Rate The Cup Race: Phoenix I

7

Thank you Kyle Busch for at least trying to race the 4 car ... nobody else seemed to bother
 
9.5. It's ironic that the epic battle in stage 3 was between the only three active Nascar drivers that I actively dislike (Harvick, Busch, Hamlin). But despite my personal disdain for those three, it was a great battle. I was hoping the 9 could get up there, but it was not to be.

PS: a big raspberry goes to Harvick for his week-long tantrum about the Las Vegas penalty. What a douche nozzle cry baby. Man up, Kevin, before Delana kicks your ass!
 
LewTheShoe said:
9.5. It's ironic that the epic battle in stage 3 was between the only three active Nascar drivers that I actively dislike (Harvick, Busch, Hamlin). But despite my personal disdain for those three, it was a great battle. I was hoping the 9 could get up there, but it was not to be.

PS: a big raspberry goes to Harvick for his week-long tantrum about the Las Vegas penalty. What a douche nozzle cry baby. Man up, Kevin, before Delana kicks your ass!
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Pretty much my thoughts, I'd give it a 9. I didn't watch the entire race closely, but saw all of "Stage 3" and that awesome back-and-forth race between those three. That is the essence of what great NASCAR racing is to me, and I am enthusiastic that we are seeing more frequent and longer green flag runs this year that allow battles like that to develop. That doesn't always happen, but even when it doesn't, the strategy and premium on execution is far more interesting to me than constant cautions and restarts. Phoenix is one of the best tracks on the circuit.

Even worse than Harvick's whining were the portions of media coverage that were sympathetic to it. The team got caught for rules infractions, and were penalized, deservedly. They're still the best in the field right now. Get over it, everyone.
 
I don't see how people give this a 9? This was Harvick all the way, once he got the lead again, game over.
 
8 - really stoked how Elliott came back up through the pack a time or two.

Disclaimer - since I attended the Atl. United /DC United at the Mercedes Dome,
I watched this whole race on the DVR in 15 minutes.
 
Hotrod said:
8 - really stoked how Elliott came back up through the pack a time or two.

Disclaimer - since I attended the Atl. United /DC United at the Mercedes Dome,
I watched this whole race on the DVR in 15 minutes.
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Ahhh probably why the 8
 
yeah - my 9's and 10's are reserved for last lap beating and banging for the wins.

But I get your point. What can I say , it was my first live pro soccer match. That's some crazy fandom stuff there let me tell ya.
 
LewTheShoe said:
9.5. It's ironic that the epic battle in stage 3 was between the only three active Nascar drivers that I actively dislike (Harvick, Busch, Hamlin). But despite my personal disdain for those three, it was a great battle. I was hoping the 9 could get up there, but it was not to be.

PS: a big raspberry goes to Harvick for his week-long tantrum about the Las Vegas penalty. What a douche nozzle cry baby. Man up, Kevin, before Delana kicks your ass!
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I agree about it being a good race but I was surprised by how un-spiffy Team Penske performed.
 
Contrats to Harvick for winning 3 in a row - an uncommon thing to do. I was wondering how removing the aero advantage would affect the car but I'd say it came down to the driver at Phoenix. The cars looked fast on that 1 mile track and they were able to pass. I thought he was diplomatic referring to the penalty in the post race interview. It is still early in the season but the top 10 seems to be changing this season.
 
sdj said:
9

Especially for Harvicks win! Proof that the items in the penalties had no performance enhancing effect.
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Doesn't mean any such thing. First off, the differences in the tracks would negate any direct comparison. Second, if the infraction did provide some advantage, we'll never know how much. If it made the car a tenth or a half a tenth faster at Vegas, would anybody be able to tell?
 
7.5 I saw enough of the race to give it a rating. I didn't know whether to go with a solid 7 or a hollow 8 so I split the difference. I thought it was the best race of the year to date and the good racing wasn't just on restarts which is often the case.
 
It's so rare that we see an actual battle - that fleeting moment where two or more competitors have to actually work against each other - that when it happens it gets high praise.
 
It's not rare to me, I followed Almirola, Byron, and Elliott to name a few, battle back and fourth from losing spots on pit row, to having good and bad setups and moving up and down the leader board all day long. Racing isn't a simple game.
 
Acs said:
It's so rare that we see an actual battle - that fleeting moment where two or more competitors have to actually work against each other - that when it happens it gets high praise.
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What's rare is for TV to look beyond the front five or six cars and show us the battles for position that are taking place further back in the field. Three cars fighting for Lucky Dog is more entertaining than watching the leader make laps.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
What's rare is for TV to look beyond the front five or six cars and show us the battles for position that are taking place further back in the field. Three cars fighting for Lucky Dog is more entertaining than watching the leader make laps.
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they caught a lot of the action IMO so far this year, even going to split screen to show individual battles. You can't follow it all, even if you are there at the race.
 
StandOnIt said:
they caught a lot of the action IMO so far this year, even going to split screen to show individual battles. You can't follow it all, even if you are there at the race.
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Yeah, they seem to be doing a better job so far this season. It'll go to crap when the Chase starts and they only focus on the playoff drivers. That's not a dig at NBC; the same thing would happen regardless of which network covered those 10 races.
 
9.5

Woah. Hot, slick, slippery race track where you could anywhere from a width below the apron to damn near the wall, the ability to sustain side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper battles, varying pit sequences, the whole nine yards. That Hamlin/Harvick/Busch battle for the lead was a thing of beauty, probably the best we have seen in a long time. And NASCAR has really cut down on the bull**** with cautions this year.
 
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