2023 Bonehead of the Year: The Nominations

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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My nomination goes to Chase Elliott for wrecking Denny Hamlin at Charlotte, earning himself a one-race suspension (on top of the Charlotte DNF) and putting the dagger to his hopes of making the playoffs.

Had this not happened, I think he makes it in.
 
I think this might turn into the "Driver who had the worst year", but my nomination goes to Dennis Hamlin. His constant trash talking and telling us all year it was year got him nothing again. Turns out he couldn't beat everyone's favorite driver after all.
 
Elliott. It is no contest. That team is good enough to consistently expect multi win years along with a deep run into the playoffs. Making the final four every year is an unrealistic expectation but they should be good enough to routinely come close.

I think in the big scheme Chase Elliott overall is better than the 2023 version. I think he comes away much better and smarter after a long off season of thinking. I am not expecting a repeat performance.
 
Not a bone head but I think Austin Dillian had a really disappointing season. I dont think anyone believed he was a match for Kyle Busch but the huge gap was made profoundly clear.
 
Greg said:
Not a bone head but I think Austin Dillian had a really disappointing season. I dont think anyone believed he was a match for Kyle Busch but the huge gap was made profoundly clear.
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On schedule to "fail up" into the executive office at RCR.
 
Hawaii808 said:
On schedule to "fail up" into the executive office at RCR.
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OK that may be a little harsh. Through many media outlets I've heard Austin actually has been getting deeper into the business side of racing (and professional bull riding). So maybe he would be a good successor. I've got a family business and my challenge is who's going to take over in 7ish years when I retire*.

*Secretly hoping my Niece shows interest when she moves back home.
 
Chastain. If he repeats next year like the last 2/3 of this season I'll be questioning if he really can win with talent and not just aggression. Because it certainly looks like when he's not bullying/bouncing his way through the field he's a 15th place driver. He absolutely needed to tone it down but seems like Chevy/Hendrick REALLY got in his head.
 
The Chain Gang. Cheating. Two big mouth lackeys. Two in the Final. 0 results.
 
2 Sweet said:
The perennial loser, Denny Hamlin.

Every year is the same. Fellow racers get annoyed with his antics, he shoots himself in the foot with pit road penalties, he runs his mouth about how it's his year. Rinse, repeat.
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Not even close, Denny makes stuff exciting. I don't mind the trash talk, no championships, but 60 wins now?

Pretty crazy to think he continues this consistency post-2018 disaster season. Would less trash talk get him there? Idk, but I like his anti-hero role in all honesty. I like the sh*t talk and about 80% of the time he's able to back it up.

Chase is by far the bonehead of the year, hopefully he and to a lesser extent Bowman will pick it up.
 
Kiante said:
Not even close, Denny makes stuff exciting. I don't mind the trash talk, no championships, but 60 wins now?

Pretty crazy to think he continues this consistency post-2018 disaster season. Would less trash talk get him there? Idk, but I like his anti-hero role in all honesty. I like the sh*t talk and about 80% of the time he's able to back it up.

Chase is by far the bonehead of the year, hopefully he and to a lesser extent Bowman will pick it up.
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Yet another thread for the Hamlin rent free crew to chime in. Nothing new or exciting.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
My nomination goes to Chase Elliott for wrecking Denny Hamlin at Charlotte, earning himself a one-race suspension (on top of the Charlotte DNF) and putting the dagger to his hopes of making the playoffs.

Had this not happened, I think he makes it in.
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I don't know that he makes, it suspension or not, and if he did make it, the performance just wasn't really there, so it really doesn't matter in the big scheme. Plus, I'm all for anyone that doesn't take crap off Dennis, so not a bonehead move in my book. :)
 
Formerjackman said:
I don't know that he makes, it suspension or not, and if he did make it, the performance just wasn't really there, so it really doesn't matter in the big scheme. Plus, I'm all for anyone that doesn't take crap off Dennis, so not a bonehead move in my book. :)
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The performance was there, the hole was just too big to dig out of. Going into Charlotte, Elliott could still very realistically make it in on points. After that, it became a must-win scenario.
 
ToyYoda said:
Gonna go with Chase Elliott. Built a coffin for his playoff chances by hurting himself snowboarding and nailed it shut by hooking Denny at Charlotte.
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The snowboarding thing is overplayed. He could have just as easily broken his leg falling off the front porch step. (A close friend just did that) Life happens, doesn't mean you are a bonehead. As I've said, you can't love Kyle Larson for what he does, and rag on Chase for what HE does.
 
Formerjackman said:
The snowboarding thing is overplayed. He could have just as easily broken his leg falling off the front porch step. (A close friend just did that) Life happens, doesn't mean you are a bonehead. As I've said, you can't love Kyle Larson for what he does, and rag on Chase for what HE does.
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I never held the snowboarding thing against him, life happens. The one race suspension he earned at Charlotte is the real bonehead imo. I think it made his point situation a lot more desperate based on already having a big points deficit.

I haven't crunched numbers but I am thinking he points his way into the playoffs without the suspension.
 
Formerjackman said:
The snowboarding thing is overplayed. He could have just as easily broken his leg falling off the front porch step. (A close friend just did that) Life happens, doesn't mean you are a bonehead. As I've said, you can't love Kyle Larson for what he does, and rag on Chase for what HE does.
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I agree that these guys should do whatever they would like outside of the cars, but stepping off the front porch and snowboarding are in no way an equal risk factor.
 
Greg said:
I never held the snowboarding thing against him, life happens. The one race suspension he earned at Charlotte is the real bonehead imo. I think it made his point situation a lot more desperate based on already having a big points deficit.

I haven't crunched numbers but I am thinking he points his way into the playoffs without the suspension.
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I don't think he should have been given a waiver for either of those incidents.
 
Daytripper said:
I don't think he should have been given a waiver for either of those incidents.
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That's a NASCAR bonehead, not Chase. We've debated multiple times if someone should get a waiver for an injury, especially if the injury happened outside of racing. But a waiver for missing a race because the driver was suspended for on-track actions? Caca del toro.
 
StandOnIt said:
I think the waiver or lack of one is for somebody they don't like fellers.
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I was never in favor of waivers in the first place, but the "stated reasoning" was they didn't want drivers coming back still hurt. Regardless of HOW Chase got hurt, he would have been crawling back in that car WAY too soon without the waiver. As for the waiver for the suspension, do we REALLY want to wipe out a driver and team season because of the OPINION that someone's actions crossed some imaginary line?
 
Formerjackman said:
I was never in favor of waivers in the first place, but the "stated reasoning" was they didn't want drivers coming back still hurt. Regardless of HOW Chase got hurt, he would have been crawling back in that car WAY too soon without the waiver. As for the waiver for the suspension, do we REALLY want to wipe out a driver and team season because of the OPINION that someone's actions crossed some imaginary line?
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Wouldn’t you solve that problem by requiring every injured driver to pass a physical before they’re allowed back in the car?
 
Formerjackman said:
I was never in favor of waivers in the first place, but the "stated reasoning" was they didn't want drivers coming back still hurt. Regardless of HOW Chase got hurt, he would have been crawling back in that car WAY too soon without the waiver. As for the waiver for the suspension, do we REALLY want to wipe out a driver and team season because of the OPINION that someone's actions crossed some imaginary line?
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I’m in favor of the waivers in the limited scope they were first supposed to be used for.

I thought a driver would be able to miss a race or two, not several. I didn’t think a suspension would merit a waiver.

The “having to run every race” requirement should be dropped and extra emphasis be placed on points. (Must finish inside top 25, maybe top 20). The problem is, NASCAR wants people to fluke their way into the playoffs.

The “every race” requirement is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. With playoff points and all that, plus sponsor commitments, nobody is voluntarily missing a race for funsies.

So far the only waiver denial has been for a driver missing a race due to lack of sponsorship. Which makes waivers for suspensions even more egregious.
 
I still don’t think Kyle Busch should’ve gotten a waiver in 2015, but even that one is more forgivable than giving Chase one. Since Kyle’s injury happened DURING A RACE and was primarily a result of Daytona International Speedway’s negligence.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
I think this might turn into the "Driver who had the worst year", but my nomination goes to Dennis Hamlin. His constant trash talking and telling us all year it was year got him nothing again. Turns out he couldn't beat everyone's favorite driver after all.
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Close..somebody mentioned "waivers" (SQUIRREL!!) and off they go.
Hamlin all the way. Not only does he continually choke even when Nascar makes it easy for top teams to be in the chase, but now JR gave him a damn pod cast to run his little bitty whiney mouth.
 
The whole idea of the resets bothers me more than an actual waiver. I believe in the idea that loosing the points from missed races should be a enough of a natural penalty itself regardless of cause. A needed intervention or atifical inputs to create a desired result shouldnt be needed.

If you are good enough to overcome the lost points then so be it, if you can not then you can not, plain and simple.

But the point system isnt allowed to work naturally. Nascar does the resets and the waivers.
So a waiver beomes an additional statement from Nascar a form of acceptance or rejection.
They can bless a driver for missing a race due to a childbirth and they can also tell a driver a self inflicted suspension isnt that significant.

The whole system itself is open to
being a bonehead . A system that truly measured the entire results (body of work)wouldn't need the kind of BS they utilize.
 
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