# NASCAR 2019



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Big changes this year ... but I'll start with one that is off the track. NASCAR Race Hub on FS1.

Race Hub has moved to a new studio. A green screen. Some times I wish I didn't know. The floor and backgrounds do not exist in the room where the hosts and guests interact. The software is doing a good job of making the angles look natural ... but don't expect anyone to be wearing green.

*#1 on track change ... don't cheat.*
I hate the term cheating when applied to NASCAR. I prefer "rules violation". I also get annoyed when people talk about teams "breaking the law" when they violate rules. The rules are not laws. At worst the teams would be guilty of a contract violation - violating their contract with NASCAR where they agreed to follow the rules - not violating a law.

Pushing the limits is an important part of the sport. The focus is on pushing the limits of human skill and endurance along with engineering vehicles that can perform better than any other vehicle on the track and working strategies that outwit other teams. Unfortunately some see "pushing the limits" as "cheating" and use the derogatory word.

I would not say that a person driving 60 in a 55 MPH zone on a public highway was cheating. I would say that they were breaking a rule (in that case, a law). "Cheating" should be reserved for the worst cases of blatant violations - losing three lug nuts is not cheating.

That being said, if the teams are found to be in violation of the rules after the end of the race they don't win. Violators are disqualified. Last place points and money for any violators, including stage points. And this year's twist is everyone moves up to fill the disqualified positions. Including awarding race wins, stage wins and all the points.

The good news that ("except in rare instances") that disqualification will not happen on Wednesday. The stupidity of waiting until Wednesday to see if the winner gets to keep their win will end this year. NASCAR will tech three cars (1st, 2nd and a random car) immediately following the race and declare an official winner and finishing order within 90 minutes. (An exception would be if a problem is found in an engine. In that case the penalties would be handed out later.)

*#2 Pass inspection and qualify*
No more crew suspensions. Which were becoming pointless since the suspended person could still work on the car prior to its arrival at the track and could still advise and make decisions relating to how the car was running. Now there will be a start at the back with a pass through penalty at the end of lap 1. I would have started cars at the back and held them for a lap (one lap down) but the pass through is a step in the right direction.

*#3 New aero package*
Everyone seemed to love it at last year's All Star race. Hopefully it will improve the racing.

I am tired of NASCAR "tightening up" the field. The chase was created to put the top 10 closer together. Adjustments have expanded that to 16 drivers (nearly half of the field) and made it impossible for a driver to walk away with a championship as easily as they did in years past. I didn't mind when the best drivers and teams could dominate. Winning a race with 2nd place a lap down or winning a championship the week before the final race does not bother me. It shows that driver and team are just that good. Now that is gone ... it is all about being in position and winning one specific race. The most excellent season means nothing of one of the other four cars crosses the line in front of the best driver of the season in the final race.

I am glad that Joey won last year's championship ... but "the big three and me" turned in to the big three not winning. That sort of comeback would not have been so easy prior to the multi-round playoffs and certainly not possible before the chase. Is that good?


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

You left out the horsepower change. Tracks, Oval shaped, that are more than 1.2 miles long will have 550 hp instead of 750.
NASCAR '19 changes include lower horsepower

The spoilers are changing again also.


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## fmcomputer (Oct 14, 2006)

Why dont they just put peddles in the cars and be done with it ???


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

jimmie57 said:


> You left out the horsepower change. Tracks, Oval shaped, that are more than 1.2 miles long will have 550 hp instead of 750.
> NASCAR '19 changes include lower horsepower
> 
> The spoilers are changing again also.


That should make the racing closer.


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## codespy (Mar 30, 2006)

We don't watch much Nascar these days, especially with our hometown boy Kenseth retiring (again). He would do a stint on the morning sports talk show in Milwaukee once a week during the season for many years, and he was great to listen to. Now that is done yet again.

And that came several years after Dick Trickle retired (from Wisconsin too). Who could ever forget a name like that? 

I watched a little bit of the Clash race today, and don't like that FOX still kills the left side of the screen with the statistics. I wish they would have moved back to the top or at least the bottom of the screen. Our household still prefers the previous version of the Clash, when it was the Bud Shootout held the Saturday Night before qualifying. The first big race of the season- as night-racing. Those days are gone for now. Nielson will not get a lot of ratings from our house for Nascar this year, unfortunately for these and other reasons.

We will tune into the truck series here and there for another Wisconsin driver (Sauter), but it will be hit or miss at best, for only a couple of races.

It's just not what it used to be.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I was driving during the race so I listened to it on the radio. The rain won. 

I did record the race and watched the ending for myself to see Jimmy "pass" Menard. Jimmy was back above the yellow line and stayed ahead of the other surviving drivers. I don't believe Jimmy could have avoided crossing the double yellow. If it wasn't for the wreck the race would have been fairly boring ... a lot of follow the leader and red flags for damp track. The rain at the end was worth ending the race for - especially with most of the field wrecked.

The wreck would probably be a bigger issue if it was a points race. That starts next week. Nice trophy Jimmie ... now get one that counts! 
(And congrats to Chad for giving his new driver a car that could win the pole.)

(Unrelated - But today's trip in the car was to return something I bought at Lowes and buy something at Menards. Transactions completed long before the incident.)


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

codespy said:


> I ... don't like that FOX still kills the left side of the screen with the statistics.


I, for one, _like_ having the standings on the side of the screen. It allows me to keep better track of where my favorite drivers (and their rivals) are running, instead of having to wait for the crawl to scroll through a bunch of people I don't care about. If I look aside for just a second, I miss it, then have to wait several minutes for it to scroll around again. It's easier to see who's moving up and who's moving down, too. It's not like they are covering up any action.


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## codespy (Mar 30, 2006)

4HiMarks said:


> I, for one, _like_ having the standings on the side of the screen. It allows me to keep better track of where my favorite drivers (and their rivals) are running, instead of having to wait for the crawl to scroll through a bunch of people I don't care about. If I look aside for just a second, I miss it, then have to wait several minutes for it to scroll around again. It's easier to see who's moving up and who's moving down, too. It's not like they are covering up any action.


I see your point, and it is a valid one, but everybody dips their Oreo cookie a little differently. For me, it looks like/goes back to the Pillar Box days of TV watching on the old 4:3 ratio. The only difference with this and last year (on FOX) is the right side is wide open. I feel like I have to adjust my eyes constantly when watching on FOX compared to NBC/other broadcasts.......


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## boukengreen (Sep 22, 2009)

I’m just glad the 500 had mostly side by side racing and it wasn’t follow the leader like the Clash and Duels were.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

4HiMarks said:


> I, for one, _like_ having the standings on the side of the screen. It allows me to keep better track of where my favorite drivers (and their rivals) are running, instead of having to wait for the crawl to scroll through a bunch of people I don't care about. If I look aside for just a second, I miss it, then have to wait several minutes for it to scroll around again. It's easier to see who's moving up and who's moving down, too. It's not like they are covering up any action.


I like it also.
Before they ever did this I put my Task Bar on my monitor in the vertical direction on the left side.
My reasoning was that I have a lot more space horizontal than I do in the vertical direction and the percentage of screen lost was less.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

boukengreen said:


> I'm just glad the 500 had mostly side by side racing and it wasn't follow the leader like the Clash and Duels were.


Yes, there were lots of position changes during the race. Mikey Likes it.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Anybody having trouble with their Series for the racing ?
I believe the titles used to start with "NASCAR Racing". Now they don't. Almost none of the practice, qualifying and racing set itself to record. I had to do them all manually.
????????????

EDIT: I deleted all the ones I had and reselected one from each type of car / truck and double pressed each of them. They picked up all upcoming I think.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

My timers set in 2012 (local Fox), 2013 (FS1) and 2016 are finding "NASCAR Racing" for the cup series. I had to recreate the "NASCAR XFINITY Series" timers in 2017. (DISH Network)

In the past I have had problems with the Daytona 500 because it was in the EPG differently than other races. There is an internal "series number" separate from the title that the receivers use to recognize a saved series. If that series number is changed the programs may not be matched. (A "seek" timer that is truly name based and not a saved series relies on the program title.)


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

jimmie57 said:


> Anybody having trouble with their Series for the racing ?
> I believe the titles used to start with "NASCAR Racing". Now they don't. Almost none of the practice, qualifying and racing set itself to record. I had to do them all manually.


I have the opposite problem. I don't want practice, qualifying, or Xfinity races, but my Hopper records them anyway, and I have to go and manually tell it to skip them.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

4HiMarks said:


> I have the opposite problem. I don't want practice, qualifying, or Xfinity races, but my Hopper records them anyway, and I have to go and manually tell it to skip them.


I am now mostly fast forwarding thru the practices unless someone loses control and I stop it to see the spin / wall hit / etc.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I have been watching less NASCAR over the past couple of years ... I'm losing interest. I have not watched a truck race in two years (although I did record Eldora ... I believe it is still on the DVR). I have also skipped most of the Xfinity races. (I miss the good old days when anyone could race at any time - and even run for championships in multiple series. NASCAR listened to the haters and my favorite driver - Carl Edwards - drove less.) I watched most of the cup races last year - but not all of them.

Practices and qualifying? It has been a while since I watched them. There has to be nothing else on TV and nothing recorded that I want to watch to bother with qualifying. The "big wrecks" are going to get replayed most times - or I can catch them online (NASCAR.COM).


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

The change I hate the most is the later start times. I wish they'd go back to 1:00 ET, at least for races in the ET zone. Yeah, it's a national sport now, and many tracks have lights so it's not as critical to finish in daylight, but Left Coasters are able to deal with 1:00 ET starts for NFL games. Waiting until 3, and sometimes even 3:30, for the race to even start, messes up my whole afternoon and evening. I want it over and done with in time to make a nice Sunday dinner instead of scrambling to throw something together at 6:30 or 7:00.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

[source]
When I saw the chart I was surprised at how high Harvick is. The "total wins in NASCAR" race didn't seem to be a thing until the beginning of last week when Kyle hit 197. People remember the "cup wins" total.

For the past two weeks I've been hearing people say that Kyle's 200 is not the same as the King's 200 - which instantly asks the question: Which one is better? It is a shame that there has to be a "better". There has been some trash talk, diminishing some of Petty's wins because they were short races or small fields in an era where NASCAR ran a lot more races per year and counted even smaller races as "cup" races. Kyle's number is being diminished because most of his wins are in "minor league" series races. Petty won 92 races in five years where NASCAR had 248 races and there was no "minor league" until 1982 (no trucks until 1995).

Pearson would have won more if he had run more. I see three great drivers ... four if one counts Kevin Harvick who has his name on the "total wins" chart without much hoopla. They all have more wins than the people who are diminishing their records.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

They are all top notch for me. It is hard to compare the drivers when it covers so much elapsed time and some still driving. Jimmie Johnson is not done yet. If he can win again and get into the playoffs he still has a chance to be an 8 time champion.
I think there are a lot more talented drivers than there were back in Petty's time. So many more rules today that did not exist in Petty's day. The competition is stiff. Lots of young aggressive drivers in the fields. An example is like Cole Custer beat Kyle yesterday in the Xfinity race and 2 or 3 others were right on their tails.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

One of my annoyances with NASCAR is that they keep changing the rules to make it harder for any driver to consistently win the championship. <500 word rant omitted.>


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

NASCAR 2020 ... 
If you don't like this year's schedule (identical to last year's schedule) next year's is a big change.

Being from Indiana it is interesting to see Indianapolis punted around the schedule ... but July 4th weekend is not a bad landing spot. Daytona moves to the "end of the regular season" spot.

There are about a dozen headlines that could be written ... Atlanta and Homestead in March after the western sweep opens the door for Phoenix to be the final race of the year. And a Saturday/Sunday double header in Pocano! I hope they have good weather on that weekend. Then again two cup races on the same day would be fun. No Pocano road course ... which would be possible if the dates were kept separate.

It should be a decent schedule. BTW: The two off weekends in a row at the end of July coincide with NBC's Olympic coverage. NASCAR decided to leave a gap in the schedule instead of accepting a slot on one of NBC's lesser networks.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

James - do you have a link for the 2020 schedule ?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

scooper said:


> James - do you have a link for the 2020 schedule ?


2020 NASCAR schedule unveiled, with plenty of changes | NASCAR.com

Also:
Major changes ahead for 2020 NASCAR Cup schedule | NASCAR.com
2020 NASCAR schedule: Doubleheader set for summer | NASCAR.com


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Some day drivers will learn how to qualify without stinking up the show. I thought that day was last Monday. Apparently not.

I thought it was clear: "The middle lane must remain clear. If I driver pulls into that lane, he must head onto the race track." Yet middle lane drivers tried to merge into side lanes after passing cars and when cars did go side lane drivers cut them off. Mayhem rules. NASCAR has a few weeks before the next expected problem (Dover or Kansas) but the chaos is bad.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> Some day drivers will learn how to qualify without stinking up the show. I thought that day was last Monday. Apparently not.
> 
> I thought it was clear: "The middle lane must remain clear. If I driver pulls into that lane, he must head onto the race track." Yet middle lane drivers tried to merge into side lanes after passing cars and when cars did go side lane drivers cut them off. Mayhem rules. NASCAR has a few weeks before the next expected problem (Dover or Kansas) but the chaos is bad.


They will change it soon again. Nobody likes what is going on.
I think the last 12 will be made to run independent laps and not as a group for the pole and top 12 positions.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Third round single car (slowest to fastest of the 2nd round qualifiers) sounds fair. Then no one gets the draft and no one gets the advantage.
Unfortunately the problem was seen in all three rounds - so something will need to be done to "simplify" the rules.
I would say: To allow more time for the single car third round the second round will be shortened to five minutes.
I would say: No passing on pit road. If cars are waiting drivers can pull in at the end of either line. If the other line is shorter they can change lines. But drivers cannot put in front of a car in either line. Once the driver passes the end of both lines they are committed to go on the track.
I would say: Cars must leave pit road at pit road speed. If pit road speed is 45 MPH they must drive 45 MPH (and less than 50.0 MPH) while leaving pit road. If driving slower that the "pit road speed" causes a car behind to not be able to achieve pit road speed it will be considered blocking and that driver's first lap will be disqualified.

The "no passing" rule may cause a problem if there is a disabled vehicle in line. Part of me wants to say "tough" ... get out on the track and qualify. If the above doesn't work then the next step would be allowing only one line for "staging" ... or none (pull away from your crew and go!). I don't want to see the staging lines completely disappear as the drivers nearly wrecked pulling away from their crew locations to reach the staging locations. Wrecking where crews are over the wall would not be a good thing. But the drivers need to GO!

I just hope that whatever they come up with is easily understood and followed. Considering all of the time fans watched drivers NOT qualify (sitting for 9 minutes isn't qualifying) the only penalties during qualifying were for speeding on pit road. Apparently NASCAR decided to let drivers stink up the show without penalty.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> Third round single car (slowest to fastest of the 2nd round qualifiers) sounds fair. Then no one gets the draft and no one gets the advantage.
> Unfortunately the problem was seen in all three rounds - so something will need to be done to "simplify" the rules.
> I would say: To allow more time for the single car third round the second round will be shortened to five minutes.
> I would say: No passing on pit road. If cars are waiting drivers can pull in at the end of either line. If the other line is shorter they can change lines. But drivers cannot put in front of a car in either line. Once the driver passes the end of both lines they are committed to go on the track.
> ...


Jeff Gordon suggested that when a car pulls out of their parking space that they must not stop and continue onto the track and make a lap. That would eliminate the log jam at the end of pit row.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

jimmie57 said:


> Jeff Gordon suggested that when a car pulls out of their parking space that they must not stop and continue onto the track and make a lap. That would eliminate the log jam at the end of pit row.


I'd rather have the log jam at the end of pit road than in the middle where crew members are standing by cars. But it would be "simple" ... go means go, no stopping, no backing up, take a lap.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The rest of the story on 2020 schedules (truck and Xfinity): 2020 schedules for Xfinity Series, Gander Trucks unveiled | NASCAR.com
Four races on Pocano weekend! Trucks and Cup Saturday, Xfinity and Cup Sunday. I hope the weather is good.

And DW calls it quits at the end of the season: Darrell Waltrip to retire from FOX following 19-year run | NASCAR.com
It was good to see Darrell call his Boogity from the flag stand while waving the green flag for the race. And then seconds later "caution!" with the eventual winner being wrecked on the first lap. That's Bristol baby!

Bristol qualifying wasn't too bad ... most of the cars rolled off with five minutes to go each session, so there was only 10 out of 25 minutes with a single car (more or less) on the track.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

From the "use it or lose it" department ... three FIVE minute rounds of qualifying today. This is not a permanent change (affecting all qualifying henceforth), but I expect NASCAR to do the same at future tracks where the drivers are unlikely to go out at the beginning of the round.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> From the "use it or lose it" department ... three FIVE minute rounds of qualifying today. This is not a permanent change (affecting all qualifying henceforth), but I expect NASCAR to do the same at future tracks where the drivers are unlikely to go out at the beginning of the round.


They could just eliminate the qualifying all together and use their times they got in the practices.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Interesting fact (or at least interesting to me). A car numbered 19 has only won a Cup race nine times:
Five times were wins by Carl Edwards ("my driver" before he walked away - I still like him and hope he makes the Hall of Fame in the next couple of years).
Twice were wins by Jeremy Mayfield in 2004 and 2005. And the first win was in 1960.
Mayfield and Edwards both had one win at Richmond in the 19. So out of around 1475 starts and nine wins, three have come at Richmond.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> Interesting fact (or at least interesting to me). A car numbered 19 has only won a Cup race nine times:
> Five times were wins by Carl Edwards ("my driver" before he walked away - I still like him and hope he makes the Hall of Fame in the next couple of years).
> Twice were wins by Jeremy Mayfield in 2004 and 2005. And the first win was in 1960.
> Mayfield and Edwards both had one win at Richmond in the 19. So out of around 1475 starts and nine wins, three have come at Richmond.


Those facts might change now with Truex driving the 19 Toyota.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I expect he will make the 19 look good. Carl got his five 19 wins in two years. Truex is capable of doing that (4 wins in 2016 and 2018, 8 wins and the championship in 2017).


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1122621081033019392 (And the car passed inspection.)


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1122621081033019392 (And the car passed inspection.)


Heck of a race today. More lead changes by the halfway mark than all of the race last year.
Lots of really fast moves from lane to lane.
Glad to see Elliot win and the other Hendricks cars right behind. Of course JJ had a bit of bad luck running over that debris and blowing out his tire.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

So ... on Saturday I tuned in to watch "the fastest two minutes in sports" (no, I didn't watch the hours of preliminaries - I changed to the channel about two minutes before the race). Then I watched the longest 15 minutes in sports as the stewards decided that the first horse across the line didn't win. And listened to the booing as the second place horse was awarded the trophy and honors. It was a good call - a hard call to make for any "umpire" - but I can understand the DQ.

But I couldn't help thinking of NASCAR. I hope they never disqualify a winner.

Racing on Monday at Dover. Rain Rain did not go away.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> So ... on Saturday I tuned in to watch "the fastest two minutes in sports" (no, I didn't watch the hours of preliminaries - I changed to the channel about two minutes before the race). Then I watched the longest 15 minutes in sports as the stewards decided that the first horse across the line didn't win. And listened to the booing as the second place horse was awarded the trophy and honors. It was a good call - a hard call to make for any "umpire" - but I can understand the DQ.
> 
> But I couldn't help thinking of NASCAR. I hope they never disqualify a winner.
> 
> Racing on Monday at Dover. Rain Rain did not go away.


The scrolling line at the bottom of the screen yesterday said 9am ET. I looked this morning and it was not there so I set a Manual record to start then. Then I came back to the bedroom and fired up my computer. Checked Fox Sports and the Schedule and it shows12pm. Went back to the TV and looked. Yep, there it is.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

NASCAR should require Harvick to have a child seat for his burnouts.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

James Long said:


> NASCAR should require Harvick to have a child seat for his burnouts.


Yep, I thought of that too, but, he did not do the spinning around stuff that they usually do.

The racing is very good with this latest varying package system.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Yesterday: "When is that washed up Kyle Busch going to win another race? A 21 race slump?"
Today: The answer. 

The last Monster Energy NASCAR Cup.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Jimmie Johnson, seven-time champion, to retire after 2020 | NASCAR.com


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1197208802208169984


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