Any nascar fans out there?

[adams603]

Just wondering whos a fan and who your favorite drivers are.
I'm a Kasey Kahne fan, dodge all the way. I usually go to the fall race at Lowes motorspeedway. Three days of tailgating. The best part is you can take your own cooler of beer into the race. So lets hear from the fans out there. I'd like to get a thread going to chat about the upcoming races and silly season rumors.

[Stacey_E]

I was a Tony Stewart fan for years, until JGR sold out to the Japanese Toyotas. I'd like to go back to Tony next year when he returns to Chevy, but I've already made my bed with Carl Edwards. I think he is one of the future stars and I like his on and off track personality. Plus I'm a Ford man at heart since my first Ford, a 95 Thunderbird, has 250,000 miles and counting. I just wish Carl had a better pit crew.

Sometimes I wish Edwards was more aggressive on track, like (gags me to say it) Kyle Bush. I know everyone hates him and Toyota, but damned if this kid can't drive. He reminds me of another driver who drove a black car and was BY GOD coming to the front. You can pull over or get pulled over.

Going to Bristol next week and have season tickets to the spring and fall races every year. I love being able to bring a cooler. But if you have ever humped one up the hill at BMS you know how important a cooler with wheels is.

COOLER TIP: Don't fill it with ice, fill it with frozen bottled waters instead. If you drink at the race like I do, by the time they get ready for green, white, checkered you need some hydration. Those melted Dasanis are quite refreshing then. Somehow the word Dasani doesn't really go with NASCAR though.

[Smallville]

I've been a fan for about 10 years (Dale Sr. fan then after he died I went to Junior). Just don't get me going on how stupid I think "The Chase" is!

[GaijinGolfer]

I grew up watching NASCAR but quit watching until Toyota got in. I'll cheer for anyone who drives a Toyota and will boo anyone driving a Chevy.
People can whine about Toyota being in there all they want, but the fact is that Toyota is playing by the rules and beating the domestics at their own game.
Personally, I love it.

[Stacey_E]

I grew up watching NASCAR but quit watching until Toyota got in. I'll cheer for anyone who drives a Toyota and will boo anyone driving a Chevy.

What about us Ford guys?...LOL

[GaijinGolfer]

Fords are OK. I drive a Ford F-150 right now and I grew up in a Ford family, so Im cool with Fords.
I owned a couple Toyota 4Runners back in the late '90s (an '85 and a '91) and Ive loved Toyotas ever since, so I gotta cheer for the 'Yotas.

[Vino707]

Denny Hamlin is my favorite driver. Pretty much the whole Gibbs team is but I am kind of getting sick of Kyle Busch. He is just blowing everyone out of the water week in and week out. It is ruining this year imo. There is just gonna be no competition for him during the chase except maybe Carl Edwards.

[Smallville]

Vino - - -

Remember last year? Jeff Gordon was the Shiznet going into the chase too, had a HUGE lead, remember? Won a bunch of races, set the record for top 5 or top 10 finishes in a season. Who won the title? Wasn't Gordon. It all starts from scratch after week 26 and the only person hurt by the Chase is whoever is in front with a big lead. Everyone else is helped by it. It's why I hate the Chase.

[Thrash13]

I keep up a little, but not nearly as much as I did in 2007. I didn't miss many races last year, but I've probably only seen half this season. I'm a Kasey Kahne fan like the topic starter, although I'm disappointed he dropped out of the top 12. Hopefully he finishes strong the next couple weeks and make "The Chase."

I'm not a huge fan, but I'll watch it from time to time.

[Trogdor]

I watch it a little bit here and there. I was a Sr fan, so I like to see Jr do well. I am more of MotoGP and AMA fan, but the AMA is about to go down the tube so I might be watching more Nascar on Sundays after all.

[GaijinGolfer]

Denny Hamlin is my favorite driver. Pretty much the whole Gibbs team is but I am kind of getting sick of Kyle Busch. He is just blowing everyone out of the water week in and week out. It is ruining this year imo. There is just gonna be no competition for him during the chase except maybe Carl Edwards.

Last year was Hendrick's year, this year is Gibbs' year. Im just glad the Toyotas are finally competitive. With Joey Logano moving up to the #20 car next year, hopefully all 3 Gibbs cars will be winning races. I for one definetly wont be singing the blues over the loss of Tony Stewart. Haas and Chevy can have him.

Vino - - -

Well, it doesnt exactly start from scratch. Busch will have a little bit of a point lead over the others (except for Edwards) because of all the races he has won.

I dont like the chase either. The points system was originally set up to reward the driver who did the best on a variety of tracks all season long. IMO, the chase takes away from that.

[Smallville]

All but scratch. Right now his 212 point lead over Edwards would drop to 20. 12th place would go from 754 to 80. Pretty much scratch. They need to include points penalties from the first 26 races to halfway get this the way I think it should be; however, I think they shopuld go back to the old system. So someone runs away with it? They obviously deserved it. They all know how it's gonna be though, so there can't really be any complaining.

[GaijinGolfer]

All but scratch. Right now his 212 point lead over Edwards would drop to 20. 12th place would go from 754 to 80. Pretty much scratch. They need to include points penalties from the first 26 races to halfway get this the way I think it should be; however, I think they shopuld go back to the old system. So someone runs away with it? They obviously deserved it. They all know how it's gonna be though, so there can't really be any complaining.

NASCAR wanted to have a dramatic finish to the season. A lot of the time, the champion clinched the championship with 2 races to go, so the final race of the year didnt mean as much as it could.

Also, a few years back when Matt Kenseth won the title without winning a race all year long and you had Ryan Newman whining that it wasnt fair because he had won something like 5 races (but had a lot of DNFs), so they made the change to reward wins more and to add drama to the last race of the season.

[Smallville]

Yeah, I know why they did it (TV Ratings) but I always thought they should reward them for how they finished in the first26. As it is now, the 12th place guy would be in first place if he won the most races (vice-versa for the leader). Whoever is leading after 26 should be leading going into the 27th. At the very least, give the points leader his choice of pit stalls the rest of the season. Make it worth SOMETHING to be leading.

And, Kenseth won ONE time, not none. (Newman won eight times!) Consistency, that was Matt in '03. And he only won by 90.

I can complain about it all day, but unfortunately, this is the way it is now, and they won't be changing back (though they keep tweaking it), but I can still complain.

[Stacey_E]

I think a lot of fans at the track have a beef with drivers "points racing" so early in the season. If you pay $100 for a ticket you want to see your guy perform. But a driver, right now, in the top 8 or 10 is just cruising. On the flip side, if you are 10-15 or so you are driving hard to ensure you make the chase. But a good aggressive driver won't ease up on these races anyway. Take Edwards and Busch last weekend at Bristol. And BTW I loved the outcome and the post race activities. I watched it all from an air conditioned suite with unlimited food and drinks courtesy of Bristol Motor Speedway. Life was good. Oh well, back to the real world.

Also I used to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan before the Titans came to town. More than once I would see them go 13-3 regular season, get a first round bye and home field through out, then loose to a team at home. That is just the way professional sports are. You put yourself in the position to lead going into playoffs, but that is no guarantee you will perform come crunch time.

[Smallville]

Also I used to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan before the Titans came to town. More than once I would see them go 13-3 regular season, get a first round bye and home field through out, then loose to a team at home.

Yeah, tell me about it. 1995, 1997 and 2003. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

But we got a NASCAR Track! I've been to a lot of races out there, but none in the last 3 years.

[Vino707]

NASCAR seems to have a lot to deal with right now. Maybe they should change the chase around next year. Say, make it more points going into the chase for all of the 1st place finishes. I don't know but if they do change it again that would make it what three times they have changed the chase around. When do you stop.

I think their biggest problem they have to change is the crap competition this new car is bringing. I am not satisfied at all with out these races are going. The big super speedways which are supposed to have the most exciting and biggest races of the season all suck now because of the new car. It is becoming increasingly difficult to pass and there are so many single file lines on these huge tracks. I just don't think the competition is there with these new cars.

[Smallville]

Vino-

They already start with everyone at I believe, 5,000 points. Then for each win, they get 10 more points.