2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

[Thilo Falkenberg]

Commodore Heads Back To The US

HOLDEN has announced a new export program, with the yet-to-be-launched VF Commodore to be exported to North America late next year as the new Chevrolet SS production sedan.

The new deal will see the same basis of car used by Holden in V8 Supercar racing in Australia as well as forming the core of Chevrolet’s next NASCAR Sprint Cup car that will debut at the 2013 Daytona 500.

That raises the possibility that the same style of car could win next year’s Daytona classic as well as Australia’s classic race – the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Holden Motorsport boss Simon McNamara was quoted last week that the company was still working on whether the new VF model would appear in V8 Supercars as part of the Car of the Future-spec Commodore roll-out at the beginning of next season.

This would place it prior to the launch of the road-going vehicle, with the alternative that it be introduced midway through next year’s V8 Supercars Championship post-public launch to replace the current VE II model.

Mark Reuss, GM President of North America and former Holden Managing Director, said the news was great for all-round for GM.

“I am delighted to say that Chevrolet will deliver a true rear-wheel-drive NASCAR racecar in the SS that very closely links the performance sedan that will be available for sale,” Reuss said.

“The Chevrolet SS is a great example of how GM is able to leverage its global product portfolio to deliver a unique performance experience that extends well beyond the track and I am personally looking forward to driving it.”

V8 Supercars will make its debut in the United States next year when the V8 Supercars Championship holds a points-paying event at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

So now with an Australian Car being driven in NASCAR. FORD never made it winning in both, the Bathurst 1000 and the Daytona 500 in the same year.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Nissan should go to NASCAR and just sweep everything =P

 

[Christopher Aponte]

From what i've seen until now, it will be unpredictable
fast guys are the 17, 48.
88 has shown great strength and might also be up front
the 22 & 2....expect them to show something

 

[Christopher Aponte]

they have brought up a good point today...Ausies on the move....
Mark Webber in F1
Ryan Brisco on pole in Indycar
Now Marco being strong up front in Nascar

Waiting for the night to fall and see who has the best car for the night

 

[Christopher Aponte]

great job by Kasey Kahne by winning the race by being the fastest.
his first for Hendrick Motorsport and many more to come

 

[William Levesque]

Poor Ambrose

Unbelievable race by Kahne though, he surely deserved the win ! Dale Jr. again around but never able to close the deal, *sigh*...

 

[TheHemps]

Hi,

I'm a huge motorsports fan, DTM, IndyCar, F1, anything you can think of..... except NASCAR.

Now it's not like I'm one of those people that have an arrogant attitude towards it, I just can't find myself enjoying it, even though I like Indycar, the oval races just don't grab my attention.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I watched a full race last night, just to give it a chance. It was at Carolina, Coca Cola 600, (correct me if I'm wrong)

It was alright, nothing mind blowing, but watching those cars go side by side round a very fast turn is a rather good spectacle.

One thing bothered me though. Everytime a driver pulled away, or the field started to get some distance between them, they threw out yellow flags and grouped them all back up again. This happened like 6 times, and out of those 6 times, I did not see one single incident. Oh, actually maybe one where someone went into the wall.

It made me think, whats the point in doing a 600 mile (or lap, not sure what the 600 means) race. Whats the point in putting all that hard work in to pull away just to be grouped back up again? It made me feel like they were trying to handicap the best drivers.

Is this common? I could watch another race maybe, if it was on and I had nothing else to do, but should I waste my time? Is this a one off? Or will I see the best drivers pulled back into the group at every race.

I understand that racing is more exciting when the cars are grouped together, but to make it artificial isn't racing, it's entertainment.

 

[William Levesque]

Hi,

I'm a huge motorsports fan, DTM, IndyCar, F1, anything you can think of..... except NASCAR.

Now it's not like I'm one of those people that have an arrogant attitude towards it, I just can't find myself enjoying it, even though I like Indycar, the oval races just don't grab my attention.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I watched a full race last night, just to give it a chance. It was at Carolina, Coca Cola 600, (correct me if I'm wrong)

It was alright, nothing mind blowing, but watching those cars go side by side round a very fast turn is a rather good spectacle.

One thing bothered me though. Everytime a driver pulled away, or the field started to get some distance between them, they threw out yellow flags and grouped them all back up again. This happened like 6 times, and out of those 6 times, I did not see one single incident. Oh, actually maybe one where someone went into the wall.

It made me think, whats the point in doing a 600 mile (or lap, not sure what the 600 means) race. Whats the point in putting all that hard work in to pull away just to be grouped back up again? It made me feel like they were trying to handicap the best drivers.

Is this common? I could watch another race maybe, if it was on and I had nothing else to do, but should I waste my time? Is this a one off? Or will I see the best drivers pulled back into the group at every race.

I understand that racing is more exciting when the cars are grouped together, but to make it artificial isn't racing, it's entertainment.

It wasn't always like that. In the last few years, the new owner of Nascar decided to be a spectacle whore and thought it'd be nice to put caution flags everytime there would be a small rubber piece on the track, or a plastic bottle so he could just throw out caution flags for nothing.

5 out of 6 caution flags in the Coca-Cola 600 were "debris", which weren't even on the racing lines... Some drivers did complain about that, but unless they all stick together and force changes, it'll stay like that

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

It is a bit sad the way it currently is. From time to time there is an exciting race which runs without debris cautions and has pretty long Green Flag periodes, but reading through the iRacing forums I sometimes have the feeling "Americans" like close finishes. I know it is a generalisation, but I often read that people liked the race all of the sudden due to a GWC (2 lap sprint), although the 200 laps before that were boring due to bigger portions of the race were under yellow.
Tony Stewart, the three time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and IndyCar Series champion, actually made a good point earlier this year when he critizised NASCAR in this sarcastic interview.

All this turns out that there are ARCA races (4th ranked racing league in Stock Car racing, but runs independent from NASCAR) being better then the NASCAR race at the same track. ARCA sometimes doesn't throw a yellow when a car spun at the back if they are convinced it gets back straight again before the pack is coming. On the other hand the driving quality at ARCA is very low. Yesterday at Michigan, which is a wide open track for these cars, there were huge differences between drivers.
Generally one must remember when watching American racing that there is the policy of marshals only work on the track when the safety car is out since there have been fatalities in the 80s and 90s which increases the chance of safety cars overall, even on road/street courses.

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

It is the first Michigan weekend. The track got repaved before this race sothat it bacame the fastest track on this carlendar. In practice there have been laps of 204mph, and Turn 1 entering speeds of 218mph and blistering on the tyres. Goodyear eventually flew in new outside tyres with a harder compound today to stop the blistering. Therefore we will see today an additional practice session and maybe a competition caution on raceday.
Some speculate that there can be tandem racing in the Nationwides tonight, due to the speed and the resulting line we should not see that though in the Sprint Cup race. Also we won't see the Sprint Cup cars wide open like ARCA was yesterday.

The race is part of the TNT Summer Series, which means there is an international internet livestream (RaceBuddy) featureing 4 onboards and 4 other cams on nascar.com.

Key facts about the Michigan International Speedway
D-shaped superspeedway
2.0 miles (3.2 kilometer)
Turns 18°
200 laps for 400 miles (640 kilometer)

June 17 at 12 p.m. ET (16:00 UTC)

 

[Randy Wagner]

I saw Michael Waltrip getting interviewed at Daytona today and the hat he had one sure did look like it said

Slice Bread #55 The only words were slice then it had a bread picture so I gotta ask is Newman going to Gibbs,Logano to MWR?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Kenseth in the #20 next season is my bet!

 

[Thilo Falkenberg]

With the change of Penske from Dodge to Ford the Chrysler brand belonging to FIAT lost its last NASCAR top team. Now it was announced that Dodge, thus having develloped a 2013 rules Sprint Cup car, will leave NASCAR. Consequently the NASCAR pyramid will have three horse races in 2013 with Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota. This is the second time in its motorsport history that a Chrysler brand leaves NASCAR.

http://www.nascar.com/news/120807/dodge-leaving-nascar/index.html

 

[Christopher Aponte]

I guess this Saturday night is the one race not to miss, as 11 of the 12 chase spot has 90% been set. But the final spot can still be won by 1 of 7 drivers in contention.
- From the 7 drivers, 2 has the highest chance of making the spot: Kyle Bush & Jeff Gordon.
Kyle needs either to win or hold of Jeff. Jeff needs to get the second win to pass Kyle or Kyle must have some major problem. But seeing the track record of Kyle at Richmond, that might be far away.

- The following drivers are looking from the outside with a chance for the spot by winning: Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman & Joey Logano.

The long shots of getting in: Paul Menard & Carl Edwards.
They NEED to win and some wild night for the guys up front can let them get in.


Expect some desperate moves to get to the front or some long patience

 

[Carlos Luna]

Gordon has the momentum. He would've had the win last week if it wasn't for Hamlin's pit crew, lol. I've been a Gordon fan for years now so I'll be cheering him on for the win. Really doubt anyone else will really be a challenge, they just haven't been consistent enough.

 

[Chronus]

In a race anything can happen. Between KY B. and Gordon, the coolest head will make it through. KY B. seems to have calmed down lately, but...

Don't discount Logano, though.

 

[Chris Preston]

Don't count out Jr. either. I think he's got a chance of playing spoiler especially after qualifying on pole With Gordon in second I could see this as being a great night for Gordon fans.

 

[Carlos Luna]

According to ESPN, Gordon has to either win the race or beat Busch by 13 or more points. It's going to be really close tomorrow night, can't wait!

 

[Chronus]

Don't count out Jr. either. I think he's got a chance of playing spoiler especially after qualifying on pole .

Yeah.

I am a bit partial to Jr., it would be great to see him secure a place. But his chances, by comparison, are not not as good.

 

[Chris Preston]

Wait what? Dale Jr. already secured a spot, he's second in the chase at the moment. Don't think we're talking about the same thing lol. What I meant by "playing spoiler" is that Gordon needs a win to take the spot from Busch, with Jr. on pole he could take the win away from Gordon.