re: 2024 NASCAR Season Thread - 2024-25 Offseason

They could let him keep the win but disqualify the win from counting in the chase due to the safety aspect. And suspend him from next race for dangerous actions (as they called them when Chase hooked Hamlin).

That would serve all interests except whiners and two faced Joey and Hamlin

That’s video from Logano’s car cam on pit road is a bad look for him. Revving the throttle when there’s a group of people, including women holding children, is not good.

That said, people who aren’t crew members or NASCAR/safety personnel probably shouldn’t be over the pit wall until after all cars are stopped.

Hard to think NASCAR will do anything to entitled MAGA spawn Dillon doing and let him and his Grandpa go full Stroll on the series.

The fair penalties would be: The 22 getting a $75k penalty for his actions on pit road. Anyone on the Hot Pit Road that was not a race official or crew member having their Hot passes and access removed for the remainder of 2024. The 3 spotter getting a 5 race penalty. The 3 team having the driver and crew chief suspended for one race, and the win staying on the record but the points and win not counting for the playoffs in addition to some arbitrary fine.

The SMT data they have been teasing tells the story. The experts are saying it clearly show him gassing up going into the corner to take out the 22 and then turning left to hook the 11 in the right rear. Moving someone off the groove takes talent, side drafting takes talent, beating and banging is racing, but wrecking is not racing. The highest form of stock car racing should have a higher standard than your local short track, not lower.

1986 Richmond not the same at all. Darrel spent a dozen laps trying to lift Big E out of the groove to the point the 3 was drifting for large portions of the turns at both end. The 3 held his line and the 11 finally made the pass on the bottom and when he tried to do a slide job coming off the turn took out himself and the 3. That picture is disingenuous to what happened and everything that led up to it.

1999 Bristol was another case where both were using their bumper. The 5 was on the apron for a few laps getting into the 3 trying to lift him from the groove. He finally managed to catch the 3 going to hot into a turn and got under him and then doored him coming out of the turn and swept clear. The 3 responded by driving in deeper to bump him and the 5 got loose.

There is a big difference between bumping going both ways and one just being better at it. Is the outcome the same? Yes. It doesn't mean those are apples to apples comparisons. Earnhardt earned his nickname, but there is a difference between guys wrecking off your bumper and using your bumper to wreck people. The pure wheel talent by Big E is something so many people do not understand. Everything he dished out he took, the difference is that he could slide a car sideways through a corner when someone got him loose (or across the infield) and when he repayed it the other drivers couldn't the majority of the time. People getting excited and saying that's how the 3 is supposed to drive were not Earnhardt fans. What Big E did took skill, what AD did is something you can see a 12 yr old do at a go kart track.

It's the exact same. Do you know how I know? It was the only time I every heard this happen...



And as a side note, I had tickets to that race (my FIL at the time worked in Johnson City and one of the ladies in his office had connections at the track). But my brother decided to get married that day. Alas, I had to watch it all unfold from my parents living room. I still don't know if I've forgiven him. (And yes, he's still married...)

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It's the exact same.

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Show me the 22 or 11 banging on the 3 Sunday night. Earnhardt drove deep, but still makes the turn if he doesn't touch Texas Terry's bumper. It's not the same. Is it similar...yes. Is the end result the same? Yes.

If the SMT data they have teased on various shows and podcasts are true then AD was still full throttle when he hit the 22 and turned sharp left to hook the 11. Driving to make contact and driving to wreck are not the same thing, even if both may have the same result.

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my brother decided to get married that day.

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That is as bad as it gets. Did you tell him they have chapels up that way and that drinking in two states at once would make a good bachelor story?

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Show me the 22 or 11 banging on the 3 Sunday night.

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Joey chopped off the 3 in turns 1 and 2 all night. Austin drove him clean for 30+ laps while Joey was dong it too. If the 3 was trying to drive dirty, he had every opportunity at that point in the race.

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Joey chopped off the 3 in turns 1 and 2 all night

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Running a defensive line isn't initiating contact or trying to bump someone out of the groove. I get that those 25ish laps were frustrating for AD and I wouldn't have blamed him at any time for using his bumper there. He was faster and the 22 was running a defensive line. That's where a skilled driver would have used his bumper after about a dozen laps of the slower car maintaining a defensive line. That would have been a racing incident and would 100% have been clean.

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If the 3 was trying to drive dirty

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This isn't arguable. The 3 drove dirty to get the win. He had opportunities to be aggressive and didn't, but that last lap wasn't just driving dirty, that is the new example for driving dirty.

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"You can only kick a dog so many times before he bites back" - Richard Childress

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Who kicked him though? We still talking about the 22 being defensive 70 laps before? Because the 22 cleared him on the restart because the 3 waited until the end of the restart zone to go so he got a good jump and was too worried about the 11 on the bottom to wash up and keep the 22 at his door. The 22 then got free and clear and had a 3-4 car length gap on the backstretch on the white flag lap. The 3 had his chance to use the bumper on the 22 and that was when he was being defensive and thwarting his momentum from lap 298-324. The 3 wins if the 41 and 47 weren't being idiots, but lets be honest I was shocked it took 390+ laps for one of the idiots to do something stupid. The 3 most likely wins if he chooses the top on the restart or goes before the end of the box. The 3 also is able to bang possibly still win if he washes up and forces the 22 to back out in 1 so he doesn't get the huge run off of 2. The 3 made several mistakes on that restart that gave the 22 a large lead, that wasn't the 22 kicking him, just seizing the opportunity that the 3's mistakes afforded him. The 11 also ran the 3 really clean when he came to challenge him for the lead and gave him room to work once he realized how much faster he was. Yet the 3 right hooked him.

Rubbing is racing, all bets are off when the pay window opens, and defensive driving will catch you a bumper. All of those statements are true. What I saw Sunday night wasn't any of that other than a driver saying f' it I'm going to do everything I can to win and force the series to do something about it. If that was the 7, 77, 51 or any other driver in the bottom of the standings wrecking the 12, 19, 20 or pick another liked driver this board and most following the sport would be calling them a hack and saying he should be suspended for the rest of the season. It's an RCR car and he wrecked two of the most despised drivers and jumped another one in the 23 in the race for the playoffs though, so a lot of people are trying to justify it.