Random NASCAR Discussion

Andre · PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 8:20 pm

The top five finishers of a Truck race are mostly Cup drivers with Cup-level motors\chassis\whatever... so that's great.

BUT HEY THEY PUT FANS IN THE STANDS

Tommy Vercetti · PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 8:23 pm

They also cut the prize purse by a certain amount. That doesn't help out one bit.

Gaara · PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 8:24 pm

More they put tumbleweeds in the stands these days.

Pretzel · PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 9:57 pm

Andre wrote:

The top five finishers of a Truck race are mostly Cup drivers with Cup-level motors\chassis\whatever... so that's great.

in fairness I've always blamed this on the amount of Driver Development busts in the mid-late 2000s. I always felt it scared off sponsors , who would rather have gone for an established product (Cup drivers) at a cheaper price (Nationwide series car). Case in point the 2007 Nationwide race at Millwaukee

Cartman · PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 10:41 pm

I've also noticed that a lot of young talent are more or less bypassing the Truck Series as a development tier in favor of heading to Nationwide (ex: Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson).

If not for the fact that they don't run 1.5-mile/superspeedway tracks, you could make the argument the K&N Pro Series East is a bigger proving ground for "next-gen" talent in the last 5 years than the Trucks have. And even then, they're essentially one or two ARCA races away from being approved for those larger tracks in the Nationwide Series.

Pretzel · PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 4:09 am

Driver development is killing the sport just as much as Brian France has, instead of making it the series Weekend warriors and driver who a just a notch below cup level on the talent scale. If Jeff Green was still at Childress or some other Cup affiliated team, he could keep up with the #54, #22 and #20 teams. But teams would rather take a shot in the dark to find the next big talent who probably will never get a shot at cup in the first place, cause there really aren't any openings for them.

Joe A · PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 4:31 am

Gael wrote:

SecretAgentHarvick wrote:

I just noticed Justin Allgaier is not on the entry list for the Showdown this weekend, wonder why?

To focus on the 600.

That's a smart move. I kind of wish more teams would do that, in both the Winston and in the Open. No sense in tearing up equipment when there's no benefit from it.

de31168 · PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 2:43 pm

It's a race conditions test session. There is plenty of benefit.

Racefan4ever · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 3:13 am

Yeah and it pays like 20k to s&p

Tommy Vercetti · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 4:43 am

Apparently, NASCAR will go what no other sport has done: install automated officials. ETA: 2015.

Quote:

In yet another nod to the priority NASCAR has placed on innovation, NASCAR Executive Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O'Donnell spoke in Boston at the Front End of Innovation, a cross-industry conference bringing together industry executives, practitioners, academics and experts in innovation, product development and research and development. Joining leaders and innovators from best-in-class companies such as Walt Disney, Procter and Gamble, MasterCard, IBM and Microsoft, O'Donnell today presented a case study on the Air Titan 2.0 drying technology, as well as provided an update on NASCAR's technology-driven pit road officiating system. O'Donnell touched on these and other initiatives spearheaded by NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and borne out of the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., including safety and competition enhancements, as well as fan engagement and event experience.

"Innovation helps drive NASCAR, and it is central to the sport's evolution," said O'Donnell, who last year spoke at both the Harvard Business School's Cyberposium and the World Innovation Convention in Cannes, France. "There are several examples of it improving the sport, none more recent - and impressive - than Air Titan 2.0. The next wave of NASCAR innovation is the pit road officiating technology, which will increase the overall quality of in-race officiating." Beginning in 2015, NASCAR will implement its automated pit road officiating technology - becoming the first sport to use technology to officiate each of its events. This technology will be used on every lap, in every race, O'Donnell announced. Testing of this technology is currently underway. This innovative pit road technology will employ numerous video cameras, which will be mounted to inspect and gather data - in real time - from all areas of pit road. Following O'Donnell's overview of the new system, he discussed future incarnations, including the use of the collected data to improve the fan experience while in the stands at-track or watching at home on television.

Why do I get the feeling that this will be a bad idea?

ChrisTRD · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 2:54 pm

ah I think it may be good... surely there will some kinks at first.

dr dog · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 3:59 pm

Hmm not enough info in that article to really understand what this means. They have already automated speeding penalties... so what else is there? Pitting outside the box? Too many men? Equipment leaving the box? Not sure how a computer can enforce those rules better than a human. Wonder if this is just an elaborate way to describe a bunch of officials sitting in a room watching cameras looking at each box, rather than having the officials down in the pits. Hopefully more news about this comes out.

westracing01 · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 5:32 pm

Theoretically it could be touted as an added safety feature. It can't hurt to remove 43 people (minimum) from harms way on pit road.

Jury is still way out though. Gut reaction is this is not a good idea.

Chris A · PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 6:58 pm

westracing01 wrote:

Theoretically it could be touted as an added safety feature. It can't hurt to remove 43 people (minimum) from harms way on pit road.

Jury is still way out though. Gut reaction is this is not a good idea.

I think you'd have to double that to 86. I think they use an official on the front and rear for each car these days.

Pretzel · PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 3:45 am

You know what. For all the doom and gloom most of us probably assumed would shroud the Nationwide series this year series regulars have won half the races this year so far.

Joe A · PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 4:56 pm

If it's less people in a hot pit, nothing wrong with it.

I can just imagine that all the teams are thinking of ways to exploit the hell out of this already.

Shane · PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 11:19 pm

43 people potentially out of a job.

ChrisTRD · PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 11:40 pm

43 catch can men lost their job or were reassigned few years ago and no one cared. It's business.

Shane · PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 1:32 am

No one cared is probably a stretch.

Racefan4ever · PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 6:28 am

No one cared

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