Arena Raise Hell, Praise Dale - NASCAR/North American Racing Series Discussion

this track is so weird - no catastrophes like yesterday (yet), but only feels like 2-3 cars have a chance to win.

i think it'll end up being the 9, but i hope jimmie sneaks in.

 

bobby labonte has signed on to drive in tony stewart's new SRX racing series. hell yeah.

so far the roster includes stewart, labonte, tony kanaan, and paul tracy. would not be surprised to see jimmie johnson and matt kenseth join at the end of this nascar season. hoping they get some more open wheel guys in, maybe even f1 - jensen button would be a good add - he's got commercial relationships with stewart, and has shown interest in stock car racing before. juan pablo montoya, dario franchitti, list is endless. could shape up to be very cool.

also, we were due for a new title.

 

johnson's darlington tribute car is for both richard petty and dale sr. one of the best ideas to come from this trend.

 

the decision to make the final regular season race at Daytona was insane. but its made for an incredible "playoff bubble" race between 21, 24, and 48 - and so many others looking to win and get in. unfortunately looks like jimmie may not get into the playoffs. for a driver so immensely talented (and enjoying a great season), hamlin sure does create a lot of wrecks.

congrats to byron on his first career win. great driver, the absolute worst sponsor.

 

if harvick doesn't end up winning the championship this year with the season he's had, it's likely i'll be raging against the playoff system.

what an incredible season its been. 8 wins, 18 top 5s, 22 top 10s, 0 DNFs. few more to go.

 

jimmie johnson has signed into a partnership with chip ganassi racing's indycar operations. unsure if it will be as a part-time driver (he's done some well-publicized testing) or as a team owner/partner. competitively, indy's basically a three-team operation atm, with penske (pagenaud/newgarden/power), andretti (rossi/hunter-reay/hinchcliffe), and ganassi (dixon/rosenqvist) - JJ would be hugely influential in continuing to grow the sport, whose popularity has lagged behind F1 and NASCAR for decades.

 

bubba wallace not returning to petty motorsports.

i'd say hendrick, in either an existing (48) or renewal of an old (5) seat, is just about a lock. outside chance he goes to ganassi to drive the 42.

 

Spoiler: trigger warning, hideously racist

he's a racist pos, and has always been the afterthought wallace brother when it comes to racing. hopefully he's never heard from again.

 

Oh I saw he got suspended but not the why - **** you Mike Wallace.

 

42 cgr seat will go to ross chastain in 2021. has a long relationship with that team, and was assumed that he'd take over the cup ride when larson was fired.

has a rippling effect, with only one more high-profile seat (48) projected open for next year, and a lot of names moving around and/or up. penske has to move cindric up, to either their stable or wood brothers'. SHR can hold briscoe for one more year (max) before giving him the 14/10, and hendrick is in the same predicament with gragson/jr motorsports.

the window in which most of these new drivers have to perform or lose their ride is realistically 2 years, at this point. 1 for some.

 

holy crap. michael jordan and denny hamlin, longtime business partners, are creating a one-car stable for 2021. bubba wallace will be the driver.

this has been a rumor for months, but dismissed as an absurdity. incredible to see, michael jordan in nascar as a team owner!

 

it looks like the charter purchased by hamlin/jordan was the germain racing #13 (ty dillon/geico). i think ty is an easy pick to go to the 43/petty motorsports, who have an existing partnership with richard childress racing - ty and austin dillon are childress' grandsons.

it is possible that tyler reddick leaves the 8 team for hendrick. he was vocal in his support for bubba and against donald trump, and mr. childress is one of the most outspoken supporters of mr. trump in the sport. i believe rcr forced tyler to remove some social media posts supporting bubba, which i imagine has not cultivated much trust. there's also likely a rub between reddick, one of the best young drivers in the sport, and rcr, who runs **** equipment and is barely competitive these days.