re: Ryan Newman released from hospital

Yeah. Like a miracle is the only reason he’s alive. Not denying a higher power doesn’t exist. Just saying him being alive after that accident..... a miracle is the only thing I can think of.

Unbelievable. Seriously. Amazing he's alive and walking. Damn that's great.

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Something tells me you will end up being shocked. This ain't Rocketman's first time going 200mph upside down

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I looked for the video before it became obvious where to find it and I found one about him going upside down at Daytona in 2003 or 2009, sometime, apparently he has had several wrecks at Daytona.

The cars are amazing, especially if you go back and look at some of the old wrecks that killed guys.

Not that this was what saved his life, but was it mentioned in the Daytona thread that a few years back Ryan approached NASCAR about adding a safety feature to the frame (that they then adopted and named the “Newman Bar”)?



FoxSports

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apparently he has had several wrecks at Daytona

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I remember one in the early 00's where his wheel came off and went bouncing down the track and over the wall

One of my favorite races is Jr's first win at Talladega where they have a huge wreck on the backstretch in 2001 similar to the first Big One in the Daytona 500 before Sr. was killed.

It ends up being Jr, Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart racing for the win by themselves in a drag race and Jr. just leaves them in the dust in Turn 3, that's how much better DEI was in the corners back then.

Bobby Labonte was the recipient in that wreck after his teammate Stewart was in the 500.

Talladega 2001

One of Nascar's best restrictor plate races. Jr. losing the lead twice in the last 6 laps and coming back with one of the best passes I've ever seen with 3 laps to go starting on the backstretch and all the way though turn 4. Audio was awesome catching the humming of the engines, Benny Parsons in the booth, never gets old.

Whoever built that car should get a raise and lifetime contract.

Watermelon Man taking over

If you listen to the Dale Jr Download podcast, he gets pretty in depth on his restrictor plate philosophy and how he setup passes, defend the lead and side drafted a little different than everybody else. DEI was really strong then, but it wasn’t just the equipment making Jr an elite plate racer.

He also explained why the racing was better throughout the whole race back then, and while they would have big ones, the whole race wouldn’t be a total dumpster fire like it is now.

He basically said that in the 2000’s the runs weren’t as ridiculous so they could defend the lead a lot better and how you had to be a little more crafty when setting up a pass for the lead. Now the closing rate is so ridiculous that the leader is a sitting duck a high percentage of the time.

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DEI was really strong then, but it wasn’t just the equipment making Jr an elite plate racer

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It definitely wasn't all equipment. I was speaking more to the incident after the 2001 Pepsi 400 when Jimmy Spencer basically said the race was rigged. In hindsight you see Sr's last win in 2000 at Talladega and how damn good Jr was then and then DEI dominating the 2001 Daytona 500 and everything after that for 4 years. They could draft down the straightaways and create runs but they would just pull away in the corners. There wasn't anything rigged they were just better and Jr and Waltrip knew how to race it.

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He also explained why the racing was better throughout the whole race back then, and while they would have big ones, the whole race wouldn’t be a total dumpster fire like it is now.

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I made this point the other night. They took the ingenuity out of the cars and made them IROC cars starting with the COT. That created less difference in the cars and less ability to get runs and break away from the 2 line drafts. Back then you would still get 2 line drafts off restarts but it seemed like you could move through the pack better then, you could make your own advantage if you knew how to race. I also think side drafting has become more common today, you never heard that term in the early 00's.

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He basically said that in the 2000’s the runs weren’t as ridiculous so they could defend the lead a lot better and how you had to be a little more crafty when setting up a pass for the lead. Now the closing rate is so ridiculous that the leader is a sitting duck a high percentage of the time.

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I don't know if I agree with all of that. Of course the rules change every year so the closing rate this year may be totally different from last year and 5 years ago. But I can almost guarantee the closing rate when they had the roof bars was greater than the average of the closing rate since the COT. Go back and watch those races, watch the one I just posted. Jr was a sitting duck in the lead and even fricked up a couple times. He took a push down the backstretch and passed 2 cars by the time he was in the middle of turn 3, sucked up to the 2nd place car and shot out to go after Labonte, all in basically one move.

They have definitely improved closing rate from where it used to be where they had no horsepower and throttle response to make a move. But the early 00's package was the best by far.

Does he talk about all this in this weeks podcast?