Daytona 500 Qualifying

[drano]

Only thing I can figure is nascar grasping at straws to try to get people interested in it again, but not working. They need to go back to their roots but i am afraid it may be to late they lost all of their old loyal fans and the new ones arent far behind.

[buster83]

they knew going into it who had the fastest cars and that didn`t change much

[CIRF]

Good thing no one took me up on my offer to bet that Bowyer would get fined! LOL!! I'd be coughing up some cash in addition to eating some humble pie made of crow!!

I still believe there will be repercussions directed at Bowyer from NASCAR for what he said. They just won't be quite as overt as a direct fine. NASCAR is, and always has been, very vindictive towards anyone who would dare question their procedures, rules and officiating techniques and results.

[TS FAN]

I love dirt track racing and Nascar. Plenty of time to enjoy both. I liked the new qualifying format except for plate tracks. I am sure Nascar is well aware of how silly yesterday was. However ratings and fans will ultimately determine what happens in plate qualifying going forward. As was mentioned, where you start at a plate track doesn't matter, but when things happen (5 crashed cars) because of silly rules like yesterday? Check ratings

[TS FAN]

Bowyer might slide with a hand slap on this deal. HE happens to be 100% correct in his assessment. Nascar knows he is, but of course will never admit it. Fans also know. As I said ratings will determine plate qualifying in the future. So stay tuned.

[CIRF]

I pay attention to NASCAR so little these days that I'm at a disadvantage in regards to knowing the qualifying procedure. I watched Daytona 500 qualifying because we have been to winter Speedweeks about 26 or 27 times since 1984 and have immediate family living in Daytona since the 1980's. I merely clarified all that in case the question as to why I would waste my time watching arose.

I'm just wondering what the benefit or added attraction is with the F1 style qualifying. It seems to be a case of changing things for merely the sake of change. Given the dramatic decline in attendance and TV viewership why mess with the product any further since the changes NASCAR has made over the last 10 years have only served to diminish overall fan interest by more than 1/2.

Just curious.

If Sunday's attendance is any indication this stuff is more nonsense for the sake of nonsense. I remember back in the 1990's there were in excess of 40,000 spectators in the stands for 500 qualifying. I've venture a guess of 10,000 or less yesterday.

[drano]

CIRF do you ever go on Racersreunion site?

[CIRF]

No I haven't drano. I'll take a look, thanks.

[TS FAN]

Actually, the knock out qualifying has been well received and is entertaining. EXCEPT at plate tracks where it cannot work. Reason? You have to depend on other cars for speed. The two guys who won the first row, actually trailed a pack of about 10 cars in order to gain the speed. Not exactly a realistic way of seeing whose car is fastest. I actually predict, we have seen the end of this type of qualifying at plate tracks. The other changes in the chase format made for good entertainment and fans liked it. So everything is not all bad for the Sport. The one thing that remains a constant is the driver is only about 40-50 percent of the success. Johnson is a good driver, but his crew chief and supporting cast were the biggest reason for his chase success. They gave him potential winning cars at all the chase tracks. No other drivers were given winning cars every week in the chase. Nascar had to break the pattern. So they came up with last years rules. Rather entertaining, i must say.

[buster83]

Atta boy Clint Boyer and at least Nascar should take him out for super.as far as the chase if twelve cars worked there ass off to get there then they should remain till the end.

[CIRF]

Actually, the knock out qualifying has been well received and is entertaining. EXCEPT at plate tracks where it cannot work. Reason? You have to depend on other cars for speed. The two guys who won the first row, actually trailed a pack of about 10 cars in order to gain the speed. Not exactly a realistic way of seeing whose car is fastest. I actually predict, we have seen the end of this type of qualifying at plate tracks. The other changes in the chase format made for good entertainment and fans liked it. So everything is not all bad for the Sport. The one thing that remains a constant is the driver is only about 40-50 percent of the success. Johnson is a good driver, but his crew chief and supporting cast were the biggest reason for his chase success. They gave him potential winning cars at all the chase tracks. No other drivers were given winning cars every week in the chase. Nascar had to break the pattern. So they came up with last years rules. Rather entertaining, i must say.

It is obvious to everyone with the bare minimum cognitive skills that the F1 style qualifying is a cluster f**k at restricted venues but you don't answer the question of what is the added entertainment value of European style qualifying at other than restricted venues. There certainly was no dramatic increase (if any) in interest since the European style was implemented into the qualifying procedure. Are they reaping huge gains in spectatorship and TV ratings for qualifying at say, Kansas? If so, we sure haven't heard about it.

I hesitate to engage on the attempt to diminish the accomplishments of the best driver of this, or possibly any, era of Cup racing but I will throw discretion to the wind. What you say in this regard is speculation and opinion and no solid proof is offered to back up the statement. One would suspect skewed speculation and biased opinion is also in play.

The popular theory as to why NASCAR has lost over half of it's popularity over the past 10 or so years is a result of unneeded gimmickry injected into the rules and the process in which the championship is determined. Everything is not bad for the sport but what is indisputable is over 1/2 of the popularity of the sport has disappeared in recent years and the only major changes were the aforementioned gimmickry.

It would make you wonder just how good the collective gimmickry has been for the sport.

[mudslinger47]

Bowyer might slide with a hand slap on this deal. HE happens to be 100% correct in his assessment. Nascar knows he is, but of course will never admit it. Fans also know. As I said ratings will determine plate qualifying in the future. So stay tuned.

What happened to "boys have at it"? Boyer had at it, just the it was NASCAR....but in fairness, he was mad from the crash, I dare say if you talked to him today, he'd be a bit more subdued.... The accordion action is what screwed him.... Sorenson was just doing his job...

[TS FAN]

True, mud man. However I think he is still POed. Not at Sorenson who he admitted was just doing his job. His anger is directed rightly at the foolishness by Nascar. They will fix it, I do not know how, but they will fix it. Qualifying at plate tracks is beyond boring, meaning one car at a time. They will not go back to that. I do like the group qualifying at other tracks. I mean, I watch it.

[CIRF]

What happened to "boys have at it"? Boyer had at it, just the it was NASCAR....but in fairness, he was mad from the crash, I dare say if you talked to him today, he'd be a bit more subdued.... The accordion action is what screwed him.... Sorenson was just doing his job...

Mud, you're right about Sorenson doing his job and I'm sure you're aware that Bowyer said as much. Where the stupidity comes into play is that fact that qualifying has needlessly become a race, in and of itself. Your probably right about Bowyer being more subdued but I'd bet the guys scrambling to ready the back up car and having the fruit of hundreds of man hours destroyed because of NASCAR's attempt to be cool like F1 has them as pissed as Bowyer was Sunday afternoon.

I'm still at a loss as to the benefit of F1 style qualifying to either the competitors or the paying customer buying the tickets or the people watching on TV, even at the non restricted venue's.

I reckon it can be chalked up as just another of NASCAR's brilliant cutting edge innovations (actually copied from F1) to bring the hoards of fans that really, really like NASCAR but are reluctant to buy a ticket or watch on TV because they don't particularly enjoy the single car qualifying procedure. That appears to be the only logical explanation!

[jog49]

Sit back and enjoy! This was just another dumb move by NASCAR in what is growing to be a huge pile of dumb moves. NASCAR will eventually collapse on itself because of the utter stupidity of its management.