Cup RACE thread --- Loudon

Mile501 said:
Here are some Monday morning thoughts and stats for you:

This race took me back to the early 2000s in more than one way. There is the obvious similarity between the way this race began and The Winston in 2001, which several people have already noted. In addition, it has been quite some time since a driver so low in points, with so few top 5s and laps led, won a race. It happened on several occasions in the early 2000s, but very rarely since then (not including plate races, rain-shortened races, and that sort of thing).

While our current field depth still doesn't compare to the early 2000s, I felt at the start of the season that we were at least inching closer in that direction, and Almriola's win is further evidence of that. Hopefully, the new car and new teams that will be in Cup next year will deepen the level of competition even further.

- Aric Almirola's win is just his 2nd top-12 finish in the last 13 races.
- Penske Racing's 3 teams finished consecutively in the top 5 (3rd-4th-5th). However, this is not the first time they've finished like that. They finished 2nd-3rd-4th at Martinsville in the spring of 2020. Since expanding to 3 teams, Penske has gotten all 3 teams in the top 5 on 4 occasions.
- Kevin Harvick has finished 4th, 5th, or 6th in nearly half the races this season (10 out of 22), but only has one finish better than 4th.
- In all but 3 of Denny Hamlin's first 10 races, he led 25+ laps and finished 4th or better. In each of his last 12 races, he has led no more than 11 laps and finished no better than 4th.
- Earlier this season, Matt DiBenedetto finished 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th in a 4-race stretch (though not consecutively). In the last 3 races, he finished 9th, 10th, and 11th (though not consecutively).
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is racking up pairs of finishes this season. In the first two races, he finished 18th. In races 5 and 6, he finished 12th. In races 12 and 13, he finished 20th. Then over the last 8 races, he has three non-consecutive pairs of finishes (two 12ths, two 15th, and two 37ths).
- For the 3rd consecutive season, Kurt Busch picked up a somewhat unexpected win at a 1.5-mile track and followed it up with a finish outside the top 15 in the next race.
- Corey LaJoie has quietly turned Spire Motorsports into a consistent top-25 team. In the last 14 races, he has 11 finishes between 15th and 23rd.

RCR's playoff hopes certainly took a turn for the worse with Almirola's win. Instead of Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon holding down the last two spots, they're now fighting for the last spot and hoping there are no more surprise winners. Reddick has come on strong after a rough start to the season, with extremely consistent finishes. He has finished between 6th and 13th in all but three of the last 16 races. Dillon has been consistently a few spots lower than his teammate, finishing between 10th and 17th in all but three of the last 15 races.

Finally, a quick look at who else might upset the playoff picture over the next 4 races:

- Daniel Suarez has a strong record at Watkins Glen. I don't know that Trackhouse could win a race on pure speed, but if some weird strategy comes into play, Suarez is a good road racer and this team has far surpassed expectations already this year.

- The Indy Grand Prix course is difficult to predict since it is new for everyone. In last year's Xfinity race, Chase Briscoe dominated and won, but given the way his rookie year in Cup is going, I don't think it's realistic to expect that he will contend. But we certainly could have a surprise winner here. After all, few would have predicted Bell to win at the Daytona Road Course.

- Michigan could be where Kevin Harvick finally wins, since he's won 4 of the last 5 Michigan races. I wouldn't be surprised to see the RCR cars contend here either. Michigan will probably be the best opportunity for one of the drivers on the bubble to potentially solidify his playoff spot.

- Daytona, of course, is the biggest wild card. I think the biggest chance for an upset would come from Stenhouse or Jones, but certainly, anyone could win and throw Harvick or Hamlin out of the playoffs at the last moment. It's hardly fair and it hardly seems right, but that's where we are in modern-day NASCAR, and this potential scenario is exactly why Daytona has become the cutoff race.
Click to expand...
Would you mind crediting the original source when you copy and paste someone else's content?
 
Pat said:
Nate Ryan
@nateryan
·
3h

Some fun facts: —The winner says “it honestly wasn’t that bad; there was enough light to keep racing.”
—The @NHMS scoring tower has tinted windows that apparently made it harder for officials to see than drivers. :blink:
Click to expand...
I was at this race. I literally said the same thing as Aric. It's simply wasn't dark. We left our seats during the burnout, walked back to my car which took another 8 minutes, used the bathroom, and then left. It was just starting to get dark as I pulled out of the parking lot. 15 to 20 minutes after the checkered flag.



Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pat
Charlie Spencer said:
Would you mind crediting the original source when you copy and paste someone else's content?
Click to expand...

If it was a "copy & paste" job, he copied the misspelling of Almirola's name in the third paragraph.

If it wasn't, I can only guess how long he might have been working on that lengthy spiel.
 
Like a previous poster said, I think NASCAR called it a couple laps early in case of a caution. Imagine the sh*tshow that would’ve occurred if they decided to run it out and a caution came out in the last couple laps. When they decided 10 left it was essentially 10 laps or a caution. They decided to play it safe. Bell wouldn’t have caught no less passed Eric with 8 more laps.

Just my opinion of course.
 
antman12 said:
Like a previous poster said, I think NASCAR called it a couple laps early in case of a caution. Imagine the sh*tshow that would’ve occurred if they decided to run it out and a caution came out in the last couple laps. When they decided 10 left it was essentially 10 laps or a caution. They decided to play it safe. Bell wouldn’t have caught no less passed Eric with 8 more laps.

Just my opinion of course.
Click to expand...
They had very little time to interview the winner of the race as it is. Don't get me started on NBC and their continuing B.S.. It was all gerbils all the time this weekend. I thought I would catch a break for the Xfinity with a different crew but they cheaped out.
 
Screenshot_20210719-204102_Facebook.jpg
 
What's that goofy seal in the background? Something about 'Underdog Sports, NASCAR Edition'?

As CarTalk used to say, 'Bo-oh-gus'.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Would you mind crediting the original source when you copy and paste someone else's content?
Click to expand...
Um...I didn't copy and paste someone else's content. Should I take that as a compliment though?
pjmolo said:
If it was a "copy & paste" job, he copied the misspelling of Almirola's name in the third paragraph.

If it wasn't, I can only guess how long he might have been working on that lengthy spiel.
Click to expand...
I don't know why, but I do that all the time with Almirola's name. I fixed several misspellings as I was typing that but I guess I still missed one!
 
Pat said:
Could be, but it wouldn't have been the first time a race ended under caution.
Click to expand...
And I bet we would all be jumping for joy if right after they crossed the finish line, no winner interview, no nothing after a couple of Green, white checkers.
 
StandOnIt said:
And I bet we would all be jumping for joy if right after they crossed the finish line, no winner interview, no nothing after a couple of Green, white checkers.
Click to expand...
Why do they need daylight for an interview?
 
Mile501 said:
Um...I didn't copy and paste someone else's content. Should I take that as a compliment though?

I don't know why, but I do that all the time with Almirola's name. I fixed several misspellings as I was typing that but I guess I still missed one!
Click to expand...
Keep doing what you’re doing man, we appreciate it.

Just set a few posters on ignore and it’s a great board. Much like sitting around the fire talking about racing. Enjoy!
 
StandOnIt said:
They probably don't. But NBC is the problem. They were in a hurry to get to some kind of stick n ball program. That is why there wasn't any victory lane / 🦞
Click to expand...
Erm, no. The race went like 2 hours over their alotted time slot. Once the race was over, we’re lucky any interviews were shown at all. I think we got the winner and P2. Other organizations have paid for their programming too, NBC did the right thing.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Erm, no. The race went like 2 hours over their alotted time slot. Once the race was over, we’re lucky any interviews were shown at all. I think we got the winner and P2. Other organizations have paid for their programming too, NBC did the right thing.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what you are smoking but WE were talking about Nascar cutting the race short. Reasoning was they didn't want to have a caution thrown so they left enough time to at least get a winners interview in before NBC pulled the plug. THE problem with running any longer was NBC..It isn't right or wrong it just is. But fans being fans most of us anyway could care less about NBC and their wishes, we wanted to see the race run to the end..kapish?
 
I think I might use the next two weeks to take a break around here, theres really nothing going on and...... its getting stuffy in here. Might go on a Racing vacay like maybe some of the drivers are. Might be slow news around here.
 
Snappy D said:
I think I might use the next two weeks to take a break around here, theres really nothing going on and...... its getting stuffy in here. Might go on a Racing vacay like maybe some of the drivers are. Might be slow news around here.
Click to expand...
Stuffy?

The crash test dummy is decomposing. The odor is distinctly unpleasant.
 
Mile501 said:
Um...I didn't copy and paste someone else's content. Should I take that as a compliment though?

I don't know why, but I do that all the time with Almirola's name. I fixed several misspellings as I was typing that but I guess I still missed one!
Click to expand...

Apparently you're not alone in your misspelling of Almirola's name. Funny stuff.

"Twitter spells Almirola"
 
Snappy D said:
I think I might use the next two weeks to take a break around here, theres really nothing going on and...... its getting stuffy in here. Might go on a Racing vacay like maybe some of the drivers are. Might be slow news around here.
Click to expand...
No breaks! I need all of you around to entertain me during this dark period. I think I feel the DTs starting already. :sad::wacko:
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Keep doing what you’re doing man, we appreciate it.

Just set a few posters on ignore and it’s a great board. Much like sitting around the fire talking about racing. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Thank you; I appreciate that! Although the post I made Monday morning was awfully long and I'm not really sure why. I didn't start off with that intention.
 
sdj said:
@Old Kid , there are a bunch of young'uns here that want know what the "DT"S" are. :lol2:
Click to expand...
Delirium Tremens- withdrawals from alcohol. Hard drinking over the weekend will usually give a person the shakes, DT's take a pretty long run before you get those.

​

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom