IS IT THE DRIVER OR CAR??

Thegeneral23

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I got into NASCAR about a year 1/2 ago and to be honest.. I really have no clue why I picked Kyle Busch lol.. I use to just hear the name a lot, so I did some research and saw he drove the m&m's car and I love that paint scheme.. so I made him my driver.. but once the season started i notice that Kyle could kill restarts and get a big advantage on people when it comes to restarts I also notice that he can save cars from hitting walls.. like this year he had taken some bad cars and got top 5-10 place in bad cars.. and could have won at least 3 times.. only other person I see doing this is Kevin harvick .. yea Penske drivers do it to but it's usually strategy with them
 
When he gets bad cars, you know it because he's usually stuck in the mid 20s.

But he's a wheelman for sure. With that comes a lot of baggage too.

He's a little bit of a whiner.
 
Mixture of both but the best drivers are more likely to have the best cars as well . Great drivers knows how the car should run and give the best feedback to the teams for adjustments.
 
When he gets bad cars, you know it because he's usually stuck in the mid 20s.

But he's a wheelman for sure. With that comes a lot of baggage too.

He's a little bit of a whiner.

Ok we know everybody thinks he a whiner lol.. I don't see it that way to be honest I just think people don't like him and what I notice in NASCAR he drives a Toyota so that's a big blow on him too! I just keep it real and how I see it.. NASCAR fans are really judgmental .. it's just like tom Brady in football the guy is a beast and he does gets his calls.. I don't like him because of that and he wines to but that's not going to stop me from saying he is the best in the game right now!
 
I'll never forget that time Kyle wrecked himself at Chicago because he was only running 12th or something and the car was off. He ended up missing the Chase because of it.

He's the most talented driver, well, ever. But it takes the whole package to win races. And Kyle Busch, when he struggles, man he really compounds it with his frustration. He'll probably win one sometime in the next month or so, and then go on a hot streak and win four or five races close to consecutively.
 
look at the drivers we have had in great cars. david ragan couldn't win in roush cars that were winning races, JJ yeley sucked in the 18 car, same with casey mears. you need a good driver to run a great car. but unless you have a great car the driver isn't enough to make up the difference. I also think in years past like before the 2005 or so you had cars that had a big advantage over others.
 
look at the drivers we have had in great cars. david ragan couldn't win in roush cars that were winning races, JJ yeley sucked in the 18 car, same with casey mears. you need a good driver to run a great car. but unless you have a great car the driver isn't enough to make up the difference. I also think in years past like before the 2005 or so you had cars that had a big advantage over others.

So what your saying in today's NASCAR the driver means more than it did before 2005?
 
Last year at this point the e-ville Clint Bowyer was sittin’ 26th in points in one of Scott's entries. This year he’s tenth in one of ole Smoke's - who wanted Larson - stuff……..
 
Last year at this point the e-ville Clint Bowyer was sittin’ 26th in points in one of Scott's entries. This year he’s tenth in one of ole Smoke's - who wanted Larson - stuff……..
So what are you saying ?
 
It is mainly the driver. Nascar sustained success is more driver dependent than just about any form of auto racing. A great car and a well-funded team merely gets you in the game. The opposite extreme is F1, where the car largely dictates the results.

One of modern Nascar's greatest attributes is the deep field of top teams. There are at least 18-20 top cars on the grid. Hendrick=4. Ganassi=2. Gibbs=4. Furniture Row=2. Penske/Wood Bros=3. Stewart-Haas=4. (Not even counting Childress=?? and Roush=??.) Put Jimmie Johnson in *any* of those 19 cars, and you will win races and championships.
 
It is mainly the driver. Nascar sustained success is more driver dependent than just about any form of auto racing. A great car and a well-funded team merely gets you in the game. The opposite extreme is F1, where the car largely dictates the results.

One of modern Nascar's greatest attributes is the deep field of top teams. There are at least 18-20 top cars on the grid. Hendrick=4. Ganassi=2. Gibbs=4. Furniture Row=2. Penske/Wood Bros=3. Stewart-Haas=4. (Not even counting Childress=?? and Roush=??.) Put Jimmie Johnson in *any* of those 19 cars, and you will win races and championships.
So tell me what makes drivers better then others?? Like what makes Jimmie so good ?
 
Like what makes Jimmie so good ?
First, Chad gives him a well setup car.
Second, Jimmie gives great feedback during practice and during the race. Listen to him sometime on the radio -- he breaks
down a corner as well as any driver I've ever heard.
Third, Chad makes good choices based on Jimmie's feedback.
Fourth, Jimmie can take a car that isn't quite good enough and find a place on the track where it works.

In summary --- it's NOT just the driver or the car. It's the driver, the car, and the CC all working together.
 
First, Chad gives him a well setup car.
Second, Jimmie gives great feedback during practice and during the race. Listen to him sometime on the radio -- he breaks
down a corner as well as any driver I've ever heard.
Third, Chad makes good choices based on Jimmie's feedback.
Fourth, Jimmie can take a car that isn't quite good enough and find a place on the track where it works.

In summary --- it's NOT just the driver or the car. It's the driver, the car, and the CC all working together.
Thanks I love the input I just love all the knowledge I can get.. well put
 
Crew chiefs play as much a role as the driver. Cole Pearn and Chad Knaus could put about any of the top 15 drivers in victory lane 2 - 4 times a year.

Cars only matter so much. The following drivers had / have top rides and can't win at all:

Paul Menard
Austin Dillon
Casey Mears
David Ragan

Then you have guys like Kyle Larson in an average team and winning races and finishing in the top five almost every week.
 
70% car, 30% driver I feel in the Cup Series IMO. The driver and team input corrolates to the car though. But the car is kinda setup by the driver and crew chief, and engineers, etc.
 
Absolutely everything has to be right. That starts in the shop 3 or so weeks before a particular car goes into the hauler.

Most people with normal or better vision and an instinctive grasp of spatial relationships can learn how to go fast. Very few people ever learn how to race.

Jimmie Johnson is the best I've ever seen. All JMO, of course.
 
It is mainly the driver. Nascar sustained success is more driver dependent than just about any form of auto racing. A great car and a well-funded team merely gets you in the game. The opposite extreme is F1, where the car largely dictates the results.

One of modern Nascar's greatest attributes is the deep field of top teams. There are at least 18-20 top cars on the grid. Hendrick=4. Ganassi=2. Gibbs=4. Furniture Row=2. Penske/Wood Bros=3. Stewart-Haas=4. (Not even counting Childress=?? and Roush=??.) Put Jimmie Johnson in *any* of those 19 cars, and you will win races and championships.

and Chad
 
It was pretty interesting to me to watch the Pearn/Truex car some alive after about 5 or 6 laps and start gaining speed at Kansas. I can only guess, but I think they were running ultra low air pressure in their tires after the sun went down. They had the grip on that slick track.Truex if you can believe the pit reporters wasn't calling for any changes when he went into the pits. That had to be a bit demoralizing to other teams who were sliding all over the place. It's a team sport, hundreds worked to get that car there and in the winners circle
 
It is the car more than the driver and it has always been that way. Put prime Richard Petty in Jeffery Earnhardt's current car and I doubt he would get a top-10 at a non-restrictor plate race barring any crazy circumstances. Place Jeffery Earnhardt in one of prime Richard Petty's cars and I guarantee he gets at least 1 top-10 every year at a non-restrictor plate track. Most recently, just look at how Alex Bowman performed last year while being the substitute driver for Earnhardt Jr. Had Bowman been in the car all year I think he would have been a realistic championship contender.
 
It is the car more than the driver and it has always been that way. Put prime Richard Petty in Jeffery Earnhardt's current car and I doubt he would get a top-10 at a non-restrictor plate race barring any crazy circumstances. Place Jeffery Earnhardt in one of prime Richard Petty's cars and I guarantee he gets at least 1 top-10 every year at a non-restrictor plate track. Most recently, just look at how Alex Bowman performed last year while being the substitute driver for Earnhardt Jr. Had Bowman been in the car all year I think he would have been a realistic championship contender.
So why can't jr do that??
 
The car does have a lot to do with it. See Kurt Busch in the 51 car or Clint Bowyer in the 15 HScott car.
 
The driver matters more than the car in stock car racing because of the incredible similarities and rules that NASCAR has.

I'll say right now may have the deepest field NASCAR has ever had, the amount of great drivers has improved teams and made the racing incredible the last two seasons
 
I'm just asking for opinions I'm new to the sport.. and I just want to know why some people like drivers more than others .. if it's not the car what skills set drivers apart from each other ??
 
The car does have a lot to do with it. See Kurt Busch in the 51 car or Clint Bowyer in the 15 HScott car.
Totally different Kurt was there when James finch owned the car. Hscott decided to cash in and keep the huge influx of sponsorship money instead of spending it on the car.
 
I'll say right now may have the deepest field NASCAR has ever had, the amount of great drivers has improved teams and made the racing incredible the last two seasons

I've heard many say this, and I'm not sure I agree. Just look at the back of the field; you always have the same 5-10 cars in the back. You know that guys like Reed Sorensen, Jeffrey Earnhardt or Timmy Hill are basically guaranteed to finish in the 30s every race unless there's a dozen cars that crash.

It wasn't always like that. There used to be much more parity across the board. You would get a couple surprise winners every year, even in years when Gordon was winning 30-40% of the races, and almost every race you had at least one backmarker hit on a setup and get a top 5 or 10. You don't really see any surprise finishes anymore.
 
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