re: 2024 NASCAR Season Thread

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a bullshite penalty

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Pretty sure every other driver who was asked about it yesterday and today said they were told they could go above the first line but they could not have their tires over the second line and go onto the racing surface. Chase had all four tires completely over the line and got docked. Kyle had none over the line though he did touch it with his lefts. Brad got two over the line and got docked. He literally went onto the surface in front of the leader when he had a whole nother turn before he could blend.

What is the other BS call, because that and speeding both appear pretty cut and dry.

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What is the other BS call, because that and speeding both appear pretty cut and dry.

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I acknowledged that the speeding penalty last week was legit.

The penalty at COTA was the other one that I was referring to.

The rule about entering the track at Indy was poorly worded, which led to broad interpretation, and it was poorly communicated to the drivers, which Chase brought up in his tirade.

Turned on some of the race. This car is awful.

Watching a car that can't pass go around a track that is 10% full really sucks. Wish they would just take the Xfinity cars and make them the Cup cars. Good racing every week.

Landon Cassill is ragging on Denny Hamlin for pleading that teams need more money from NASCAR.

Interview on “The Money Lap,” cited on X.

”NASCAR is not making you hire 100 engineers. NASCAR is not making you rent private jets. NASCAR is not making you spend $250,000 on a pit box.”

Denny responded:

”About 8 engineers. No private jet. (Although he was busted later and copped to owning a private jet as the driver of No. 11 and not the owner of 23XL.)

”$13 million hard cost. $5 million to be competitive.

”We could cut some aesthetic cost but have you seen 3/4 of the Xfinity garage? Amazing experience that would be for our sponsors.”

The response, and remember this is Twitter, is basically that NASCAR droolz and the teams rule, teams should spend whatever it takes to entertain the fans, how dare backmarker scum like Landon Cassill chime in on this, couldn’t they get Carl Long? And the Frances need to sell NASCAR. And competitors in other professional sports don’t have to pay to get into the show.

Denny followed up by saying the $18 million doesn’t include the driver’s salary and that teams “opened their books to NASCAR to show exactly what it was spent on and that it wasn’t excessive and NASCAR management agreed it wasn’t excessive.”

He said teams today need a business office, marketing department, social media department and sponsorship department to function and that’s also above and beyond the $18 million to put a competitive car on the track. Said it’s a necessity both for teams to operate and to grow the sport.

Comments?

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Comments?

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I don't like Denny, but he has a dog in the hunt and much like Dale Jr has a vested interest in the future of the sport and is looking to move it forward. He and other owners have every right to complain that the charters they buy are not permanent and that the teams have no say in the governance. This is a very real possibility these teams are facing down that if they don't have a deal in place then NASCAR will pull their charters and give it to someone willing to take the deal.

I can agree with Cassil's questioning, but ultimately think Hamlin and the other owners have solid points as to why they should either have their status as partners cemented with permanent charters and the ability to have a say in governance, or they deserve a bigger cut of the pie to offset the risk they are taking.

Like I said, I'm not a fan of Denny and some of his antics as a driver, but Denny as an owner is needed much like Tony was before he decided to stop giving AF and decided to move his interest and investment to the other outlets he has. I listen to Actions Detrimental weekly on some of my longer runs, and Denny definitely complains as a driver, but a lot of his points seem pretty valid through the eyes of an owner.

Dave lived in a house trailer like until the 1990s because it suited him. Great guy who was in this to race, not to become a jillionaire or a brand.

Kinda surprised Dave didn't get more help from Roger Penske over the years. He drove for Roger, and shook down the IROC cars for years

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Also shook down stuff for Childress and Dale Sr. totally trusted his take on things.

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Larry Mac was on Dale Jr.’s podcast a couple of years ago and did a tell all on the 1998 Daytona 500. He said they build Dale’s winning car in the summer of 1997 and they took it to the wind tunnel in Detroit on a Monday after a Sunday race at Michigan. They were amazed at how little drag the car had (something they couldn’t even replicate). Sometime later in the summer or fall of 97, Dave Marcis tested the car at Talladega. He ran a few laps and came back in and told Larry that Dale was going to love that car. He said that the car didn’t lose an RPM when he drove it into the turns. Sure enough, that car finally delivered Dale his long-awaited Daytona 500 victory.