Nascar 2018 Race #3 - Playoff iFL Edition - Charlotte Roval Inaugural Race

[GA_Boater]

Another Nascar first - A playoff road race or as they're calling it, a roval. Kinda like Indy F1 where parts of the oval are merged with an infield road race track. It looks like this;




Almost the entire oval is used except for 2 kinks, turns 11/12, 15/16/17 and 1 though 8, the infield road section. We will see the roval in action with Cup and X-Men starting tomorrow, Friday.

40 teams are on the entry list for 40 spots and the weather, while not horrible, has some chances of rain. MRN's schedule;

Charlotte Schedule of Events


All Times Eastern
Friday, September 28 Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice: 12:05 p.m.-12:55 p.m. (NBCSN)
Xfinity Series First Practice: 1:05 p.m.-1:55 p.m. (NBCSN)
Xfinity Series Final Practice: 3:05 p.m.-3:55 p.m. (NBCSN)
Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying: 4:30 p.m. (PRN/NBCSN)

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Saturday, September 29
Monster Energy Cup Series Second Practice: 11:00 a.m.-11:50 a.m. (NBC Sports App)
Xfinity Series Qualifying: 12:10 p.m. (CNBC)
Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice: 1:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m. (CNBC)
Radio Pre-Race: 2:30 p.m. (PRN)
TV Pre-Race: 2:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 200: 3:00 p.m. (NBCSN)

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Sunday, September 30
Radio Pre-Race: 1:00 p.m. (PRN)
TV Pre-Race: 1:00 p.m. (NBC)
Monster Energy Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400: 2:00 p.m. (PRN/NBC




News and Notes

• Allmendinger is out at JTG Daugherty.
• RCR may be getting Hemric and is Suarez going to SHR - http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2018...-childress-racing-stewart-haas-talking-suarez
• A majority of charter team owners have approved the All-Star rules package for most 1.5 and 2.0 mile tracks next year. All the changes are meant to slow down the cars.
• Only loose nut penalties with fines found in post-race inspections. The Twerp was one in Cup and X-Winner Bell was the other.
• Bowyer, Johnson, Jones and Hamlin need points or a win so next week isn't do or die.
• TV ratings for Richmond - Good thing NBC is carrying the roval. 1.0 rating and 1.77M viewers on NBCSN, down 17% in ratings and viewership from last year (1.2, 2.14M) and down 38% and 34% respectively from 2016 (1.6, 2.71M). This season has had more races with less than a 1.5 rating than in the previous 17 seasons combined. And 8 races remain!

iBoats Fantasy Live

• Fasteddie370 is the iFL Richmond winner. Congrats, Eddie.
• Trackchicks Stars is the new playoff overall leader.
• Pole picks lock at 4:40PM ET tomorrow. Warning Will Robinson aspeck 64osby

Humpty_Boater

 

[aspeck]

20:40 ... gotcha... put picks in this afternoon so I didn’t Miss... will hopefully tweak after practices ... or not, depends...

 

[GA_Boater]

Wasn't gonna try to guess your temporary time zone, 'speck. :smile:

Did you Pick'em?

 

[aspeck]

I did ... and I picked the Rams.

 

[GA_Boater]

Didn't want you to be like me with ZERO points for the first game of the week! :doh:

Some news updates - Drivers in new seats for next year;

• Daniel Hemric is taking over the #31 at RCR.
• Ryan Preece is moving from Gibbs to JTG Daugherty.
• Many more announcements to come in the next few weeks

The 1st Cup practice is shortly after Noon. Pole locks at 4:40PM ET. Weather-wise, it's currently cloudy and expected to stay dry.

 

[GA_Boater]

Already had 3 cars spin out, only one had minor contact with the wall.

The roval has something new - Turtles. These blue things are on the inside of some turns and I saw Hamlin cut a turn short and run over one. The front of the car jumped 2 or 3 feet in the air. The red/white rumble strips are pretty aggressive, too.

 

[GA_Boater]

I haven't been able to grab a snip of the backstretch chicane, but the wall on the exit juts out back onto the main oval. It's pretty tight!

 

[GA_Boater]

Blaney just scraped that exit wall! And no other cars were around. It will be a place to watch during the race.

 

[GA_Boater]

Cup practice results - 5 fastest are The Twerp, Jones, Joey, Hemric and Bowyer.

Pole locks at 4:40 ET. aspeck 64osby - Trying guys. :smile:

 

[GA_Boater]

Only a couple of minutes into qualifying and 3 cars have issues. Wallace spun for about the 3rd time today, Hamlin backs into the wall and Jones hit the turn 12 chicane exit wall.

 

[GA_Boater]

1st Q-Round is over and advancing: Allmendinger Hemric Bowman Elliott Buescher Johnson Larson Bowyer McMurray BuschX1 Jones Blaney.

Only 8 playoff cars made to the final round.

 

[GA_Boater]

Final qualifying round is over; BuschX1 wins the ROVAL pole, then Allmendinger ,Bowman, Elliott, Larson, Johnson, Bowyer, McMurray, Blaney, Buescher, Hemric and Jones.

2 more Cup practices on Saturday before Sunday at 1:55PM ET when the roster locks.

aspeck 64osby - Making sure you're awake. LOL

 

[MTboatguy]

If I were a betting man, my eyes would be watching Johnson and Bush 1 for this weekend, skill patience and experience is really going to come into play this weekend.

 

[GA_Boater]

I want to watch the start and restarts. The quick left after the S/F line into the infield course is going to cause wrecks and some will avoid cars and some will be caught up in it.

The other place to watch will be the back stretch chicane and the narrow exit. A few cars hit the exit wall during practice and qualifying with no other cars around and that won't be the case on Sunday. Skill, experience and a lotta luck will determine the winner.

I'm happy to finally have an non-oval track in the Chase/playoff races.

 

[GA_Boater]

It's gonna be a wreckfest tomorrow. Practice has not been good for a few of the drivers.

Bubba Wallace and the turn 12 chicane exit wall and wrecked it, both his car and the wall - Ouch;

 

[GA_Boater]

The pole sitter #41 just lost power on the track and the car is dead.

 

[GA_Boater]

Erik Jones just wrecked, too.

This is only practice!

 

[GA_Boater]

A pic of Jones flying, all 4 in the air coming out of the backstretch chicane;




The top 5 in this practice with one more practice after X-Qualifying, both on CNBC - Johnson, Hemric, Truex, Keso and The Twerp.

 

[GA_Boater]

Aw - The Chicane exit wall has been shortened.

 

[GA_Boater]

Keso sets fastest time in this practice and then wipes out on the start/finish chicane and head-on into the outside wall.

Gonna need a score card for the cars starting at the rear.