Cup RACE thread --- Atlanta

Honestly it’s incredible and kind of eery how these types of finishes occur at Atlanta so much regardless of the configuration, more than almost any other track. Think 2000 AND 2001 even though they weren’t 3 wide.
Must be something in the water down there.
 
Honestly it’s incredible and kind of eery how these types of finishes occur at Atlanta so much regardless of the configuration, more than almost any other track. Think 2000 AND 2001 even though they weren’t 3 wide.
Must be something in the water down there.
It’s why I love the track so much!

I was there also for an amazing ARCA finish (race ended to rain, but the official finish to the line for the yellow, was for awhile, the closet finish in ARCA history.
 
Remember when Ross Chastain ran a Kaulig car full time and didn’t win a single race all season long?

I think Big Hoss Ross should be full time in Xfinity like his predecessors.

Remember when Ross made the Championship 4 and came within one spot of being a Cup Champion?
 
Ryan Newman also had 18 career Cup wins and beat Jimmie Johnson for Rookie of the Year. The Rocket was a wheel man. He was also really good in 2014.

I think the Newman & Ross Chastain comparisons are very apples to oranges errr watermelons.
 
Ryan Newman also had 18 career Cup wins and beat Jimmie Johnson for Rookie of the Year. The Rocket was a wheel man. He was also really good in 2014.
So good he didn’t get a single win that season. He just was able to get through to the final 4. Funny enough he also roughed up someone on his way.
 
GREAT JOB BY ROSS CHASTAIN! Finishing 7th after the problems, penalty, and wild race.

Claiming he isn’t a top level driver just isn’t reasonable. Sure he has more to prove relative to wins, but it’s early for he and Trackhouse. Heck, I really despise Hambone, but he obviously is a great driver and a sure HOF’er.

GREAT RACE! Didn’t see that coming after such a snooze fest yesterday.
 
So good he didn’t get a single win that season. He just was able to get through to the final 4. Funny enough he also roughed up someone on his way.

You can’t compare the competition level that Newman had to face in 2014 vs. Ross Chastain in 2022.

Also, Newman had inferior RCR equipment at that time. He roughed up Larson in the #42 because of an incident at Eldora Speedway prior.
 
You can’t compare the competition level that Newman had to face in 2014 vs. Ross Chastain in 2022.

Also, Newman had inferior RCR equipment at that time. He roughed up the 42 because of an incident at Eldora Speedway prior.
Look I’m not knocking Ross, he’s a hell of a talent, he just drives over his head a lot and that’s been an issue for awhile now. No one can tell me though Ryan Newman isn’t the weakest of the people who’s made it to the final 4. Most of the others have made it more than once or won a championship. It’s possible to luck your way in is all.
 
Look I’m not knocking Ross, he’s a hell of a talent, he just drives over his head a lot and that’s been an issue for awhile now. No one can tell me though Ryan Newman isn’t the weakest of the people who’s made it to the final 4. Most of the others have made it more than once or won a championship. It’s possible to luck your way in is all.

I’m not sure how weak Newman was in 2014. Truex and the 78 Chevrolet FRR team was terrible at Homestead-Miami in 2015.

I think Ross Chastain is the new Dale Earnhardt, Jr. of the Cup Series, btw.

Good enough for 1-5 wins and a shot at the title, but probably not good enough and a top 8 driver in the series.
 
I’m not sure how weak Newman was in 2014. Truex and the 78 Chevrolet FRR team was terrible at Homestead-Miami in 2015.

I think Ross Chastain is the new Dale Earnhardt, Jr. of the Cup Series, btw.

Good enough for 1-5 wins and a shot at the title, but probably not good enough and a top 8 driver in the series.
I didn’t necessarily mean in their year making it. I meant overall career. Which is hard to judge I guess when you still have some out there who have less wins, which is where championships and making it back comes into play. Basically if everyone who’s made a final 4 up to this point, was ranked, it’s a good case for Newman to be at the bottom. Only folks who might be below him, are folks who ain’t had a long enough career to surpass him yet. But it’s fine if we disagree.

Even as a Jr fan, I think Ross ends up with a slightly better career than Jr, surely if he can figure out how to drive with the aggression he does, but also figure out how to not wreck people while doing so. If he can do that, then the sky is the limit for him
 
I didn’t necessarily mean in their year making it. I meant overall career. Which is hard to judge I guess when you still have some out there who have less wins, which is where championships and making it back comes into play. Basically if everyone who’s made a final 4 up to this point, was ranked, it’s a good case for Newman to be at the bottom. Only folks who might be below him, are folks who ain’t had a long enough career to surpass him yet. But it’s fine if we disagree.

Even as a Jr fan, I think Ross ends up with a slightly better career than Jr, surely if he can figure out how to drive with the aggression he does, but also figure out how to not wreck people while doing so. If he can do that, then the sky is the limit for him

See I disagree. I think Ross & Dale Jr have similar trajectories at times for their career. Maybe Ross gets 30 wins, but I’m not sure if he’s got it to win a title. I think Ross had his chance in 2022 @ Phoenix.
 
See I disagree. I think Ross & Dale Jr have similar trajectories at times for their career. Maybe Ross gets 30 wins, but I’m not sure if he’s got it to win a title. I think Ross had his chance in 2022 @ Phoenix.
Time will tell. I’m excited to watch him over the rest of his career, see what he can do.
 
Time will tell. I’m excited to watch him over the rest of his career, see what he can do.

I think we see lots of good runs out of Ross and then at times like at New Hampshire he runs 19th all day.

He’s a good driver but he seems like another Dale Jr / Kurt Busch demolition derby type that’s good for 30 wins or so. I think he should run Xfinity full time too and NASCAR should allow it.
 
It’s why I love the track so much!

I was there also for an amazing ARCA finish (race ended to rain, but the official finish to the line for the yellow, was for awhile, the closet finish in ARCA history.
That’s always been the MO at Atlanta. Kinda of expected with plate style race but still incredible to think about how often it keeps happening there even before the reconfigurations. It will always be a great place with a ton of history regardless.
 


If NASCAR was smart they would shore up their TV contracts with their Mexican & Canadian national broadcasters, give both countries an Xfinity standalone race or something again & made sure FOX and NBC had more races on national TV instead of cable.
 
I think we see lots of good runs out of Ross and then at times like at New Hampshire he runs 19th all day.

He’s a good driver but he seems like another Dale Jr / Kurt Busch demolition derby type that’s good for 30 wins or so. I think he should run Xfinity full time too and NASCAR should allow it.
In other words he is good but he smashes more cars than melons.
 


Plate racing is no more or less legitimate than other forms of racing. I don't want too many road courses, short tracks, or intermediates either. This author referring to to a type of racing as "empty calories" is a perfect illustration of why Yahoo hasn't been relevant in this decade or the one that preceded it. Just clickbait, rage porn.
 
Plate racing is no more or less legitimate than other forms of racing. I don't want too many road courses, short tracks, or intermediates either. This author referring to to a type of racing as "empty calories" is a perfect illustration of why Yahoo hasn't been relevant in this decade or the one that preceded it. Just clickbait, rage porn.

Not really, I think Nick Bromberg makes many good points in the article of what plate racing is, 6 races is already pushing the limit and I’d be happier with 5 a season.
 
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GREAT JOB BY ROSS CHASTAIN! Finishing 7th after the problems, penalty, and wild race.

Claiming he isn’t a top level driver just isn’t reasonable. Sure he has more to prove relative to wins, but it’s early for he and Trackhouse. Heck, I really despise Hambone, but he obviously is a great driver and a sure HOF’er.

GREAT RACE! Didn’t see that coming after such a snooze fest yesterday.
If only he could learn to do it without running other drivers off the track and ruining a possible good finish for them.
 
How I feel. Like he just has to learn when to be aggressive, and do it without wrecking someone also.
After a while we all get tired of hearing how "talented" someone is. I can't imagine what Chase and the team must have felt like working as hard as they did all the day and hanging in there for what could have been a top ten or better just to get dumped for no reason. One thing if it's the last few laps racing for the win but there was still plenty of time left and no reason to be that aggressive. Whatever. Chase will not be the last one to get Chastained this year. Pretty sad there is a term for it.
 
I hate to pour cold water over all the excitement but other than the last lap, it was a boring race for me. I guess I have lost the excitement of skilled drivers and team execution. On the other hand I don't see that any more. You got a bunch of kids driving that other than smashing each other for a position when it means squat, where have the drivers gone.??
Oh how I long to see Martin, Bush and the many drivers of the 90's I think this will be my last year to pay for TSN.
 
I hate to pour cold water over all the excitement but other than the last lap, it was a boring race for me. I guess I have lost the excitement of skilled drivers and team execution. On the other hand I don't see that any more. You got a bunch of kids driving that other than smashing each other for a position when it means squat, where have the drivers gone.??
Oh how I long to see Martin, Bush and the many drivers of the 90's I think this will be my last year to pay for TSN.
I am with you. It seems like half the field is full of drivers that don't use their heads like used to be the case at this level. I turned on the truck race at Daytona when it was on and lost interest because they could not turn more than a lap or 2 without crashing. It got that way yesterday too. We do have some great talent - don't get me wrong. Guys like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will go down as all time greats and drivers like Larson and Elliott have the talent to as well but there are some guys on the track now that seem to be there by default. I also think there is such a thing as the cars being TOO equal which leads to frustration.
 
If only he could learn to do it without running other drivers off the track and ruining a possible good finish for them.

When a driver unexpectedly checks up in front of you, that driver that unexpectedly checked up in front of you, is more than likely to get hit, which is what happened. It happened over and over in this race to many other drivers as well.
 
There are several on here who will cling to this “Ross can’t drive” BS for as long as he is racing, parrots of Hamcrap who is NEVER WRONG per Larson, but to each his own.
 
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