The NASCAR Thread

[Chargen69]

Denny Hamlin out of race with a sinus infection. Sam Hornish is in the 11

he was afraid of getting put in the wall   

[thedodgeboys]

Denny Hamlin out of race with a sinus infection. Sam Hornish is in the 11

he was afraid of getting put in the wall   

I thought the same thing 

[wingcar]

Funny....I always thought the whole idea of racing was to go faster. Maybe I missed something....

NASCAR Reportedly Planning a Reduction in Power for Next Year

NASCAR engines are making in the neighborhood of 850-900 horsepower this season. And with those engines running near historically high levels of power, the sport may be looking to knock everything down a peg, according to a report from FoxSports.com. This should get interesting.

Fox managed to snag an interview with Robin Pemberton, a guy with the impressive-sounding title of NASCAR Vice President of Competition and Racing Development. Sources told Fox that they're thinking of bumping everyone down about 75 to 100 horses, but Pemberton said those kinks are still being worked out. And, they're not making excuses about "race quality" or anything like that, either, as it's more about economics:

"It's as much getting more use out of engines as it is (reducing) horsepower," Pemberton told FOXSports.com. "They kind of feed off of each other. There's no guarantee horsepower may or may not do anything for the quality of racing, but it will allow us to do other things."

Discussions are still in the early stages, Pemberton said, but given the fact that there are so few engine suppliers now, they will need plenty of lead-time to make changes for next year.

Among the options being discussed are reduction in engine displacement and changes to throttle body size.

A higher-horsepower engine not only be more expensive upfront, but might have more reliability issues down the road, adding to overall costs, the thinking goes. By reducing the sheer brutality of the engines, you make the playing feel just a bit more level.

But if you take away 100 horses, you're likely to make a big dent in the speeds that make NASCAR, well, NASCAR. Since they aren't looking to slow everything down to a crawl, aerodynamics and tires will probably have to be tweaked as well to maintain the speeds.

All in all, it probably won't change NASCAR much. You'll still probably have cars making their way around the track at speeds close to 200 MPH, and yes, you'll still have some scary crashes.

Those are all up in the air, though. One thing I do know, is that whenever any type of racing makes a major rule change, a small subset of the fandom always goes absolutely nuts, like you just told them that not only is Santa not real, but he's not gonna wear red, anymore, either. He's gonna wear blue, and he's gonna be different, and he's gonna make you cry. Oh, you'll still get gifts on Christmas and it'll all be wonderful, but Santa's gonna wear blue.

[JB400]

Problem is, they'd have to cut power to every series. They wouldn't want the trucks or Nationwide cars to be faster than the Cup cars.

[TruckDriver]

Richard and Kyle Petty's mother Lynda passed away today...

Rest In Peace Lynda...

[400/6/PAC]

Richard and Kyle Petty's mother Lynda passed away today...

Rest In Peace Lynda...

Sorry to hear that.
RIP

[Budnicks]

Richard and Kyle Petty's mother Lynda passed away today...

Rest In Peace Lynda...

Sad day it was.. RIP Lynda

[A383Wing]

well, at least JJ didn't win

[Budnicks]

Congrats to Kurt Busch  & Stewart Hass Racing, it's been quite a while, been 83 races for Kurt  ....

[Budnicks]

  His 25th win too...

[thedodgeboys]

the Petty cars ran good today 

I bet Kurt had lots of people cheering for him with Johnson the one in second 

[A383Wing]

I'll cheer for anyone other than the 24 or 48......well, Lagano and BK are not high on my driver list either

[General_01]

the Petty cars ran good today 

I bet Kurt had lots of people cheering for him with Johnson the one in second 

No doubt. I hate Kurt Busch, but I sure didn't want Jimmie to win either.

[JB400]

Thanks to the cable company, I missed the whole thing

[A383Wing]

the truck race afterwards was good also.....especially the last 50 laps or so

[TruckDriver]

yes, both races were very good. I didn't fall asleep 

[wingcar]

Any race that Johnson doesn't win is a good race...............

[A383Wing]

Any race that Johnson doesn't win is a good race...............

[JB400]

He's at it again!!!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/potential-engine-changes-consideration-phase-195000802--nascar.html

Brian wants to cut horsepower  on the cars now.

[TruckDriver]

I don't have a problem with it really. Remember, back in the day, most cars never hit 500hp. And the racing was just as good and just as fast.

[Budnicks]

He's at it again!!!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/potential-engine-changes-consideration-phase-195000802--nascar.html

Brian wants to cut horsepower  on the cars now.

Not sure what good it will do, the big $$$ multiple car teams, will still be worlds ahead of the lower supported & none multiple car, multimillion 10's of Millions of dollars endorsement teams, like Hendrick's & the likes all has...

[odcics2]

Maybe all teams of more than one car get a throttle plate.
The more cars you have the smaller the plate hole.
If you have 'satellite" teams, even smaller yet!   

[A383Wing]

pouring rain at Texas today.....it's gonna be a long day..probably won't get to racing until later..at least they got lights here

Hope this is not a trend for the rest of the season.....we have had more rain delays and race cancellations this year than I can remember

[TruckDriver]

Yeah, I agree. I think every track but Cali and Vegas had rain

[A383Wing]

4 hours later...still rain delay.....will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 if they run tonight...if not, it will be on Fox tomorrow...

update..race cancelled for today (Sunday)....coverage will be on Fox channel, 12-noon EST