NASCAR news

[Spike]

The final four are set. It will be a Hendrick Motorsports vs Joe Gibbs Racing fight for the championship. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for Hendrick Motorsports vs Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr for Gibbs Racing.

Alex Bowman spoiled the win and your in party for the other contenders. He overcooked one of the turns and sent Denny Hamlin spinning and went on to win the GWC restart. Denny about threw his championship chance out the window throwing a tantrum and using his car to keep Alex from celebrating his win. His crew chief screamed on the radio to cool it and reminded him he's already in the championship 4. In post race interviews Denny went on to blast Alex Bowman and then Chase Elliott fans for booing him. I really hope Denny doesn't win next weekend. 

Top 10

1 Alex Bowman

2 Kyle Busch

3 Brad Keselowski

4 Martin Truex Jr

5 William Byron

6 Aric Almirola

7 Kurt Busch

8 Erik Jones

9 Chris Buescher

10 Joey Logano

[Spike]

Kyle Busch's tantrum in post race interviews just got him automatically signed up for sensitivity classes before the 2022 season and if Nascar doesn't think he passed the "training" he will not be racing https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/01/kyle-busch-required-to-do-sensitivity-training-before-2022-season/

[RogerDuke]

Sensitivity training. LOL  Can you imagine Rosco in sensitivity training because he hurt the Duke boys' feelings? 

Edited November 3, 2021 by RogerDuke

[Spike]

8 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Sensitivity training. LOL  Can you imagine Rosco in sensitivity training because he hurt the Duke boys' feelings? 

It's funny that it's for the "R" word and not all the cuss words he spewed in post race interviews.

[Hobie Hartkins]

My cousin is Retarded and I would take a bullet for him but I STILL refer to him as retarded!! This has gone beyond ridiculous!  What about TDOH using The " D " word about every 4th line of script! Is the " D " word better than the " R " word? ( The " D" word- " Your cousin Cletus? He's so stupid, even the Dipsticks call him a Dipstick!") 

[Hobie Hartkins]

20 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Sensitivity training. LOL  Can you imagine Rosco in sensitivity training because he hurt the Duke boys' feelings? 

Rosco comes speeding up to the Farmhouse....Dukes are eating at the table outside....." Keee Keee! You Dipstick Dukes are going to jail!"  The Duke boys ......oh I'm sorry I didn't mean " Boy" ( too racial) ....the Duke young men jump up and tell Rosco, "You're gonna have to catch us Rosco! You've offended us for the last time !  You're not going to call us Dipsticks ever again!" 

[RogerDuke]

It does make you wonder where all this insanity is heading. Will owning a General Lee toy car get you thrown in jail someday? 

[HossC]

59 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Will owning a General Lee toy car get you thrown in jail someday? 

Well it always got the Duke Boys thrown in jail for owning the real thing!

[Hobie Hartkins]

On 11/4/2021 at 5:39 PM, RogerDuke said:

It does make you wonder where all this insanity is heading. Will owning a General Lee toy car get you thrown in jail someday? 

The problem is that no one sees it as THEM that's the problem! It's always the other guy!

[Spike]

To Kyle Larson capped off an amazing season by winning his 10th race, 11 if you count the All Star race, and the Cup Championship. The Hendrick cars had the speed early in the runs but faded on long runs between pitstops and that's where the Gibbs cars mainly Martin Truex Jr's car came to life. Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney also had strong cars each leading multiple laps. Caution came out with around 30 laps to go when overheated brakes on David Starr's car literally exploded and everyone pitted. Kyle Larson's pitcrew earned their paycheck by getting him out 1st and he kept the lead from a hard charging Martin Truex Jr. This is the 14th Championship for Hendrick Motorsports which leads in overall Championships but is still 5 race wins short of Petty Enterprise's 268 race wins. This is one heckuva comeback story for Kyle Larson who you may remember was blackballed for saying a slur in an online video game race last year. Some crybaby's still say he hasn't earned his redemption because he didn't get thrown in the worst Cup Car for a season or two before getting a top tier ride again like the path to redemption Kurt Busch had to do. Speaking of Kurt Busch he once again shown how much he has matured by anonymously bidding on Anthony Alfredo's pink window net to gift it to Anthony's mother. Brad Keselowski and Penske toasted each other in post race interviews, Brad using the glass from his 2012 championship. 

Top 10 

1 Kyle Larson

2 Martin Truex Jr

3 Denny Hamlin

4 Ryan Blaney

5 Chase Elliott

6 Aric Almirola

7 Kyle Busch

8 Kevin Harvick

9 Christopher Bell

10 Brad Keselowski

In what might be Ryan Newman's final Cup race he finished 23rd.

Rick Ware Racing managed to not finish last in Owner points among Chartered teams so gets to keep their Charters for 2022, still unknown if they will run a 4 car team next year or consolidate and sell off two charters. Starcom Racing finished last in points but sold their Charter already. 

Silly season should really heat up now and I'll post updates when I see them.

[Spike]

Front Row Motorsports to continue to run a two car team in 2022 and stick with Ford, driver line up to be determined but most likely Michael McDowell will return to the #34, Anthony Alfredo is looking elsewhere for a ride https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/09/anthony-alfredo-michael-mcdowell-front-row-motorsports-nascar-cup-series-2022-season/

Speedway Motorsports acquired Dover Motorsports https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/08/speedway-motorsports-acquires-dover-motorsports/

Here's the schedule for the Clash at the Coliseum https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/09/kyle-larson-kevin-harvick-joey-logano-denny-hamlin-bubba-wallace-2022-clash-format-includes-heats-last-chance-qualifiers/

Dodge is eyeing a return to Nascar 

 

[RogerDuke]

Kyle Larson was a beast this year. 

Chase Elliott in '22! 

[Spike]

10 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Kyle Larson was a beast this year. 

Chase Elliott in '22! 

Yeah I think he had something to prove . At least the best driver and team won this year unlike last year. Not knocking Chase Elliott's championship but Kevin Harvick should have been the champ last year.

[RogerDuke]

Are you pretty sad it's over Spike? 

I'm a bit sad we don't hear more from Garrett. 

[HossC]

What a great F1 weekend we had in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton, trailing championship leader Max Verstappen, qualified on pole for the sprint race (part of a new format they've tried at a couple of races this year). Then his rear wing failed a technical inspection, and despite his team convincing the stewards that this was because it was broken rather than a deliberate action, he was sent to the back of the grid. In the 24-lap sprint race he went from 20th (last) to 5th. Because he took an new engine for this weekend, he then had a five-place penalty for the main race. Against the odds, he carved his way through the field to win the race, eventually ending up with a margin of over 10 seconds to Max Verstappen in second. Even Lewis himself said “I don’t remember another weekend like this". Afterwards, he pointed out to his team that he'd effectively had a 25-place grid drop in a field of 20 cars! You can see race highlights here.

On a side note, here's a story that I missed last month. Three London schoolchildren were invited to the Mercedes F1 headquarters. What they didn't know was that one of the engineers they met was Lewis Hamilton in disguise. Their faces when he reveals his true identity is priceless:

 

[Spike]

Roush Fenway Racing officially changed its name to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing https://www.jayski.com/2021/11/16/roush-fenway-racing-changes-name-to-roush-fenway-keselowski-racing/ . I guess they're still in talks with Ryan Newman to run a few races in a 3rd car. 

23XI Racing acquired a second charter for the #45 from Starcom Racing with help from Spire Motorsports https://www.jayski.com/2021/11/16/starcom-racing-sells-nascar-charter/ . From what i understand Spire negotiated the price. 

Testing is under way at Charlotte with the next gen car. Day one seen Austin Dillon wreck And a few driver's spinout apparently due to morning dew on the track in turns 1 & 2. Ryan Blaney ran the best lap in Day one testing, Brad Keselowski 2nd, William Byron 3rd, Erik Jones 4th and Ty Dillon 5th. In the final hour of testing today teams will practice pitting. Nascar live stream's the testing on their YouTube channel so if you have a racing itch that needs scratching check out the live stream today. 

[Spike]

Nascar is adding gimmicks to qualifying in 2022 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/19/nascar-to-have-practice-knockout-qualifying-for-2022-season/. 

North Wilkesboro is finally getting some love. Plans are to modernize facility to host racing and other events https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/19/speedway-motorsports-north-wilkesboro-marcus-smith-roy-cooper-north-carolina-2022-budget/

[HossC]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

Nascar is adding gimmicks to qualifying in 2022 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/19/nascar-to-have-practice-knockout-qualifying-for-2022-season/.

That's getting closer to the current F1 qualifying format, although F1 is planning more of the sprint races on a Saturday next year. That means that qualifying takes place on Friday to determine the grid for the sprint race on the Saturday, and the sprint race result determines the grid for the main race on the Sunday. There are also championship points available in in the sprint race: 3 for first, 2 for second and 1 for third.

[Spike]

Rockingham will be repaved and add lights for night races 

 

[HossC]

9 hours ago, Spike said:

Rockingham will be repaved and add lights for night races 

You're obviously talking about the Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina, but it reminded me that I hadn't heard anything about the Rockingham Motor Speedway in the UK for a while. Sadly, it turns out that it closed three years ago, the stands have been demolished, and earlier this year it was being used to store up to 50,000 used cars. It only opened a couple of years before I moved to Ireland, so I never got a chance to visit, but it hosted several rounds of the British Touring Car Championship and appeared on many car-related TV shows. I think that now leaves EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany as the only speedway track in Europe. Although the track was sold to the vehicle inspection company Dekra in 2017, it still hosts DTM (German Touring Car Championship) races.

[Spike]

3 hours ago, HossC said:

You're obviously talking about the Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina, but it reminded me that I hadn't heard anything about the Rockingham Motor Speedway in the UK for a while. Sadly, it turns out that it closed three years ago, the stands have been demolished, and earlier this year it was being used to store up to 50,000 used cars. It only opened a couple of years before I moved to Ireland, so I never got a chance to visit, but it hosted several rounds of the British Touring Car Championship and appeared on many car-related TV shows. I think that now leaves EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany as the only speedway track in Europe. Although the track was sold to the vehicle inspection company Dekra in 2017, it still hosts DTM (German Touring Car Championship) races.

I raced that track in a sim a few times. Very unique and interesting track. I was sad to hear that it closed a few years ago.

On 11/10/2021 at 7:46 AM, Spike said:

 

 

 

On 11/10/2021 at 7:46 AM, Spike said:

Dodge is eyeing a return to Nascar 

 

Well don't think Dodge will be making a return to Nascar. The Charger and Challenger final production year will be 2024. According to industry rumors it will also be the death of the V8 muscle car at Dodge as their next 'muscle car' will be electric. 

Another rumor making the rounds is since Ford, GM, Dodge and other manufacturers are doing away with cars is that Nascar might move towards either SUV or truck body's for racing. SUV's racing the Daytona 500, I just can't picture that. I can see Nascar making the truck series the top series with full size trucks and Xfinity series running midsize trucks. 

[HossC]

Sad news for F1 fans - Sir Frank Williams, founder and former team principal of the Williams Racing Formula 1 team, has died aged 79. He has been in a wheelchair since a car crash in France in 1986, but that didn't stop him having many successes in the sport. He and daughter Claire sold the Williams team to US investors just last year. Despite the change of ownership, the team still bears the Williams name. You can read more here.

[Spike]

Looks like Nascar Cup series might return to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway https://www.jayski.com/2021/11/29/nascar-expected-to-return-to-nashville-fairgrounds-speedway/ Probably won't be till 2023 but YeeeeHaaaawwww

[Hobie Hartkins]

Do you live anywhere close to it? I used to live in FRanklin but now I'm about 60-70 miles east of the track.

[Spike]

On 11/29/2021 at 6:34 PM, Hobie Hartkins said:

Do you live anywhere close to it? I used to live in FRanklin but now I'm about 60-70 miles east of the track.

I'm about a 7.5 hour drive away from it on the opposite end of Lake Erie from Roger.

Plans for Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/30/nashville-mayor-agrees-to-plan-to-revitalize-fairgrounds-speedway/

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.

Front Row Motorsports finally released their 2022 driver lineup. Michael McDowell will return in the #34 and Todd Gilliland will take over the #38 https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2021/11/30/michael-mcdowell-todd-gilliland-zane-smith-bob-jenkins-front-row-motorsports-reveals-2022-driver-lineup/ Todd Gilliland is the son of their former driver David Gilliland.