Not watching Daytona this year

[Unchainme]

Sorry, they've lost me as a fan.

I've disgusted with the lack of southern drivers out there. They had personality and made the races entertaining. Also, the fact that they tried to mainstream it to the point of making me want to puke, Why are there races out in LA where no one gives a rats ass, yet places like Rockingham no longer run races or Darlington gets them cut back? Also, the hell "The Sprint Cup" and "The Nationwide Series", the hell is that shit? When I watch a NASCAR race, I want to see products advertised that I'd see sold at the local country gas station, not products that fucking soccer moms and their accountant husbands use.

Also, the drivers, as I mentioned before, all come off as soul-less robots. Can the IRL drivers please stop migrating to this? Juan Pabol Montoya, I love you, I was a HUGE fan of you in the IRL, in fact, I want you to come back, you were so fun to watch! But, you don't fit my expectations of what I want to see on Sundays.

Now, onto the non-IRL racers, the current crop, is in sad straights. Again, when I turn on the tube, I expect to see some backwood southern hicks race like mad to win, I don't want to see some upper-class guy from California and Connecticut driving like somebody's who's late to work. Is there anyone from the current crew I like? Sure, Ryan Newman, Kurt/Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart seem to have some personality to them, and seems like that if you dropped up into 1995, they would fit in great with that batch of drivers, but they make up very little of the crowd, that's not who my little rant is directed at.

Someone like Jimmie Johnson winning all the time is the epitome of bad for the sport, and the fact that the guy is being called "great" in time of a more watered down and pussy-fied version of NASCAR and couldn't hold Earnhardt or Petty's helmet. Also, did I mention he's boring to watch races and that he has zero personality?

Sorry to go off on a rant like that, but my god, I wish NASCAR would go back to it's roots and not try to become so mainstreamed.

[kwame k]

Yikes....come on let us have it, don't hold back now

NASCAR hasn't been remotely entertaining in God knows how long.

It went downhill after Dale Sr died.....sad to say but the old....end of an era, applies to NASCAR. I'm all for safety and all that jazz. It just seems like the technology took over and everyone wants the most modern and precise cars but failed to realize what made racing great. Not knowing what the fuck these crazy Red Necks were going to do next and anyone could win a race.

Why not just put in an auto-pilot and see who has the best car, for all the driving they do today. The driver seems secondary to the car....you have a bad car, your days is done. Use that excuse on the old boys who drove 30 years ago and they'd of kicked your ass....

You're right, it's all gloss now.

I want good racing......I want to see Cooter and his cousin Skeeter in the pits, spittin' chew, smoking cigs......cans of PBR on the wall in the pits and cursing about why old Bessie ain't running right. I want to see those boys scraping up the paint. Dirty driving and pay backs all in one race, with no fines because that's racing.

I want racing not fucking mathematics...the damn thing looks like a Ballet. NASCAR was started by bootleggers for Christ's sake

This shit they have now is like American Idol for upper class Hillbillies.......

[Unchainme]

Agreed on the point of the Earnhardt dieing being the end of the grand era of NASCAR, I mean there was a couple of good races following that, but after that it just really wasn't the same.

I've got no problem with a couple of Alan Kulwicki's in the field, but again, I don't believe that it should be overly compliticated scientific type of affair. In the NFL or any given league, they have a nice balance of the simple keys to winning something and the more complex methods (take example, Bill Belichick and his teams of the past decades and say, a team like Pittsburgh's smash mouth defense)

NASCAR doesn't have that, it's become a boring tamed scientific affair.

[78/84 guy]

Nascar ended when Toyota entered the picture !!! And the last great Daytona race was the one Dale died in. Talladega is still fun. They ruined Bristol when the repaved it !!! There are 7 or 8 great cars driven by the same guys every week and the rest of them are to pass up !!

[twonabomber]

the weekly rule changes are dumb. so a Chevy wins three races in a row, the Ford guys get butthurt and cry to the France family, and the rules get changed? what kind of shit is that?

[BigBadBrian]

I stopped watching (that is, when football season didn't coincide) when Neil Bonnet and then Dale Earnhardt bought the farm.

Something just turned me off of the sport. I still glimpse at the tube when a race is on, but not like I used to.

[chefcraig]

The sport has been on life support for almost a decade now. Consider this: When (in your lifetime) have you seen commercials attempting to sell tickets for a Bristol race before last season? Sponsors who do not want the slightest hint of controversy tarnishing their product have created a situation where the blandness of the driver's personality is a selling point. The cars (and the drivers themselves) are little more than corporate billboards, shilling the latest marketing scheme the company has come up with, and instantly making a one race paint job that is reproduced on toy cars that are sold as an instant "collectible" to the fans for extortionate amounts of money.

And no one seems to notice that the quality of the competition (you know, the actual racing itself) blows chunks all over the dashboard. Three teams are involved at this point (Hendrick, Gibbs and Roush/Fenway), with Hendrick holding all the cards. With the death of Dale Earnhardt and "Quaalude Jimmy" Spencer relegated to an endless pre-race tv program, the sport has lost it's only remaining mavericks. (Sorry, Kyle Busch is not a headstrong competitor. He is no more than a whiny, self-absorbed little child that has been indulged for so long that he expects the world to revolve around himself. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.)

This season NASCAR will be starting races around 1PM and backing off rules that have lead to breakthroughs in safety, encouraging the drivers to mix things up. When a sport has gotten to the point when it has to institute common sense starting times for the races to begin and encourage it's drivers to behave recklessly in order to get the public's attention, you know the sanctioning body has lost the plot. The bigger question is how could things have gone so terribly wrong in order to get to this point to begin with?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I'll watch it, although not intensely, after the Pens game is finished....

It's the time of year when there isn't much on as an alternative.... Even the Olympics, for me anyway, the hockey doesn't start until Tuesday....

[Unchainme]

I'll watch it, although not intensely, after the Pens game is finished....

It's the time of year when there isn't much on as an alternative.... Even the Olympics, for me anyway, the hockey doesn't start until Tuesday....

March and April is when the real fun starts.

March Madness
The NBA Playoffs
The beginning of baseball
The NFL Draft

I have a lot invested in the first two, as both of my teams are looking pretty damn good at this point.

[kwame k]

This season NASCAR will be starting races around 1PM and backing off rules that have lead to breakthroughs in safety, encouraging the drivers to mix things up. When a sport has gotten to the point when it has to institute common sense starting times for the races to begin and encourage it's drivers to behave recklessly in order to get the public's attention, you know the sanctioning body has lost the plot. The bigger question is how could things have gone so terribly wrong in order to get to this point to begin with?

The cars can go faster than what's safe in some cases......something has to be done to put the driver's skill ahead of the car's technology.

I'm not talking restrictor plates here because restrictor plate racing is nothing more than gas and brake discipline.

[Unchainme]

I am somewhat reluctantly watching the Busch series (FUCK calling it the Nationwide series, sounds like a 12 year old girls go kart series) pre game right now.

Geeze, is Danica the only driver running today or something? the way ESPIN is covering things you'd think it was.

I know, I'm a hypocrite, but I'm just a bit curious.

[kwame k]

I am somewhat reluctantly watching the Busch series (FUCK calling it the Nationwide series, sounds like a 12 year old girls go kart series) pre game right now.

Geeze, is Danica the only driver running today or something? the way ESPIN is covering things you'd think it was.

I know, I'm a hypocrite, but I'm just a bit curious.

Same thing happened with Junior.......the guy would be running in last place and all coverage was on him....the poor bastard that won the race would be all excited and ready for his big interview....and it seems the interviewer's first question would be, "So what happened to Dale Jr today?".

I had pit passes to a Busch race several years ago and that was a blast. We were in the pits for practice and you could damn near hop the wall and hand the guys a 9/16th wrench and work on the car with them. There was like no restrictions as to where you could go.....for the no names that is.

The other thing I saw there was independent cars there racing. Guys pulling in with their homemade cars and trying to qualify. That's what's missing in the sport......the grassroots guys that could come in and race and you didn't need a thousand fucking sponsors/millions of dollars to race.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Busch/Nationwide is a joke.... Make a rule that the Cup drivers can't drive in it, I might watch....

[ZahZoo]

I will say the COT damn near turned it into an IROC snooze fest but it's getting a little better... Still feel like they could retain the safety aspects but give more freedom in body styles and aero aspects.

Having been a fan since the 60's as a kid... the sport has definately gone thru cycles. But back then far fewer races were televised so it was more of an event for those of us not living in the south. I do remember it getting boring with always Petty, Pearson or a Yarlboro always winning. Then the sport took a jump when Earnhardt, Wallaces, Waltrip and all were in their prime.

I think a toned down a lot when the money, sponsors and television got huge. It takes millions to run a team and corporate sponsorships moved into more mainstream markets. Plus the racing technology shifted way beyond a true "stock" car...

I think the new nationwide (Busch or Grand National) series will pick up with the new car they're developing. It could breath new life with more "stock" body styles and take the competative advantage away from Cup cars/drivers by forcing a unique car element that doesn't just have watered down Cup technology.

I do think it's good that NASCAR has backed off some of the rules and let the drivers sort it out on the track. Last year's Talledega race was a total farce and still ended up a terrible crash-fest. If they let the drivers personalities and competative natures rule... the racing will get better and for what the sport needs is some more bad boys and rivalries to emerge... that's really what's missing...

[Unchainme]

Busch/Nationwide is a joke.... Make a rule that the Cup drivers can't drive in it, I might watch....

My idea is that you only allow 5 Winston Cup drivers, cap it in a way, the top 5 who have the best time get to qualify for the race

That way, you get to the ability to devolop more new talent AND allow fans to still seem some drivers that race on Sunday.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

My idea is that you only allow 5 Winston Cup drivers, cap it in a way, the top 5 who have the best time get to qualify for the race

That way, you get to the ability to devolop more new talent AND allow fans to still seem some drivers that race on Sunday.

Nah, make it the BOTTOM five, justification meaning they would need the extra track time....

[sadaist]

Geeze, is Danica the only driver running today or something? the way ESPIN is covering things you'd think it was.

Isn't that the GoDaddy stripper chick? She races cars now too?

[PETE'S BROTHER]

With Keselowski contending for a top-five finish, Edwards banged into him as they came to the start-finish line. Keselowski’s No. 12 car went into a spin, lifted off the track, turned upside down and slammed into the barrier in front of the stands with the roof. The battered machine flipped back onto the track, landing right side up.

Edwards and Keselowski 'have at it' again - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

edwards was a complete asshole for this move, they gotta make an example of him for punishment.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

especially cause the lap before he tried the same shit and missed.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

Another season, another Carl Edwards flip drama. As soon as Edwards' collision sent Brad Keselowski flying into the Atlanta dusk on Sunday night, the screaming began -- was it intentional? Was it payback? Did Edwards realize he could've killed somebody?
Edwards took to Facebook to explain himself, and the answers were, in order, yes, yes and no. In short, Edwards himself confirmed what everybody already suspected:
My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me with no regard for anyones safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait til bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked away. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine.
So there you have it. Carl Edwards likes the frontier justice.
On a related note, no, Carl is not interested in playing Farmville with you, though he'd be happy to rub someone out in Mafia Wars. Poke him.

[chefcraig]

I love this, as it points out what a total fraud the sanctioning body of NASCAR is. Facing declining ratings, a month ago they made the idiotic statement "Have at it, boys", implying that the drivers should settle things on the track. Well look what happened: a guy over 150 laps down wrecks another, coming dangerously close to sending the car into the grandstand. So what is NASCAR going to do Tuesday? More than likely park a driver for doing exactly what he was told to do a month ago. What sort of hypocritical horseshit is that?

Nicely done, NASCAR. And you wonder why people are turning away in droves.

[chefcraig]

This is really surprising. In order to keep with the program of letting things be settled on the track, even if people (including fans) get hurt, NASCAR has elected to do...nothing.


NASCAR puts Edwards on probation for Keselowski incident

By AL PEARCE

NASCAR gave Carl Edwards nothing more than a slap on the wrist as punishment for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski in last weekend's Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

During a Tuesday afternoon conference call, NASCAR president Mike Helton said the sanctioning body has placed Edwards on probation for upcoming races at Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix, but the driver was not fined, suspended or docked points. The Sprint Cup Series has the coming weekend off, but Edwards, crew chief Bob Osborne and their No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford team will be at Bristol Motor Speedway to compete as scheduled for the March 21 Food City 500.

Helton explained NASCAR's thinking in the matter.

"We made it clear to Carl that this wasn't acceptable [behavior], that it went beyond what we said in January about letting drivers police themselves," he said. "We've talked with [Keselowski's team owner] Roger Penske and [Edward's boss] Jack Roush, and we'll meet with the drivers to clean the slate before they race again. Yes, there's a line, and we'll step in when it's crossed. We want to let them race hard and we want to maintain law and order. We parked Carl [after the incident, though he was already 154 laps behind the leader] and gave him the three-race probation for what he did."

The punishment--really, the nonpunishment, it seems--is in stark contrast to the penalty that many NASCAR watchers felt Edwards would receive. The loss of points and a heavy fine were almost a given, most thought, with some even thinking a one- or two-race suspension would be appropriate. Instead, he'll be on probation for three races, the sort of reaction to a payback situation that may encourage other drivers to take the law into their own hands.

Edwards created a firestorm of controversy when he admittedly tried to spin Keselowski late in the Kobalt 500 at Atlanta. Instead of a minor single-car spin, though, the contact turned Keselowski's car around. The rear of his No. 12 Penske Dodge caught air and lifted, then rolled over and slammed roof-first into the outside wall. The car finally settled back on all four wheels, virtually destroyed. Keselowski was dazed but uninjured.

Afterward, to the media on hand and later on his Web site, Edwards accepted responsibility for the wreck. He spoke of several other on-track incidents with Keselowski in the Cup and Nationwide Series, including one early in the Atlanta race. He did not deny his that payback was his motive, but he said he did not expect Keselowski to get airborne and crash as he did.

"Brad knows the deal between him and I," Edwards said. "The scary part was his car went airborne, which was not what I expected. At the end of the day, we're out here to race and people have to have respect for one another, and I have a lot of respect for people's safety. I wish it wouldn't have gone like it did, but I'm glad he's OK and we'll just go on and race some more and maybe him and I won't get in any more incidents together. That would be the best thing."

The next day, on his Web site, Edwards added: "My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me with no regard for anyone's safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait until Bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked away. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by, and hopefully this explains mine."

On Sunday, after the race, Keselowski put NASCAR squarely on the spot.

"It'll be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it," he said. "They have the ball. If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we'll hurt someone either in the cars or in the grandstands. It's not cool [for Edwards] to come back [into the race after being so many laps behind] and intentionally wreck someone at 195 mph. He could have killed me or someone in the grandstands."

Keselowski went on to recognize that he has been involved in plenty of incidents himself but said there is a difference to what Edward's did to him.

"I know it's a little ironic that it's me saying that [about someone causing me to crash], but at least I didn't do it intentionally," he commented, referring to the crash between he and Edwards last year at Talladega that sent Edwards into the catch-fencing on the last lap.

Keselowski defended his actions in the first incident at Atlanta, which sent Edwards into the garage for extensive right-front repairs.

"He cut down on me on a restart and I lifted," he said. "I couldn't lift fast enough for him. I lifted to let him in, but I was there. I don't know what more you can do. [Keep the] car low is what they say. So I was underneath him and tried to cut him a break. It was too late, though; he turned down. I apologized to him, but there was nothing that I could do in that situation."

NASCAR puts Edwards on probation for Keselowski incident