Nascar Race #9 - Lettin' The Smoke Out at Richmond

[GA_Boater]

As the title alludes - Tony Stewart is back! After missing the first 8 races of the year, his doctors have cleared him to climb back in the #14 to finish his Farewell Tour starting with this race at Richmond. Next week at Talladega, he will practice, qualify and start the race before switching over to Ty Dillon to finish the race. Then back to full-time the week after at Kansas.

Along with the Sunday Cup race, X-Men also have another Heat/Heat/Main format in the second Dash For The Cash event Saturday. From our friends at MRN



For the first time since Daytona, the entry list is more than 40, 41 to be exact. So one of the entrants will be watching from the stands. Looking at the weather forecast, there is a good chance the field will be set by standings. Rain from early Friday morning to late Saturday. Sunday looks to be bright and sunny.

News and Notes

• The beginning of the end? Nascar is talking about using the heat race format in Cup racing. First the Cup Chase, then Trucks with the timed cautions, adding a Chase format to X-Men and Truck, then the X-Men Dash For Cash heats racing and now possibly moving the heats into Cup. Stop with all the changes and start racing from green to checkers! Nascar says all the changes were or are to enhance the "hard-core" fan experience. It must be working - Track seats are being taken out and the remaining seats are quite empty as at one of the most popular fan tracks, Bristol, TV ratings are falling and a search is on for a primary Cup sponsor with Sprint jumping ship after Homestead. Nascar - Your head, pull it out!
• No surprise - TV ratings down once again. The lowest Bristol rating since moving to Fox and is the lowest Sunday race ever on Fox. So let's fool with the series some more. It's on life support and the plug is loose in the wall!
• Tony Stewart says the wheels are going to fall off. Lack of enforcement of the number of lug nuts used is going to cause problems. Some are using only 3 nuts on left-side wheels and a loose wheel is going to hurt someone.
• Bristol warnings - 3 Cup and 2 X-Men issued. Also a X-Man crew chief was fined, suspended and probated.

iboats Fantasy Live

One more first time winner last week. superfish is now sporting a new, shiny :first: on the mantle. Congrats SF.
The overall standing still feature Trackchick Stars on top of the leader board.​

Make your roster changes before the race begins on Sunday. Smoke is now available if you want to add him. Good luck everyone.

Smokin' Humpty

 

[GA_Boater]

Stewart fined $35,000 for his lug nut comments. Since when are safety issues off the table for discussion? For violation of "member conduct guidelines". He is a Charter member after all. I thought the charters were for the good of the sport, drivers and fans. Guess not!

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2016/4/21/tony-stewart-fined-nascar-remarks.html

 

[MTboatguy]

Stewart fined $35,000 for his lug nut comments. Since when are safety issues off the table for discussion? For violation of "member conduct guidelines". He is a Charter member after all. I thought the charters were for the good of the sport, drivers and fans. Guess not!

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2016/4/21/tony-stewart-fined-nascar-remarks.html

I agree with Tony, 110%, if they won't police themselves then somebody has to, give an inch, they will take a mile.

 

[GA_Boater]

Smoke got a Chase rule exemption, so he is Chase eligible as Shrubby was last year. Win a minimum of one race and be in the top 30 in points.

The exemption only cost $35K. It seems Cup drivers support Tony's comments or the freedom to state opinions.

The Sprint Cup Drivers Council released a statement Thursday night on Tony Stewart's punishment from NASCAR, supporting the three-time champion and announcing it would pay his $35,000 fine. The statement was released exclusively to NBC Sports through Drivers Council member Denny Hamlin. The statement reads:
"We as drivers believe Tony has the right to speak his opinion on topics that pertain to a sport that he has spent nearly two decades helping build as both a driver and an owner. While we do not condone drivers lashing out freely at NASCAR, we do feel Tony was in his rights to state his opinion. We as a Council support him and do not agree with the fine. Therefore, we fellow council members have agreed to contribute equally to paying his fine."

 

[WIMUSKY]

NASCAR - The Dictator of motorsports

 

[GA_Boater]

Nascar has said they will look into the nut situation. I hope they start by looking in the mirror.

If a car shows up for any inspection with less than 5 lug nuts per wheel, will it pass inspection? :noidea: One of the teams should test that.

If they decide to enforce 20 lug nuts per car, will Smoke and crew get a refund check?

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Qualifying was rained out and times from today's shortened first practice set the line up.

Top 12 are Harvick, Logano, Johnson, Edwards, Hamlin, Keso, Busch41, Kahne, Bush18 ( The Twerp, Shrubby), The Dinger, A. Dillon, Stenhouse.

 

[GA_Boater]

Almost time for the 1st X-Men heat race on Fox Sucky 1.

 

[WIMUSKY]

They're doing heat races again?:facepalm:

 

[GA_Boater]

Yep, only change is 35 lap heats and a 140 lap main,

 

[WIMUSKY]

Dumb.......

 

[GA_Boater]

Heat #1 was uneventful. Erik Jones went from 3rd to first at the green and led the rest of the way.

Heat #2 in about 10 minutes.

 

[GA_Boater]

2nd race caution free, Ty Dillon took the checkers.


Main event starts at about 1:45 PM or roughly 10 minutes.

 

[GA_Boater]

The main is off and running with Jones holding the lead through lap 10.

 

[GA_Boater]

It was too good to last. Caution with 15 to go for Harmon spin after Jones gave him a nudge.

 

[GA_Boater]

Restart with 7 to go and a big mess. A few Dash For Cashers caught up.

 

[MTboatguy]

Heartbreaking, that was an expensive crash for a few!

 

[boatman37]

ugghhhh. didn't see the whole thing yet but looks like matt tifft was doing good till things fell apart there. glad to see Jr. win

 

[MTboatguy]

ugghhhh. didn't see the whole thing yet but looks like matt tifft was doing good till things fell apart there. glad to see Jr. win

Matt ran a hell of race for being a new guy, if he is given the opportunity, he is going to be a superstar! I look forward to watching his development of this newer driver.

 

[GA_Boater]

A G-W-C overtime finish. Dale Jr. wins and and Ty Dillon gets the one hundred grand DFC check.

I was happy to see the X-Regs up front and challenging.

 

[boatman37]

Matt ran a hell of race for being a new guy, if he is given the opportunity, he is going to be a superstar! I look forward to watching his development of this newer driver.

yeah. he seems to be doing pretty good. i don't know him but saw him a few times and my son raced against him a couple of times. but he pitted with friends of ours and was sitting at their trailer when we were there talking to them. i didn't talk to him but knew he was a pretty good racer.