NASCAR news

[RogerDuke]

I'm not a fan of those new Broncos.

[Spike]

I like the new Bronco, the faux suv Bronco Sport not so much. I just wish the Bronco had a non turbo motor.

[Spike]

Looks like the door numbers are moving forward next season https://www.jayski.com/2021/08/02/nascar-possibly-moving-car-numbers-forward/

Rumor is RickWareRacing might scale back to a stronger two car team for 2022, if that's the case he could stand to make some money selling or leasing one or two of his charters. I know the team is going to lose the RPM charter they're currently leasing. 

Racing is back at Watkins Glen is this weekend, since the Olympics are still going on you'll have to check your local listings to see which channel the races are on. 

On a side note Indycar is racing on the streets of Nashville Tennessee this weekend. Hopefully it's a good race. 

[Spike]

Ross Chastain to drive the 2nd car for Trackhouse Racing in 2022 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/03/ross-chastain-to-drive-for-trackhouse-racing-in-2022/

 

[RogerDuke]

I was just at Watkins Glen! 

[RogerDuke]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:38 PM, Spike said:

I I just wish the Bronco had a non turbo motor.

Why? 

[Spike]

6 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Why? 

I prefer a naturally aspirated motor for longer reliability and since the Bronco is made to go way off-road it'd be easier to rig a fix together than it would with a turbo if something mechanical goes wrong on the trail.

[RogerDuke]

That makes sense. I like keeping things simple too!

[Spike]

Talks are still going on to bring at least one Nascar series race to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway by 2023 https://www.jayski.com/2021/08/04/earliest-nascar-could-race-at-nashville-fairgrounds-is-2023/

This is still an uphill battle, the NIMBY's are fighting tooth and nail to get the track shutdown permanently even though they moved there knowing the track was there already . 

Rumor is Aric Almirola is staying in the #10 at SHR for 2022 season. He is so far the only SHR driver locked in with a win to the Chase or Playoffs or whatever they're calling it this year.

[Spike]

Kyle Larson won for the second time on a road course this season proving he can win at any track. Chase Elliott came from a last place start after his car failed pre race inspection to finish 2nd, given another lap or two he probably would have won the race. His driving in that last stage was incredible. Former Watkins Glen winner Brad Keselowski had a bad race with brake issues that caused him to spin out numerous times.

Top 10

1 Kyle Larson

2 Chase Elliott

3 Martin Truex Jr

4 Kyle Busch

5 Denny Hamlin

6 William Byron

7 Christopher Bell

8 Kevin Harvick

9 Chase Briscoe

10 Tyler Reddick

It's interesting once again Matt Dibenedetto finished ahead of all the other Penske teammate's yet he's the one losing his ride for next season .

In other motor racing news the Indycar Music City Grand Prix might be a one and done deal. 40% of the race was run under caution or red flagged. If they do this race again next year the course should be changed, some parts of the course were way to narrow. Jimmie Johnson had a controversial DQ during a red flag. Although his team didn't work on the car they still touched it so Indycar officials DQ'd and parked him for the remainder of the race. Marcus Ericsson won the race by getting the lead during one period of the race that had caution after caution after caution etc.... Shocking considering he literally drove over another car on lap 4 restart. 

[RogerDuke]

I was just in Watkins Glen a week and a half ago. It's only the second time I've ever been there. The first time was on a bus just driving through. 

[Spike]

Jimmie Johnson is open to running more Nascar Cup series races if the right opportunity comes along https://www.jayski.com/2021/08/11/jimmie-johnson-would-seriously-consider-running-nascar-race-if-right-opportunity-comes-along/

Rumor is Kurt Busch has a ride lined up but is waiting for the team to announce it publicly.

Nascar is back on NBC this Sunday at The Brickyard but on the the road course. Will be interesting to see which team can get the setup right.

[HossC]

I watch a guy on YouTube called Tyler Hoover who has a channel called Hoovies Garage. His videos are usually about cheap cars he's bought and how much they cost to fix, although the YouTube money has also enabled him to buy a good few supercars now. Anyway, it turns out that he was the Grand Marshall at the Watkin's Glen race at the weekend. If you skip to about the 9:30 mark in the videos below, you'll see some behind-the-scenes footage and a chat with Aric Amirola. It also shows the divided social media reaction to his appearance.
 

 

[Spike]

Here's a rumor way out of left field...Front Row Motorsports might sell one or both of it's charter's to 23XI Racing and/or become another Joe Gibbs Racing satellite team and switch to Toyota's for 2022.

[RogerDuke]

Where did you hear this....reliable source? 

[Spike]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:06 PM, RogerDuke said:

Where did you hear this....reliable source? 

Read it on the Nascar Reddit page. It was also on Twitter, that's what the reddit post linked to. The tweet I wouldn't call a reliable source though.

Ryan Newman is coming to terms that this is probably his last Cup season https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/15/nascar-ryan-newman-future-indianapolis-motor-speedway/

AJ Allmendinger won the craziest Indy race since the 2008 tire debacle race. Turn 6 curbing came apart in the final stage and destroyed several cars taking out 1/4 of the field and at least half of the remaining that were still running at the end we're just limping to the finish. Denny Hamlin looked like he was going to win the inaugural Indy RC cup race until Chase Briscoe spun him thinking he was still racing for a win after Nascar penalized him for shortcutting the course even though he gave the lead back to Denny. NBC compounded fan issues by switching over to golf instead of airing the final restart and finish on NBC. That last stage was a poop show, from the curb coming apart to the driver's racing like it's a last lap demo derby. One good thing is some driver's that rarely get a top ten on the ovals got one here.

Top 10

1 AJ Allmendinger

2 Ryan Blaney

3 Kyle Larson

4 Chase Elliott

5 Matt Dibenedetto

6 Kurt Busch

7 Erik Jones

8 Justin Haley

9 Austin Cindric

10 Ryan Newman

[Spike]

Kurt Busch reportedly has two offers on the table for 2022 but hasn't elaborated any further than that. 

Sunday's Cup Indy RC race was the least watched Indianapolis Cup race besides the 2018 Monday rain postponed race https://www.jayski.com/2021/08/17/indianapolis-tv-ratings-4/

Nascar is reinstating some Covid protocols such as masks and social distancing https://www.jayski.com/2021/08/17/nascar-implements-several-covid-19-protocol-adjustments-beginning-this-weekend/ . So we won't be seeing the media on top of the driver's anymore this year. They'll have to put their phones and mics on selfie sticks again lol. I don't know why but I found it funny seeing all those poles shoved in driver's faces. I just thought any minute now a pissed of racer is going to take one of those poles and either break it or swing it at someone lol.

The races are at Michigan this weekend but on NBCSN. 

[Spike]

Ryan Blaney stole the win at MIS yesterday. 3 of the 4 Hendrick Motorsports cars dominated most of the race swapping the lead several times. On a late race restart Kyle Busch pushed Ryan Blaney to the lead before falling back to 7th. Ryan Blaney was able to hold off both Kyle Larson and William Byron in the final exciting laps. Austin Dillon was having an awesome race till Brad Keselowski turned him at the start finish line shortly after Stage 2. 

Top 10

1 Ryan Blaney

2 William Byron

3 Kyle Larson

4 Kurt Busch

5 Denny Hamlin

6 Matt Dibenedetto

7 Kyle Busch

8 Chase Elliott

9 Brad Keselowski

10 Martin Truex Jr

 

Erik Jones signed a 1 year contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports for 2022 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/22/erik-jones-returning-to-rpm-in-2022/

NFL Great Emmitt Smith is adding Nascar team owner to his resume https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/21/nascar-emmitt-smith-jesse-iwuji-xfinity-series-team/ will be teaming with driver Jesse Iwuji to start an Xfinity team for 2022.

[HossC]

A small F1 excursion here. This weekend the Grand Prix is at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium - a favorite track of mine and many of the drivers. In free practice earlier today, Fernando Alonso (back in F1 after racing in the Indy 500 and Le Mans over the last few years) had a helmet camera to give a driver's eye view of the track. I'm prevented from embedding the video, but you can see it on YouTube.

[Spike]

Kurt Busch is moving to the 2nd car for 23XI Racing in 2022 will be driving #45 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/27/kurt-busch-to-drive-second-car-for-23xi-racing/ with that Kurt will be the only current driver to drive for every manufacturer since his debut in cup. I wonder since this is Kyle and Adam Petty's old number if that means they are getting the charter that RPM is currently leasing to RWR.

And the car numbers are moving forward 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Spike

[Spike]

On 8/27/2021 at 7:10 PM, Spike said:

Kurt Busch is moving to the 2nd car for 23XI Racing in 2022 will be driving #45 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/08/27/kurt-busch-to-drive-second-car-for-23xi-racing/ with that Kurt will be the only current driver to drive for every manufacturer since his debut in cup. I wonder since this is Kyle and Adam Petty's old number if that means they are getting the charter that RPM is currently leasing to RWR.

And the car numbers are moving forward 

Well another rumor on Twitter is 23XI racing will be buying or leasing a charter from Front Row Motorsports and FRM will switch from Ford to Toyota for 2022 as another JGR satellite team.

[HossC]

The Belgian F1 Grand Prix turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax, but it did make history. They say that the location of the circuit gives it its own micro-climate, and today that meant rain! Because F1 can normally run in wet weather, they don't have the option to hold the race over to the Monday. The rule is normally that the race must be completed within three hours of the start time, including delays and stoppages. They rewrote the rules today to start the race three hours late. The drivers completed just over two laps behind the safety car before the race was red-flagged, and half points were awarded. The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix now becomes the shortest F1 race in history. Let's hope that the weather's better when they return to Zandvoort in the Netherlands next week for the first F1 race there since 1985.

[Spike]

Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 turned into a demolition derby in the last 15 laps. Only 3 cars finished the race looking mostly undamaged. Ryan Blaney won the race, Chris Buescher came in 2nd however his finish was DQ'd after an illegal modification was found, Bubba Wallace got his second top five of the season. Ryan Newman got his second top 5 of the season. BJ McLeod and Josh Bilicki both got there first top tens of their Cup Careers.

Top 10

1 Ryan Blaney

2 Bubba Wallace

3 Ryan Newman

4 Ryan Preece

5 Tyler Reddick

6 Justin Haley

7 Alex Bowman

8 Chase Elliott

9 BJ McLeod

10 Josh Bilicki

Next week is the first playoff race at Darlington on NBCSN. 

 

[Spike]

On 8/29/2021 at 5:10 PM, HossC said:

The Belgian F1 Grand Prix turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax, but it did make history. They say that the location of the circuit gives it its own micro-climate, and today that meant rain! Because F1 can normally run in wet weather, they don't have the option to hold the race over to the Monday. The rule is normally that the race must be completed within three hours of the start time, including delays and stoppages. They rewrote the rules today to start the race three hours late. The drivers completed just over two laps behind the safety car before the race was red-flagged, and half points were awarded. The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix now becomes the shortest F1 race in history. Let's hope that the weather's better when they return to Zandvoort in the Netherlands next week for the first F1 race there since 1985.

Its really unfortunate that F1 doesn't postpone a race a day or two in extreme circumstances like this one. They should look into changing that rule. I hope all the fans in attendance got a refund, if not a refund then free tickets to next year's race there.

[HossC]

4 hours ago, Spike said:

Its really unfortunate that F1 doesn't postpone a race a day or two in extreme circumstances like this one. They should look into changing that rule. I hope all the fans in attendance got a refund, if not a refund then free tickets to next year's race there.

It's unusual that the weather was so bad that no racing could take place (F1 has had wet weather tires for years). The outcome on Sunday didn't satisfy anyone, and has been criticized by many drivers as points were awarded on a technicality even though no actual racing took place. F1 is on a tight schedule, often with races every week, a three-day race weekend and travel between countries in between. Having said that, the governing authorities are looking to change the rules so we don't get in this situation again, and looking at sorting out some sort of refund for the crowd. At least this race broke a 30-year-old record for the shortest race, so it's not a common problem!