How times have changed...

[Jesla]

Daytona weekend just complete and virtually no posts....

My NASCAR days ended with Dale Sr. but I could at least expect some news without picking up a newspaper.

What gives?

[Rleog]

Gates to Sebring open March 14.

[Z-carfan]

[Jesla]

So, I'm guessing Danica didn't win.... again...

[FC47]

..is that all your point was?....

[arroldn]

Danica got taken out of the race early in the first crash. I was surprised that there was no mention of the race as well. I have been a NASCAR fan since my youth. Petty Fan. Saw him race at Fairground Speedways when Nashville had two sanctioned Cup races. Thanks to our State and city council we lost those races. Nashville SuperSpeed way closed after Indy Car pulled their race when they merged with Cart. NASCAR later pulled their Truck and Xfinity races. I was glad to see Darrell aka Bubba Wallace get the #43 to a second place finish. It's been a while since the King's cars have been competitive. I just hope it last throughout the session. A lot of young guys in the field. Half of the field is under 30. I don't like the crash fest at Daytona and Talladega. You can count on a wreck or two during the last ten laps. Was always a Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler fan. Since they no longer field cars I stuck with Penske and Petty. I actually stayed awake the whole race. Could have been because my brother and I were calling back and forth watching Bubba. Since he lives right outside Talladega I may finally ask him to get us some tickets.
Arrold

Jesla where in East TN are you?

[flandy]

I was beginning to think I was witnessing an engineered crash fest. I admit I don't catch the Daytona run every year but have I missed something recently? What's with the front and side aero package that creates so much hard air at the front corner that a drafter can 'nudge' the guy in front into a tank slapper and the inevitable wall whack without any physical contact at all - car to car.

Gotta say, I was left a little disappointed with it all. It did not help that my several hours of pause-play viewing strategy got screwed up with '2 to go' when my new Spectrum box decided to reset itself and perform a software update. By the time I had punished the remote control mercilessly for its bad timing and I got a picture back, Dillon was well into his media chats. I wandered off back to my left-over pizza and remaining 4 High Lifes.

Andy

[buspor63]

I watched the race and I thought it was a pretty good race. The "story" says that Aric Almirola spun out of the lead as Austin Dillon goes on to victory. My eyes saw a a driver in second place run through the lead car to crash him out.

Let the tears of joy flow down the cheeks as the #3 car owner's grandson wins in the iconic #3 three 17 years to the day of Sr's accident and 20 years to the day of Sr's only Daytona win. I just imagined the seen in Talladega Nights when team owner Dennitt tells his lacky driver to take out Ricky Bobby...... If that would have been one of the usuall suspects, Lagano or Kesolowski, I'm sure the media and us, would be telling a different story. On a big positive note, the post race interview Almirola gave was top notch, full of class. Incidentally, he drives the #10 Stewart-Haas car....

That's my opinion anyway.

[mattb]

Nascar is reaping the benefits of their goal of attracting younger fans. The changes have left most of the old fans losing interest in stages, 20 minute yellow flags, chase and stage points.

Million dollar driver contracts that allow a driver to retire after 8-10 years with money to last forever. Waltrips still ruining all broadcasts with their continual mouth running.

Veteran drivers gone, young guys that want to make a name for themselves and only know how to drive over the guy in front of them. Like a basketball game or football game, the last 10 minutes take over an hour.

Why not a bumper on front of the car that runs a spike into the cars front tires when the bumper hits the car in front of it?
Who cares anymore?

[Jesla]

[HomeRacingWorld]

[strangebrew]

Patronize your local short track, (dirt or pavement) buy a "pit pass", & watch some real racing! :banana-dance:
That's where the "TV drivers" used to pay their dues to make it to the big time.

[slothead]

I look forward to the Daytona 500 every year as the start of the racing season after having been wrapped up in football since September. Used to follow NASCAR a lot more years ago like most of us. I never had a single favorite driver but rooted for Bill Elliot, Harry Gant, Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond, etc. While I don't know if it's true or not it seems to me the networks are leaning on NASCAR to constantly change the rules to make it more exciting, keep everyone glued to they're TV to see the last lap pass for the win. Yes, that is fun to watch but sports are meant to be unpredictable, a great team and hot driver might just be better than everyone else on a given day and for a few races or even a season. You can't script a true sporting event so you get a story book ending every time out, or even most of the time. I also get the sense network people who want rules their way probably aren't real race fans, and don't appreciate racing which is about cars racing more than crashing and not needing fights between drivers or teams to add to the hype.

I don't get the sense people who love racing are making the decisions anymore.

Slothead

[bigman]

GUYS
I watch the race yesterday from the start to the finish. :o :roll: :cry: :shhh:
It was a good race I'd say, the segments were pretty cool. :naughty:
The drivers were looking to win each segment for the points. :auto-checkeredflag:
It really stops the just riding along or I'll just hang out in the back to miss the BIG ONE. :hand:
After last year the teams see how important those segment wins add up. :think:
I liked the 24hour race better, they had the whole race televised, you had to switch the channel a few times but add lese you could see it all. :banana-dance:
I'm waiting for the new guys doing the F-1 Racing, sure going to miss the old crew. :D :o :cry:
I think it's going to hurt bring the new fans in, NBC was doing a great job hosting the races, I hear there not going to have the prerace show and not much practice on the tube either :doh:

:violence-stickwhack: This is just my opinion :teasing-blah:
bigman :flags-waveusa: BIG Fan of all auto racing. :auto-checkeredflag: