OT: Daytona 500 tonight at 7 ET
After several more rain delays, the 500 is scheduled to start tonight at 7. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but I'm glad for the sport that they get rescheduled to prime time. On the other hand, I am a huge House fan and this stinks that it won't be on tonight. Thoughts?
Edit: Apparently this is the first ever night race of the Daytona 500. I guess I'll get over missing my show.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
Like the poster above said (whether in jest or not) it's the constant load the tires are put under from the left-hand turns at such high speeds. The stress and heat on the tires would be too much.
February 27th, 2012 at 6:00 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 5:15 PM ^
Nascar is one of those sports that you truly have to understand what's going on to enjoy. The average viewer sees cars going in circles, that's just the way it is. Fans see the driver relationships/personalities, the experience curve, the action in the pits, etc etc.
It's a lot like hockey, very few people can be talked into enjoying hockey by friends. It's just one of those things that happens.
That being said, I'll be rooting for Mark Martin in this one. He's getting to the tail end of his career and for him to win a 500 would be a nice way to start what may be his last year.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^
I never watched NASCAR until a couple of years ago, when I joined a betting pool. Now, I have a totally new respect for it. I still can't call it a sport, but the teamwork is pretty impressive. There's a lot more strategy involved than the average (non)fan would expect.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:45 PM ^
I agree with Stuck in Ohio. It's amusing hearing people talk about left turns as if they are out for a Sunday drive, but only make left turns. FYI, it's not justa "sport" for southern rednecks either. My uncle, born and raised in Michigan (lived in Brighton most of his life), attended NASCAR races in Brooklyn for 30 years. Obviously it's not for everyone, but as Ernest Hemingway said, "There are only three sports- bull fighting, mountain climbing, and auto racing- all the rest are games." Those are the only three that you can die at any given moment.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 6:39 PM ^
You don't have to like Nascar to appreciate the thrill of what these people are doing at 190 miles an hour. Side by side; door to door; nose to tail!
Did you see the finish of the race on Saturday? That was like . . . DANG!
February 27th, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 7:19 PM ^
Wow. If I hadda bet on which guy would get loose and cause a wreck on damn lap 2, it wouldn't have been Jimmie Johnson.
February 27th, 2012 at 7:21 PM ^
He tends to be the one to cause massive wrecks. Mid-2000s Talladega ALL THE DAMN TIME was him causing everything.
February 27th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^
One thing I can't ever help myself thinking at the beginning of the plate races, especially the Daytona 500 where it's the start of the season: all these beautiful, shiny new machines, all running about equally on a level playing field..... which of them will be smashed to unrecognizable lumps of sheet-metal by the end of the evening?
February 27th, 2012 at 11:07 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^
Somewhere on pit road someone is getting their ass chewed out
February 27th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^
GO JUNIOR
February 27th, 2012 at 9:20 PM ^
my pick is done, Jeff Gordon blown engine right around lap 85. Not a good night for Hendricks racing, Jimmie Johnson wrecked early and in 42nd place.
February 27th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^
BURN BABY! BURN!!! WE DON'T NEED NO WATER! LET THE MOTHER FUCKER BURN!
February 27th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
For those of you who don't watch Nascar Juan Pablo is known for hitting many things and being very wreckless, but wowza!
February 27th, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^
Most ironic misspelling I've ever seen. Well done.
Also ironically, that one wasn't even his fault.
Question for the audience: can you imagine what might've happened if that fire had reached the infield grass??? Holy shit! Or if it'd happened in front of the grandstand instead of an empty part of the track?
February 27th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^
Misspelling? I've seen him do so many stupid things that I'm still not sure I accept his excuse. Probably shouldn't have been going 120+ under caution if you have a really bad vibration anyway...regardless I don't see this race finishing.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
Misspelling because the word is "reckless" not "wreckless." Montoya obviously is anything but the latter. And he's allowed to go 120 like that because otherwise how is he supposed to catch up to the pack? He didn't do anything wrong.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
lol I guess I've had one too many. My bad. Yeah I guess he didn't do anything wrong I just have a bias against him for some of the other wrecks he's caused.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
That's why I like him. Not for causing wrecks, but for being an aggressive, actual NASCAR-style driver. It did make things interesting before his skill caught up to his aggression.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:10 PM ^
February 28th, 2012 at 7:32 AM ^
He got around 125,000 new Twitter followers during the red flag according to Mike and Mike. Amazing.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:16 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
Never seen anything like this..That track looks pretty damaged from my view on TV..
February 27th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.... With new JET FAN TRUCK!!!!
February 27th, 2012 at 10:47 PM ^
The real problem is, now they gotta dry off the track after this cleanup, and they're missing one jet dryer.
February 27th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^
I seriously hope Blaney doesn't win, though.
February 27th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^
I like when things blow up.
February 27th, 2012 at 11:28 PM ^
The question now is, how many cautions between the green flag and the checkers? I got four.
February 27th, 2012 at 11:32 PM ^
And go with 5.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:02 AM ^
And Kenseth wins another wild Daytona. All in all probably a pretty excellent long weekend for NASCAR. Nice job fixing the track, and even better....they really seem to have hit the sweet spot on the tandem racing issue. Guys can do it for a lap, maybe a lap and a half or two at the very most, which is good because they can still use it strategically. But in general the pack is back, and not only that but the drivers did a great job avoiding the Big One too.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:09 AM ^
- Pack racing sucks. It was REALLY bad today as there was no line other than the low line.
- The jet dryer thing was crazy.
- What a boring ending to what was a crazy Speedweeks. That was a terrible, terrible GWC finish.
- Damn good Speedweeks overall though. On to Phoenix.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:54 AM ^
You didn't like the finish? I thought it was pretty solid. Kenseth clearly 1) had the best car and 2) drove it to his full advantage, so his win was very well-deserved. Even so I liked wondering if Junior was going to be able to make the pass.
You're right about the lines, but it's still an improvement over the tandem racing. Besides, I'm not sure it's all that bad. Truex used the high side to get around for the halfway-point pass, so it wasn't a total loss. I think it just happened that by the end of the race, the faster cars had filtered to the front and weren't going to be passed anyway. Notice that Kenseth had plenty of time to go high, collect Biffle, and get back low and still be far enough in front that they both had room.
February 28th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^
I'm kind of curious...how many people here have actually been to a race, what kind, and where?
February 28th, 2012 at 3:22 PM ^
I have been to NHRA races at National Trails and AMA Superbike and AHRMA Vintage motorcycle races at Mid Ohio. I would love to go to MotoGP in Indy. Live racing is great and it's interesting to get into the pits and see what makes the machines tick.
February 28th, 2012 at 3:38 PM ^
Maybe close to or as many as the amount of Michigan games I've been to.
-Atlanta
-Bristol
-Charlotte
-Daytona
-Indianapolis
-Michigan
Been to a lot of NASCAR Cup races, a pretty good amount of Busch/Nationwide races ("AAA") and a few Truck races ("AA"). And those are just NASCAR-sanctioned events; quite a few local shorttrack races as well.
Why do you ask?
February 28th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
"Why do you ask?"
I was a little surprised to see a thread about Daytona.
I grew up around racing, but went to Michigan, and generally felt that I was one of the very, very few on campus who a) knew anything about racing and b) had actually been involved.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see something positive about racing.
February 28th, 2012 at 3:56 PM ^
I've never been to a NASCAR race, but I've been to something like five or six Detroit Grand Prixs. When it was downtown my dad's office had a pretty nice view of the track so we'd go up there and watch, and hang out on the streets a little too, to watch the cars. When the race was on Belle Isle our Scout troop got free admission for the weekend and the proceeds from the can and bottle returns from the various tent suites around the course..... in exchange for doing the collecting and sorting. That was a lot of fun, til we started actually having to sort them after the race. Then it was some of the world's nastiest work.