Closest thing to a road course ringer in the race was Kligerman.

Thoughts:
-Bubba Wallace tripled his fanbase size. Unfortunately, he still finished in the high 20s.
-Kyle Busch spins early, gets taken out on the frontstretch by Bubba, and still finished 11th. This field is really not deep.
(By the way, I don't like Busch at all, but what was Bubba doing taking him down that far?)
-Elliott and Truex had a nice little duel, although Truex didn't have the straightlinr speed to even make a decent move on Chase.

8/4/2019 11:18:11 PM

I think he had the speed to get to his bumper if it hadn't been for dirty air. Sad that dirty air gets in the way of good racing at road courses now.

8/5/2019 12:36:32 PM

Was it dirty air? Or was it differing styles? Truex was better in the braking zone because he drove it in deep. Elliott was better off the corner and down straights because he didnt drive it as deep but got a good run off the corner. Most passes on road courses are made when you can get up off the corner well. With truex not doing that, of course he couldnt get to him. And it also made sure he wasnt close enough yo be able to out break chase going into a passing corner.

8/5/2019 12:39:44 PM

Truex said on the radio that every time he got close, he'd lose the air.

8/5/2019 8:59:32 PM

increased front df (and obviously rear) and made the "hole" bigger which actually makes it harder to stay close in corners, only helps on long straights where drafting and slingshot can work, and you're not already traction limited in the corners.

8/5/2019 9:29:03 PM

I don't think that's true because he was never making up ground on the straightaways. If it was incredibly aero-dependent, Truex would've used that hole in the air and gotten on his bumper a couple times at the chicane. The commentary even actually mentioned how Truex was doing well in the tighter sections of the course (like the esses) but they'd hit the power and Truex wasn't gaining anything. That's the opposite way from how "heavily aero dependent" would work.

This is F1-style thinking, but it's more politically correct to say "aero was stopping us from doing anything" rather than "Elliott's Chevy motor was faster than my Toyota".

It could also be Elliott's car was setup to be looser with less downforce, thus why he was the fastest car all weekend.

[Edited on August 6, 2019 at 7:21 AM. Reason : /]

8/6/2019 7:15:50 AM

all i know is there better be more road course races in 2021

8/6/2019 8:10:54 AM

Define "road course". I enjoy road course racing as long as it's a good track where you can race beyond strategizing your pit stops (which eliminates some circuits, then you have the Roval which should be looked at as a compromise at best, it's never going to be Road America), but for nominally stock-based cars on a predominantly road racing circuit, that already exists. It's called Trans-Am. And minus a couple guys like Ron Fellows and Tommy Kendall, Trans-Am has been...whatever for the past 40 years.

(Completely off topic, but I hear what some people criticize or think NASCAR should become in the future, and I just think "you're describing Trans-Am". I really think there's maybe not a gold mine but a silver mine there for whoever can take the largely amateur series that exists now from a promotional standpoint and could make it in to more what it could be.)

If we really want to have NASCAR Cup cars more on road courses, well we can start by reducing the car weights a few hundred pounds, and we need to stop decreasing horsepower. The Cup series has raced on Watkins Glen and Sonoma forever, but these cars aren't really designed for road course racing.

[Edited on August 6, 2019 at 9:01 AM. Reason : .]

8/6/2019 8:59:03 AM

If you want road tracks watch Indy, the racing has been pretty good, or I think all of IMSA is on NBC now.

8/6/2019 9:30:51 AM

Yeah, I'm an Indycar fan, and they have a good package for road racing now. Some tracks like Long Beach and Belle Isle are shit and there's nothing you'll be able to do to change that, but Mid-Ohio their most recent race they put on a good show.

8/6/2019 9:37:44 AM

I watch IndyCar, supercross, F1, stadium super trucks too. If I was making Nascar schedule I'd take away several down force tracks to add short tracks and road courses which includes rovals. Pocono should have ran their roval at one of their two dates this year imo

8/7/2019 8:32:37 AM

Your media member 2020 silly season tweeter mill, all from the last 24 hours:

-DiBenedetto unlikely to return to the #95
-Erik Jones likely to resign with Gibbs

Therefore, Christopher Bell probably in the #95 next year.

8/14/2019 7:06:35 AM

Rick Ware Racing is fielding 4 cars this weekend. They have also announced they're going to field cars in select IMSA and Asian Le Mans Series races. I'm not joking.

8/14/2019 7:18:44 AM

Hope that's not going to turn into a JD Stacy situation

8/14/2019 12:43:57 PM

Just saw where Dale JR and his family were in a plane crash but are okay.

[Edited on August 15, 2019 at 5:06 PM. Reason : .]

8/15/2019 5:05:47 PM

^jr just had his pilot on his podcast this week. Jinxed it

8/15/2019 7:26:36 PM

DiBenedetto released a statement confirming he will not return to the Leavine Family #95 next year. His internet fandom went ballistic.

Meanwhile, a case of one of those drivers you wonder how their career lasted so long (or at least I did), David Ragan announced he will no longer run full-time starting next year. So there's a natural opening at Front Row Racing for DiBenedetto unless Ford chooses to tell Front Row to put someone there.

8/16/2019 8:09:41 AM

Frm doesn't have bad drivers, but they have shit cars. Unless they get massively better next year it'd be bad for Matt to go drive one of those junkers. I see rouch adding an extra car if Ford wants Matt in their camp.

8/16/2019 9:01:30 AM

^^^^ Was Danica the pilot?

8/16/2019 7:12:53 PM

^possibly, the plane bounced couple times breaking the right side landing gear off. the video of the plane on fire with everyone still inside is nuts

8/17/2019 7:57:11 AM

man i pulling for diburrito there even tho it may have screwed bowyer in the playoffs

8/18/2019 6:08:37 AM

My snarky newspaper byline:

"Hamlin saves Toyota, Gibbs, from Embarassment"

8/18/2019 5:24:03 PM

mickey mouse let jayski have his website back. nice

https://www.jayski.com/

8/24/2019 5:19:06 AM

I don't understand why they bought it to begin with. As soon as they bought it, everyone knew what made Jayski a go-to site ESPN would not do.

Bell won at Road America today in Xfinity.

IndyCar about to start at Gateway on NBC Sports.

8/24/2019 8:19:33 PM

Finished the IndyCar race.

Racing is an odd mistress sometimes. Sato, Carpenter, Kanaan, Ferrucci, Newgarden, Daly, Dixon, Power.

[Edited on August 24, 2019 at 11:43 PM. Reason : .]

8/24/2019 11:42:22 PM

freakin Diburrito cost me $5 by crashing on the last turn of the race.

8/25/2019 8:15:27 AM

With a hurricane heading towards FL good time to point out that one year from today is the 2nd cup race at Daytona

8/29/2019 7:50:52 AM

Maybe the goal is Daytona in the event of hurricane delay becomes the season finale?

8/30/2019 2:34:58 PM

Checking in from Darlington

8/31/2019 1:16:40 PM

^nice, i'll be Rovalin soon. go Juuuuuuuunnior!

8/31/2019 1:46:20 PM

I'll be at the Roval too

9/1/2019 7:38:17 AM

I was thinking of going to the Brickyard, but I'm flying out for work Sunday.

Will go to the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora at the end of the month.

9/3/2019 6:18:09 AM

Latest rumor mill:

Tyler Reddick from Xfinity to the Childress #8
Daniel Hemric from the Childress #8 to the Childress-affiliated Germain #13
Childress' grandson Ty Dillon from the Germain #13 to "retiring" and working for the Childress organization

[Edited on September 3, 2019 at 11:30 AM. Reason : /]

9/3/2019 11:29:54 AM

90 drivers on the BC39 entry list.

Notables you've heard of:

#1 - Karsyn Elledge (Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s granddaughter by way of Junior's sister, has been racing USAC this year, done okay but not winning races or running up front)
#2J - J.J. Yeley
#17 - Ricky Stenhouse
#21 - Christopher Bell
#35 - Conor Daly
#97 - Kyle Larson

9/4/2019 8:37:22 AM

Larson won the BC39 tonight.

9/4/2019 10:35:17 PM

^that was nuts with the flipping and spinning going on during the last lap

9/5/2019 6:52:26 AM

mynards retires, Diburrito in the 21 next year.

whats up with 7:16pm green flag on a school night this week

9/11/2019 6:02:07 AM

kyle showing his ass again

https://autoweek.com/article/monster-energy-nascar-cup/kyle-busch-frustrated-finish-19th-after-contact-drivers-who

9/16/2019 6:19:41 AM

Like Harvick after his contact with Chastain at Darlington last year. Couldn't admit their mistake and decided to punch down.

9/16/2019 6:51:20 PM

Childress releasing rookie Daniel Hemric after one season. Not surprising I guess, Tyler Reddick has way more upside potential for a team that is greatly struggling in results. Uncertain if Hemric lands anywhere.

9/18/2019 11:35:15 PM

Gibbs go 1-2-3-4 last weekend, then Erik Jones' car gets DQ'd. Out of playoffs unless he wins this weekend, so don't be surprised if he ends up with the fastest Gibbs car.

Roush announced today Stenhouse is out of the #17 and will be replaced by Chris Buescher next season.

9/25/2019 9:39:49 PM

^doh. i like spinhouse

i'm hearing that in 2021 vendors will be making the bodies and chassis. whoa. kit car racin here we come

[Edited on September 26, 2019 at 4:50 AM. Reason : f]

9/26/2019 4:48:59 AM

How many real chassis builders are there? TRD, Hendrick, I think Childress and Ganassi are combined, Roush, Penske...any others?

9/26/2019 10:41:25 AM

^dunno

i also wonder how many layoffs there will be, hendrick has 600 guys for 4 cars. how many guys will you need if you can just buy the parts and bolt them together?

[Edited on September 26, 2019 at 12:28 PM. Reason : c]

9/26/2019 12:27:57 PM

Yeah, from an economy perspective, it's going to be a large hit for people in the racing industry and a small hit for the Charlotte metro area. At the same time, there's not as much money coming into the top teams. I graduated from State in 2004 and tried to get a job in racing and couldn't find anyone that'd give me the time of day in NASCAR. I didn't even bother with Indycar which I would've been open to do because teams were shutting down left and right in Indycar back then.

Teams like Hendrick are welcome to do like Ganassi, Penske, Haas, and Andretti, and branch off into other motorsports to keep some of their guys employed. (Ironic it's the historic Indycar teams ex-Haas that kind of rule all over the landscape.) But I think they've grown too fat and happy in what has realistically been an easy business in NASCAR going back until the late '80s, that I don't know if they know how to "struggle". Does anyone think Hendrick could function without Chevy support? I think they would become a little better version of what Childress is nowadays.

[Edited on September 26, 2019 at 3:54 PM. Reason : /]

9/26/2019 3:49:40 PM

9/26/2019 3:58:17 PM

Rumors they're considering dropping live pit stops from Xfinity and Trucks.

I'm of two minds about it. I'm not necessarily against it for say Trucks. First, when Trucks started in the '90s, they didn't have live pit stops. Second, it's a factor of separation from drivers in the developmental programs of top teams to drivers that are not for what are developmental series. Not so much now because field quality has gone down, but in the past there's been quite a few times I've seen a top driver in the Cup series do nothing on the race track as far as moving up but he ended up in 5th late solely off the back of his pit crew passing cars for him. At say the Truck level, the superior pit crew is a significant aid to a driver that can hide some of his weaknesses.

On the flip side, you're not going to get rid of pit crews or live pit stops from the standpoint of if a guy has a flat tire, he has to come in and get it changed. It's going to be the driver's benefit that's done very fast.

9/27/2019 12:19:58 PM

At Eldora. This is an awesome dirt track facility.

Have Outlaws and USAC Silver Crown quals tonight. Tomorrow night is all 3 USAC national series.

[Edited on September 27, 2019 at 6:33 PM. Reason : .]

9/27/2019 6:33:20 PM

trucks definitely should go back to halftime breaks(no passing on pit road) at short tracks that arent on the cup schedule

9/27/2019 7:09:34 PM

Checking in from the Roval. Penalty on the 20 was bullshit yesterday. 20 vs 10 was the only chance we had of seeing an interesting finish and NASCAR fucked that up. Still a good race.

Hope the 12 pulls it off again this year.

9/29/2019 12:19:27 PM