Was the 2017 NASCAR season a good season?

Wasn't a great season, but I didn't think it was too bad. Their was a number of really bad races, but IMO the same amount of great races, with the rest being just ok. I went to 4 cup races, having great times at all of them, besides the fact Johnson and Kyle Busch won 3 of the 4, with of all people, Dillion winning the other. Truex finally having his breakout season was awesome, Brad and Chase were pretty good but have tons of work to do in the off-season, and my new # 4 driver with Jr retiring, Larson was far and away the best Chevy and showed people what he can do week in and week out. Even though Jr was poor most of the year, he ran well every race I went to and that's all I can ask for.
 
Also meeting the Champ, Larson, Danica, Larry-Mac, etc. through-out the season made it pretty good too

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To me, 2017 was an outstanding year of racing, even better than 2016 which was also outstanding. The substantial reduction of downforce was a key ingredient, adding to the degree of difficulty and reducing (but not eliminating) the aero benefit of clean air. There were still several races that were real stinkers, mostly due to single-groove tracks such as Charlotte and repaved Kentucky.

Also, the points system was much better than 2014-16, and this was an important improvement to me. I also thought stage racing worked very well, better than I expected. The biggest negative to me was the sizable speed advantage held by the Toyotas. I'm hoping for a more level playing field in 2018.
 
One of the worst in the last ten years. If I would have known junior was going to half throttle it most of the season, and chase would choke every time his car sniffed the lead, would not have bothered.

In my household Twins Sunday afternoon baseball, or Saturday evening boxing, now takes precedence over any Motorsport event.
 
I was entertained most weeks. The stage racing was an excellent addition. I also enjoyed the drama that the playoffs provided. Not having all of my emotions tied to a single driver has allowed me to enjoy things on a different level. The highs aren't as high but the lows are pretty much non-existent other than a bit of minor frustration with the 24 not winning this year. The current NASCAR is fun to watch. All that's missing is a major rivalry.
 
I feel like it was an average season, but this year the parity seemed less than ever until the end of the season. The 78, 18 and 42 were light years ahead of everyone else in speed. Each of them gave away or lost a handful of races. Larson had several second places in the first half of the year, and who knows how any of his 4 DNFs at the end would've turned out. Kyle Busch lost a bunch of races due to late yellows or unfortunate circumstances. The fact that we had so many winners is a miracle in my mind. Towards the end of the season, the 24 and 4 were able to compete with them some.
 
I really like following Nascar for all the craziness and the non stop changes that are taking place so this year was a great year for me. IMO the biggest thing to happen in Nascar was essentially giving away the title sponsorship as I believe it ushered in a lot of changes and will be the gift that keeps on giving. I believe things like lower driver salaries, drivers being forced into retirement and sponsors either walking away or not being willing to sign for a big dollar amount or term can be laid at the feet of the Monster deal.

Who knows as maybe BKez doesn't have to shut down his truck team if he didn't have to take a pay cut and maybe charters would be worth more than a buck 99. The rules on engines and the discussion of spec engines, the number of employees and their duties at the track and air guns would not have been implemented. It is almost as if once the Monster deal was signed the curtain was pulled back and a light went on for everyone involved with supplying money to Nascar.

As far as the on track product goes what I think doesn't matter. The empty seats and continual loss of viewers are the arbiter of that.

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I like stage racing and the playoffs, but seeing one car that was far and away superior than everyone else every week was extremely boring. It's a huge accomplishment for the 78 team to have been as great as they were, probably the most dominant season-long performance since Gordon in 1998. But for me, it was boring as hell and took away from a lot of the positives of the year.

Hopefully the other manufacturers and teams step up their game.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I like stage racing and the playoffs, but seeing one car that was far and away superior than everyone else every week was extremely boring. It's a huge accomplishment for the 78 team to have been as great as they were, probably the most dominant season-long performance since Gordon in 1998. But for me, it was boring as hell and took away from a lot of the positives of the year.

Hopefully the other manufacturers and teams step up their game.
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I think there are 2 ways to look at it as on one hand dominating performances can be see as being dull and predictable or you can sit back and appreciate what is involved by becoming that good that often. Whether it is in racing or sports I think it can take a period of many years before outstanding accomplishments are appreciated.
 
I enjoyed this season. The competition was really tilted, but it was interesting watching drivers who were good driving in the slower brands come up to the top. I am optimistic that next year it won't be two cars from the same brand running away from the pack. Larson and Elliott had exceptional years considering. Harvick and Kez after getting hamstringed early fought a brilliant end game to make it to the final four.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I think there are 2 ways to look at it as on one hand dominating performances can be see as being dull and predictable or you can sit back and appreciate what is involved by becoming that good that often. Whether it is in racing or sports I think it can take a period of many years before outstanding accomplishments are appreciated.
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If he won every single race, or led every single lap in one race, that's a performance so dominant, you have to appreciate it. If he goes and wins six straight championships, same deal.

The other hard part about it is, Truex's domination was limited to the mile-and-a-half tracks. Watkins Glen was the only race he won that wasn't at a mile-and-a-half track and it was a fuel mileage win.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I like stage racing and the playoffs, but seeing one car that was far and away superior than everyone else every week was extremely boring. It's a huge accomplishment for the 78 team to have been as great as they were, probably the most dominant season-long performance since Gordon in 1998. But for me, it was boring as hell and took away from a lot of the positives of the year.

Hopefully the other manufacturers and teams step up their game.
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Maybe the days of following Chad are done and the current CC's need to reinvent their ideas.
I noticed that young guns coming up with their own CC's seems to be better than the drivers having old CC's set in their ways forced upon them.
It was sad to see Joey have to deal with Tony's old CC and yet look at the change when he got away from him. Blaney went to Wood Bros with his Xfinity team and did a good job.
Not only are the drivers going to have to accept lower salaries but the CC's are as well and we may see an exodus of them from the sport.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
If he won every single race, or led every single lap in one race, that's a performance so dominant, you have to appreciate it. If he goes and wins six straight championships, same deal.

The other hard part about it is, Truex's domination was limited to the mile-and-a-half tracks. Watkins Glen was the only race he won that wasn't at a mile-and-a-half track and it was a fuel mileage win.
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very fast road course with many high speed corners..favors a car with high D/F
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
If he won every single race, or led every single lap in one race, that's a performance so dominant, you have to appreciate it. If he goes and wins six straight championships, same deal.

The other hard part about it is, Truex's domination was limited to the mile-and-a-half tracks. Watkins Glen was the only race he won that wasn't at a mile-and-a-half track and it was a fuel mileage win.
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48 won his championships because the chase were predominantly mile and half. It will be that way until Nascar makes real changes.
 
Team Penske said:
48 won his championships because the chase were predominantly mile and half. It will be that way until Nascar makes real changes.
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:confused:

You must not remember Jimmie Johnson's Reign of Terror very well. He also won the Chase races at Martinsville and Phoenix pretty regularly. He had Dover on lockdown too. The Brickyard 400 became the Jimmie Johnson Invitational. Richmond became his playground.

I remember social media melting down when Jimmie Johnson won at Bristol and Sonoma in the same year became fans thought those were safe spaces from the Jimmie Johnson Reign of Terror.

There's no comparison here. Truex's domination was limited to mile-and-a-half tracks.
 
FLRacingFan said:
It was decent. Not extraordinary, not terrible. It seemed to start out strong and then got less interesting as the season went on. I think that's a combination of viewer fatigue, scheduling, and TRD dominance.
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I think there is validity to all your points as I know I liked the season up until Memorial Day but the the June-July-August schedule of races can feature some real clunkers and I am not a fan of MIS and Pocono so for me that is 4 weeks of tedium on its own. IMO Nascar would be better served long term by having 2 races at the same tracks on occasional weekends in order to get the season finished up sooner. With the 3 series I feel there is an oversupply of product, you can walk up and get tickets to a race 1 minute before it starts and there is nothing exclusive or special about being a fan.
 
2017 was excellent. Truex and Larson showed us what they are capable of doing, Chase Elliott rose through the ranks, we had some new faces in VL, and a few more who have not won for a while made sure that they were relevant for a little while longer yet. It was interesting to see who prevailed as some other notable names flunked. It has been a rather unique year; next year will be a pleasure to follow with all of the promising new names that are making their debuts with the big teams.
 
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I enjoyed it a lot. And I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the Hendrick guys were better, specifically Dale. It was tough to watch him struggle in his final season. Chase Elliott running well was a definite positive, but I really wish I could've seen him get a win.

I'm really looking forward to 2018 with some of the changes, specifically the Camaro. Also excited to see Byron and Bowman, and I'm hoping the 48 team rebounds, and Chase wins multiple races. :D
 
I thought it was good, and I am very happy with 2017 Champ and Toyota winning the manufacture title, so I am happy.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I like stage racing and the playoffs, but seeing one car that was far and away superior than everyone else every week was extremely boring. It's a huge accomplishment for the 78 team to have been as great as they were, probably the most dominant season-long performance since Gordon in 1998. But for me, it was boring as hell and took away from a lot of the positives of the year.

Hopefully the other manufacturers and teams step up their game.
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I don't mind seeing a car that is dominant and far superior ......... that just shows they did their homework and everyone else is sucking hind teat ...... they others... as you said... need to get off their laurels and step it up...... I see nothing wrong with that..... What made me think this was a great year is that...... Even though Nascar was intent on throwing a stupid lottery for the last race to crown a Champion...... the best team..... the most consistent throughout the year won....... as it should be..... consistency........ not dog-assed luck in the last race...... and..... not luck getting into the last races..... even though Truex was far and above the caliber of the rest of the field for the entire year.... he could have been locked out of being even considered for the Cup had he faltered in any of the ''Chase races''...... You may be just slobbering happy with Brian and his ''wonderful ideas that are going to make Nascar great again''........ (Nascar was great before Brian took over)...... I for one have never liked the Chase.... Playoffs...... or whatever you want to term it...... the system was just fine before 2003....... maybe a small bit of tweaking to add more points for wins...... that was it..... graduated scale that Latford had........ there was not a thing wrong with it........ It was fair.......

Seems everyone wants wins..... wins..... wins....... consistency means nothing.....I think at the very least the regular season points winner should at least be given a bye into the last race......
 
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I really enjoyed this season, about as much as any in the post car of tomorrow era. As many stated, very competitive in terms of # of winners, emergence of the young guns as the legit future of NASCAR, some good racing and clashes amongst the guys. Still work to do on the cars relative to closer racing and passing, but that something isn't getting fixed quickly.
 
It's hard to rank a season now since the first 26 races are meaningless.

The only thing I can say is that the best team won, which doesn't bother me at all.
 
LewTheShoe said:
To me, 2017 was an outstanding year of racing, even better than 2016 which was also outstanding. The substantial reduction of downforce was a key ingredient, adding to the degree of difficulty and reducing (but not eliminating) the aero benefit of clean air. There were still several races that were real stinkers, mostly due to single-groove tracks such as Charlotte and repaved Kentucky.

Also, the points system was much better than 2014-16, and this was an important improvement to me. I also thought stage racing worked very well, better than I expected. The biggest negative to me was the sizable speed advantage held by the Toyotas. I'm hoping for a more level playing field in 2018.
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Hmm...you must watch different racing than the rest of us.
 
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