Rate The Race: Sonoma

blanston said:
#NASCAR Logano on end: "Going into Turn 11 I was 100 percent sure that Denny was not going to win just by watching it." Prepared 4 contact
From Twitter.

He just capitalized on a mistake. Nothing fishy. Just good, hard racing.
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denny fkd up w/ bump on his pass.....knew it.....went wide in 11......big deal .
good for tony and sport that he won . !!
 
LewTheShoe said:
Say what? Everyone had four new tires with 22 to go. How is that a "tires race?"
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Because the majority of the field felt the need to pit for tires when the stuart caution came out at 22, even if they had enough fuel to make it. We're used to seeing teams pit only when absolutely needed for fuel, but with the new tire codes that's not the case and the number of stops has gone from 3 to 5 or more.
 
^ Lower downforce with softer tires... good for what ails ya! Better get used to that!
 
LewTheShoe said:
Say what? Everyone had four new tires with 22 to go. How is that a "tires race?"
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That, plus Sonoma is harder on tires than every other track except maybe Darlington. Sonoma has ALWAYS been a "tires race".
 
Leader couldn't be passed unless a mistake was made or during a restart. Not a single spin on the most complex circuit? F1 can't manage that with a field of 22.

Was nice of Denny to pull over in turn 11 and let Tony win.

Would have been the most sterile road race i've seen if not for the strange ending.

5
 
Team Penske said:
Very good race. I noticed that without the "ringers" there were very few Bonsai moves which meant drivers were racing but not banging each other. Lots of cars on the lead lap. 9. for the race and 10 for the winning moves.
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If you can't stay on the lead lap at a RC something is really wrong.

rocket dawg said:
I like Tony, but I declare shenanigans, once again. Was this was another "ratings game" caution? very questionable especially when Tony pitted and came out in front. Did henny damlin over shoot the last turn on purpose? Hell yeah. I aint buying it. Last year kyle bus'h dominance after an injury? yeah same thing. No wonder people are losing interest. Most any major sport can be "managed" for ratings except golf. Seeing a Chevrolet beat a foreign car makes my day, but this looked way too intentional to me. Sorry, but I aint buying it. Tony is a great road course driver and I like to see him win, but this was handed to him for ratings plain and simple. Losing interest? oh yeah . maybe someone threw that "spring rubber" out the window on that caution. There are so many "ratings" moves by nascar it isnt even funny. Most of you wont remember this but in 1992 Richard Petty's last Daytona race ever ( in July) he qualified 2nd . He had a hard time qualifying in the top 35 his last 3 years, most times he had a "past champions provisional" to make the race.I really like R. Petty back then and still do but it was highly questionable back then. I can name at least 10 different "ratings game" things that have happened over the years How about Danica makes the pole for her very first Daytona?? Before all you neah sayers come crashing down on me, I like Tony and I'm happy he won but it really looked fishy to me. Too fishy.
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If Nascar is manipulating things to get better racing they are failing miserably as attendance, overall interest and TV ratings are poor compared to years past.

I was expecting more as Sonoma is usually one of the high points in the Nascar season for me. I was glad to see Tony win but a 6.5 reflects what I saw.
 
Tony or Martin. Martin or Tony. The racing Gods were toying with me!!! I was pulling for both to win, a virtual dead heat!!!!
Crews giving Tony congrats was reminiscent of SR's Daytona win.
A 10
 
10 - Good racing, great camera shots, lots of action all over.

PS: I thought the spring rubber way out of the racing grooves caution was
Bull ****.gif
 
rocket dawg said:
I like Tony, but I declare shenanigans, once again. Was this was another "ratings game" caution? very questionable especially when Tony pitted and came out in front. Did henny damlin over shoot the last turn on purpose? Hell yeah. I aint buying it. Last year kyle bus'h dominance after an injury? yeah same thing. No wonder people are losing interest. Most any major sport can be "managed" for ratings except golf. Seeing a Chevrolet beat a foreign car makes my day, but this looked way too intentional to me. Sorry, but I aint buying it. Tony is a great road course driver and I like to see him win, but this was handed to him for ratings plain and simple. Losing interest? oh yeah . maybe someone threw that "spring rubber" out the window on that caution. There are so many "ratings" moves by nascar it isnt even funny. Most of you wont remember this but in 1992 Richard Petty's last Daytona race ever ( in July) he qualified 2nd . He had a hard time qualifying in the top 35 his last 3 years, most times he had a "past champions provisional" to make the race.I really like R. Petty back then and still do but it was highly questionable back then. I can name at least 10 different "ratings game" things that have happened over the years How about Danica makes the pole for her very first Daytona?? Before all you neah sayers come crashing down on me, I like Tony and I'm happy he won but it really looked fishy to me. Too fishy.
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good race a 9 - but I must admit a lot of what is said above did come into my head also. Hope I am wrong............
 
At times there was some good passing. The better road course drivers could pass, Gordon seemed to know when and were some drivers were going to pass. I was cheering Tony and was totally bummed when Hamlin passed in on the last lap. I thought Denny pulled over to let Tony by but Gordon mentioned Hamlin was probably watching his mirror too much (Denny seemed to say that), the replay looked like wheel hop (although Denny denied that). I was thrilled to see Tony get by for the win.

I thought is was a good first season for Gordon in the booth.
 
Give it a 9.5 ! That was the best damn race seen in a long time!! It wouldn't matter who won. It was a damn good race. Coverage was decent, especially the aerial shots, the in-track cameras they can keep locked in the trailer. DAMN! But I love road courses!!!! Especially notice none of the drivers got off course, spinning or getting stuck, bringing out cautions. Did I say it was a damn good race? 'Cause it sure was!!!
 
10. Proud that TRD could engineer a car that was better than the rest on a road course. Hadn't ever really seen that, but IMO the TRD Toyotas were the class of the field. Tony proved that driver enters the equation.
 
TRD? These car chassis are virtually identical on all 40 teams and all built in there shops. No matter what engine or decals they slap on them. TuRD had nothing to do with it. Its gear ratio selection, brakes, and shocks/springs, mostly brakes though. It was gibbs that had the fast cars. If TuRD was that good, why didnt the other toyoters run up front instead of 35th? You've been drinking the kool-aid.
 
rocket dawg said:
TRD? These car chassis are virtually identical on all 40 teams and all built in there shops. No matter what engine or decals they slap on them. TuRD had nothing to do with it. Its gear ratio selection, brakes, and shocks/springs, mostly brakes though. It was gibbs that had the fast cars. If TuRD was that good, why didnt the other toyoters run up front instead of 35th? You've been drinking the kool-aid.
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If you would really like to discuss this, please let me know. Sounds to me like you don't like Toyota and you have it all figured out, and that's fine with me. IMO there are comments embedded in your post that don't flatter the perception of your understanding of Toyota's involvement in this sport.
 
Zerkfitting said:
At times there was some good passing. The better road course drivers could pass, Gordon seemed to know when and were some drivers were going to pass. I was cheering Tony and was totally bummed when Hamlin passed in on the last lap. I thought Denny pulled over to let Tony by but Gordon mentioned Hamlin was probably watching his mirror too much (Denny seemed to say that), the replay looked like wheel hop (although Denny denied that). I was thrilled to see Tony get by for the win.

I thought is was a good first season for Gordon in the booth.
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Lol....Denny 100% chance pulled over. Not to take away from Tony's day, though. He did "earn" the win. It wasn't a fluke.
 
9.5

Again, if Hamlin was "fixing" the race he never would have passed Tony. Why get your car all banged up when you can just stay 4 lengths back and claim something was "going away". If that were the case I might buy into the "fix" theory.
 
Racer1930 said:
9.5

Again, if Hamlin was "fixing" the race he never would have passed Tony. Why get your car all banged up when you can just stay 4 lengths back and claim something was "going away". If that were the case I might buy into the "fix" theory.
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Totally with you. So, I asked a Cup driver the same question. This was the text exchange:

Me: So why would he pass him in the first place?

Him: Just to let him know ;)

(By the way, if I ever use "100% chance" on this forum, it's not because I'm that confident in my own two eyes...it's because I've done enough research to be certain.)
 
rocket dawg said:
I like Tony, but I declare shenanigans, once again. Was this was another "ratings game" caution? very questionable especially when Tony pitted and came out in front. Did henny damlin over shoot the last turn on purpose? Hell yeah. I aint buying it. Last year kyle bus'h dominance after an injury? yeah same thing. No wonder people are losing interest. Most any major sport can be "managed" for ratings except golf. Seeing a Chevrolet beat a foreign car makes my day, but this looked way too intentional to me. Sorry, but I aint buying it. Tony is a great road course driver and I like to see him win, but this was handed to him for ratings plain and simple. Losing interest? oh yeah . maybe someone threw that "spring rubber" out the window on that caution. There are so many "ratings" moves by nascar it isnt even funny. Most of you wont remember this but in 1992 Richard Petty's last Daytona race ever ( in July) he qualified 2nd . He had a hard time qualifying in the top 35 his last 3 years, most times he had a "past champions provisional" to make the race.I really like R. Petty back then and still do but it was highly questionable back then. I can name at least 10 different "ratings game" things that have happened over the years How about Danica makes the pole for her very first Daytona?? Before all you neah sayers come crashing down on me, I like Tony and I'm happy he won but it really looked fishy to me. Too fishy.
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If you gathered up all the foil wrappers from around the top of Sonoma wine bottles opened this weekend, you could make one ginormous hat.
 
Allenbaba said:
Totally with you. So, I asked a Cup driver the same question. This was the text exchange:

Me: So why would he pass him in the first place?

Him: Just to let him know ;)

(By the way, if I ever use "100% chance" on this forum, it's not because I'm that confident in my own two eyes...it's because I've done enough research to be certain.)
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Wondering when this post is going to blow the board up... :idunno: I would pass a hat to have you call into the almighty NASCAR Radio with your post. Moody is roasting anybody that comes within 500 miles of anybody suggesting such things.
 
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Allenbaba said:
Totally with you. So, I asked a Cup driver the same question. This was the text exchange:

Me: So why would he pass him in the first place?

Him: Just to let him know ;)

(By the way, if I ever use "100% chance" on this forum, it's not because I'm that confident in my own two eyes...it's because I've done enough research to be certain.)
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Unless Hamlin himself told you this I ain't buying it. He's the only one who would know..
 
Allenbaba said:
Totally with you. So, I asked a Cup driver the same question. This was the text exchange:

Me: So why would he pass him in the first place?

Him: Just to let him know ;)

(By the way, if I ever use "100% chance" on this forum, it's not because I'm that confident in my own two eyes...it's because I've done enough research to be certain.)
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It sure looked suspicious. :idunno:
 
Allenbaba said:
Totally with you. So, I asked a Cup driver the same question. This was the text exchange:

Me: So why would he pass him in the first place?

Him: Just to let him know ;)
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So Hamlin was toying with Stewart, passing at will but then slowing to give it back? How do you explain that the 78 and 19 couldn't keep up? Maybe dropping back to make it look good? And the 22 was coming, but just to take third, being happy behind Hamlin. Who wrote that script?

Sorry, Allenbaba, you may trust your source's interpretation of events, but I don't.
 
I guess the other "point of interest" for me was that the broadcast crew caught Tony's Crew Chief saying over the radio something like "It ain't over yet" after he got passed on the last lap. A logical thing for the C.C. to say to motivate Tony - but something you wouldn't expect the Fox broadcast truck guys to catch and put on the air that fast - unless they were hoping to catch Tony in a reaction tirade.

Who knows? If it was a setup it was a dang good one compared to NASCAR's usual obvious stuff... :rolleyes:
 
Chatter between the spotters on the last few laps who were talking on encrypted signals to the drivers (from the conspiracy vault):

Denny's Spotter: "We are faster..$1m and you win"

Tony's Spotter: "$250,000"

D-S: "Nope...a million or we pass you"

T-S: "$500,000"

D-S: "nope...here we come"

(passes)

T-S: "OK...one million cash"

D-S: "Done"
 
Clutch said:
It sure looked suspicious. :idunno:
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I'm with you. it looked way too goofy to me. Tony had to make up about 75 feet on the last corner and magically he did. Not just by braking, but from the previous turn he was that much behind. I'm sticking to my guns here. I LIKE TONY BUT the FINISH was QUESTIONABLE to say the least.. The rest of you blind people should re-watch it with your wife or "significant other" and get their opinion if you can stomach it. Tony's last year? A caution when he was the only one on pit road? henny damlin could have passed him any time with 15 laps to go. One last remark to aunty dive, if you want to ask me out do it, but I'm happily married and dont need a girl friend at this time, so please stop stalking me on these threads LOL
 
rocket dawg said:
One last remark to aunty dive, if you want to ask me out do it, but I'm happily married and dont need a girl friend at this time, so please stop stalking me on these threads LOL
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You're spurning my advances? After I rated your nonsense at 9.5? That post got 3 likes.

I'm deeply hurt.
 
I don't think NASCAR set this up for Tony, or had anything to do with anything. I don't think any "fix" occurred. I think Tony had a top 5 car, and his team came up with a great strategy, and he's as good a road course driver as there is (I actually started him on my fantasy team this week). There wasn't some grand conspiracy. Tony had a car capable of winning all day.

If you asked me for my opinion (which is the same opinion as most) Denny had mixed emotions for the last several laps about Tony winning this race. Denny is a driver's driver. It's why he's so active in the council. He and Tony are tight. Denny knows what a Tony win would do for the sport, for Tony, for other drivers etc. And so...at pretty much the very last possible moment...said "ah f*ck it" and tanked it. That's all. No massive conspiracy. No NASCAR orders. No other teams or drivers involved. Just one guy doing what one guy felt like doing, right or wrong.

Oh and by the way, there's two pretty significant side effects from Tony winning as far as Denny/JGR/Toyota is concerned. 1) Chase field will now be weakened, since Tony will (most likely) be a first round exit (and all their top dogs are already in). And 2) Kurt and Kevin will be weakened. SHR now has to prepare 3 cars for the Chase, with an emphasis on the boss & his farewell tour, as opposed to only two cars using all the best and brightest minds to focus on, arguably, the two most consistent cars in the field. Some in that camp might call a race winner/Chase participant like Tony "good for business."

You better believe the contending teams in the garage think about that kind of stuff.
 
Well, to go off of that theory, the post race chat was certainly intimate:

"Probably one of the best parts and one of the parts I'll probably remember most about this race was before I got to Victory Lane and Denny leaning in there and the first thing he says is 'I'm so damned proud of you.' That meant the world to me. I mean, I told him right after that, and I said, 'You know I had to do that,' and he goes, 'I know.'"

And that night they had passionate make-up sex in the camper. All was well.
 
Allenbaba said:
I don't think NASCAR set this up for Tony, or had anything to do with anything. I don't think any "fix" occurred. I think Tony had a top 5 car, and his team came up with a great strategy, and he's as good a road course driver as there is (I actually started him on my fantasy team this week). There wasn't some grand conspiracy. Tony had a car capable of winning all day.

If you asked me for my opinion (which is the same opinion as most) Denny had mixed emotions for the last several laps about Tony winning this race. Denny is a driver's driver. It's why he's so active in the council. He and Tony are tight. Denny knows what a Tony win would do for the sport, for Tony, for other drivers etc. And so...at pretty much the very last possible moment...said "ah f*ck it" and tanked it. That's all. No massive conspiracy. No NASCAR orders. No other teams or drivers involved. Just one guy doing what one guy felt like doing, right or wrong.

Oh and by the way, there's two pretty significant side effects from Tony winning as far as Denny/JGR/Toyota is concerned. 1) Chase field will now be weakened, since Tony will (most likely) be a first round exit (and all their top dogs are already in). And 2) Kurt and Kevin will be weakened. SHR now has to prepare 3 cars for the Chase, with an emphasis on the boss & his farewell tour, as opposed to only two cars using all the best and brightest minds to focus on, arguably, the two most consistent cars in the field. Some in that camp might call a race winner/Chase participant like Tony "good for business."

You better believe the contending teams in the garage think about that kind of stuff.
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that shr stuff.....3 cars in chase.....may be too cerebral for conspiracy guys here ! :D
 
6.5. If Hambone threw the race he should be investigated and banned from the sport, period. If NASCAR allows such an event to happen and does nothing about then they are not a legitimate sporting event and should be shut down.
 
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