Rate The Race: Watkins Glen

8.5 Lots of intense racing going on. I'm liking the road courses more all the time. Missed Kybusch;s interview after both races this weekend.
 
9.5

My favorite track and one of my favorite races. I thought the racing was good with lots of position changes. I didn't mind most of the cautions but would have liked to have seen the 78 win. At least neither KyBu or Logano won.
 
29-4 said:
A piece of metal that could have been picked up with a local caution. A tire on pit road??
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A local caution? Nascar has no such thing. Quit whining about local cautions in Nascar.

What is a local caution anyway? In F1, a local yellow flag means no passing in that corner, and a perceptible slowing of speed. A momentary lift for a fraction of a second is all it takes to comply. If your time through a sector is 0.1 second slower than your fastest time, you are fine. Would you like to venture out onto the Watkins Glen tarmac that way? If so, you may have a death wish.

I didn't see the pit road deal, but Nascar has always thrown a caution before people cross pit road to pick up a tire that got away. As a blanket policy, it may be too conservative, but who wants to make the call which pit roads are safe to cross and which are not?
 
dirtguru said:
8.5 loved the racing, if they hadn't been racing hard they would have been single file and no cautions. Hate to see Larson get dumped at the end.
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What he said. There were a lot of cautions, 'cause there were a lot of wrecks. That was unfortunate, but didn't feel like artificial manipulation to me.

Rating: 8.5.
 
LewTheShoe said:
A local caution? Nascar has no such thing. Quit whining about local cautions in Nascar.

What is a local caution anyway? In F1, a local yellow flag means no passing in that corner, and a perceptible slowing of speed. A momentary lift for a fraction of a second is all it takes to comply. If your time through a sector is 0.1 second slower than your fastest time, you are fine. Would you like to venture out onto the Watkins Glen tarmac that way? If so, you may have a death wish.

I didn't see the pit road deal, but Nascar has always thrown a caution before people cross pit road to pick up a tire that got away. As a blanket policy, it may be too conservative, but who wants to make the call which pit roads are safe to cross and which are not?
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I would be more than happy to volunteer my veto power services for cautions........:D
 
LewTheShoe said:
What he said. There were a lot of cautions, 'cause there were a lot of wrecks. That was unfortunate, but didn't feel like artificial manipulation to me.

Rating: 8.5.
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I think you hit on the key word and that is "feel" as how one perceives or feels about something very often does not line up with the truth or how something actually is. There is no cloaked meaning in any of this as I have no doubt that some of the cautions I felt were bogus may in fact have been righteous.

With respect to bogus cautions one a year is too many as it throws any integrity the series has out the window. If it were just a few disgruntled fans claiming this practice took place it would be one thing but the criticisms come from all corners including current drivers. When asked about the caution clock coming to the truck series Brad Keselowski had this to say:


http://racing-forums.com/threads/rate-the-race-watkins-glen.54490/page-2

The caution clock “is an idea to move the sport forward, to add more transparency to what had before been debris yellows."

Dale Junior said: “My gut reaction is to not like it; it’s a bit of a way to manufacture a race,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “But at least you know when the cautions are coming and they won’t feel as manipulative as a debris caution that we tend to see. At least you can be ready for it, plan for it.”
 
Back in the day I didn't like road courses (probably because only a few drivers were any good at it) but I like them now. I was surprised to see Kez approach Truex to apologize for his last corner incident - he has learned from his past encounters. And I felt bad for Larson, AJ sounded genuine with his apology.
 
I liked that these guys/gal were racing hard for position. Things happen. It's racing whether it's the first lap or the last lap.

Good stuff from start to finish, cautions and all. I don't give a crap about all of that. It's part of racing. The best racing on the planet excluding dirt IMO. I'm thoroughly entertained week in and week out. Even after the race I find it entertaining how the internet world is crashing to an end by an errant tire. I'm also entertained to read people rate the race that state that they didn't watch the whole thing or how people watch the race in just a few minutes on their DVR. I've learned to become a lot more easy going about those things that I don't have control over. I could get as pi$$ed off as the next guy but it's not worth the aggravation. I've got bigger things in life that are worth deeper thought than a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. :D
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I liked that these guys/gal were racing hard for position. Things happen. It's racing whether it's the first lap or the last lap.

Good stuff from start to finish, cautions and all. I don't give a crap about all of that. It's part of racing. The best racing on the planet excluding dirt IMO. I'm thoroughly entertained week in and week out. Even after the race I find it entertaining how the internet world is crashing to an end by an errant tire. I'm also entertained to read people rate the race that state that they didn't watch the whole thing or how people watch the race in just a few minutes on their DVR. I've learned to become a lot more easy going about those things that I don't have control over. I could get as pi$$ed off as the next guy but it's not worth the aggravation. I've got bigger things in life that are worth deeper thought than a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. :D
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It is all good in my book as there are different strokes for different folks. For the life of me I cannot fathom how anyone could spend beautiful summer days inside hooked up to all manner of electronics keeping track of the distance between JJ Yeley and Kyle Busch. IDK how someone could sit through all the commercials and other advertisements plus long cautions or red flag periods. IDK how someone could watch a pre and post race shows where the drivers say the same thing week in and out. I don't understand how someone can understand that a race is being manipulated and be completely unconcerned. I don't understand why some women think 100 pairs of shoes are not that much to own but I honor it all as thank goodness everyone isn't the same.

I can't speak for you or anyone else but I have complete control over what I do with my discretionary time such as watching a race or sporting event. I took control yesterday by deleting the race before it was over and doing something I found enjoyable.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
Let me know how the maturity thing works out if you arrive but it sounds kind of dull to me......:D
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I'm still on the journey.

I saw you broke down on the side of the road a couple of weeks ago. I would have stopped but it looked like it might rain.
 
Matthew2470 said:
8.5
Wish there was an option to watch a helicopter view the entire race.
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Back in the good old days ESPN had a copter at the track each week if memory serves. Overhead shots give great perspective.
 
The race seemed to be an 8, but once again the NBC coverage was a 3 at best. It seems like everytime something interesting happens on the track, NBC is either at commercial or going to commercial, i.e. the Gordon-Dillon incident. We had to wait 10 mins until they finally showed us what happened. All we knew was that sunndenly the 88 had a hood so bent up he could barely see over it.

I thought most cautions were legit yesterday but the tire on pit road and the "debris" caution for the brake hose barely on the track was a bit much.
 
LouieLouie said:
The race seemed to be an 8, but once again the NBC coverage was a 3 at best. It seems like everytime something interesting happens on the track, NBC is either at commercial or going to commercial, i.e. the Gordon-Dillon incident. We had to wait 10 mins until they finally showed us what happened. All we knew was that sunndenly the 88 had a hood so bent up he could barely see over it.

I thought most cautions were legit yesterday but the tire on pit road and the "debris" caution for the brake hose barely on the track was a bit much.
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I agree that NBC's coverage is poor and the cautions you mentioned were unneeded.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Maybe we should have a separate 'Rate the Coverage' discussion (TV / radio / electronic media) after each race, to join this one and 'Bonehead'.
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IMO the race quality has gone downhill as have the TV broadcasts so I am grateful that college ball, the NFL and hockey will be staring soon. I do want to see Darlington and Martinsville this year for sure but it will probably be bits and pieces here and there for the rest of them.
 
Racing 8
Coverage 3
Booth 0

I never thought I would say this but I would prefer Jaws with Gordon over this group. Maybe
because Jaws is learning to listen to Gordon and follow his lead.

The only good thing I can say about NBC is "no Mikey"
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
With respect to bogus cautions one a year is too many as it throws any integrity the series has out the window. If it were just a few disgruntled fans claiming this practice took place it would be one thing but the criticisms come from all corners including current drivers.
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Yes, I completely agree that there have been cases of bogus cautions and others that are borderline, but that is not the current discussion. My comments were addressed to one R-F member ( @29-4 ) who repeatedly has said Nascar should send someone onto the track to clean up debris under green flag running plus a local yellow. That is a bogus suggestion, not a bogus caution.

Also, the tire rolling across pit road is a matter of policy that has been uniformly applied. So doing that on Sunday isn't bogus either; it is being consistent. I don't know if it is a bad policy or a good policy, but if there are safety benefits, the fact that it only triggers a yellow flag once per year is relevant to the "cost" of the safety benefit.

Please let's not turn this "rate the race" thread into another discussion of the caution clock truck series rule...:eek:
 
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