NASCAR

[James Wright]

I noticed there's no NASCAR thread here, how does NASCAR stack up against others sports in terms of popularity?
With the chase for the Sprint Cup about to start who do you think will win it?

James

 

[Danny99]

NASCAR is often overlooked on this board, as it is primarily a North American sport, with zero following in the rest of the world.

But here in a house where between it's members, Johnson, Gordon, Kenseth, Hamlin, and Keselowski have fans; the chase should be interesting.

 

[MacLeod]

^As Danny said outside of the US it has little following. F1 tends to be king in many countries in terms of TV audiance (for Motor sports)

 

[Gil T.Azell]

As long as one of those Felon Motor Sports teams (AKA HMS) doesn't win I'll be fine with it.

 

[Briquettes]

I used to be a *huge* NASCAR fan, but these days I find it really hard to get into it. Pretty much everything that has happened over the last decade has rubbed me the wrong way (The Chase, the COT, cutting back on road courses and short tracks and replacing them with cookie-cutter 1.5 mile D-Ovals, start and park teams, etc.) I still watch a lot of the races, but I doubt I could name half the drivers in the field.

I'll likely watch all of the Chase races, but as long as Jimmie effing Johnson doesn't win another cup I'll be happy.

 

[SmoothieX]

Even in the US, it's a very regional thing. I live in the Northeast and no one gives a shit.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I'll watch NASCAR whenever it's on, but I generally just have it playing on the TV in the background while doing other stuff. Whether I'll watch to see who wins depends on how well my favorite drivers (Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr.) are doing in the final laps and whether they have a chance of winning (I like Tony Stewart too, but if Jimmie Johnson is the lead towards the end, I'm more likely to change the channel).

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm sure it has to be exciting to see a race or take part in one, but it translates poorly to TV. Kinda like tennis. I enjoy playing it, very badly I might add, and it good exercise, but unless it's the final of a grand slam event, I don't give a hoot about watching it.

 

[Danny99]

Okay, so explain the "Sprint Girl" to me. She stands in the background of the driver winning being interviewed, looking incredibly awkward (I've even see one shuffle around to make sure she was in the shot). They are dressed in the Sprint firesuit, which makes them look so bulky that it takes away 90% of any attractiveness factor. And as for advertising, I think Sprint is said 6,000 times throughout the broadcast, hell, the championship trophy is the "Sprint Cup!"

 

[Briquettes]

From what I understand, the Sprint Girls do PR stuff at the track, interact with fans as sort of a Sprint mascot, send out informational stuff using social media, and host featurettes that are posted to nascar.com.

I agree that it's stupid to have them stand behind the drivers in victory lane, but NASCAR is full of that stuff. It makes about as much sense as an obviously exhausted and dehydrated driver taking a big drink of coke as soon as they get out of the car.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

R.I.P. Chris Economaki
Chris Economaki dies at 91

 

[Gil T.Azell]

The Incident
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAUuLuBIKL0[/yt]

Post race Interview
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OioQoxDB4[/yt]
"..Finely tuned athlete"- Got to love his sense of humor!
At least he maned up and took the blame.

At least Tony practices what he preaches!
From May...
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UjbugjIAxc&feature=player_embedded[/yt]

 

[Briquettes]

Both the drivers and the media appear to be under the impression that fans like pack racing at Daytona and Talladega because it leads to wrecks. That's only a part of it. People like pack racing at those tracks because it seems like the only time of the year where these guys actually race each other. The rest of the time they just play follow the leader and whoever makes it to the end without running out of gas wins. It's boring. I don't know the solution to the plate tracks, but I'd like to see the cars run smaller engines that wouldn't need to be restricted. Sure it would cost a lot of money, but it already takes 20 million bucks to run the cup schedule. What's another couple hundred thousand?

 

[Drago-Kazov]

My only exposure to Nascar was the movie: The Dale Earnhard Story.

It was some good old fashioned redneck fun.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski and Team Penske on winning the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GP6qDnpPY9g#![/yt]
Now thats a beer!

 

[Danny99]

Keselowski deserved it. He was the only driver that consistently drove well for the entire chase.