Official NASCAR thread...(spoilers)

[MattR]

Looks like race winner Carl Edwards' car failed post-race inspection for being below the minimum required height. This could really hurt his chase chances depending on what kind of points penalty they lay down.

[Dean]

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/head...ver/index.html

Max points unless they find something super intentional appears to be 25 points. Would move him from 4th to 6th.

[tysonK]

wtf Kansas.

That was a messed up race.

[Dean]

You know what they are going to be saying next week... We're not in Kansas any more....

[MattR]

Yeah, I think that finish was embarrassing.

[Dean]

Thinking about it, the majority of the Kansas crashes were due to the "old" car. If it had been a COT race, the bumpers would have lined up and the spins and hood damage likely wouldn't have happened.

I think this was the last race for the old car, but might be mistaken. I say goodbye and good riddance though if it was.

The new car is safer, requires more driver skill and so far has produced some great racing IMHO.

Talladega next week!

[Joeyy]

Every driver interviewed said the same thing after practice today. "I can't see!" They can't see out the back of the car and can't look through the car in front of them.

The drivers asked Nascar to make the wicker on the rear wing clear after the first test of the COT at Dega but nothing was done. Now they're all running down to the local Target store and purchasing all kinds of extra mirrors.

On a possitive note. Scott Speed did very well in the Arca race today. Go Scott!... Currently, I think he's scheduled to run the full Arca schedule in 08.

http://www.arcaracing.com/component/...26/Itemid,164/

[Dean]

Talladega was the worst race so far this season.

The first 10-20 laps and the last 10-20 laps were the only ones worth watching.

Super speedways, restrictor plates and gear rules suck!

It was like watching the same 43 car freight train go by 188 times.

[insert bored or snoring smiley that we don't have here.]

[skimonkey30]

I fast forwarded through most of the race this weekend as I couldnt stand to watch the "freight train"

I think I watched maybe 60 laps total. NASCAR needs to do something to make the super speedway racing with the COT more interesting

[MattR]

I totally agree. Even Dale Jr said it sucked before his engine dropped.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by skimonkey30

I fast forwarded through most of the race this weekend as I couldnt stand to watch the "freight train"

I think I watched maybe 60 laps total. NASCAR needs to do something to make the super speedway racing with the COT more interesting

It's not the COT, it is the restrictor plate, the gear rule and the fact that super speedways are just too damn big to be interesting. The old car wasn't any better, it just didn't have the same downforce so there were more crashes, not more competition.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

They've needed to do the same damned thing for years, and they refuse to do it - take off the restrictor plates, and give the bodies more drag & less downforce to keep the lap speeds down. There were great races at Talladega & Daytona 20 years ago before plates, and they were run with boxy, draggy cars. It's not like there have been any other fundamental advances in Cup car design; the big gains in speed have mostly come from aerodynamics because everything else has been so limited by the rulebook.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

They've needed to do the same damned thing for years, and they refuse to do it - take off the restrictor plates, and give the bodies more drag & less downforce to keep the lap speeds down. There were great races at Talladega & Daytona 20 years ago before plates, and they were run with boxy, draggy cars. It's not like there have been any other fundamental advances in Cup car design; the big gains in speed have mostly come from aerodynamics because everything else has been so limited by the rulebook.

They just need to run parachutes on the cars.

[Dean]

Another short track COT weekend at Martinsville...

I hope the race is as good as Bristol. I know a bunch of people didn't like it, but I thought it was great.

The track being flatter may make it more difficult to get 3 wide all the way around, but maybe not.

[Joeyy]

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER...












The trucks had a freakin slam fest today. Our boy from north of the border got down right punted and took a hard hit into the inside wall. Nextel Cup points could really get fudged up if tomarrow is the same.

[Dean]

That is what is known as a Cluster Truck! Times 2.

They really should have progressive banked this track like Bristol when they repaved it.

[MattR]

Yes, I don't watch Martinsville races with any interest anymore, there is no way to pass, so everyone just bumps cars around. I mean, come on...21 cautions today that's not fun to watch. They need to redo this track or remove it from the schedule. It looked like the stands were less than half full today, that should tell NASCAR something.

[Joeyy]

Rowdy Bush actually was making the kinda second lane work well for him until he got up to the top five cars. Hope he gets some good equipment next year and the team can figure out the Toyota.

[Dean]

NASCAR has got to get rid of these 1 groove only way to pass is to push the guy in front of you out of the way tracks.

Today's Busch race was just plain stupid. 25 cautions and almost 1/2 the laps under yellow...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I want more 3 wide clean racing like Bristol.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by Dean

I want more 3 wide clean racing like Bristol.

Now there's something I never thought I'd hear.

[MattR]

It's true...That race at Memphis was a sham! embarrassing even. Anytime a race has that many incidents, it loses all flow, most strategy, and drags. I've seen some good races at mempis, but after yesterday, damn, I doubt I'l sit through another one.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

Now there's something I never thought I'd hear.

I know, who'd have thunk it? I think it stunned so many of the Bristol fans that the didn't recognize how good the racing was since there were so few crashes.

Short of the road courses, it was some of the best damn racing I've seen in quite a while. In many ways it was better than the road courses. Where else can you drive 3 wide all the way around the track and be the fastest in any of those lanes. Incredible.

[MattR]

OMG! Atlanta was another Circus finish...Denny Hamlin's crew chief should be fired for his stupididty...Nice to take out all those good cars based on a fuel calculation that left them 3 laps short What a bone-head move that was. You cannot gamble on your fuel when it leaves you in a position at the HEAD of the pack, and run out of gas at the restart....Dumbass.

Anyway, Yimmy-Yay is always in the right place at the right time...that's why they are the best team. I think the 48 is on his way to a repeat championship...but I'm still pulling for the 07 in '07.

[Dean]

They gamble like that all the time. It is Denny's fault IMHO. He should have been turning the car on and off and driven around the apron like Tony Stewart did a few races back when they were hoping for a rain out wherever it was. He waited until 100 yards before the start to wiggle the car.

WTF happened to Jr.s wheel Did they even tighten the lugs?

I feel really bad for Truex. He and Kyle were driving with the tails hung out most of the race and then he can't see Denny hasn't gone. All he sees is Boyer take off as he cuts in front of him and around Denny and he eats Denny's back end. His spotter should have been talking to him as far back as he was at that point.

If anybody should be fired it is these jack men that aren't getting the cars off the f'ing ground enough for the tire changers. Most of the front runners got boned by their pit crews at least once, but I think Kyle and Kurt both had multiple F' ups.

Clint needs Jeff and Jimmy to both have at least one really bad race to have a prayer, but it would be good to see him win.

[Joeyy]

Yes!.. Jacques Villeneuve qualifies for his first Nextel Cup race at Phoenix.

Jimmy and Jeff qualified near the front and with only 30 between them with two races to go.