Kyle Larson On NASCAR Plate Racing

[mudslinger47]

I agree 100% ! We all know that the competitors agree with the yellows that are throw for a Kleenex tissue laying on the track or a yellow for a water bottle laying on the track for 60 laps etc. They always agree with the speeding penalties certain teams get even though the in car telemetry and radar guns prove different. Or how a yellow flag keeps flying on each restart at the end of a race until the dominate car all day runs out of fuel on the 506 mile in a 500 mile race. Or how a car can run 5 more laps than anyone else on fuel mileage and still have enough left to burn the rear tires off the car on the way to victory lane. Another favorite is on the restarts where 1 guy gets penalized for restarting in the same exact place on the track where another did on 3 prior restarts. Does anyone of the few that still watch and believe in that farce of racing remember what P.T. Barnum said over a century ago? LOL !

You prolly should have listened to ole Mikey explain the yellows deal... made perfect sense, I think it was on racehub a couple three years ago, I'm not going to bother to try and explain it to people that don't watch the races anyway...... ya'll just like to bit@h with out even watching.... rather liberal of you, wouldn't you say? The speeding penalty's have been handed out perfectly, I have seen all the top guys and most of the rest of the field get a speeding ticket at one time or another, heck, Jr. got two or three at one race and who is more popular in NASCAR? Restarts are subjective, I don't agree with them much either but its there game so they play it the way they want, it still has no decision on the winner of the race, its a restart... fuel milage is easy... I watched Matt K set behind the leaders and coast for almost the whole fuel run, never did stand on it and let those around him run out, easily won it with gas to spare.... you don't always have to be faster, sometimes you need to be smarter...

[CIRF]

You prolly should have listened to ole Mikey explain the yellows deal... made perfect sense, I think it was on racehub a couple three years ago, I'm not going to bother to try and explain it to people that don't watch the races anyway...... ya'll just like to bit@h with out even watching.... rather liberal of you, wouldn't you say? The speeding penalty's have been handed out perfectly, I have seen all the top guys and most of the rest of the field get a speeding ticket at one time or another, heck, Jr. got two or three at one race and who is more popular in NASCAR? Restarts are subjective, I don't agree with them much either but its there game so they play it the way they want, it still has no decision on the winner of the race, its a restart... fuel mileage is easy... I watched Matt K set behind the leaders and coast for almost the whole fuel run, never did stand on it and let those around him run out, easily won it with gas to spare.... you don't always have to be faster, sometimes you need to be smarter...

Mud, the pit road speeding situation is completely different these days than it was back in 1998. Definitely for the better, too. Nowadays there is a timing system in place that allows for a preset pit road speeding tolerance, but when that tolerance is exceeded then a red light flashes in race control. From what I've read there are representatives from the teams and from the racing media that are present to see exactly who makes the red light flash. It is no longer an arbitrary judgement call, it's the same for everybody, which is a good thing. Never said this stuff was rigged, but in the past it often was very arbitrary in favor of some, and not others.

Getting back to the original premise of the thread. There has been a lot of banter in the past by mostly veteran drives as to the downsides of r-plate racing but this is one of the first times that a guy as young and with as limited success in Cup as Larson has spoken so strongly.

[Raceready]

Mud, the pit road speeding situation is completely different these days than it was back in 1998. Definitely for the better, too. Nowadays there is a timing system in place that allows for a preset pit road speeding tolerance, but when that tolerance is exceeded then a red light flashes in race control. From what I've read there are representatives from the teams and from the racing media that are present to see exactly who makes the red light flash. It is no longer an arbitrary judgement call, it's the same for everybody, which is a good thing. Never said this stuff was rigged, but in the past it often was very arbitrary in favor of some, and not others. Getting back to the original premise of the thread. There has been a lot of banter in the past by mostly veteran drives as to the downsides of r-plate racing but this is one of the first times that a guy as young and with as limited success in Cup as Larson has spoken so strongly.

Another great post which is the norm from you! I am just feared that Naskar with take young Mr.Larsons comments to heart. We have seen over the years the scenarios where an overly honest participant might make some comments that France may not care for and the next thing you know that driver seems not to get any on track calls going their way. Rickey Rudd comes to mind. He never took any crap from anyone but they made sure he paid for it. Most noteworthy was the blown call at Riverside that cost him a race that he clearly had won fairly.

[CIRF]

Another great post which is the norm from you! I am just feared that Naskar with take young Mr.Larsons comments to heart. We have seen over the years the scenarios where an overly honest participant might make some comments that France may not care for and the next thing you know that driver seems not to get any on track calls going their way. Rickey Rudd comes to mind. He never took any crap from anyone but they made sure he paid for it. Most noteworthy was the blown call at Riverside that cost him a race that he clearly had won fairly.

Thank you for the kind words, Rr.

I was a huge Ricky Rudd fan for the reason's you stated and that he didn't kowtow every time the #3 car got near him. I remember what the late Buddy Baker once said of Rudd when Buddy had retired and moved up to the broadcast booth. Buddy said you want to be careful not to go over the line with Ricky Rudd 'cause that dog will bite. I laughed out loud when I heard that.

Not nitpickin' with ya' Rr, but I think the race you're referring to that Rudd got screwed by NASCAR was at Sears Point. Right state, wrong track. I knew where you meant.

[Raceready]

Thanks. I knew it was at a road race anyway ! Speaking of some of Naskars blunders; how dumb and insulting was it to the heart of the fan base that was the strongest in the south having to have the final points decided way out on the west coast ?

[kidrock]

Thank you for the kind words, Rr.

I was a huge Ricky Rudd fan for the reason's you stated and that he didn't kowtow every time the #3 car got near him. I remember what the late Buddy Baker once said of Rudd when Buddy had retired and moved up to the broadcast booth. Buddy said you want to be careful not to go over the line with Ricky Rudd 'cause that dog will bite. I laughed out loud when I heard that.

Not nitpickin' with ya' Rr, but I think the race you're referring to that Rudd got screwed by NASCAR was at Sears Point. Right state, wrong track. I knew where you meant.

CIRF, I was a big fan of Rudd's as well. My dad used to work for Ricky when he drove the Gatorade car. I remember a night down in Nashville Tn when Rudd led almost the entire race until he had a flat tire late in the race.

My have things changed from that day. My brother a friend of ours and myself was part of the pit crew that night. When they would come in for a pit stop and change tires we would take the old tire and rim down to the Goodyear truck and have new rubber put on the rim.

And I remember that day at Sears point like it was yesterday!!

[Raceready]

CIRF, I was a big fan of Rudd's as well. My dad used to work for Ricky when he drove the Gatorade car. I remember a night down in Nashville Tn when Rudd led almost the entire race until he had a flat tire late in the race. My have things changed from that day. My brother a friend of ours and myself was part of the pit crew that night. When they would come in for a pit stop and change tires we would take the old tire and rim down to the Goodyear truck and have new rubber put on the rim. And I remember that day at Sears point like it was yesterday!!

That I'm afraid is about the time that the racing started to take on a studio wrestling air. I f that debacle would have gone on in these times the internet would have been on fire with comments as to how Rudd got corned that day.

[CIRF]

CIRF, I was a big fan of Rudd's as well. My dad used to work for Ricky when he drove the Gatorade car. I remember a night down in Nashville Tn when Rudd led almost the entire race until he had a flat tire late in the race.

My have things changed from that day. My brother a friend of ours and myself was part of the pit crew that night. When they would come in for a pit stop and change tires we would take the old tire and rim down to the Goodyear truck and have new rubber put on the rim.

And I remember that day at Sears point like it was yesterday!!

That's a cool story Kid! And isn't today's pit crew's a departure from those days. Looking back, the Wood Brothers were way ahead of their time in regards how they went about dealing with race day regimen.

That I'm afraid is about the time that the racing started to take on a studio wrestling air. I f that debacle would have gone on in these times the internet would have been on fire with comments as to how Rudd got corned that day.

Rr, your time frame is accurate.

My biggest gripe with what happened at Sears Point with Rudd and Allison didn't become reality until many years later. Nine to be exact. It was August of 1999 at Bristol that an even more blatant dump job was perpetrated to steal a win. Nothing was done at Bristol and Billy France Jr. was contacted that night for the specific purpose of making the call as to whether the win would stand or be taken away as it had been taken from Rudd at Sears Point. Surprise!!! The win at Bristol stood.

It's incidents like this that give cause to question the objectivity of the folks ultimately making the calls. One guy has a win taken away from him and another is allowed to keep the win when the situations were extremely similar. Did it depend on who was involved? I'm thinkin' maybe that is an easy call given all the circumstantial evidence.

[TS FAN]

Rudd was one of my top five favorite drivers of all time. He backed down from no one. I also remembered when he had to school Mr. Gordon. Took him the length of the front stretch, got fined about 15-20k. Won the pole the next week. Said he had to, needed the money to pay the fine. LOL

[Clayton_Wetter]

Plates are for eating, not racing.

[CIRF]

Rudd was one of my top five favorite drivers of all time. He backed down from no one. I also remembered when he had to school Mr. Gordon. Took him the length of the front stretch, got fined about 15-20k. Won the pole the next week. Said he had to, needed the money to pay the fine. LOL

That was Gordo's first year in Cup and he had some lessons to learn, and by all accounts he learned them well. To my knowledge there was never any altercations between Rudd and Gordo after this incident.

However, you forgot to mention how Rudd took no crap from arnhead. Not ever. Even though arnhead had NASCAR deeply in his pocket. One of the premier world class examples of whining in the history of NASCAR took place at North Wilkesboro back in the fall of 1989. The whining tirade that takes place at the 4:32 minute mark of this video is the yard stick by which all other whining is measured! Arnhead was forced to publicly apologize the following week on TV prior to the race at Rockingham for his foul language that was used in regards to Ricky Rudd! LOL! I remember watching it and it was hilarious!

Remember, the whining starts at the 4:32 mark. In contrast the interview Rudd gave after the race was quite calm and matter-of-fact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSi3gQ3_sZo

[Raceready]

That was Gordo's first year in Cup and he had some lessons to learn, and by all accounts he learned them well. To my knowledge there was never any altercations between Rudd and Gordo after this incident. However, you forgot to mention how Rudd took no crap from arnhead. Not ever. Even though arnhead had NASCAR deeply in his pocket. One of the premier world class examples of whining in the history of NASCAR took place at North Wilkesboro back in the fall of 1989. The whining tirade that takes place at the 4:32 minute mark of this video is the yard stick by which all other whining is measured! Arnhead was forced to publicly apologize the following week on TV prior to the race at Rockingham for his foul language that was used in regards to Ricky Rudd! LOL! I remember watching it and it was hilarious! Remember, the whining starts at the 4:32 mark. In contrast the interview Rudd gave after the race was quite calm and matter-of-fact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSi3gQ3_sZo

Of course it was Danny Myers that was the one that bolted to the Rudd crew and started to run his mouth ! One can clearly see that Arnhead cut in on Rudd despite Ricky having a fender and a door on him. The cussing and whining wasn't a good example for promoting racing as a family sport.

[mudslinger47]

Thanks. I knew it was at a road race anyway ! Speaking of some of Naskars blunders; how dumb and insulting was it to the heart of the fan base that was the strongest in the south having to have the final points decided way out on the west coast ?

But with many of your top drivers from the West Coast... Jeff Gordon, Busch brothers, Jimmy Johnson, AJ Almandinger, Ernie Irvan, Kasey Kane, etc etc.... its not a territorialized sport anymore...

[CIRF]

But with many of your top drivers from the West Coast... Jeff Gordon, Busch brothers, Jimmy Johnson, AJ Almandinger, Ernie Irvan, Kasey Kane, etc etc.... its not a territorialized sport anymore...

Mud, I think Raceready was referring to back in the day when the final points race was at Riverside, California. That was the case up until 1987 when Atlanta became NASCAR's season ending points venue.

If memory serves me NASCAR ended their season out West at Riverside starting in 1974 and the last year the season ended out west was 1986. Back in those days I always thought it would have been appropriate to end the Cup season at Daytona. Tradition being what it is, and was at that time, dictated that the Independence Day race at Daytona would hold precedence.

[old fan]

I wonder what Kyle would say if he had some success at the restrictor plate tracks