2018 Talladega - GEICO 500 - Pre-Race Thread

It's Dega time! :headbang:

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one for the deathbedders

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I'm a hard core fan and have been one longer than most on here have been alive and I love Plate Racing. All of the hardcore fans I know love plate racing also.
I said most old timers don't ya'll get all crazy on me. :D
 
Johali said:
I'm a hard core fan and have been one longer than most on here have been alive and I love Plate Racing. All of the hardcore fans I know love plate racing also.
I said most old timers don't ya'll get all crazy on me. :D
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Why do you love fabricated racing?
 
Mopardh9 said:
Why do you love fabricated racing?
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That's your opinion and you're entitled to it but my opinion is that It's great racing and I'm entitled to it also. To me there's nothing fabricated about 36+ cars running inches apart at close to 200 mph being buffeted all over the place by the turbulence. Of course I don't presume to tell anybody else that they should watch it no more than another should insinuate that I'm an idiot for loving it.
 
NASCAR Apologist said:
Chuck - with all due respect! - not so sure you'd have much of an impact. Plate racing gets the best TV numbers and the biggest crowds. Could make the sport even bigger!
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Ah, but I don't care how my potential departure won't impact NASCAR, only how it would impact me. If the sport becomes more popular by adding more plate races, more power to it; it won't need me anyway.

I've added and dropped many interests in my life. Most of them have gone along just fine. I'm under no delusions that BZF will be calling me night and day to come back.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
There's a huge difference between 12 on the lead lap and only 13 running at all. You've been to races, you know there's plenty of competition going on back in the pack. If it's four cars fighting for 23rd instead of first, so what?
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I don't have any problem with 13 (BTW that is an abnormally low number) in a pack going for the win because almost all of them can win it. I don't have a problem with small tracks so I really don't care. But cars a lap or more down aren't what I pay attention to.
 
I love Talladega and Daytona plate races. Would I prefer no restrictor? Of course, but until then give me close quarters and drivers nerves tested, teaming up to try and run down leaders, those with guts to try and those who stay in the rocking chair. Plate races at huge high speed tracks are just a different set of racing conditions. Drafting still matters there; wish it did at other large tracks.

I love short tracks too. It’s the 1.5 cookie cutters that have created the dull factor over recent years. Call it great racing if you like, but if a car is essentially turning laps and passing others without a fight, that’s just a whole lot of cars running time trials that happen to be on the track together. Exciting for a driver perhaps, but a yawner for fans.
 
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Conover said:
I love Talladega and Daytona plate races. Would I prefer no restrictor? Of course, but until then give me close quarters and drivers nerves tested, teaming up to try and run down leaders, those with guts to try and those who stay in the rocking chair. Plate races at huge high speed tracks are just a different set of racing conditions. Drafting still matters there; wish it did at other large tracks.

I love short tracks too. It’s the 1.5 cookie cutters that have created the dull factor over recent years. Call it great racing if you like, but if a car is essentially turning laps and passing others without a fight, that’s just a whole lot of cars running time trials that happen to be on the track together. Exciting for a driver perhaps, but a yawner for fans.
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I'm trying hard to accept plate racing, really I am, but I'm a purest and stubborn.:D
 
Wouldn’t these super speedways be terrible races without the plates? I mean say there weren’t ones, drivers would probably easily be able to hit 230-240 with modern tech as the long straightaways and high banks would allow them to still put the gas to the floor the entire time. The turbulence would be so bad that the guy with clear air would have a very significant advantage.

While I hope this whole low downforce/aero duct thing works out, I think that could be the future of super speedway racing. The packs do lead to a little bit of a wreck fest, but the alternative seems absolutely horrible
 
Mispeedway15 said:
Wouldn’t these super speedways be terrible races without the plates? I mean say there weren’t ones, drivers would probably easily be able to hit 230-240 with modern tech as the long straightaways and high banks would allow them to still put the gas to the floor the entire time. The turbulence would be so bad that the guy with clear air would have a very significant advantage.

While I hope this whole low downforce/aero duct thing works out, I think that could be the future of super speedway racing. The packs do lead to a little bit of a wreck fest, but the alternative seems absolutely horrible
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That's why the solution to this problem says CAT in black letters on the side, and has tracks instead of tires.
 
Mispeedway15 said:
Wouldn’t these super speedways be terrible races without the plates? I mean say there weren’t ones, drivers would probably easily be able to hit 230-240 with modern tech as the long straightaways and high banks would allow them to still put the gas to the floor the entire time. The turbulence would be so bad that the guy with clear air would have a very significant advantage.

While I hope this whole low downforce/aero duct thing works out, I think that could be the future of super speedway racing. The packs do lead to a little bit of a wreck fest, but the alternative seems absolutely horrible
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Drop the hp, change the aero 190 tops.
 
StandOnIt said:
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I stopped by there around 4.00pm today on the way from Houston to Charlotte and a lot of the motorhomes were parking. I just parked in front of the HOF for about 30 minutes and then headed on east. When I leave Charlotte next Sunday heading to Atlanta I'm sure I will see a lot of the haulers when they are heading back to their shops after the Talladega race.
 
I watch for the "entertainment" aspect but i don't like the style of racing. Talladega will always have a certain coolnes/aura about it.

You know how it's going to play it out before it even begins with a handful of wrecks taking out swaths of cars. The last 15-20 laps will be choppy and there likely will be a G-W-C. The drivers no longer fear injury or death and will put themselves as well as other drivers at risk. As a result it's literally the luck of the draw. I just hope everyone walks away safely.....
 
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Pack racing is great, exciting, and I love it... But I still wish they would bring back the tandem. That race when they let the drivers talk to each other was awesome.. and that 4 wide finish that tied the closest finish in history.. gold!. Still trying to figure out where the fans are that condemned that style of racing so bad that it was retracted so quickly.

Dega and Bristol (along with Dover and to a lesser extent M'Ville) are my favorite races to watch. I don't know what's quintessential or not because I love it all but a mix of these has to be it.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
That will certainly free up my weekends.

Neither one of us is.

There are enough beaten dead horses around here that we could run a dog food factory. Plates, Chase, qualifying, stages, 'Lucky Dog', pit road speed, Carl Edwards, Cup drivers in X, Mark Martin's Daytona 500, and the certified organic line of Danica products..
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OK, you forgot "Matt the Cruncher"
 
Note: All times are ET

Friday, April 27
11:35 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, FS1
12:35-1:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1
1:35-2:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1
2:35-3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1

Saturday, April 28
11 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FS1
1:05 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FOX
3 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Sparks Energy 300 (113 laps, 300.58 miles), FOX

Press Pass (Watch live)
2:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
5:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Sunday, April 29
2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 (188 laps, 500.8 miles), FOX

Press Pass (Watch live)
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race
 
Johali said:
I'm a hard core fan and have been one longer than most on here have been alive and I love Plate Racing. All of the hardcore fans I know love plate racing also.
I said most old timers don't ya'll get all crazy on me. :D
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For the most part I enjoy the racing at Talladega and Daytona too. The only thing I dislike is that a drivers finish is very often out of their hands. I would be curious about the statistics of the "big one" going back to the beginning of plate racing. It just seems that now we always have a couple big ones and the drivers get crazy near the end of the race. Here is the ending of the 2000 Talladega race where Dale Earnhardt raced back into the lead from 18th place and there was no accidents (well until the very end). Racing those final laps without wrecking is what I would like to see. They were racing four and even five wide, in the grass, sideways, banging into each other...absolutely awesome!

 
It was weird at Daytona... and it'll be even more weird not seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr race at Talladega. It'll set in for sure Sunday that he's done, its been a looonnng time for me since I watched a Race at Dega w/o Jr in it. Oh well circle of life I guess.
 
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