Seems obvious... Want everyone fighting for position every lap? Incentivise it? I'm open to finding out I'm wrong though...

Was watching this week's episode of door bumper clear and around the 32:00 minute mark, they are discussing Joey Logano's flip this past weekend. Both Karsyn and Blaney point to the rear diffuser as the reason for car getting airborne, with Blaney saying with a little bit of air hitting the diffuser, the car becomes an airplane.

Which mad me think, would removing the rear diffuser not only help with safety but also the racing? With the cars losing so much downforce with no rear diffuser, could they become more 'swirly' and harder to drive, making the fuel saving strategy hard to implement? No idea if the Preseason Thunder at Daytona is still happening next year but would like to see it tested there if they go through with it.

I know Jr lurks on here and would love to know if their are any updates on #3 1990 Car he got from a gentleman who passed away! If anyone knows anything please let me know! Thank you!

Some pretty interesting insight into how meticulously they all planned the strategy for ‘Dega.

Door Bumper Clear had joked in passing about Dale Jr’s team orders “ruining” the O’Reilly race, but the full context is way more in-depth than I’ve heard about how closely these races are orchestrated by alliances.

I've heard a lot of drivers, Denny Hamlin and Dale Jr. specifically, say that this rule is not in the rule book or it is "case by case". Here is what is stated explicitly in the NASCAR rule book and you be the judge for yourself. The Cup Rule Book addresses the rule on the double yellow lines in section 10.8.3. It states:

10.8.3 SUPERSPEEDWAY EVENTS/ADDITIONAL IN-RACE VIOLATIONS

A- Vehicles must race above the double yellow lines around the entire race track. If in NASCAR’s judgement, the vehicle(s) goes beneath the double yellow lines to improve its position, vehicle(s) will be black-flagged. If in NASCAR’s judgement a vehicle forces another vehicle beneath the double yellow lines (in an effort to stop the advancement/pass) the vehicle may be black-flagged.

B- NASCAR defines beneath the double yellow lines as follows: when the vehicle’s left side tires are beneath the left line of the inside double yellow lines that separates the apron from the racing surface while passing another vehicle.

By the letter of the law, NASCAR protects itself by stating "NASCAR's judgement", which speaks to Denny's "case by case" comment.

However, in my opinion, according to this rule, Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar and Austin Hill should be penalized. Austin Hill's infraction is debatable, but I do not think there is a valid argument for saying that Chastain and Hocevar shouldn't be penalized.

https://x.com/rfkracing/status/2115192574822482367?s=46&t=aAem-TPCx4TTmAPWMMUSRg

Does anyone have any idea if the wilkesboro truck or xfinity race will be added to the fan rewards or is everything we're gonna have already available? I'm thinking about going ahead and cashing in on my points but wasnt sure about that one.

Thanks for the help!

Cup Series Chase standings (after Race 8/10 of Chase)

Drivers in Italics mathematically eliminated from winning title

1) Cody Ware 2426

2) Ty Dillon 2352

3) Connor Zilisch 2308

4) Noah Gragson 2302

5) Zane Smith 2291

6) John Hunter Nemechek 2286

7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr 2283

8) Cole Custer 2267

9) Riley Herbst 2255

10) Austin Dillon 2211

11) AJ Allmendinger 2210

12) Erik Jones 2197

13) Todd Gilliland 2192

14) Josh Berry 2182

15) Shane van Gisbergen 2172

16) Ross Chastain 2138

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O'Reilly Chase standings (After Race 7/9 of chase)

Drivers in Italics mathematically eliminated from winning title

1) Ryan Ellis 2352

2) Dawson Cram 2304

3) Josh Bilicki 2278

4) Patrick Staropoli 2253

5) Joey Gase 2245

6) Lavar Scott 2245

7) Kyle Sieg 2207

8) Blaine Perkins 2198

9) Jeb Burton 2177

10) Harrison Burton 2158

11) Jeremy Clements 2143

12) Dean Thompson 2087

___________________________

Truck series Chase standings (Race 5/7 of Chase)

Drivers in Italics mathematically eliminated from winning title

1) Kris Wright 2263

2) Mini Tyrell 2198

3) Frankie Muniz 2194

4) Cole Butcher 2191

5) Corey LaJoie 2149

6) Spencer Boyd 2141

7) Andres Perez de Lara 2138

8) Dawson Sutton 2129

9) Tanner Gray 2118

10) Ben Rhodes 2105

Would anyone know what happens to Gen 4 Busch series cars like this. Obviously it appears it’s been sold and in the hands of a private owner but I wonder what happened to the car since 2004 and now

https://x.com/joegibbsracing/status/2115142089952362815?s=46&t=aAem-TPCx4TTmAPWMMUSRg

Time to speculate!

While the field was fuel saving

After seeing the Gluck poll having 53% of people calling this a “good race,” it seems like I’ve seen people talk about everything except this: the racing itself.

Put aside the first stage, that’s a whole conversation in of itself. This race had it all. Differing strategies (yes because of the fuel saving but I digress), multiple wrecks that had major championship implications. You could pull out and create a viable third lane. Had an exciting finish to the race where Larson, who had one of the best cars, fall back to 11th on the last lap and still win. The racing was exciting and the storylines of the chase added another layer to it that we haven’t had in years. It wasn’t like the spring race where the winner ended up winning by inches due to a permanent 2 by 2 gridlock.

Is it the same pack racing that I grew up watching 15-20 years ago? Absolutely not. Is there room for improvement with the package? Absolutely.

However, I was still thoroughly entertained and thought it was one of the best traditional (non-Atlanta) superspeedway races of the gen 7 era.

Curious if others feel the same way.

Someone asked who the top 5 to never win a title, well, who are the bottom 5 to win one, and are the top 5 non champions better than them?

Well, by statistics (wins)

Bill Rexford

Red Byron

Alan Kulwicki

Ryan Blaney

Benny Parsons or Bobby Labonte (I would say Bobby is better than Benny based on having another run at a title in 1999 and finishing 2nd)

Others in that conversation would be Rex White, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Isaac, etc.

Not saying they are bad, but who are the top 5 most forgettable Cup champions?

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BkJWnJxCr/

In conversations about the best drivers to never win a championship, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin are the clear top 2. How would y'all rate the top 5? For me, I'd say:

1. Denny Hamlin - 64 wins (9th all time), 7 crown jewels, continuous championship contention across 20+ years and 4 generations of cars.
2. Mark Martin - 40 wins (21st all time), 3 crown jewels, 5 runner-up points finishes.
3. Carl Edwards - 28 wins (31st all time), 2 crown jewels, short Cup career with an extremely high level of performance, 2 agonizingly close championship defeats
4. Junior Johnson - 50 wins (15th all time), legendary pioneer of the sport but never raced a full season, 16% win rate (7th all time)
5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - 26 wins (33rd all time), 2 Daytona 500 wins, high highs but a lot of ups and downs.

Putting Carl Edwards above Junior Johnson may be controversial, since Johnson has almost twice as many wins, but I'm factoring in era heavily. Junior Johnson raced in the 50s and 60s when the competition was way less stiff, and he never competed a full season (he very well could have been a champion if he competed full time, though) I considered putting Dale Jr. above him as well, but he was only a serious championship threat a handful of times and had too many down years for me to justify doing it.

What would be y'alls list? I know mine skews modern, but I think it's justified because of how much competition really exploded starting in the 90s.