Rate The Cup Race: Fontana

8.3. A scarcity of cautions, some good racing for position throughout the pack, plenty of lines / grooves for the cars to use, drivers having to manage their tires, green flag stops.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Did you enjoy the racing in the 90s?
Click to expand...



That’s a fair point, but for every beatdown there was a great finish or suprprise winner somewhere. When’s the last great finish we had on a 1.5+ track? My immediate reaction is California 2013-14 but I could be forgetting something. The problem imo is that this is becoming the norm, not a once in awhile thing
 
3, about what I expected from a California race. Just too bad it has been 4 straight weeks of some of the worst racing I’ve sat through. Maybe a chicane should be placed on the back stretch of every 1.5 to 2 mile speedway, not like it can get any worse. I mean yesterday’s 12 hour of Sebring was a second or two away from a closer finish.
 
DaBiff1618 said:
That’s a fair point, but for every beatdown there was a great finish or suprprise winner somewhere. When’s the last great finish we had on a 1.5+ track? My immediate reaction is California 2013-14 but I could be forgetting something. The problem imo is that this is becoming the norm, not a once in awhile thing
Click to expand...
Rose colored glasses. People complain about domination now but nobody wants to remember Jeff Gordon winning 13 races in a season and dominating nearly everything else.

Not every race will be an instant classic.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Rose colored glasses. People complain about domination now but nobody wants to remember Jeff Gordon winning 13 races in a season and dominating nearly everything else.

Not every race will be an instant classic.
Click to expand...

Ohh I remember!! I also remember Rusty winning 10 races yet failing to win the title....ugh. Elliott's '85 season was similar.
 
6.5 - Need a little more "Chocolate Drama" than that. Nap was good though!
 
7.5. I love everything about Fontana, such a great race track. Yeah, it was a runaway for the final 30 laps, but lots of gritty performances throughout the top 20 today. And excellent in-car TV work to show us how difficult this was, how long the drivers have to pedal it trying to get back to full throttle off the corners.

Throughout the top 20 to 25 positions, this race showed the stark contrast between modern cup racing and prior eras of "just logging laps." Love that part.

LOL at the "Intimidator Imitator" AKA Driver #4... "Don't race me hard, boy, or I'll door slam your car and whip your ass." Oops.
 
It gets a stout 7 from me.

The highlights of the race were seeing Too Happy Harvick taking himself out with the aid of Kyle Larson's car, and then getting to see a replay of Homestead... I mean today's action in which Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. went at it for lap after lap until Kyle faded due to a bad adjustment. Not a bad race at all, certainly can't complain about the outcome.
 
JBone88 said:
I actually enjoyed this one a lot more than Phoenix or Vegas. Mostly cause of the way this track races. Multiple grooves. Guys jumping the seams and hitting the wall. It’s good stuff.

A dominant car winning by 7 seconds is the norm these days. What can ya do?
Click to expand...
Quiet or Brian will bring back mandatory GWC finishes
 
It looked like a bumpy track. I figured the best suspension setup would win the day. I noticed a lot of stuff going on in the field during the few restarts. Long green flag racing doesn't allow teams to make a lot of adjustments - they have to get it right or move further back behind the leaders. I wonder what Harvick was thinking, during the pre-race commentary they spoke of how Harvick was in every bodies head but on the track it looked like Larson got into Harvick's head. Passing was hard but possible, the drivers knew to keep things close on parts of the track, drivers who ran the low line needed the high lane coming off the corner but drivers running the high line took that away. It took drivers a number of laps to figure out where they could gain enough to get the pass.
 
10. Racing is good all the time. This will be my rating for the remainder of the season.
 
I rate it a 7. Sucks to see the race dominated and run away with, but that is how it goes sometimes. The racing between Harvick and Larson for a handful of laps and the battle between Busch and Truex were great, great racing. Larson throwing a slider on Busch for second and Busch crossing over and them going wheel to wheel into turn one is just about as good as it gets. McMurray also shot a 4 wide gap off of 2 that I didn't think would work. Weather was great at the track, food was good and the stands looked pretty good from our spot in turn 1. Solid day all around.

However, I give the 5 hour drive to and home a 1, but it's worth it.
 
7.5. Maybe if it didn't get so spread out (though at least there wasn't a phantom yellow late) I'd rate it higher. The racing was decent when they battled.
 
10. TRD win. Best showing overall for Toyota that I can remember here. Enjoyed it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom