Grand Prix Rejects

After last night's Cup race at Kentucky, I've decided I want Shrub to win the Cup this year, despite doing eleven less races than everyone else and having to get a waiver from NASCAR to enter the Chase. The rage if he wins will be biblical.

Oh I love Mudsummer Classic so much, and this year's lane all were working but rather a bit too many caution thanks to spinners. Yeah, this race ia classic already

A little story here:
MB Motorsports (MB stands for Mittler Brothers) is the only NASCAR Truck Series team with at least one start in every year of the competition (1995-2015). They had exactly ONE top 10 in their 212 starts, earned by a certain Carl Edwards in 2002.
Although they are extremely unsuccessful, they gave an amount of very talented guys their first breaks.
Drivers who made their 1st NASCAR start with Mittler trucks:
Carl Edwards
Jamie McMurray
Kenny Irwin, Jr.
Justin Allgaier
Regan Smith

So last night in the Mudsummer Classic, their 3 years old #63 truck, driven by Bobby Pierce, qualified on the pole, won its heat and was the fastest truck on the track consistently beating teams with 15-50x the budget they have. Pierce developed a transmission problem though and had difficulty going after restarts, so he constantly had to mop the floor with silver spoon kids (both Dillons, Reddick) enabling the also really talented Chris Bell get a head start on him.
Pierce was not afraid of the wall and gave EVERYTHING chasing Bell, but could not beat him on the GWC.
He then gave an interview smiling and admiring Bell's performance.
Oh and this was Pierce's 1st NASCAR race ever.

Heres's a pic of the eventual 2ND place truck.


A feel good story of a true reject team

kurt needs to tell his younger brother to listen to his damn crew chief. well deserved win for Kenseth, though.

Rabbi Gordon wrote:Although they are extremely unsuccessful, they gave an amount of very talented guys their first breaks.
Drivers who made their 1st NASCAR start with Mittler trucks:

Kenny Irwin, Jr.
Justin Allgaier
Regan Smith

You and I have very different definitions of "very talented".

Wallio wrote:

Rabbi Gordon wrote:Although they are extremely unsuccessful, they gave an amount of very talented guys their first breaks.
Drivers who made their 1st NASCAR start with Mittler trucks:

Kenny Irwin, Jr.
Justin Allgaier
Regan Smith

You and I have very different definitions of "very talented".

Okay. Allgaier and Smith are "reasonably talented", but I'm ready to defend Kenny Irwin.

Fair enough. All joking aside I quite love the "Mudsummer". The trucks need to go back to running on tiny, weird fairground tracks no one has heard of. And go back to having the "half-time" break.

RIP Gentle Giant.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/ ... ascar.html

Gordon's entire pitcrew needs to be fired. What an utter joke. Races his way to 2nd from 24th, then 2 loose wheels completely kill his race. Unbelievable.

How big of a heart did Tony Stewart have for the family of Justin Wilson, lending them his plane.

http://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/ ... e-together

And Carl Edwards makes Darlington into Carlington - an awesome rally back from being 2 laps down due to a flat tyre early on. A bit of a shame the race essentially came down to a pitstop battle rather than on-track, since Harvick, Keselowski, Edwards, and Logano were all contenders with about a dozen to go, but it doesn't really take away from such an awesome race.

Can somebody explain in very simple terms, because it's me that's asking, just what the hell The Chase is? Is it basically a list of the drivers who can still mathematically win the championship?

CoopsII wrote:Can somebody explain in very simple terms, because it's me that's asking, just what the hell The Chase is? Is it basically a list of the drivers who can still mathematically win the championship?

It's basically a knock-out league for a certain number of drivers over the last 10 races of the NASCAR season. With 10 races left, you take the drivers who have won at least 1 race and put them into a separate pool. You then top this pool of drivers up to 12 with the top points scorers up to that point. These are now the only drivers that are now able to win the title. If you are not in that pool, no matter how well you do, even if you win all 10 races, you absolutely cannot win the title.

The format of the Chase has changed a few times over the past decade, and I do not keep up with how the system then works...

So it is kinda those mathematically still able to win the title, but in a contrived manner, ensuring that only a fixed list of drivers can be eligible to do so towards the end of the season.

dr-baker wrote:If you are not in that pool, no matter how well you do, even if you win all 10 races, you absolutely cannot win the title.

This is stupid. When is Bernie planning on introducing in F1?

CoopsII wrote:

dr-baker wrote:If you are not in that pool, no matter how well you do, even if you win all 10 races, you absolutely cannot win the title.

This is stupid. When is Bernie planning on introducing in F1?

I'll bet he's thought about it...

dr-baker wrote:

CoopsII wrote:

dr-baker wrote:If you are not in that pool, no matter how well you do, even if you win all 10 races, you absolutely cannot win the title.

This is stupid. When is Bernie planning on introducing in F1?

I'll bet he's thought about it...

It's been introduced to British Superbikes, but for the top 6 riders, and is called "The Showdown". The idea is meant to prevent a runaway winner collecting the title with many races to spare. For me, and I'm sure others as well, it's just a dumb gimmick.

I mean, just read this utter rubbish.

Even better, a driver could win the first 35 races of the season, finish 2nd in the 36th, and lose the championship.

dr-baker wrote:

CoopsII wrote:

dr-baker wrote:If you are not in that pool, no matter how well you do, even if you win all 10 races, you absolutely cannot win the title.

This is stupid. When is Bernie planning on introducing in F1?

I'll bet he's thought about it...

Bernie and NASCAR go together like Oreos and nacho cheese: not even thinkable because everyone knows that's a terrible combo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvnUXcp4OU4 major ROTR at Richmond. So now Michael McDowell is known for being in two notable wrecks.


Montoya's was because something broke on the car. This was brain fade.

So this guy is making his Cup debut for Joe Falk this weekend.

http://racing-reference.info/driver/B_J_McLeod

That is reject gold right there.

Travis Pastrana is back behind the wheel of another nascar team's expensive equipment in the Truck Series race coming up in Las Vegas.
i understand the driving force in one's head to want to go compete in different disciplines, but why all the push for nascar? he shows potential, but unfortunately uses the skills from the wrong sports to try to pass people, and it bites him nearly every time. honestly, i don't think it's the right fit for him.
wasn't he driving a Ferrari in the Daytona 24hr a while back? why doesn't he try that again?

Days since Kevin Harvick last won a race: 196.

He's gotta stop that counter reaching 203 if he wants to stay in the Chase - who'dve thought that? And also that Dale Jr and Kyle Busch are in danger of dropping out in the first round?

In the meantime - Kenseth's won 4 of the last 8 races, and at this stage, I think the only team which can stop them might just be the 2, if they could just close out a race without screwing up or getting screwed over.

Tony Stewart will retire after next season

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/ne ... 16-season/

simonracer wrote:So this guy is making his Cup debut for Joe Falk this weekend.

http://racing-reference.info/driver/B_J_McLeod

That is reject gold right there.

He's better than the guy they had at the summer Loudon race. Derek White, NASCAR's equivalent of Deletraz. Actually McLeod didn't do too badly, as in he actually beat a couple of drivers.

Sorry if its been mentioned on here but Go Green have gone and hired Jeffrey Earnhardt (from the less talented side of the family) for the bulk of next season. Now that is rejectful.

Samster wrote:Sorry if its been mentioned on here but Go Green have gone and hired Jeffrey Earnhardt (from the less talented side of the family) for the bulk of next season. Now that is rejectful.

He appeared to be by far the most popular driver during the grid walk during June's EuroNASCAR race at Brands Hatch. Not with me, obviously. But he did get a lot of attention. More than the grid girls and female drivers. Because of his name, I guess?

Samster wrote:

simonracer wrote:So this guy is making his Cup debut for Joe Falk this weekend.

http://racing-reference.info/driver/B_J_McLeod

That is reject gold right there.

Actually McLeod didn't do too badly, as in he actually beat a couple of drivers.

McLeod isn't too bad if he only stays away from the start-and-park teams (in the Truck Series). In fact his Cup race yesterday made me think differently about him that being a start-and-park driver.
Yes there are quite a few of those in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. If only those teams would hire PAY DRIVERS.

golic_2004 wrote:

Samster wrote:

simonracer wrote:So this guy is making his Cup debut for Joe Falk this weekend.

http://racing-reference.info/driver/B_J_McLeod

That is reject gold right there.

Actually McLeod didn't do too badly, as in he actually beat a couple of drivers.

McLeod isn't too bad if he only stays away from the start-and-park teams (in the Truck Series). In fact his Cup race yesterday made me think differently about him that being a start-and-park driver.
Yes there are quite a few of those in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. If only those teams would hire PAY DRIVERS.

One thing I find interesting about the "Start-and Park phenomenon" is that this week at Dover, the three series combined have just 1 car that will DNQ. And many of the "starters" are S&Ps, yet no one claims the series is in danger. F1 loses two team and the world ends. It is quite the interesting counterpoint.

Wallio wrote:One thing I find interesting about the "Start-and Park phenomenon" is that this week at Dover, the three series combined have just 1 car that will DNQ. And many of the "starters" are S&Ps, yet no one claims the series is in danger. F1 loses two team and the world ends. It is quite the interesting counterpoint.

Yeah, but there are a heck of a lot more than 10 teams and 20 drivers in each of those categories, right? So if one or two teams drop out there, it would have a smaller impact on the overall size of the entry field, right?

dr-baker wrote:

Wallio wrote:One thing I find interesting about the "Start-and Park phenomenon" is that this week at Dover, the three series combined have just 1 car that will DNQ. And many of the "starters" are S&Ps, yet no one claims the series is in danger. F1 loses two team and the world ends. It is quite the interesting counterpoint.

Yeah, but there are a heck of a lot more than 10 teams and 20 drivers in each of those categories, right? So if one or two teams drop out there, it would have a smaller impact on the overall size of the entry field, right?

True, but the overall numbers are still very much down. Cup series allows 43 starters, and it wasn't all that long ago, that there was 46-50 each race. Of which 3-5 were S&P teams. There's 44 for Sunday, of which probably 8-10 are part time or S&P.

Busch (of affinity or wtf its called now) used to also start 43 cars, and used to get over 50 entries per race in the V6 days, but a few years ago switched to 40 starters per race. This week they have exactly 40, but of those nearly half are no-hopers, many entries feature driver and crew chief as "TBA".

The Trucks allow 36 starters, and only have 33 this week, again with about 10 being no name no sponsor, driver TBA Start and Park entries.


I just find it humourous that when the INDY 500 only has 34 or 35 entries the world ends (despite the other 15 races having a healthy 24-26 car grid) but NASCAR is shrinking quite noticeably and no one cares.

What you're not really taking into account is that there isn't much threat yet of the actual grid dropping below 43 cars. Indy has been struggling to get 33 cars to Indy for a couple years now, and F1 has been lucky if it's had more than 20 cars on the grid for most of this millenium.

The irony of the sons of James Hunt and Niki Lauda will be teammates in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series next year.


@freddiehunt76 It's official! I'm so pleased to announce I'll be racing for DF1 alongside Mathias Lauda in Euro NASCAR next year! http://t.co/vKmOhNANOF

So, Jimmie Johnson just exited the Chase after its first cutoff... LEL

Obviously, JJ was deserving of a spot in the next round, but it feels sooo good to see NASCAR's gimmicks shoot the series in its foot.

Bummed for McMurray missing out over Newamn and Gordon, but he put up a great fight and showing how much of a class act he (and Dale Jr. too) is, after losing the vital spot to Jr. in a huge battle, they hugged and complimented eachother after the race.

Start and Park seems to have decreased in Sprint Cup at least over the last couple of years

RonDenisDeletraz wrote:Start and Park seems to have decreased in Sprint Cup at least over the last couple of years

Which is a good thing. Now if only Xfinity & Trucks get on board with that & some teams find pay drivers. I wonder what Sergio Canamasas & Ricardo Teixeira are doing in 2016?

Yeah... Joey Logano can piss off. There's no excuse for just flat out spinning the other driver you're racing for a win.

NASCARLogic

AndreaModa wrote:

NASCARLogic

NASCARLogic = BTCCPlatoLogic

AndreaModa wrote:

NASCARLogic

That's not even NASCAR

Salamander wrote:Yeah... Joey Logano can piss off. There's no excuse for just flat out spinning the other driver you're racing for a win.

Well Matt Kenseth got Logano back yesterday late in the race. And the crowd at Martinsville ROARED with cheers at that incident, not because of the wreck but because Kenseth got his revenge on Logano for ruining his chance at the championship.

And congratulations to Jeff Gordon for scoring his 93rd win of his illustrious career and first of the season. The #DriveFor5 is still alive in what will be his last year in NASCAR.