Agree with alot of that Jerry.

Seems like all major sports just wants parody among their teams and nascar isn't different. They are happy to just have all the cars to be the same, keep sponsors happy and try and market off driver personalities.

If you really did have a certain team, manufacturer really hit it out of the park in a more wide open rules format, that would lead to alot of sponsors not being happy if the cars and drivers they partnered with aren't doing well.

The quest for money and growth seems to ruin alot of things. Racing would be better if people could innovate and out compete each other in the engineering department and in the garage.

Second week in a row Kyle Busch blames his tires for wrecking.

After saying something at the Daytona 500 after crashing to the effect of "it's not my fault I wrecked, not my fault I wrecked the 88, it's not my fault that Goodyear can't make a tire that holds air".

He gave the same excuse for wrecking in the truck race yesterday at Atlanta "Well, without a couple cautions and keeping air in our (expletive) tires, we have a shot there, guys," Busch said on his radio after the race.

A friend of mine that is into NASCAR likes the new format - says the stages make it more exciting in the race - stops some racers from just holding back the entire race trying to avoid crashes and then move up at the end..... he thinks the playoff points will make the races a little more exciting......

A friend of mine that is into NASCAR likes the new format - says the stages make it more exciting in the race - stops some racers from just holding back the entire race trying to avoid crashes and then move up at the end..... he thinks the playoff points will make the races a little more exciting......

I do think we should give it some time to see how it works out over the course of several races. Something to keep in mind is if we get end of segment racing for the lead like we do at the end of the race. Some races, alot of races end with an uncontested winner - as will alot of segments. But if we get some exciting finishes to some segments like we do at the end of some races that will sway some people I think. I think it has potential to be alright and nascar has never been afraid to tweak or change things up in the offseason if need be so some of the complaints we have currently could be addressed.

I was wondering if the lower downforce package would prohibit Harvick from dominating on the bottom of Atlanta, but he's led probably 98% of the laps so far today and dominating so I guess not.

Evidently a new rule regarding lug nuts this year ? Wasn't it just last year that they didn't care if you even put all 5 on ?

This seems pretty extreme for The Dinger:

NASCAR gave the No. 47 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car of JTG Daugherty Racing an L1-level penalty for lug nuts not being properly installed following Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As a result of the violation, crew chief Randall Burnett was fined $65,000 and suspended from the next three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points races, and the team was assessed with the loss of 35 driver points and 35 owner points.

seems a little harsh. hate to see what the penalties are for doing something that gives you a real advantage.

When last year began they started to not enforce the lug nut rule because NASCAR thought it would be 'self enforcing' as in, if a team had a loose wheel they'd have to come back in and fix the loose wheel problem.

At some point last season after they realized that some teams were only tigtening 4 or even 3 lugs in order to get off of pit road sooner, NASCAR introduced stiff lug nut penalties. After the race all cars are checked for 5 lugs being tight. I think it was the JGR cars that were routinely not tightening all lugs especially late in the race when a driver could deal with a loose wheel if just a few laps were left.

It was a competitive advantage and other teams and crew chiefs complained about it. Or else they all would've started going it and I think Tony Stewart made public comments about safety concerns which really prompted NASCAR to take action. I can still hear Rodney Childress explaining to Harvick how a Gibbs car beat him off pit road "who knows how many lugs they have tight".

I remember using the old 4-way lug wrenches in the pits back in the mid 60's. 13 second pit stop-more like 2 minutes.

He's Rowdy!

4th race of the year getting ready to go from Phoenix!

Question on the yahoo rules:

Does having a driver on your "bench" constitute a 'start' ?

In other words does the number of times you can start a particular driver decrease by having them on your bench or just when you actually have them as a starter ?

Only when you use them as a starter....... and you can get points from your bench in some cases....

I lived on "Nascar Lane" in Hazard, KY when I was like 13. Now if that ain't "Eastern Kentucky" I don't know what is. AND across the highway was "Shucky Bean Holler", eh, Hollow....

Alan missed changing his lineup this week!

Legliz hasn't changed lineup in 2 weeks.

You guys aren't quitting already are you?

First short track of the season coming up Sunday! Martinsville.

Another yahoo question: how did they come up with the A, B and C list of drivers?

And will those remain the same all season or do they shuffle up who is on which list?

Another yahoo question: how did they come up with the A, B and C list of drivers?

And will those remain the same all season or do they shuffle up who is on which list?

A, B, C drivers are picked by yahoo people before the season and the driver's in those categories will remain in them all year. Nobody switches during the season. There is potential for a driver to miss some time, like Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Dale Jr, etc in years past and replacement drivers for them would get added to the list as new C drivers to choose.

In general drivers are based on how they did last season. The A drivers are the ones considered with the best chance of winning the race every week. There are a couple drivers that yahoo puts in this group every year that is noncompetitive compared to their peers, but they may have been B drivers last year that overachieved and they wound up in A this year. B drivers are the ones either moving up the ladder from C, or down from A and mostly the middle of the pack drivers that haven't had a history strong enough to put them in A, but are better than C. Every year there are a couple really good drivers in B that then end up being As the following year. C drivers are rookie, underfunded teams and part time drivers. There is always a couple really good Cs and then you have to try and uncover some diamonds in the rough to get enough for 36 starts.

I have to admit, there at Martinsville at the end of one of the segments, when Stenhouse bumped Busch out of the way to get back on the lead lap, quite aggressive !

Not good if you are a fan of #18, as it also cost him the segment win, but way to go Mr. Danica !

Yeah that was cool. Anytime Kyle Busch gets mad is a good time! Ricky wasn't having any of it. Got to protect your position!

Sucked for me that 21 got into the 48 who then as a result got into the 1 which cut a right rear tire and saw him crash out of the race very early on.

Dangit, I missed the deadline to adjust my drivers this week. All I can do is swap between bench and starters, oh well, that may work, who knows.

Texas re-pave, talking heads seem to think it will be a learning curve for all teams.

Dangit, I missed the deadline to adjust my drivers this week. All I can do is swap between bench and starters, oh well, that may work, who knows.

Texas re-pave, talking heads seem to think it will be a learning curve for all teams.

Looks like it worked out pretty good for you!

And Leglizhemp is this week's winner, he has a pulse, he's off the mat!

Only 20 pts separate positions 1-3. 50 pts separates spots 4-8.

6 more races in this segment. No race for Easter weekend, then Bristol!

i'm on my way to the top!

Man I thought it was going to be Ryan Blaney's day, kid will win some races, one of these days.

Man I thought it was going to be Ryan Blaney's day, kid will win some races, one of these days.

same here, he looked good. he'll win, eventually.

Blaneys are kind of hometown heros around here from sprint car racing. People pull for Ryan. It's great for him that Woods Brothers got hooked up with the Penske partnership. A couple yeas ago that 21 car was just running a part time schedule.

Fellow Ohioan here, currently displaced in SW Florida, ha.

My cousin who used to race stock cars in and around Northeast Ohio knows Dave Blaney from Sharon Speedway up there.

Hey, who are all the participants anyhow ?

Aussie Tigs
Heineken515 - ABB website member
Waffles and Cocaine
Front Runner
Not fast enough
danb - ABB website member
Twelve Cold Ones
Pitstop Sang - ABB website member
Shake n' Bake
Suckingaskissmyass
Trumped up Racing
LeglizHemp - ABB website member
Phil and the Blanks -friend of heineken515's

Aussie Tigs - LeglizHemp's friend
Heineken515 - ABB website member
Waffles and Cocaine - my friend was at Daytona with me
Front Runner - my friend was at Daytona with me
Not fast enough - my friend
danb - ABB website member
Twelve Cold Ones - me!
Pitstop Sang - ABB website member
Shake n' Bake - family member of mine, last year's champ
Suckingaskissmyass - ABB website member (Alanwoods)
Trumped up Racing - ABB website member (leafsfan)
LeglizHemp - ABB website member
Phil and the Blanks -friend of heineken515's

Another question about Yahoo, although I suspect I know the answer:

Does the number of starts for a driver get reset for the Summer and/or the playoffs ?

I think the answer is no......