun all afternoon.

Then track management wised up in 2008 and installed lights which allowed the races to be run in July on Saturday nights when the heat wasn't as oppressive.

When NASCAR moved the Chicagoland date to mid September in 2011, the races went back to being held on Sunday afternoons, which worked fine as it tends to much cooler that time of year.

Now, we're back to a race on a Sunday afternoon in July with the forecast calling for temps in the 90's.

With a great many tickets still available, track management is going to be disappointed imo if they're expecting any kind of significant walk-up crowd.
 
Snappy D said:
I’m trying to find it within myself to go on Sunday, but it’s supposed to be 91. Wish it was a night race like it was in 08-11
Click to expand...
Larsonfan1995 said:
That's rough. Going to be in the 90s here too, making me more likely to stay in the AC and watch.
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Its gonna peak at 110 this week here, just sayin( but we dont high the high humidity to go with the 90 degrees, so you got me there) we should be in the mid teens in a few weeks( 115)
 
pjmolo said:
When they first started racing at Chicagoland in 2001, the races were on Sunday afternoons in mid July and fans, more often than not, simply roasted sitting in the hot sun all afternoon.

Then track management wised up in 2008 and installed lights which allowed the races to be run in July on Saturday nights when the heat wasn't as oppressive.

When NASCAR moved the Chicagoland date to mid September in 2011, the races went back to being held on Sunday afternoons, which worked fine as it tends to much cooler that time of year.

Now, we're back to a race on a Sunday afternoon in July with the forecast calling for temps in the 90's.

With a great many tickets still available, track management is going to be disappointed imo if they're expecting any kind of significant walk-up crowd.
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I been to my fair share of July day races at Chicagoland, until Sept. 2011 it was always the second week in July after the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. So hot. I rejoiced when they put up lights and it was still humid, but at least the sun wasn’t beating on you while sitting in the stands. Iam pretty sad it’s back to July during the day....it’s ungodly hot here at this time. It’s shame on me, I live 15 min from the track and almost have zero desire to go on Sunday. Bad deal I think for the track, they have lights run it at night.
 
Chastain, Hill and Custer have moved up to the cup race

upload_2018-6-25_17-47-14.png
 
jws926 said:
Its gonna peak at 110 this week here, just sayin( but we dont high the high humidity to go with the 90 degrees, so you got me there) we should be in the mid teens in a few weeks( 115)
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It's going to be brutally hot here in the Northeast this weekend. They're calling for 98 on Sunday with a reasonable chance for 100. The local Scranton, PA airport hasn't recorded a 100 degree temp since 7/15/1995. Back in the day there was only 3 (Daytona, Pocono and Talladega) races run in July and 2 of them were pure misery, Daytona and Talladega. Talladega in July was simply at another level of hell.
 
Johali said:
Now I understand why the shady seats up top under the overhang cost so much.
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Its quite expensive to sit up there. Tried it once it wasnt too bad but its not easy to see the back stretch if you sit in the last row of those seats like I did. Think I paid about $200 or so, got em late.
 
Snappy D said:
Its quite expensive to sit up there. Tried it once it wasnt too bad but its not easy to see the back stretch if you sit in the last row of those seats like I did. Think I paid about $200 or so, got em late.
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$180 each now.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Can someone remind me what's 'enhanced' about this?
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https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2018/03/20/enhanced-nascar-schedules-2018-tracks/

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR will again use a new and well-received enhanced schedule format featuring robust driver appearances and fan interaction opportunities at 12 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events this season, beginning with this weekend’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

The enhanced schedule will feature two days of Monster Energy Series action while each track will still host three total days of on-track activity. There also will be a rotating schedule of Monster Energy Series drivers participating in various interactive opportunities for fans at the racing facilities.

In addition to both the spring and fall Martinsville race weekends, the enhanced Monster Energy Series schedule will be in place at both Richmond races, the May Kansas weekend, Chicagoland, Kentucky, the second Pocono race in July, Watkins Glen, the Bristol night race weekend in August, Indianapolis and the fall Talladega weekend.

The decision to bring back the enhanced schedule comes after much success with the new idea last season. It was used at Martinsville, Indianapolis, Pocono races in 2017, receiving good reviews from both spectators and competitors.

Executives from NASCAR, Monster Energy Series teams and the race tracks collaborated on the enhanced scheduling concept for the 2018 season with the idea of unique opportunities for fans to interact with their favorite Cup drivers. Each facility will develop specific programs and events with the goal to continually offer fans new experiences at track, up-close with their favorite drivers.
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Enhanced. Robust. Interaction opportunities. Enhanced. Interactive opportunities. Enhanced. Enhanced. Enhanced.

It sounds like a nice concept. Not sure why such goals should be limited to a third of the schedule, but it's clearly a work in progress.
 
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From Jayski
Top 10 Driver Ratings at Chicago

Chase Elliott............................. 125.6
Jimmie Johnson........................ 113.0
Kyle Busch............................... 107.3
Brad Keselowski....................... 100.4
Kevin Harvick............................. 98.9
Kyle Larson................................ 97.1
Martin Truex Jr........................... 94.5
Joey Logano............................... 91.0
Denny Hamlin............................. 89.7
Kurt Busch................................. 88.6
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2016 races (13 total) among active drivers at Chicagoland Speedway.
 
Pat said:
I can't put much faith in these rankings. There are a lot of ups and downs to consider from '05 to '16.
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Yep. Most of those drivers have changed teams and / or manufacturers at least once. Personally, I only consider a driver's record for the last three years for fantasy purposes (four years for tracks they only run once).
 
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This will probably serve better than Michigan as a gage for where the 9 team stands at least. Looking forward to this one.
 
pjmolo said:
When they first started racing at Chicagoland in 2001, the races were on Sunday afternoons in mid July and fans, more often than not, simply roasted sitting in the hot sun all afternoon.

Then track management wised up in 2008 and installed lights which allowed the races to be run in July on Saturday nights when the heat wasn't as oppressive.

When NASCAR moved the Chicagoland date to mid September in 2011, the races went back to being held on Sunday afternoons, which worked fine as it tends to much cooler that time of year.

Now, we're back to a race on a Sunday afternoon in July with the forecast calling for temps in the 90's.

With a great many tickets still available, track management is going to be disappointed imo if they're expecting any kind of significant walk-up crowd.
Click to expand...

It's a freakin' joke brought about by "fans" whining on social media. The thinking now is that night racing is bad. Pete Pistone pounds on that all of the time--enough said there. This is a choke by NASCAR, and here come the posters who will hammer (probably justifiably) on the attendance. NASCAR needs to stay off of social media, and make decisions that make sense. This should be either Saturday or Sunday night. Period.
 
Caught the last minute of practice. Why did HMS go 2-3-4?

Edit: Nvmd just saw average speeds. That’s more what I expected.
 
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