2018 season thread

[Retroram52]

117 Laps into this thing and Larsen still leads the race.

 

[Retroram52]

Yellow out.

 

[Retroram52]

Truex beats Larsen out of the pits for the lead.

 

[Retroram52]

Truex leads Harvick at Lap 138.

 

[Retroram52]

Larsen leads Kevin Harvick at Lap 185.

 

[Retroram52]

Kyle Larsen starts and leads Stage three and Elliott is second.

 

[Retroram52]

At Lap 242, Larsen still leads Elliott.

 

[Retroram52]

Looks like nobody is going to catch Larsen on this one. Later.

 

[Retroram52]

Turns out Keselowski got his his first win of the season last night. Larsen dominated the race until the very end when he faded and Keselowski took the win.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Turns out Keselowski got his his first win of the season last night. Larsen dominated the race until the very end when he faded and Keselowski took the win.

The race was really won by inches on pit road on that last stop. That's how strong the inside line was on restarts.

 

[jeffro151]

Here's a true silly season shocker:

Strongest rumor is Truex is headed to JGR to replace Suarez, who is replacing Kahne in the #95.

 

[Retroram52]

Yea, the dominos will fall as soon as the sponsor money starts to shift and driver's leaving present seats for others.

 

[BPNAZ]

when a championship team can't even draw sponsorship, when a team and driver has won 7 championship (johnson) can't draw sponsorship, that says everything about the state of the sport

in my opinion we are drawing ever so closer to a full reboot of the series.

 

[Retroram52]

I agree BPNAZ. Corporate America has effed this sport up and it is time to reset it including a return to the days where the cars were actually different and their was true product loyality for the fans to get excited about when the better car won!!

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I agree BPNAZ. Corporate America has effed this sport up and it is time to reset it including a return to the days where the cars were actually different and their was true product loyality for the fans to get excited about when the better car won!!

And also, the majority of drivers need to develop personalities that fans can either latch onto or make them hate their guts. They're scared of saying anything that might anger a sponsor so they tread way too carefully.

 

[Gopherfan84]

The situation with the 78 reminds me of Raymond Beadle, for those of you familiar with NASCAR history. His team lasted only 1 season after Rusty won his only title in 1989 (if I remember right, they were reportedly even having financial issues that season) before selling the team to Roger Penske.

 

[wildturkey]

It's sponsor related, sure. That's part of it. But Visser ran this team out of his own pocket for years. He's got the cash. That car having sponsors is actually rather newish. At one point, he was going to buy Penske's engine shop and work with Dodge if they would a chassis shop (they didn't). So its not like its some woe is me, our sponsor left and we're totally broke deal.

The bigger part is JGR was going to cut them off. They've had a technical alliance for a few years now except JGR has been growing frustrated with FRR because they feel they haven't been sharing data with them as they originally agreed. JGR basically feels like they provided them with everything to be a championship team (cars and research) and FRR isn't giving them anything back. So they upped their fee big time. Visser isn't willing to pay so he's just going to shut the team down instead of funding it himself and going back to being a midpack car like they were prior to the alliance. He's accomplished what he wanted. He started a team and went from a start and park to a champion. With his age and health, he doesn't feel like pouring his money to keep the team afloat like he did prior to big sponsors and doesn't feel like doing the sponsorship dance anymore.

 

[Chewbaccer]

And also, the majority of drivers need to develop personalities that fans can either latch onto or make them hate their guts. They're scared of saying anything that might anger a sponsor so they tread way too carefully.

Very true. When Harvick retires, I don't know who I'm gonna pull for.

I'm used to a lot of personality from my favorite drivers. Dale Sr, Harvick and Tony Stewart. This new generation all seem like robots.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Martin Truex Jr., crew chief and Bass Pro Shops moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019

 

[Retroram52]

The rich get richer and everyone else slowly dies. Maybe the removal of that coke-nosed, alkie Brian France may turn things around but it may take awhile.