F1 rejects/personalities in NASCAR

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 22 Mar 2010, 09:59

dr-baker wrote:Thanks for these updates. Although I try to follow NASCAR in passing via Autosport, they never give the championship positions, neither online nor in the magazine (apart from the top-10, which doesn't include Montoya, Speed, Ambrose or Almendinger).

You're most welcome. Good to know I'm not talking to myself in here. :lol:

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 22 Mar 2010, 10:24

Johnson is making NASCAR a snoozefest right now. They may as well hand him the damn Sprint Cup right now.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 22 Mar 2010, 11:33

kostas22 wrote:Johnson is making NASCAR a snoozefest right now. They may as well hand him the damn Sprint Cup right now.

3/5 possible wins. Schumacher...Brawn-esque. Except no one really seems to like Johnson anymore

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 22 Mar 2010, 21:38

Jordan wrote:
kostas22 wrote:Johnson is making NASCAR a snoozefest right now. They may as well hand him the damn Sprint Cup right now.

3/5 possible wins. Schumacher...Brawn-esque. Except no one really seems to like Johnson anymore

Because Johnson has seldom won on the tracks that involve more driver than car, and whenever he doesn't show a robotic personality, he acts like a whining douchebag! Cries like Sebastien Bourdais but nowhere near as funny. Johnson only wins as much as he does because of the car he is in and because of crew chief Chad Knaus.

Johnson cannot navigate traffic as well as other drivers, he has NEVER won on a road course, and it took him this long to win at Bristol, one of the tracks that does require more from the driver, and even that was handed to him by the officials!

So yeah, he is basically driving for NASCAR's Ferrari. The officials love them, let them get away with so much crap, and throw yellow flags to their advantage.

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 22 Mar 2010, 22:32

Cynon wrote:Scott Speed: 18th in points
JPM: 22nd(!) in point

I don't really feel like this reflects their respective pace, however. Montoya just seems extremely unlucky this season so far...

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 23 Mar 2010, 01:32

Cynon wrote:Johnson cannot navigate traffic as well as other drivers, he has NEVER won on a road course, and it took him this long to win at Bristol, one of the tracks that does require more from the driver, and even that was handed to him by the officials!

I think you'll find evidence of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovukNXNikiA there.

Sure something might have broken, but if that's not reject-worthy, I don't know what is

RAK · Post by **RAK** » 23 Mar 2010, 09:34

Jordan wrote:
Cynon wrote:Johnson cannot navigate traffic as well as other drivers, he has NEVER won on a road course, and it took him this long to win at Bristol, one of the tracks that does require more from the driver, and even that was handed to him by the officials!

I think you'll find evidence of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovukNXNikiA there.

Sure something might have broken, but if that's not reject-worthy, I don't know what is

"And he's OK, folks!"

I always reckoned that Johnson's performance was all down to just getting within the top 10 before the Chase and just learning off the tracks featuring in the Chase, of which none of them are road courses. An indictment of the Chase system? I think so.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 27 Mar 2010, 21:22

Martinsville Saturday Update:

Narain Karthikeyan made his debut kind of anonymously. He qualified 11th and finished 13th in his first NASCAR truck race a the very tight Martinsville track. A good effort by Karthikeyan, and he admitted himself the most difficult part was the racecraft of running on an oval like Martinsville.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 27 Mar 2010, 22:36

Cynon wrote:Martinsville Saturday Update:

Narain Karthikeyan made his debut kind of anonymously. He qualified 11th and finished 13th in his first NASCAR truck race a the very tight Martinsville track. A good effort by Karthikeyan, and he admitted himself the most difficult part was the racecraft of running on an oval like Martinsville.

I did see him leave the door open on entry to one of the corners, only to come down across someone's nose at the apex. Only time he was really in trouble, as far as I saw.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 27 Mar 2010, 23:24

thehemogoblin wrote:
Cynon wrote:Martinsville Saturday Update:

Narain Karthikeyan made his debut kind of anonymously. He qualified 11th and finished 13th in his first NASCAR truck race a the very tight Martinsville track. A good effort by Karthikeyan, and he admitted himself the most difficult part was the racecraft of running on an oval like Martinsville.

I did see him leave the door open on entry to one of the corners, only to come down across someone's nose at the apex. Only time he was really in trouble, as far as I saw.

You must have missed quite a bit of the race then. Was involved in a few accidents...he spun the 47, and got spun by the 17 going in a straight line!!

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 27 Mar 2010, 23:43

kostas22 wrote:
thehemogoblin wrote:
Cynon wrote:Martinsville Saturday Update:

Narain Karthikeyan made his debut kind of anonymously. He qualified 11th and finished 13th in his first NASCAR truck race a the very tight Martinsville track. A good effort by Karthikeyan, and he admitted himself the most difficult part was the racecraft of running on an oval like Martinsville.

I did see him leave the door open on entry to one of the corners, only to come down across someone's nose at the apex. Only time he was really in trouble, as far as I saw.

You must have missed quite a bit of the race then. Was involved in a few accidents...he spun the 47, and got spun by the 17 going in a straight line!!

I was playing pinochle. I was more than a bit distracted.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 27 Mar 2010, 23:51

Forgot about mentioning all the fail Karthikeyan caused...

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 10 Apr 2010, 00:05

As I type, for the Phoenix Spring race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, Scott Speed is on the outside of the front row! There's not that many cars left to run, either! The pole man? A.J. Allmendinger. Juan Pablo Montoya is currently 6th on the grid.

By the way, has anyone seen Scott Speed's hair recently?

Post-Q Edit: Former IRL god Sam Hornish, Jr. bumped JPM down to 7th after he put the Penske Dodge 3rd.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 11 Apr 2010, 22:51

Post Phoenix:

Juan Pablo Montoya came home in fifth -- best of the rest -- behind the Hendrick-powered Chevrolets of Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Mark Martin.

A.J. Allmendinger was in fifth on the last restart, but a crap restart and ... crap pace... left him in 15th.

Robby Gordon's awful luck ended with a very good drive to 14th place in his underpowered #7 Toyota.

Scott Speed did his usual... slid through the field and wound up 21st.

Max Papis's car encountered overheating problems a little past halfway and he had to retire.

It was not the most exciting race on the planet, let's say that much.

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 12 Apr 2010, 10:05

1. Ryan Newman races for the Stewart Haas Racing, not Hendricks.

2.Robby Gordon ain't a F1 reject.

3.Neither is Allmendinger.

Anyway, I liked the race, would've loved to see Jeff Gordon win, but anyway, a good race, and this time he lost the win coz of Newman was faster at the end, not because of Kenseth!

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 12 Apr 2010, 18:51

1. Stewart-Haas Racing is Hendrick Motorsports in all but name. Basically like Toro Rosso and Red Bull -- getting around NASCAR's limit of four cars per team... Hendrick-built-cars, Hendrick engines, and most of their key personnel are "ex"-Hendrick people. So, me calling Newman a Hendrick driver isn't so inaccurate after all.

2. Robby Gordon is an old CART personality and was rumored to go to F1 throughout the 1995 CART season, but I have a feeling all of those rumors were started by Derek Daly... Robby Gordon is basically the Minardi of NASCAR.

3. Ditto for Allmendinger. Was rumored to Toro Rosso to partner Scott Speed and make Toro Rosso a "Red Bull Team USA".

Gordon didn't lose M'ville because of Kenseth. Hamlin ran over both Kenseth and Gordon, and then Kenseth forgot to brake in turn 3 and went so wide the only thing he was going to do was possibly hit Jeff Gordon. Basically, Gordon lost Martinsville because Hamlin ran over both Gordon and Kenseth.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 13 Apr 2010, 00:41

Cynon wrote:1. Stewart-Haas Racing is Hendrick Motorsports in all but name. Basically like Toro Rosso and Red Bull -- getting around NASCAR's limit of four cars per team... Hendrick-built-cars, Hendrick engines, and most of their key personnel are "ex"-Hendrick people. So, me calling Newman a Hendrick driver isn't so inaccurate after all.

2. Robby Gordon is an old CART personality and was rumored to go to F1 throughout the 1995 CART season, but I have a feeling all of those rumors were started by Derek Daly... Robby Gordon is basically the Minardi of NASCAR.

3. Ditto for Allmendinger. Was rumored to Toro Rosso to partner Scott Speed and make Toro Rosso a "Red Bull Team USA".

Gordon didn't lose M'ville because of Kenseth. Hamlin ran over both Kenseth and Gordon, and then Kenseth forgot to brake in turn 3 and went so wide the only thing he was going to do was possibly hit Jeff Gordon. Basically, Gordon lost Martinsville because Hamlin ran over both Gordon and Kenseth.

Beat me to it! I remember when Allmendinger was all but gifted the Toro Rosso seat...too bad, he was on fire that year

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 15 Apr 2010, 17:27

Jordan wrote:
Cynon wrote:1. Stewart-Haas Racing is Hendrick Motorsports in all but name. Basically like Toro Rosso and Red Bull -- getting around NASCAR's limit of four cars per team... Hendrick-built-cars, Hendrick engines, and most of their key personnel are "ex"-Hendrick people. So, me calling Newman a Hendrick driver isn't so inaccurate after all.

2. Robby Gordon is an old CART personality and was rumored to go to F1 throughout the 1995 CART season, but I have a feeling all of those rumors were started by Derek Daly... Robby Gordon is basically the Minardi of NASCAR.

3. Ditto for Allmendinger. Was rumored to Toro Rosso to partner Scott Speed and make Toro Rosso a "Red Bull Team USA".

Gordon didn't lose M'ville because of Kenseth. Hamlin ran over both Kenseth and Gordon, and then Kenseth forgot to brake in turn 3 and went so wide the only thing he was going to do was possibly hit Jeff Gordon. Basically, Gordon lost Martinsville because Hamlin ran over both Gordon and Kenseth.

Beat me to it! I remember when Allmendinger was all but gifted the Toro Rosso seat...too bad, he was on fire that year

He would have done better than Liuzzi had done, that's for sure...

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 16 Apr 2010, 00:40

Uh, guys, check who is starting on the pole for the ARCA race in Texas...

Starting Grid

I don't care if it's set by points, but Nelson Piquet, Jr. is on the bathplugging pole. Also, Nur Ali is in the race as well, and before anyone complains that his location says "Fort Worth, TX" instead of his real hometown in Pakistan, Ali lives in Texas.

Also, for the sake of awesome names, Chad Hackenbracht is in the field, starting towards the back, as is current Nationwide series crashmaster James Buescher (pronounced Busher), who won an ARCA race at the age of 16 a few years back.

For noteworthy racing drivers on the opposite end of the age spectrum, James Hylton, who is well into his 70s, is starting somewhere in the midfield. Hylton is notable because he almost qualified for the Daytona 500 a few years back at the age of 72 or somesuch -- on merit, no less, but the car failed him on the last restart and he dropped through the field in his qualifying heat, and as such, did not qualify, sadly...

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 16 Apr 2010, 01:10

Cynon wrote:I don't care if it's set by points, but Nelson Piquet, Jr. is on the bathplugging pole.

I'm NOT okay with this!

Sean · Post by **Sean** » 16 Apr 2010, 04:43

I expect Piquet to win in ARCA. He's in a factory car, Scott Speed was a championship contender, and Kerry Earnhardt, Justin Labonte, and Jason Jarrett won races there. And he was much better in GP2 than Speed and probably better in F1 (the car difference makes it hard to say). An international last-name reject should do better than an American one, simply because he has actually won something. Hell, he'll probably win an ARCA road race, when you consider how bad the Cup regulars tend to be on road courses, and this is three levels down...

Granted, ARCA is a terrible series, and Jean-Denis Deletraz himself could win in ARCA with the right car, especially on a plate track.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 16 Apr 2010, 16:35

I'd say Speed was a better F1 driver than Piquet was, but Piquet was more impressive in GP2.

Also, Texas is a bit of a power circuit, Piquet's chances of winning aren't that bad provided he doesn't decide to kill the entire field on lap two, and we all know how ARCA brakes work...

Chad Hackenbracht for USF1 2011 tilt. <_<

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 16 Apr 2010, 23:57

He's not an F1 personality (sadly) - but did you realize Nur Ali (of A1GP fame) also participates in ARCA now?
He did himself proud today by spinning in the first lap!

bduddy · Post by **bduddy** » 17 Apr 2010, 00:05

Piquet is in 2nd right now while the rest of the field holds to form and makes fools of themselves... also, nice to see F1 promos during the ARCA race... wonder how much of a "crossover audience" there is :lol:

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 17 Apr 2010, 01:08

bduddy wrote:Piquet is in 2nd right now while the rest of the field holds to form and makes fools of themselves... also, nice to see F1 promos during the ARCA race... wonder how much of a "crossover audience" there is

You haha

Sean · Post by **Sean** » 17 Apr 2010, 04:10

I didn't watch the ARCA race but I heard from somebody that the SPEED broadcasters claimed Nur Ali was a "Fort Worth, Texas native". Okay...that's one way to justify international influx for a xenophobic sanctioning body...pretend the foreigners are rednecks.

bduddy, there's probably more of a crossover audience than you'd think as most NASCAR fans for the most part don't give a crap about ARCA (and justifiably so, because it has only spawned a grand total of two major stock car talents among its series regulars: Benny Parsons and Davey Allison; the vast majority of other ARCA drivers have generally sucked so that Piquet really SHOULD be dominating here) so the kind of people who would watch ARCA in the US would be hardcore fans who would also tend to watch F1...

RejectSteve · Post by **RejectSteve** » 17 Apr 2010, 08:02

Sean wrote:I didn't watch the ARCA race but I heard from somebody that the SPEED broadcasters claimed Nur Ali was a "Fort Worth, Texas native". Okay...that's one way to justify international influx for a xenophobic sanctioning body...pretend the foreigners are rednecks.

Nur Ali lived there for a while when he was racing in various US series like Star Mazda. Mind you, being 'native' to Fort Worth is quite a stretch. He's spent more time at the back of the grid than that city. :lol:

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:19

Nur Ali lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and the ruling with NASCAR and ARCA is that the driver themself fills in what their home town is -- Jeff Gordon has had more than one place as listed home town, so what the hell are the broadcasters supposed to do? They're just fed the information from ARCA and whatnot.

So the call by Rick Allen and Phil Parsons (brother of the late ARCA and NASCAR champion, but more importantly, legendary commentator Benny Parsons) was ... sort of correct.

I heard from somewhere that Nur Ali has lived in Fort Worth for quite some time, so it would justify him saying he is from Fort Worth, Texas. On the other hand, I think Ali is trying to blend in with everyone else. So blame him for not saying "I'm Pakistani!" than the commentators.

Also, only one driver hasn't been able to win in ARCA despite having a good car -- Erin Crocker -- but then again, her luck was so awful it made Mark Webber and Chris Amon look like regular lottery winners.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 21 Apr 2010, 16:16

Nelson Piquet is back for more carnage in the NASCAR trucks! But instead of driving for Jeff Hammond's Red Horse Racing, he'll drive the #15 Billy Ballew truck... which is a hell of a good ride.

"The former grand prix driver will contest the Charlotte (May 21), Texas (June 4) and Michigan (June 12) rounds of the series with Billy Ballew Motorsports." - Autosport.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 21 Apr 2010, 16:26

Cynon wrote:Nelson Piquet is back for more carnage in the NASCAR trucks! But instead of driving for Jeff Hammond's Red Horse Racing, he'll drive the #15 Billy Ballew truck... which is a hell of a good ride.

"The former grand prix driver will contest the Charlotte (May 21), Texas (June 4) and Michigan (June 12) rounds of the series with Billy Ballew Motorsports." - Autosport.

If Pikwit can succeed at those three tracks, he'll be set in NASCAR.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 21 Apr 2010, 23:17

Exactly. Because those are the types of tracks that litter NASCAR's schedule. It's like doing well at Tilkedromes -- if you're good at Tilkedromes, you'll succeed in F1.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 25 Apr 2010, 09:19

May I ask in what position did Nelsinho finish in that ARCA race he started from pole?

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 25 Apr 2010, 09:58

Yannick wrote:May I ask in what position did Nelsinho finish in that ARCA race he started from pole?

9th. And Nur Ali was 22nd!

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 25 Apr 2010, 09:59

Yannick wrote:May I ask in what position did Nelsinho finish in that ARCA race he started from pole?

9th place. Nothing outstanding...

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 26 Apr 2010, 16:16

A big wreck at the end of the Nationwide series race at Talladega is proof that NASCAR cars are the safest racing machines on the planet. The 92 car that goes flying is Dennis Setzer, a longtime veteran driving a car that was not built to run the whole distance. He walked away under his own power.

No F1 personalities in the field, but Jason Keller, who finished 4th, and John Borneman, III, who finished 5th, are the HRTs of the Nationwide series. Keller is a longtime veteran driver who was running strong all race in a car that DNQ'd on a few of the power tracks.

This is the finish to the Sprint Cup race earlier in the day. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third in a good drive, Scott Speed, Marcos Ambrose, and Max Papis were all involved in wrecks throughout the day. A.J. Allmendinger came in 19th.

But again, a good day for the underdogs. The car that won the race last year, the #09 Phoenix Racing entry, came 10th with no sponsors and with Mike Bliss driving -- who isn't that bad of a driver but seems to get solid runs out of crap cars in the Cup series here and there. The #09 team is still the SUPER AGURI of NASCAR... with their Nationwide team being the Sakon Yamamoto with James Buescher....

RejectSteve · Post by **RejectSteve** » 27 Apr 2010, 08:59

Cynon wrote:A big wreck at the end of the Nationwide series race at Talladega is proof that NASCAR cars are the safest racing machines on the planet. The 92 car that goes flying is Dennis Setzer, a longtime veteran driving a car that was not built to run the whole distance. He walked away under his own power.

Marty Reid is still one of the worst motorsport commentators the world knows.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 28 Apr 2010, 16:25

He's better than Jerry Punch.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 02 May 2010, 20:25

Not a good night for F1 Rejects in NASCAR in Richmond. The race was awful. AWFUL. BAD. YUCK. HUNGARORING. VALENCIA. SINGAPORE. As someone who has been an avid NASCAR fan for over 15 years that was a pathetic race.

But JPM scored a well deserved 6th place, and Marcos Ambrose came 9th after a very good drive in his Michael Waltrip owned car.

Scott Speed came 35th, and Max Papis failed to qualify his Germain Racing Toyota after locking up the brakes in qualifying... hmm... probably a combination of setup and driver failure.

In the NASCAR truck race, Narain Karthikeyan was the first truck out of the race after Wes Burton (son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton... Wawd Buhton... if I'm not mistaken) cut a tire and came suddenly into his door, sending our poor Lucky Bastard into the wall.

Ward Burton is known in NASCAR circles for having a ... unique ... accent... and wishes he coulda shot sommin' through the... winda'...

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 03 May 2010, 10:35

Oh... NASCAR... now I'm getting frustrated with Gordon's good runs, just to loose the lead in a green-white checkered or a very late restart

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 10 May 2010, 17:56

Back-to-back driver's circuits for our F1 Rejects in NASCAR... and guess what, they were crap!

Darlington showed that Scott Speed, at this point in his career, is a pretty sh*t driver. He finished 28th, 4 laps down.

Max Papis was 29th, 6 laps off the leader.

Encouraging week for the very underrated driving combo of Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. Both the Earnhardt-Ganassi cars scored top five finishes. Jamie Mac has the edge over JPM in the points standings, as they both sit 16thand 17th.

What about the F1 Rejects?

Scott Speed is 26th, A.J. Allmendinger 27th, and Marcos Ambrose 28th...

Max Papis sits 38th, and honestly, he struggles to qualify for every race...