NASCAR

[Takumi]

Kimi's back!
https://racer.com/2022/05/26/raikkonen-to-make-cup-series-debut-for-trackhouse-at-watkins-glen/

[JoePCool14]

Kimi's back!
https://racer.com/2022/05/26/raikkonen-to-make-cup-series-debut-for-trackhouse-at-watkins-glen/

Bwoah, the Iceman couldn't stay away!

I hope he actually tries in this series. Watching him in 2021 driving in Formula 1 was not great. I know Alfa had a bad car, but it just didn't seem like he was trying much.

[formulanone]

Bwoahmygawd

[Takumi]

Kimi's back!
https://racer.com/2022/05/26/raikkonen-to-make-cup-series-debut-for-trackhouse-at-watkins-glen/

Bwoah, the Iceman couldn't stay away!

I hope he actually tries in this series. Watching him in 2021 driving in Formula 1 was not great. I know Alfa had a bad car, but it just didn't seem like he was trying much.

I saw another article that stated that he was mentally checked out in 2021, ready to move on from F1. I remember Montoya saying similar things in 2006, and he still says to this day he doesn't regret leaving F1 when he did. (That doesn't stop people asking for his opinion on it, though. Maybe because his son is a Ferrari junior.)

[JoePCool14]

Kimi's back!
https://racer.com/2022/05/26/raikkonen-to-make-cup-series-debut-for-trackhouse-at-watkins-glen/

Bwoah, the Iceman couldn't stay away!

I hope he actually tries in this series. Watching him in 2021 driving in Formula 1 was not great. I know Alfa had a bad car, but it just didn't seem like he was trying much.

I saw another article that stated that he was mentally checked out in 2021, ready to move on from F1. I remember Montoya saying similar things in 2006, and he still says to this day he doesn't regret leaving F1 when he did. (That doesn't stop people asking for his opinion on it, though. Maybe because his son is a Ferrari junior.)

I kinda wish he would've left after 2020 then. There's only 20 seats in F1, so to waste one on a driver who doesn't care anymore is kinda lame. I know Kimi is a fan favorite though, and his Grill the Grid segments were funny.

[NWI_Irish96]

Kimi's back!
https://racer.com/2022/05/26/raikkonen-to-make-cup-series-debut-for-trackhouse-at-watkins-glen/

Bwoah, the Iceman couldn't stay away!

I hope he actually tries in this series. Watching him in 2021 driving in Formula 1 was not great. I know Alfa had a bad car, but it just didn't seem like he was trying much.

The problem with road course "ringers" is that they always have to use inferior equipment. The best cars all go to full time drivers. I know it's unlikely to happen, but I'd love to see just one top-level team dedicate a car to a rotating cast of drivers who are specialists at the type of track they are racing that week. Kaulig is kind of doing this with their second car, but they aren't a top tier team yet.

I also imagine Jeff Gordon is wishing NASCAR had expanded from 2 to 6 road course races while he was still driving. He might have hit 100 wins.

[NWI_Irish96]

Lots of stuff going on.

Chicago street course race announced for 2023. I'll be there for sure.

Kurt Busch withdrew from playoff consideration as he's still out with a concussion. His car is still in the owner's championship playoffs and Bubba Wallace is switching over to the 45 car to attempt to advance that car in the playoffs. Ryan Blaney made the playoffs on points but his car did not make the owner's playoffs.

Kurt's brother Kyle still doesn't have a contract for next year and while Toyota is publicly stating that they are doing everything possible to try to keep him, there are rumors that Kyle already has a deal to drive the Kaulig #16 next year, which is currently being split by Xfinity series drivers.

[hbelkins]

Lots of stuff going on.

Chicago street course race announced for 2023. I'll be there for sure.

Kurt Busch withdrew from playoff consideration as he's still out with a concussion. His car is still in the owner's championship playoffs and Bubba Wallace is switching over to the 45 car to attempt to advance that car in the playoffs. Ryan Blaney made the playoffs on points but his car did not make the owner's playoffs.

Kurt's brother Kyle still doesn't have a contract for next year and while Toyota is publicly stating that they are doing everything possible to try to keep him, there are rumors that Kyle already has a deal to drive the Kaulig #16 next year, which is currently being split by Xfinity series drivers.

From what I gather, the holdup with Kyle's contract is over a sponsor. I don't understand why he doesn't just sign his contract with JGR and then let the sponsorship come when it does.

[74/171FAN]

Lots of stuff going on.

Chicago street course race announced for 2023. I'll be there for sure.

Kurt Busch withdrew from playoff consideration as he's still out with a concussion. His car is still in the owner's championship playoffs and Bubba Wallace is switching over to the 45 car to attempt to advance that car in the playoffs. Ryan Blaney made the playoffs on points but his car did not make the owner's playoffs.

Kurt's brother Kyle still doesn't have a contract for next year and while Toyota is publicly stating that they are doing everything possible to try to keep him, there are rumors that Kyle already has a deal to drive the Kaulig #16 next year, which is currently being split by Xfinity series drivers.

From what I gather, the holdup with Kyle's contract is over a sponsor. I don't understand why he doesn't just sign his contract with JGR and then let the sponsorship come when it does.

Well Ty Gibbs is rumored to now be in the 18 next year.

[Billy F 1988]

Lots of stuff going on.

Chicago street course race announced for 2023. I'll be there for sure.

Kurt Busch withdrew from playoff consideration as he's still out with a concussion. His car is still in the owner's championship playoffs and Bubba Wallace is switching over to the 45 car to attempt to advance that car in the playoffs. Ryan Blaney made the playoffs on points but his car did not make the owner's playoffs.

Kurt's brother Kyle still doesn't have a contract for next year and while Toyota is publicly stating that they are doing everything possible to try to keep him, there are rumors that Kyle already has a deal to drive the Kaulig #16 next year, which is currently being split by Xfinity series drivers.

From what I gather, the holdup with Kyle's contract is over a sponsor. I don't understand why he doesn't just sign his contract with JGR and then let the sponsorship come when it does.

The problem in getting sponsorships in 2022 NASCAR is the huge expenditure of the contract itself with Kyle's sponsor. It's becoming far too expensive for the major endorsers and sponsors to fully fund a NASCAR team like Joe Gibbs Racing. Mars, Inc., who owns the M&M's trademarks, finds it very inefficient now to use NASCAR as a means to advertise their products. Because other newcomer sponsors use the internet and phone app API technology, the need to use motorsports in general is becoming less and less common than 20 years ago when you had about 15 to 20 associate sponsors on one car. That's the main sponsor itself, one or two associated sponsors or endorsements, plus the associated sponsors of the sport like 3M, Wix, Edlebrock, Sunoco, Moog, Clevite, Anheiser-Busch for the Bud Pole Award, Coors for the latter pole award program c. 2015 to 2019, etc. If this had been 2012 and Kyle was in this situation, JGR would have had more wiggle room to let Kyle run Interstate Batteries as his main sponsor instead of M&M's and all of the Wrigley brands. Maybe NOS would have sufficed at that point since NOS is the associate partner of JGR, at least for now it seems. Or, if they really needed to, they could have maybe swapped the sponsors from the 11 to the 18, meaning that if NOS was Denny Hamlin's main sponsor instead of FedEx, then FedEx would go to the 18. Kyle ran FedEx cars in the Xfinity series in the past so it wouldn't have been that large of a stretch. But the economy, as we all well aware of, has really been rocked since the beginning of the Biden administration, and with inflation still an ongoing issue, the corporations partnered with NASCAR have really got themselves in a pickle. While some will survive this rocky economy, others are already crumbling. M&M's is the latest of a series of sponsors that have flatlined and faltered over the last several years. GoDaddy. Budweiser. STP. DeWalt. NAPA. Pennzoil/Shell. Miller Lite. Coors Lite. Amp Energy. The list is nearly endless. It's come to the point where teams have to decide what sponsor they're willing to contract with and for how much they're willing to pony up. It's not that easy. And sponsors in 2022 NASCAR don't come that cheap, either. They're not gonna just let the front door stay open for very long because once they pick the driver to endorse their product, that's who will carry their branding.

[NWI_Irish96]

Kyle Busch officially moving to the #8 of RCR in 2023. RCR says they will field a 3rd car for Tyler Reddick, who is under contract for 2023 and then moving to 23XI in 2024, but there are rumors that RCR will work out a deal to have him drive Kaulig's #16 or Spire's #77 for a year. Also possible that Kurt Busch retires a year early after his concussion and Reddick moves to 23XI a year early.

JGR owner's grandson Ty Gibbs expected to move into the #18 in 2023, but not officially announced yet.

All three races in the Playoff round of 16 won by non-playoff drivers, though one was won by Bubba Wallace in the #45, who is not in the playoffs himself, but the #45 car is still eligible for the owner's championship by virtue of Kurt Busch's win in the car before his concussion.

The last two races were won by Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher, both getting their second win after their first was a rain-shortened one.

[Max Rockatansky]

Nineteen different race winners is certainly something unique I didn't see coming this year.

[Takumi]

Also North Wilkesboro is hosting the All-Star Race and a trucks race next season.

[NWI_Irish96]

Nineteen different race winners is certainly something unique I didn't see coming this year.

No, but in hindsight it shouldn't be shocking. Trackhouse and 23XI are newer teams that have big money behind them so while it might be surprising that all four of those drivers won, it's not a shock for any one of the four. RCR has finally moved their operation back in the right direction, and the explosion of road courses (which I love), always opens the door for someone else to win. The only real head-scratchers were Jones and Buescher in two of the last three races. Those teams really didn't seem like they were going to produce race winners this year.

[hbelkins]

Kyle Busch is going from one organization that is greasing the skids for the owner's grandson to ... another organization where the owner is greasing the skids for his grandson.

Also, to hear NASCAR Twitter tell it, the #18 has become Gibbs' R&D car for the rest of the season.

[Max Rockatansky]

Kyle Busch is going from one organization that is greasing the skids for the owner's grandson to ... another organization where the owner is greasing the skids for his grandson.

Also, to hear NASCAR Twitter tell it, the #18 has become Gibbs' R&D car for the rest of the season.

That being said, nepotism has always been a thing in all forms of motor sports.

[Billy F 1988]

Also North Wilkesboro is hosting the All-Star Race and a trucks race next season.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pull the reigns on this baby. How in the holy skid plate is that gonna work given that the facility itself has to be completely renovated for that to be a major possibility. It JUST opened back up in August with the CARS tour and the dirt race is yet to come in October. I think it's a little premature to boldly proclaim to the masses of a Cup and Truck series comeback. Cup has not raced at NWS since Jeff Gordon's last win in 1996. As for having the All-Star at NWS, how is the field going to be set? The track is shorter than Charlotte, you can't put a field of 35 to 40 cars at one time. Will they have the same format the current one had? Or will a new one emerge? I've yet to put full stock on believing this to be true. Come back in the spring of '23 when you have an actual source cited as to when this happens.

[Takumi]

Also North Wilkesboro is hosting the All-Star Race and a trucks race next season.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pull the reigns on this baby. How in the holy skid plate is that gonna work given that the facility itself has to be completely renovated for that to be a major possibility. It JUST opened back up in August with the CARS tour and the dirt race is yet to come in October. I think it's a little premature to boldly proclaim to the masses of a Cup and Truck series comeback. Cup has not raced at NWS since Jeff Gordon's last win in 1996. As for having the All-Star at NWS, how is the field going to be set? The track is shorter than Charlotte, you can't put a field of 35 to 40 cars at one time. Will they have the same format the current one had? Or will a new one emerge? I've yet to put full stock on believing this to be true. Come back in the spring of '23 when you have an actual source cited as to when this happens.

I'm not sure what better source I can cite then NASCAR ITSELF.
https://nascar.com/news-media/2022/09/08/cup-series-2023-north-wilkesboro-speedway-all-star-race/

[rickmastfan67]

and the dirt race is yet to come in October.

Already canceled.

[Billy F 1988]

and the dirt race is yet to come in October.

Already canceled.

Awww poop! Rain out? Not enough tickets sold? Or what the heck happened to cause that?

[formulanone]

and the dirt race is yet to come in October.

Already canceled.

Awww poop! Rain out? Not enough tickets sold? Or what the heck happened to cause that?

Probably to give the speedway a chance to built with actual restrooms and facilities.

[rickmastfan67]

and the dirt race is yet to come in October.

Already canceled.

Awww poop! Rain out? Not enough tickets sold? Or what the heck happened to cause that?

Because they aren't going to tear up the pavement now that they are getting the All-Star race.

[hbelkins]

Interesting penalties levied after the race for something that happened during the race that the officials either didn't catch, or chose to ignore, regarding Hamlin spinning under caution at Texas.

I was very surprised that none of the drivers complained about the crappy tires. NASCAR must have told them not to say anything derogatory about the garbage Goodyear brought to the track.

[74/171FAN]

Kevin Harvick even made a T-Shirt regarding the "crappy parts" so I guess NASCAR is letting the drivers speak out more.

[hbelkins]

You mean I'm the first to mention Ross Chastain's "balls to the wall" move at Martinsville to get by Denny Hamlin and into the championship?

I'm becoming a Chastain fan, and I'm not a fan of Hamlin's, so I loved that move.

I was good with Logano winning the championship, but I was rooting for Chastain. I'm just glad Elliott didn't win. I haven't been a fan of his since he dissed Harvick last year.

And I'm genuinely curious what happened to Coy Gibbs. My guess is a massive heart attack. I had a friend who unexpectedly died of a massive heart attack who was younger than Gibbs.