NASCAR Cup Series Championship Pre-Race Thread

I've thought on it... For this weekend....

Forget Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Chris Bell. I'm all in on Ross Chastain winning the championship.

Even though Elliott is the sport's most popular driver, I feel like Ross Chastain following up Martinsville with a championship would be the best possible outcome for the sport just because of how viral his Martinsville race was.


Ross doing that, and then becoming a champion, imo, has a lot of potential. It made ESPN's top 10 in spot #1 and I feel like he's on the verge of becoming a sports household name.

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jaqua19 said:
I've thought on it... For this weekend....

Forget Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Chris Bell. I'm all in on Ross Chastain winning the championship.

Even though Elliott is the sport's most popular driver, I feel like Ross Chastain following up Martinsville with a championship would be the best possible outcome for the sport just because of how viral his Martinsville race was.


Ross doing that, and then becoming a champion, imo, has a lot of potential. It made ESPN's top 10 in spot #1 and I feel like he's on the verge of becoming a sports household name.

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Been saying for a while I think Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Hailie Deegan and Ty Gibbs are the personalities and drivers that can really move this sport. These are engaging drivers, for better or worse. Ross Chastain entertains me, every time he's on the track. Same with Ty Gibbs. Suarez and Wallace for obvious reasons. And Hailie Deegan has an ENORMOUS social media following. If she wins a Cup race, it would be the biggest moment in NASCAR history.

Chase Elliott doesn't move the needle in spite of his massive popularity with the current fanbase. I know it hurts Chase fans' feelings, but it's the truth.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Been saying for a while I think Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Hailie Deegan and Ty Gibbs are the personalities and drivers that can really move this sport. These are engaging drivers, for better or worse. Ross Chastain entertains me, every time he's on the track. Same with Ty Gibbs. Suarez and Wallace for obvious reasons. And Hailie Deegan has an ENORMOUS social media following. If she wins a Cup race, it would be the biggest moment in NASCAR history.

Chase Elliott doesn't move the needle in spite of his massive popularity with the current fanbase. I know it hurts Chase fans' feelings, but it's the truth.
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It would be popular within the sports fan base, but if we're talking about moving the needle to bring outside viewers into the fandom, I completely agree.

Ross becoming champion this year has just as much potential to grow the sport as any other driver we've seen. And it has to be this year. I'm winning a championship a couple years from now probably won't have the same impact. Following up last week's move the championship just 7 days later his absolutely perfect.

I prefer Logano to Ross, but I'm rooting for the sports future here, so there it is.

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jaqua19 said:
It would be popular within the sports fan base, but if we're talking about moving the needle to bring outside viewers into the fandom, I completely agree.

Ross becoming champion this year has just as much potential to grow the sport as any other driver we've seen. And it has to be this year. I'm winning a championship a couple years from now probably won't have the same impact. Following up last week's move the championship just 7 days later his absolutely perfect.

I prefer Logano to Ross, but I'm rooting for the sports future here, so there it is.

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I think it'll be Chase Elliott. He's just so good at Phoenix.

Not to mention, NASCAR has bad luck and is never able to capitalize on big moments. Chase Elliott is the most mundane outcome possible to this championship, so that's what it will be.
 
I'm confident in Joey this weekend.. but the great part about this one is after Chastains move last week my new #2 driver is going for it too lol.. these guys all have a reasonable argument for and against them winning this whole thing.. and they all deserve it after the seasons they've run.

I'm excited to see if the 22 can replicate their 2020 race without the issue at the end. I really think they have a great shot at this thing and hopefully this time next week I'm rooting for a 2 time champ!
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I think it'll be Chase Elliott. He's just so good at Phoenix.

Not to mention, NASCAR has bad luck and is never able to capitalize on big moments. Chase Elliott is the most mundane outcome possible to this championship, so that's what it will be.
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Mundane for who? The people that don't like him? Lol

He was the regular season champion, led the series in wins, laps led, driver rating, etc., and he's their most popular driver and arguably the face of the sport. That's a homerun for NASCAR. This is what they didn't have for so long with Dale Jr.
 
AdoubleU24 said:
Mundane for who? The people that don't like him? Lol

He was the regular season champion, led the series in wins, laps led, driver rating, etc., and he's their most popular driver and arguably the face of the sport. That's a homerun for NASCAR. This is what they didn't have for so long with Dale Jr.
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Chase Elliott doesn't move the needle. All him winning does is excite the majority of the current fanbase.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Chase Elliott's cult-like following runs new fans off. They take toxic to a new level on the toxic bird app.
 
I think there's a lot of over-hype here how Ross is going to change NASCAR forever with his move.

He made essentially a one-off move that was replayed over and over and over in the mainstream for a week. Like a PGA golfer getting a hole-in-one or a NBA player making a basket from beyond half court. That's not going to "grow fans". No one watches just "The Move" in a 30 second clip then watches a 3.5 hour NASCAR race the next weekend.

I'm trying to get my girlfriend into NASCAR. She watched all of Homestead with me. Then she watched both Martinsville races (Cup and X). Frankly, she's more interested in watching...and I quote "that punk ass, 12yo looking, very punchable, self-righteous a**hole get his car punted into the damn grandstands" this week. She thought Ross's move was exciting, for sure. But to a new fan like herself, the story ends there, even though he's now going to be racing for the championship (it's not like he's going to do the move again). With Ty she understands it's not over given the inevitable retaliation the entire Xfinity field is going to do to him this Saturday...more motive to watch.

Not saying this is how it should be, just my anecdotal story.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Been saying for a while I think Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Hailie Deegan and Ty Gibbs are the personalities and drivers that can really move this sport. These are engaging drivers, for better or worse. Ross Chastain entertains me, every time he's on the track. Same with Ty Gibbs. Suarez and Wallace for obvious reasons. And Hailie Deegan has an ENORMOUS social media following. If she wins a Cup race, it would be the biggest moment in NASCAR history.

Chase Elliott doesn't move the needle in spite of his massive popularity with the current fanbase. I know it hurts Chase fans' feelings, but it's the truth.
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It doesn't hurt MY feelings, because I could care less about such things. In fifty years of racing fandom, I have never once said "I'm going to follow that guy because he moves the needle." Jeff Gordon certainly did, but all of that happened AFTER I had chosen him. My fandom of Chase started before he ever entered a NASCAR race. Chase's popularity among the masses means absolutely NOTHING to me, as nobody is giving me a cut of the revenue. He is MY driver, and that's all I care about. I started rooting for Jimmie Johnson when five people on the planet knew who he was, and two of them were his parents.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Chase Elliott doesn't move the needle. All him winning does is excite the majority of the current fanbase.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Chase Elliott's cult-like following runs new fans off. They take toxic to a new level on the toxic bird app.
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Gee, not like Dale Earnhardt Sr and Jr. fans? You have no idea what toxic cult like fans even are until you have sat in the stands with 75,000 liquored up Dale Earnhardt fans while wearing a Rusty Wallace or Jeff Gordon shirt.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Chase Elliott's cult-like following runs new fans off. They take toxic to a new level on the toxic bird app.
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Oh, yeah? How do you figure?

I'm sure you have one ridiculous example from something you may or may not have witnessed, or probably just imagined, and then twisted and blew out of proportion to justify your stance and extrapolate that one example to the rest of NASCAR's fanbase
 
Chase’s fans aren’t toxic, the Kyle Busch booers are the worst sometimes.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Imagine seeing the popularity and impact of Ross Chastain's Hail Melon and thinking that the best possible outcome for NASCAR's future is another Chase Elliott championship.
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Yeah I'm sure the NFL really hated that super bowl Tom Brady won, and then the next one, and the next one, the one after that, go ahead and add two more while we're counting. Change cities and win another? Gross! Who wants that!

Where were these awful hot takes when Jimmie rattled off 5 in a row?

You keep using this move the needle phrase. The damn needle ain't moving my man. We've literally seen it all in this sport. A new playoff format, new tracks, stage racing, a new car, changes in leadership, a youth movement...auto racing is where it is, it's not returning to the forefront of American sport. Remember when everyone was buzzing about F1 early in the year? I don't see any of that now. Just a bunch of rich celebrities taking selfies in the paddock not giving a rats ass about the actual product. That the kind of needle moving you're seeking?
 
AdoubleU24 said:
Yeah I'm sure the NFL really hated that super bowl Tom Brady won, and then the next one, and the next one, the one after that, go ahead and add two more while we're counting. Change cities and win another? Gross! Who wants that!

Where were these awful hot takes when Jimmie rattled off 5 in a row?

You keep using this move the needle phrase. The damn needle ain't moving my man. We've literally seen it all in this sport. A new playoff format, new tracks, stage racing, a new car, changes in leadership, a youth movement...auto racing is where it is, it's not returning to the forefront of American sport. Remember when everyone was buzzing about F1 early in the year? I don't see any of that now. Just a bunch of rich celebrities taking selfies in the paddock not giving a rats ass about the actual product. That the kind of needle moving you're seeking?
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Some fans flow back and forth like the wind blows. Ross was for a couple years voted the most popular driver in the Trucks so he does have a personality and a following back then.
Some of the drivers, a gerbil or two, and your flaky fans this year had Ross as the red spot in their hen pecking party. This was while he was running second for most of the year to Elliott. There is going to be plenty of room for both of them in the series and the more personality the better IMO.
 
AdoubleU24 said:
Mundane for who? The people that don't like him? Lol

He was the regular season champion, led the series in wins, laps led, driver rating, etc., and he's their most popular driver and arguably the face of the sport. That's a homerun for NASCAR. This is what they didn't have for so long with Dale Jr.
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Ross is a bigger home run.

It builds off of what happened Martinsville.

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aunty dive said:
One spectacular Game-Boy stunt and he’s arguably the face of the sport?

Surely you meant to say Flavor of the Week.
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This moment was ridiculously viral and Ross is the first driver to reach as far as he did in a long long time.

It's a big deal.

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jaqua19 said:
Ross is a bigger home run.

It builds off of what happened Martinsville.

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LOL ok. If Ross wins I'll meet you in the TV ratings thread after the Daytona 500 next year to ask you what happened
 
I'm wondering if someone outside the 4 will try and win the race or will the drivers put on kit gloves (as they have in the past).
 
jaqua19 said:
This moment was ridiculously viral and Ross is the first driver to reach as far as he did in a long long time.

It's a big deal.
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“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” ... Andy Warhol
 
AdoubleU24 said:
LOL ok. If Ross wins I'll meet you in the TV ratings thread after the Daytona 500 next year to ask you what happened
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LOL..because what I'm saying is so absurd. Dude, you need to not take offense to this.

This isn't about "ROSS IS THE NEW FACE..ELLIOTT IS A HAS BEEN STAR"


And it's not about Chase Elliott. And I think this sort of resistance, as if Elliott's reputation is somehow being threatened by supporters of Ross - it's not - is isolative.

it's simply this: something different just occured in this sport and it reached an unexpected wife variety of eyes. It's not unreasonable for fans to want to ride that wave and see what sort of traction it takes, if at all. This is exciting, and there's no personal shot against Elliott, and if you can take pause on wanting Elliott to win and shoving it in the faces of Ross and Larson fans, it's pretty clear as to why people may be jumping on board the Ross train for this one single race.

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Chase Elliott fans are the only people being so dismissive of the notion of riding the Ross hype.


Come on guys.

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Formerjackman said:
I don't know about polarizing, but I think he's duller than Chase is.
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I dunno I don’t agree. Kyle says more good quotes about sprint cars and what not. The wall ride is kinda embarrassing in a lot of other racing disciplines lol.
 
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