Official NASCAR Series News Thread

[franko3219]

I figured that it was coming sooner rather than later, I just thought he would go another year or two to try and get a championship. He said during his time that he was out that he still wanted to race for at least a few years if I remember correctly. I wonder if there were issues with his contract talks? Either way, this sucks. I'm happy for him and his career, just need some of these young guys to develop more of a personality.

[BurghFan]

Yeah, rather shocking. He's been my favorite driver since his pre-rookie season in '99.

[Yrogergj24]

2018 Schedule Changes
•Daytona 500 date — back on President’s Day weekend, Feb. 18
•Richmond International Raceway short track will host one of the playoff races in the opening round of the postseason, and its spring date — April 21 — returns to a Saturday night feature.
•The traditional regular-season finale will now shift from the Richmond short track to the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 9.
•Chicagoland Speedway now is the site of NBC Sports’ season debut on July 1 — just prior to the traditional Daytona International Speedway Coke Zero 400 stop a week later
•Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s brand new “second date” of the season will officially kick off NASCAR’s playoffs on Sept. 16.
•Also significant: Charlotte Motor Speedway’s playoff race will now be run on the venue’s road course instead of its 1.5-mile oval.
•That adds not only a road course to the postseason, but one that serves as the elimination event in the opening round on Sept. 30.
• Daytona Speedweeks has both Daytona 500 pole qualifying and the Clash at Daytona preseason race held on the same day (Sunday, Feb. 11).
•With the schedule changes, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series opening three-race playoff round is Las Vegas-Richmond-Charlotte. The next round starts at Dover, then heads to Talladega and concludes in Kansas. The Round of 8 again is Martinsville-Texas-Phoenix, with the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.
•The NASCAR XFINITY Series also will conclude at the Miami 1.5-miler after opening playoff rounds in Richmond, Charlotte and Dover. Subsequent races at Kansas, Texas and Phoenix will set up the South Florida finale.
•The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will settle its title with a playoff opener on the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park road course, followed by races at Las Vegas and Talladega to set the Round of 8. Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix will decide the championship four vying for the big trophy at Homestead-Miami.
•The Truck Series also joins the NASCAR Goes West initiative, heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 2) for a tripleheader weekend.

Charlotte Roval Map

[BurghFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yrogergj24

•Also significant: Charlotte Motor Speedway’s playoff race will now be run on the venue’s road course instead of its 1.5-mile oval. Charlotte Roval Map

Wow!! Didn't see that coming. The Chase definitely needed a road course, but I thought maybe they'd shift Watkins Glen back a month (or perhaps one of the Pocono dates since that track has road course character at least) rather than use an infield road course at an existing Chase track. I didn't even know Charlotte had an infield road course. It will make it doubly interesting though as no one will have ever run on in a race before, though I would assume NASCAR will allow cars to test on it at some point prior to the race.

[Thrash13]

That's an intriguing road course. It's almost half road course and half oval course. It'll be interesting for sure, especially as an elimination race in the playoffs.

The Nascar schedule usually seems to be pretty predictable, but there are lots of changes for 2018.

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[Solidice]

Quote: Originally Posted by BurghFan

Wow!! Didn't see that coming. The Chase definitely needed a road course, but I thought maybe they'd shift Watkins Glen back a month (or perhaps one of the Pocono dates since that track has road course character at least) rather than use an infield road course at an existing Chase track. I didn't even know Charlotte had an infield road course. It will make it doubly interesting though as no one will have ever run on in a race before, though I would assume NASCAR will allow cars to test on it at some point prior to the race.

I think a lot of those D shaped tracks have road courses in them(Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta) Phoenix has one, even Iowa speedway that Xfinity and trucks races at has one(Iowa is similar to Richmond in size/shape)

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[jasontoddwhitt]

It was something that was needed. I always felt that the playoffs should have every style of track featured. Shocked that they decided to switch Charlotte to a road course, but I welcome the news.

NASCAR still needs to figure out how to fix their struggling ratings and race attendance. I think the elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is that races are too long. Nobody wants to sit around and watch an oval race for 3.5-5 hours. I think NASCAR should shorten races to 300 miles except for the crown jewels...

Daytona 500
Spring Talladega race
Coke 600
Southern 500

And make those races worth double points. Just a thought.


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[Thrash13]

Quote: Originally Posted by jasontoddwhitt

It was something that was needed. I always felt that the playoffs should have every style of track featured. Shocked that they decided to switch Charlotte to a road course, but I welcome the news. NASCAR still needs to figure out how to fix their struggling ratings and race attendance. I think the elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is that races are too long. Nobody wants to sit around and watch an oval race for 3.5-5 hours. I think NASCAR should shorten races to 300 miles except for the crown jewels... Daytona 500 Spring Talladega race Coke 600 Southern 500 And make those races worth double points. Just a thought. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd be all for all the thoughts above. I enjoy Nascar, but I rarely watch the entire race. However, I frequently watch most or all of the big 4 or 5 races you mentioned.

I'd love to see them add the "Nascar Major" name to a few of the races and put extra points on the line.

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