NASCAR UPDATES & OTHER FAST STUFF 2-12-17

HELMET OWNED BY KENNY WALLACE

So I have Bela Fleck and The Flecktones with The Dave Mathews Band jazzing things up on the You Tube. Nice show. Welcome Gabbers and others to my NASCAR Updates & Other Fast Stuff. It’s a nice soggy day today. The snow from Thursday is all but gone. Just how I like it but they say more is on the way.

Had a couple fastnachts dipped in black strap molasses. Nummy nummy. Yeah, they aren’t conducive to the smaller waistline that I’ve been working on maintaining but you gotta enjoy a treat once in a while. I upped my greens to compensate.

The Anne Frank exhibit has come to my area. I do plan on hitting that for sure. Kind of excited for that.

Peak has offered NHRA Funny Car driver John Force a life time sponsorship contract. As long as he wants to race then they will sponsor his car. That is a sweet deal if you ask me. I think he’s earned that sponsorship deal. I also hope he gets one more championship before he hangs up his racing shoes for the last time. What a career he’s had.

So what of the land of Left Turns?

NEW NASCAR RULES…..AGAIN

The drivers council has been asking for a traveling safety team. One with physicians that know them. They got it now. Logano expressed his yea vote for it when it was finally announced this past week. He said that it will help in not having misdiagnosis in the future like to Matt DiBenedetto last year. He was held from a race due to what was perceived to be concussion like symptoms. Drivers want someone there that sees them regularly and will know if the drivers behavior is out of the ordinary or normal.

Also NASCAR has announced that wrecked race cars will not be allowed to be fixed. The damage policy goes as thus.

—-> Teams will no longer be allowed to replace wreck damaged body panels.

—-> Teams car fix sheet metal damage due to an accident on pit road but only have 5 minutes to do so.

—-> If they go over the 5 minutes or go behind the pit wall they may not return to the race.

—-> Once repairs are made they must maintain minimum speed.

—-> If they can maintain minimum speed the clock resets and they can return to pit road for more repairs for another 5 minutes.

—-> Teams can repair non accident related issues like mechanical or electrical on pit road or the garage without the clock or penalty.

—-> If a driver is caught speeding on pit road it is a 15 seconds off the 5 minute clock penalty.

—-> Too many men over the wall results in being removed from the race. (6 to work on the car & 1 to service the driver)

In the past teams would send a car back out as quick as possible and the result would be parts falling off the car and causing flat tires or more wrecks. Some times that same car would wreck.

Also teams would send every available guy over the wall to fix the car because they knew they’d have to go to the back any way. This keeps the minimum guys on pit road. Too many can be a safety hazard.

Personally I think they should be allowed to put on new body panels but only if it’s done right. You see slap together jobs and you’ll see nicely done ones. In my opinion NASCAR is going a bit over board on this one. I agree that something should be done about those that spray parts all over the track but I think that’s what officials are for. Do your job. Knocking a star out of the race is a huge deal for the fans AND the sponsor. We shall see.

And the final change is that in pre race inspection if a team fails, they have to go through the whole inspection again. In the past the team just went and fixed that issue and got inspected at that stage again.

I don’t care about this inspection issue. To me it’s a non issue. If a team wants to spend their time in line getting inspected instead of on the race track practicing and or qualifying then so be it. NASCAR has implemented so many rules and made the tolerances extremely difficult to get an advantage over that teams take every opportunity to the edge. It’s their JOB.

MARK MARTIN TO RACE AGAIN!!!!!!

Mark has announced that he’s going to Nova Scotia to race Super Late Models in the IWK 250 in July at Riverside International Speedway. It’s a 1/3 mile high banked asphalt oval track.

Mark is excited to check out this track. He said that many NASCAR drivers have told him how awesome this track is.

So our new inductee of the NASCAR Hall of Fame is going to be back on a track. I think I just may have to get up to Nova Scotia to see this. I guess I have to promise Canada not to stay after the race.

CUP DRIVERS TO BE IN FOX BOOTH AGAIN

Last year there were a few Cup drivers in the FOX SPORTS broadcast booth calling Xfinity races. There will be a few again this year. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, and Joey Logano will take turns along side Adam Alexander and Michael Waltrip calling some Xfinity and truck races this season. Got to rev up those resumes guys.

AUTO CLUB 400 SPECIAL TICKET PACKAGE

If you’re heading to the Cup race at Auto Club in March you can celebrate Richard Petty’s 80th birthday with a special ticket package. For $99 you get a reserved ticket for Sunday’s race, a general admission ticket for Saturday’s race, pre race pit pass, an autograph session for the first 80 to buy the package and a Q&A session.

There will be more tracks announcing special celebration events and packages all season long to celebrate Petty’s 80th birthday.

TONY STEWART WITHDRAWS FROM 410 SPRINT CAR SERIES

This weekend was to start Stewart’s 80 race stretch in the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Series. He had entered but then withdrew from competition at the Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida.

It was announced that Stewart is part owner of this series and he values his requirements of owning and managing this series over driving in it.

CONGRATS TO THE KESELOWSKI’S

Brad Keselowski and Paige White tied the knot on February 10th

So that’s NASCAR news this week. Just 14 days till the Daytona 500. Woooooo Hoooooo!!!

And I’m outta here….=^!^=