Jump to content

NASCAR news


Garrett Duke

Recommended Posts

Well NASCAR really knows how to pour salt into an open wound. Not bad enough that Elliott is out...let's go penalize the entire team of Hendrick while they are at it, right? Well that's what they did. NASCAR confiscated their hoods before last Sunday's race and found something wrong with the hood louvers. Whatever they are. Kyle Larson wasn't too concerned about it...but I guess he should have been. Highest penalty since Michael Waltrip's penalty in I think 2003. I think he got a $300,000 fine back then (I am pretty sure that is when he put jet oil or jet gas in his cars. It as something bizarre like that). Hendrick got $400,000 fine. The drivers got a 100 point season fine, and if t hey make the playoffs, 10 point play off fines. Crew chiefs got suspended. Plus more...I'll post the article.  

Perhaps Chase Elliott is the  lucky one after all of this...as he is not named as punished, since he is out (I assume). Alan Gustafson, his crew chief, is. :( 

I'm pretty upset at NASCAR over all this. I view it as NASCAR picking on the top dog as they are the team to beat, right now. But I am sure that is the fan in me wanting to be upset. I don't even know what the hood louvers are.

Anyways...enough of my petty opinion. Here is the article. https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2023/03/16/nascar-cup-series-2023-atlanta-101/

Sorry Hobie...your guy Denny Hamlin also got penalized. But he got penalized 25 driver points and $50,000 for intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain. Denny needs to learn to keep his mouth shut...he pretty much came out and said he intentionally wrecked Chastain after the race. Hendrick is going to fight their charges...don't see how Hamlin can after admitting it to the press he intentionally wrecked Chastain. 

Sorry Roger...I don't know any other Georgia drivers out there racing right now other than Chase Elliott. Though they will be racing in Atlanta this weekend. Does that count?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Garrett Duke said:

 

Sorry Roger...I don't know any other Georgia drivers out there racing right now other than Chase Elliott. Though they will be racing in Atlanta this weekend. Does that count?

Well, if they are going to be in Atlanta, you can bet that half of Hazzard County will be there. Too bad that there are no other Georgia boys racing though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, HossC said:

There's a video here which discusses the penalties and gives a brief explanation of where the louvers are and what they do.

Thank you Hoss. That was a great explanation of what they are and why the punishment is what it is. 

My two cents worth...I see NASCAR's view of why they want to punish them, but the amount is way excessive. And they are always like this when they put a new car. Team and driver are all trying to get use to it and to know it and yet they do something wrong along the way, they get hit with a big fine. I had to laugh when they mentioned that in the video, because Steve Letarte was slammed with a big penalty with the first car of tomorrow when he was a crew chief for Jeff Gordon. I can't remember what was wrong, but both Gordon and Johnson got hit big as well as their team. 

Watching this video made me remember a driver or crew chief years ago saying that they get paid to push the envelope as far as they can. Sometimes it gets pushed too far.

Idk if this is a case like that or not. 

But the penalty is excessive. Hendrick as a whole doesn't need to cheat to win or to be faster, so I don't know why they would alter the louver as they were saying. Just like they said...obviously they won after they were taken away. It didn't matter.

Another thing...why penalize the driver as bad as they did? I mean Kyle Larson stated that he barely knew what a louver was...his job was to race the car not to work on it or know what part does what. They aren't the ones altering anything. They just get into the car and race it. 

Especially poor Justin Haley who drives for Kaurig racing. He is in NEGATIVE points right now. How is someone who drives for an lesser funded team and isn't up front as often as the Hendrick boys, going to climb out of it?  As harsh as it is, the Hendrick drivers will probably be ok as they said. But Haley? He's got to be so discouraged right now. I feel for him.  (Well as well as my Hendrick drivers...) 

I understand NASCAR having to defend their prized cars and their parts and having to hand penalties down when the envelope is pushed (So to speak), but to the amount that they did, is what I have a problem with.

Well there is my long winded two cents that NASCAR could care less about.  Their penalties or lack of penalties has always been an issue for me. They are never consistent and changes per driver. 

I wish we could go back to the old racing where NASCAR would take their rules and greedy hands out of it and just let them race...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Well, if they are going to be in Atlanta, you can bet that half of Hazzard County will be there. Too bad that there are no other Georgia boys racing though. 

If there is, I'm not aware of who it is. Though Landon Cassill is from Iowa and he sometimes races. You can go for him. He's a great guy. :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys should watch more Formula 1 if you think $400k is a big fine. Last year, the Red Bull team was fined $7m for breaching the 2021 spending cap, and have had their aerodynamic testing time reduced. The Aston Martin team was also found guilty of a lesser charge and fined $450k.

Both pale next to the fine given to McLaren in 2007 over the Spygate incident. McLaren was found to be in possession of technical data belonging to rivals Ferrari. They were fined $100m and excluded from the Constructors' Championship that year. From what I could find online, it looks like they ended up paying about $31m.

These and other F1 fines can be found in a list here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well despite what I said...looks like Denny Hamlin is going to try to fight his fines and penalties. Good luck with that...as I said, he came out and admitted he intentionally wrecked Ross Chastain. Which is against the rules. So, I don't know what he thinks will happen by appealing the punishment. Time will tell. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Garrett Duke said:

Well despite what I said...looks like Denny Hamlin is going to try to fight his fines and penalties. Good luck with that...as I said, he came out and admitted he intentionally wrecked Ross Chastain. Which is against the rules. So, I don't know what he thinks will happen by appealing the punishment. Time will tell. 

Maybe he knows he can't win but he's hoping he can get the fines reduced. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/18/2023 at 5:20 PM, Hobie Hartkins said:

 he came out and admitted he intentionally wrecked Ross Chastain.

 

Well, I've lost a LOT of respect for Hamlin and now I'll lean toward Harvick!! There is NO EXCUSE for wrecking somebody or playing unfair....at ANYTHING!

I feel the same way. People in the garage work hard to get those cars up and ready to get out there, just for someone to intentionally wreck someone with it. It's disrespectful. But I am sure he had some reason or another for wrecking him. I didn't see what happened, but Chastain is normally a clean driver. So I can't see him intentionally wrecking Hamlin. But I don't know. 

I say that...but Jeff Gordon did intentionally wreck Clint Bowyer years ago that led to Bowyer's crew attacking him (luckily Gordon's crew pulled him out in time.) I am not condoning what Gordon did, but when you get wrecked several times in one year, well, sooner or later it's going to come back around to you. Bowyer wrecked him multiple times that year, the first time being when Gordon and Johnson were going for the win, and he took out both of them! Then that race Bowyer wrecked him and Gordon got him back. It was a mess. Gordon got fined for it Bowyer blamed Gordon for him not winning the championship.  It was a mess.

When Gordon retired...they asked Bowyer how he felt about it. He compared it all to a divorce. HA.

But in general, I don't go for retaliation on the track. And certain drivers seem to do it a lot...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking about NASCAR...they raced at Atlanta today. Once again I am a NASCAR failure and didn't watch the race. I went grocery shopping instead. I'm not a fan of being an adult any more...

But Joey Logano led them to the green flag...and led them to the checkered flag.  

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2023/03/19/nascar-cup-series-2023-atlanta-race-recap/

I remember YEARS AGO when John Schneider sang the National Anthem at the Atlanta race. That was a great surprise as I wasn't expecting him. 

As for me...I can't wait until Chase is back. LOL. Or when NASCAR will stop penalizing my Hendrick drivers. HA. I'm still not over that. I hope they will lesson the fines and penalties. I get that their louvers didn't meet inspection, but that's harsh.  Even Chad Knaus says so...and he's always right. :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday's Saudi Grand Prix ended up as a complete mess due to poor rulings by the stewards.

Championship leader Max Verstappen had a drive shaft failure in qualifying, and started 15th. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had an engine penalty and started 12th. Both were able to make reasonably easy progress through the field once the race got going. At the checkered flag, Max had made it up to second to finish behind team mate Sergio Perez who started on pole.

It was the resurgent Aston Martin team that brought about the bad decisions. Firstly, Fernando Alonso, starting second, was given a 5-second penalty for being out of position on the grid, even though he was just a few inches to the left of his box where he would gain no advantage. His team mate, Lance Stroll, then had a breakdown mid-race and nearly got his car off the circuit, but officials called a full safety car when a virtual safety would've covered it. This at least gave Fernando a chance to serve his penalty with less impact on his position. Fernando drove another great race to eventually finish third and take his 100th F1 podium, but after the post-race celebrations, he was given a 10-second penalty because a crew member touched his car during the 5-second penalty. Mercedes' George Russell was promoted to third and there were complaints about how officials had taken so long to hand out the second punishment (about 35 laps and time after the race) - Fernando pointed out that he could've created a bigger gap to Russell if he'd known in time. After the dust settled, the second penalty was withdrawn as similar situations had apparently been discussed pre-race with no penalties given. Fernando and George's positions were switched back well after the race, and the whole situation didn't show F1 in a good light. Hopefully the next race in Australia will be free from such incidents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/20/2023 at 12:48 PM, Hobie Hartkins said:

(luckily Gordon's crew pulled him out in time....why? So he didn't get his A bernathy road kicked???

 

He deserved it!

I said luckily, because I am a Gordon fan. I am sure Bowyer and his fans were disappointed that he was pulled out in time. I am not saying Gordon was in the right, but that did come after several times that season of getting wrecked by the same driver. I am sure he had enough and that was his way of sticking up for himself. 

I don't watch or follow it for the wrecks or the drama, but for the racing. Sadly the wrecks and drama tend to get in the way...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.