Nascar 2018 Race #12 - RibMaster 400 From Kansas

[GA_Boater]

FlaCowboy's favorite race this weekend, rib bones and all. LOL Cup and Trucks are on tap and X-Men are off until Charlotte at the end of the month.

Another 1.5 mile tri-oval track, anticipated boredom is on the schedule Saturday night. Speaking of schedule, from MRN - Here it is;

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The entry list has 39 drivers, including Matt Kenseth in his first race in over a year, replacing Trevor Bayne in the #6. Weather looks passable for the weekend with highs in the low 90's and an ever so slight chance of rain Saturday evening.


News and Notes

• Lets get Dover penalties out of the way. Inspectors earned their paycheck and I hope there is room left in this post. A bunch;
  • The #14 of Bowyer is odd because teammate Harvick got the same penalty earlier this year. Guess SHR didn't learn from Harvick and later, Elliott.
  • Both the #14 and #19, Gibbs driver Suarez, cars were taken to the R&D Center after Dover
  • Both #'3's in Cup and X-Men, owned by RCR, got out of spec splitter penalties. Mmmmm.
  • X-Man #7 Allgaier, the Dover winner, has been cucumbered. I don't know if he gets to keep the Dash 4 Cash $100 grand.
  • Busch41 and Gilliland , Truck #4, had loose lug nut, only crew chief fines.
  • The bottom one is interesting. Hayden is a former crew member of JP Motorsports X-Team got into a fight with a team Co-owner and broke his jaw. Hayden was hauled off to the hoosegow for some reason.
• The Sale - Changing stories. Now it seems the France family is looking at selling their majority interest in Nascar, including the ISC track ownership brand. Earlier reports said the sale was all of Nascar. The whole thing may to gauge interest after the sale of F1. Who knows? Stay tuned.
• TV ratings - 1.7 and 2.9M viewers, down from 2.1/3.4M in 2017 and 2.5/4.0M in 2016. Better sell quick before you have to give away tickets and pay networks.

iBoats Fantasy Live

• 64osby snagged his second win of the year in a close 2 point race over the RibMaster. One more wheel chock for you, 64. Congrats.
• Mr. Ribs (May we call you Mr. Ribs?) is still in the overall lead. Stretched some points, keeping Trackchick Stars 37 points back.
• Cup qualifying is on the clock at 6:30PM tomorrow and the picks lock at 6:40, 10 minutes later. I wish I knew what timepiece or time zone Nascar uses. :doh:

Good luck to all,

Humpty_Boater, Future NACAR Commissioner, cuz there ain't no "S"tock in NACAR, but there will be!

 

[GA_Boater]

Forgot one thing. The Twerp will be running the Truck race tomorrow. Of course. :facepalm:

 

[GA_Boater]

Overnight rain is causing havoc. The 1st Truck practice has been cancelled and the 2nd has been moved around. Cup practices are on schedule so far, so the pole pick lock time is unchanged for now. - 6:40 PM NT* Qualifying begins at 6:30.

Update while typing - Both Cup practices are being combined and will be from 12:35 to 2:55. That's one long practice! Qualifying time is still at 6:30 - For now.


*Nascar Time

 

[GA_Boater]

Oh no - The track is falling apart!

 

[aspeck]

Please explain ... have been away from puter all day and have to sever ties with it again in a few minutes ... only a brief check in ...

 

[GA_Boater]

They red flagged practice while the track was examined by officials. From what I can tell it was a weeper that began to sink and turned into beginnings of a pothole. Splitters and side skirts were hitting the track according to driver radios. I haven't seen anything about repairs, but the red was lifted and practice resumed. :noidea:

Here is a video from Jayski's Twitter feed, if it works - https://twitter.com/NASCARONFOX/status/994988259766915078

The only practice has finished and the fastest ten are Harvick, Larson, The Twerp, Jones, Bowyer, Suarez, Almriola, Buescher, Blaney and Truex.

 

[aspeck]

Just read this on NASCAR's page ...

Harvick was the lone driver to eclipse the 186-mph mark, but he had a couple of familiar faces atop the scoring pylon once practice ended. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson (185.982 mph) finished second behind Harvick, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch — who has won three races this year, himself — was third on the board with a top speed of 185.166 mph.

Busch’s JGR teammate Erik Jones was fourth at 184.634 mph, followed by Harvick’s SHR teammate Clint Bowyer (184.489 mph) in fifth.

A third Gibbs racer, Daniel Suarez (184.464 mph), jumped into sixth place with just two minutes remaining in practice. Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top 10. Truex Jr., who swept the Kansas races last season, climbed to 10th on his final run of the afternoon.

Matt Kenseth, making his return to both the track and to Roush Fenway Racing, logged his first laps in the No. 6 Ford and finished 28th on the speed chart at 179.706 mph.

 

[GA_Boater]

Minutes to go before Cup qualifying and Bowyer's car ain't passing inspection.

 

[GA_Boater]

1st round of Q'ing over. Bowyer, Kahne, Kenseth, McDowell, DiBennedetto and Hill never turned a wheel with inspection issues. The Magic Inspection machine wet down for a while too.

 

[GA_Boater]

Larson spins 2 minutes into middle round. Who did I pick for the pole? Guess! :facepalm:

 

[GA_Boater]

Going to the final Q-Round - 4 12 18 10 22 41 20 78 2 21 37 11.

 

[GA_Boater]

Harvick takes the pole. Blaney, The Twerp, Almirola, Keso, Hamlin, Truex, Busch41, Joey. Buescher, Menard and Jones follow.

7:55 ET tomorrow evening is the roster lock time.

Truck wave off at 8:30, a little over 35 minutes from now.

 

[GA_Boater]

Gragson outran The Twerp to win Heat 1. Anybody but The Twerp!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Harvick takes the pole. Blaney, The Twerp, Almirola, Keso, Hamlin, Truex, Busch41, Joey. Buescher, Menard and Jones follow.

7:55 ET tomorrow evening is the roster lock time.

Truck wave off at 8:30, a little over 35 minutes from now.

Joey starts #9.... Go Joey!

 

[GA_Boater]

Gragson takes Heat 2, with The Twerp still behind.

No cautions except for the end of heats. Tomorrow night is gonna be another ho-hum on a 1.5 track.

 

[sam60]

I may just sit this one out.

 

[GA_Boater]

Gragson wins! The Twerp was 2nd, stealing points from the Truck journeymen. The rest of the top 5 are Freisen, JH Nemechek and Sauter.

Don't forget to set your rosters before 7:55 ET tomorrow.

 

[GA_Boater]

If you got your rosters set up, it's time to go racin'!

Green flag for the 80 lap 1st heat and a competition caution at lap 30.

 

[GA_Boater]

After 15 laps Harvick is almost a second ahead of Blaney and starting to lap cars. Typical 1.5 mi. racing. :doh:

 

[GA_Boater]

Competition caution at lap 30. Harvick in front by 1.1 seconds and 11 cars a lap down.