Happy Hour: Our Power Rankings are wrong(?), the council and more
Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to [email protected] or @NickBromberg. We’ll post them here and have a good time.
Welcome to Michigan week. And we’re wondering if this weekend will be the biggest test of the Sprint Cup Series rules package to date.
Why? Well, as you likely know, the decreased downforce and horsepower configuration has increased corner speeds and led to more throttle time for drivers. Michigan has always been a wide and very fast track and it’s even faster now since it was repaved four years ago.
Momentum down the straightaways has always been imperative at Michigan and will be even bigger on Sunday. And with the new pavement (and increased grip), cars are able to go faster in the corners. Drivers may be able to go nearly flat-out around the track in race conditions.
Is that going to be good for the quality of racing? Our initial guess is it won’t be. However, given that teams don’t run much side-by-side in practice, we’re not going to know the answer until the race on Sunday.
Michigan has consistently produced lots of passing. We hope the trend continues though we won’t be surprised if it didn’t. It’s hard to pass someone when you both are on and off the throttle at nearly the same times.
On a rules package note, this interview with NASCAR vice president Steve O’Donnell is interesting. When speaking with a British motorsports outlet, O’Donnell hinted that track-type specific configurations could be in the offing. And that makes sense. Teams are already building cars that are specific for types of tracks, so building them to different specifications won’t be a big deal. And hell, it could produce better racing.
O’Donnell also said there could be some changes made this year, though he didn’t specify what those changes would be. It’s an interesting spot for NASCAR. A sport that is criticized for changing its championship format too often could be lauded for changing rules specifications midseason. What a potentially fun scenario.
Let’s get to it.
Your Article ……………. is 100% completely WRONG you really need to know your facts before you print – Thomas
We’re wondering if Thomas forgot that Power Rankings are not a reproduction of the points standings.
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I’m not sure about all the issues the drivers council will deal with but I have some suggestions. My interest in NASCAR has dropped off due to rule changes that reduced the quality of racing. I think some of these suggested rule changes would increase the quality of racing and interest in the sport.
1. Bring back the draft.
2. Give the drivers the ability to change more aspects of the car during the race, especially the ability to adjust fuel mixture. Because the cars are so even the drivers need more ways to differentiate themselves from the pack. The announcers love to talk up NASCAR because you can have all cars on the lead lap at the end of a race. In reality this is horrible thing. It means the rules and cars have been tinkered with so much that we can keep the 43rd place driver close to Keslowski or Johnson or Harvick. Ridiculous!
3. If you want a true playoff format get the cars that didn’t make the Chase off the track. This would reduce traffic on the track and on pit road. That being said I’d probably keep all 20 for the whole chase. This may attract sponsors who don’t have to worry about the expense of whole season.
4. Add more road courses.
5. Encourage drivers to participate in other racing formats.
6. Shorten the season. – John
Since John numbered his points, we’ll number ours too.
1. If you like the draft, watch the Camping World Truck Series. The trucks are drafting during qualifying for 1.5-mile tracks and it’s ridiculous. The only way the draft will come back to play a big role at non-restrictor plate tracks is if downforce is completely taken away (not happening) and the cars are taller to create a bigger hole in the air.
2. Eh, no. Fuel mixture should be an open-wheel only feature. We love fuel mileage races. They’re a fun blend of strategy and skill. Do you really want to see a race won by a guy who simply ran the leanest fuel mixture?
3. No, that’s never going to happen either. Teams with no hope of making the Chase would then only be able to sell 26 races of sponsorship. It’s not fair to smaller teams, and don’t people want smaller teams to have more of a chance?
4. Yes.
5. This has its pros and cons too. We’d love to see more drivers do the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double though.
6. Not a bad suggestion, but no tracks are going to voluntarily give up a race date. The only way of shortening the season at this point is to run two or three races a week in the summer. Which could be really fun.
What Deuce (who we met over the weekend at a Sporting KC game. Such a fun time) is referencing is this interview with USA Today that Keselowski did. We recommend it.
We also tend to side with Keselowski’s view on autographs, which he explains before he mentions that he will sign Logano’s name if an autograph-seeker gets him confused for his teammate.
Autographs have always seemed a bit meaningless to us, especially as we’ve gotten older. And what’s the meaning behind an autograph if you don’t know the name of the person whose autograph you’re seeking?
According to this forecast, there’s a greater than 70 percent chance of rain Friday at the track and the precipitation chances are about 50/50 for the scheduled green flag on Sunday. We set the number of vortex theory references at “lots.”
As long as it’s not like that Michigan race that ran on Tuesday a while back, we’re good. We remember watching that race via NASCAR.com’s leaderboard in class at college. What a flashback.
Martin Truex Jr.’s win on Sunday made 10 different winners in the Sprint Cup Series this season. Given the way the season has played out, who springs to mind for you as the next driver to win a race? Here’s our top five:
1 (tie). Jeff Gordon/Kasey Kahne: We’re giving them the Hendrick advantage.
3. Jamie McMurray: Don’t be surprised if McMurray wins at Sonoma.
4. AJ Allmendinger: He’s here because of Sonoma too.
5. We don’t have a five. Who should be here? Paul Menard? Ryan Newman?
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
