We had a very strange F1 race in Saudi Arabia today. It was the first race at a brand new street-style circuit, and it came with its fair share of incidents and controversy. There were a couple of crashes with red flags, several virtual safety cars for debris, and some "interesting" on-track moves. In the end, Lewis Hamilton won the race, with title rival Max Verstappen in second. They now go into next week's finale level on points.

On 12/2/2021 at 6:03 AM, Spike said:

Majority owner of Richard Petty Motorsports sold his stake to GMS Racing https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/12/01/richard-petty-motorsports-to-sell-majority-interest-to-gms-racing-owner/ . GMS Racing will takeover both the Charters for the #43 and the Petty-Ware Charter. Richard Petty will still have a minority stake in the still to be named team and Erik Jones is still expected to drive the #43 for 2022.

The new team will be Petty GMS Motorsports https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/12/07/erik-jones-ty-dillon-richard-petty-maury-gallagher-petty-gms-motorsports-to-field-two-cars-in-2022/. Ty Dillon was going to drive the 94 but that has changed since the #42 was available. Richard Petty will be Chairman of the team. Old Petty Enterprise's crew chief Mike Beam will serve as President and oversee day to day operations. Son in Law Brian Moffit will be exec vp of sales.

Chase Elliott had fun in his Nitro Rallycross debut. Won in the head to head race against Tanner Foust.

Finished 2nd in the semi final

And unfortunately 8th in the final

 

What a stunner of a F1 2021 season finale https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2021/12/12/max-verstappen-f1-champion-lewis-hamilton-abu-dhabi/

Did not see that happening. Thought for sure Lewis would have won. Maybe it's different in F1 but I always thought once you pit during Cautions/Safety car you give up race positions if nobody else pits. Then again maybe the stewards wanted to give the two going for the title the best restart. 

1 hour ago, Spike said:

What a stunner of a F1 2021 season finale https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2021/12/12/max-verstappen-f1-champion-lewis-hamilton-abu-dhabi/

Did not see that happening. Thought for sure Lewis would have won. Maybe it's different in F1 but I always thought once you pit during Cautions/Safety car you give up race positions if nobody else pits. Then again maybe the stewards wanted to give the two going for the title the best restart. 

We had the prospect of a great finale with the two title contenders starting first and second. As a bonus, the race was also live on free-to-air TV.

I'm still annoyed by the ending, which is why I didn't post the result myself. What a complete mess it turned out to be after such a great season. If it had been a straight wheel-to-wheel fight I'd have been fine with the outcome, but the race stewards seemed to decide which rules to follow as they went along. Normally they either resume racing in the order they stack up behind the safety car, or they let lapped cars overtake to unlap themselves, but yesterday they just let the five cars between Lewis and Max go through and almost immediately restarted the race. Mercedes still plan to appeal the result, so this still may not be the end of it. At this point I'm not even sure if I'll be watching next year!

Driver of the day in yesterday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was Kimi Raikkonen, who is leaving F1 after 19 seasons, 349 races and a world championship in 2007. He secured 42.8% of the vote, with Red Bull's Sergio Perez second with 21.5% after he supported his team-mate Verstappen by holding up Hamilton. By contrast, Mercedes' seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton took 10.9% and the new world champion, Max Verstappen, only got 7.6%.

It says something about the outcome that driver of the day went to a driver who retired from the race from a midfield position at around half distance!

AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson splitting the Kaulig #16 Cup Chevrolet for 2022 https://www.jayski.com/2021/12/14/aj-allmendinger-daniel-hemric-noah-gragson-splitting-time-in-second-kaulig-racing-cup-car/

Kaulig also said Justin Haley will be driving the #31. 

Here's a rumor way out of left field... Apparently that YouTube star turned ""pro"" boxer Jake Paul wants to take a crack at Cup racing. Seen a blurb about it on Twitter but I don't think it's legit enough to post a link to the tweet.

Jimmie Johnson is going to do a full season of Indycar in 2022 https://www.jayski.com/2021/12/15/jimmie-johnson-running-full-2022-indycar-schedule/

5 hours ago, Spike said:

AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson splitting the Kaulig #16 Cup Chevrolet for 2022 https://www.jayski.com/2021/12/14/aj-allmendinger-daniel-hemric-noah-gragson-splitting-time-in-second-kaulig-racing-cup-car/

Kaulig also said Justin Haley will be driving the #31. 

Here's a rumor way out of left field... Apparently that YouTube star turned ""pro"" boxer Jake Paul wants to take a crack at Cup racing. Seen a blurb about it on Twitter but I don't think it's legit enough to post a link to the tweet.

Jimmie Johnson is going to do a full season of Indycar in 2022 https://www.jayski.com/2021/12/15/jimmie-johnson-running-full-2022-indycar-schedule/

This news should please Cousin Garrett Duke!

Lewis Hamilton may have lost the F1 world championship on Sunday, but he received his knighthood for services to motorsport from Prince Charles during a ceremony at Windsor Castle earlier today. I wonder if his name will come up as "Sir Lewis Hamilton" on the captions next year.

I was going to post the news that Mercedes have decided not to pursue an appeal against the outcome of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but when I looked for the article again, I found a newer article where Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that Hamilton felt "disillusioned" by the events in Abu Dhabi and he could not guarantee if Hamilton would continue to race in F1.

After Charlotte tests Nascar has decided to go with the 670hp and 4 inch spoiler package for the 2022 season https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/12/21/nascar-670-horsepower-4-inch-spoiler-cup-series-next-gen-rules-engine/ 

Mar's/M&M's is dropping Sponsorship of Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing after the end of their current contract in 2022 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/12/20/mms-leaving-kyle-busch-nascar-joe-gibbs-racing-sponsor/. I'm shocked they stuck with him this long after all his outbursts over the years.

The Earnhardt's are having a rough month. Danny Earnhardt passed away a few weeks ago and matriarch Martha last night. Thoughts and prayers to them 

2022 Nascar Cup tv schedule https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/01/04/kyle-larson-chase-elliott-kyle-busch-martin-truex-alex-bowman-2022-nascar-cup-schedule-tv-info-ticket-info/

Daytona Speedweeks has been trimmed down to just 6 days this year , qualifying won't even be on Fox networks. 

There's going to be a tire test at the new Atlanta repave this week so keep an eye on YouTube.

Maybe Brandon Brown and his sponsor should have rethought the name they wanted to use https://sports.yahoo.com/nascar-denies-lets-go-brandon-themed-sponsorship-xfinity-series-driver-brandon-brown-021448067.html

Not surprising since Nascar needs to find new fans. But also it could be partially due to the DC Solar debacle that ended up costing Nascar and Chip Ganassi Racing millions of dollars. 

Stewart Haas Racing has hired Ryan Preece as a backup driver in case any of their 4 driver's have to sit out a race due to Covid https://www.jayski.com/2022/01/06/stewart-haas-racing-hires-ryan-preece-as-reserve-driver/. He will also run 2 cup and 3 Xfinity races for SHR's satellite teams. 

Matt Dibenedetto finally landed a full time ride in the Truck series with Rackley W.A.R. https://www.jayski.com/2022/01/06/matt-dibenedetto-running-full-time-in-truck-series-for-rackley-w-a-r-in-2022/

Busy day in Nascar news...

Aric Almirola announced 2022 will be his final full time Cup season, wishes to spend more time with his family https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/01/10/aric-almirola-to-retire-after-this-season/

Dale Earnhardt Jr will get behind the wheel again at Daytona this week testing the next gen car for Hendrick Motorsports due to 3 of their driver's competing in the Chili Bowl this week https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/01/10/dale-jr-to-take-part-in-daytona-test-for-hendrick-motorsports/ William Byron, driver of the #24 will also be at Daytona testing for Hendrick Motorsports. Livestream on Nascar's YouTube channel will start tomorrow at 12pm eastern.

Now that Supercross dirt bikes have started, NASCAR season is getting close. 

Tony Stewart is joining Fox's Broadcast booth at least for the first two races https://www.jayski.com/2022/01/23/tony-stewart-joining-fox-sports-broadcast-booth-for-clash-daytona-500/

If he does good I hope they can sign a deal for him to do the rest of the Fox cup races.

I've got mixed feelings about Tony Stewart....some of the stuff I've seen/heard in the past....

3 hours ago, Hobie Hartkins said:

I've got mixed feelings about Tony Stewart....some of the stuff I've seen/heard in the past....

I feel the same way about him. 

I've gotten into dirt bike racing big time. They have been live in California and I like them so much I stay up late instead of recording them. 

Nascar is strengthening it's penalties for the next gen car. Any team getting parts from unapproved sources could face losing a chance to race for the Championship. https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/01/24/nascar-toughens-penalty-structure-could-nullify-playoff-eligibility/

Final preseason testing is today 11am eastern at Phoenix. You can watch for free at Nascar's YouTube channel. 

12 hours ago, Spike said:

. Any team getting parts from unapproved sources could face losing a chance to race for the Championship. https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/01/24/nascar-toughens-penalty-structure-could-nullify-playoff-eligibility/

And any team who DOESN'T get caught pouring Hobie's Finest in their fuel tank will easily win. 

When the Clown Prince got the boot in 2018 I thought Nascar execs were done with bad ideas but nope https://www.jayski.com/2022/01/27/martinsville-spring-race-to-be-400-laps/ 

Yeah let's shorten the length of exciting short track races but keep the same laps at boring 1.5mile tracks.

Greg Biffle might attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 https://www.jayski.com/2022/01/29/greg-biffle-to-attempt-daytona-500-with-ny-racing/ 

Busch Clash schedule:

Saturday Practice 12:30pm est FS2

Qualifying 8:30pm est FS1

Sunday Qualifying heats 3pm est Fox

Last Chance Qualifying 4:10pm est Fox

Race 6pm est Fox

 

Floyd Mayweather is now a Nascar team owner https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2022/02/01/boxing-hall-of-famer-floyd-mayweather-to-field-nascar-cup-team-kaz-grala/ 

Kaz Grala will drive the #50 TMT Racing Chevrolet in select races.

This definitely isn't the Nascar of old anymore, they done turned it into a 3 ring circus. Even though there was young children in the audience the rappers didn't feel the need to clean up their lyrics. 

At least the racing was good aside from the only way to pass was to bump the car ahead out of the way. Maybe some banking would have made a wider groove to pass but who knows.

If they wanted to attract more casual viewers I think they should have had a simpler format instead of 4 knockout qualifying races. My wife kept asking during the knockout races is this the race, I'd say no just some stupid qualifying/knockout race. She replied didn't they do qualifying last night(Saturday) to which I said yes. She replied why are they doing these races if they did the qualifying already... I don't know ask the idiots who thought it up.

Some issues popped up in practice and the race relating to overheating and failures with the new transaxle. 

Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch led the first 2/3rds of the race and Joey Logano the last 1/3rd.

Top 10

1. joey Logano

2 Kyle Busch

3 Austin Dillon

4 Erik Jones

5 Kyle Larson

6 William Byron

7 Cole Custer

8 Christopher Bell

9 AJ Allmendinger

10 Kevin Harvick