Nascar SCS KOBALT 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday March 9 on FOX at 3:00 PM ET

Nascar ^

[MtnClimber]

Just heard that Breckenridge ski area will stay open longer than planned. They have had 28 ft of snow so far this winter.

[mabarker1]

Jeff Gordon Pit Fan?

[ican'tbelieveit]

Lineup

Car#	Driver	Make	Sponsor	Best Speed	Best Time	Behind
22	Joey Logano	Ford	Shell Pennzoil	193.278	27.939	Leader
2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	Miller Lite	193.099	27.965	0.026
15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-Hour Energy	192.713	28.021	0.082
3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Cheerios	192.678	28.026	0.087
48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Kobalt Tools	192.596	28.038	0.099
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	Zest	192.596	28.038	0.099
1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Cessna/Bad Boy Buggies	192.397	28.067	0.128
43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Farmland	192.335	28.076	0.137
55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	192.26	28.087	0.148
31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	191.939	28.134	0.195
99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	191.591	28.185	0.246
78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	191.51	28.197	0.258
5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	191.659	28.175	0.236
88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew Kickstart	191.618	28.181	0.242
24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Axalta	191.618	28.181	0.242
4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Jimmy John's	191.598	28.184	0.245
42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Target	191.496	28.199	0.26
47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Kingsford Charcoal	191.489	28.2	0.261
66	Jeff Burton	Toyota	Let's Go Places Toyota Camry	191.435	28.208	0.269
18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	191.381	28.216	0.277
27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Quaker State / Menards	190.934	28.282	0.343
10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	Aspen Dental / GoDaddy	190.543	28.34	0.401
41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	190.503	28.346	0.407
14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Mobil 1 / Bass Pro Shops	189.514	28.494	0.555
16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Red Cross	190.396	28.362	0.423
34	David Ragan	Ford	Taco Bell	189.893	28.437	0.498
11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	189.767	28.456	0.517
26	Cole Whitt	Toyota	Speed Stick GEAR	189.647	28.474	0.535
20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	Dollar General	189.328	28.522	0.583
13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS	189.261	28.532	0.593
98	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	Ambient Edge HVAC	188.851	28.594	0.655
30	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	Aria Hotels/Black Clover	188.838	28.596	0.657
38	David Gilliland	Ford	Love's Travel Stops	188.686	28.619	0.68
21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	188.429	28.658	0.719
95	Michael McDowell	Ford	WRL General Contractors	188.271	28.682	0.743
23	Alex Bowman	Toyota	Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry	188.166	28.698	0.759
51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	BRANDT Professional Agriculture	187.415	28.813	0.874
7	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet	186.8	28.908	0.969
83	Ryan Truex	Toyota	Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry	186.265	28.991	1.052
36	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	TBA	186.027	29.028	1.089
33	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	LittleJoesAutos.com	185.471	29.115	1.176
32	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Ask More-Get More	185.344	29.135	1.196
9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	DeWalt	180.469	29.922	1.983

[ican'tbelieveit]

Was in Breckenridge around Christmas; was surprised how little snow there was. Been crazy since then though.

lot of rain today.

[happydogx2]

Got a chance to watch qualifying yesterday and I liked it. Liked the pace and stress in each segment. Don’t know how its going to work on a short track with zero room to run on the infield side of the yellow line for cool down. See ya next week with pictures.

[mabarker1]

Drivers say qualifying format creates dangers: NASCAR’s new knockout qualifying format has been universally hailed as more exciting and interesting than the old single-car system. But for the second week in a row, drivers also said it’s extremely dangerous. Since the only legal way for teams to cool their cars is to drive slowly around the track, there’s a dramatic speed difference between drivers making qualifying runs and those driving as if they’re in a construction zone.
“Riding around the bottom - we’ve got to do it, it’s the only way to keep the engine cool - but that has got to be the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in racing,” #55-Brian Vickers said after Friday’s session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “(#36-Reed Sorenson) went by me at 170 mph faster than I was going. Had he slipped or hit me, I’d be done. It would be so bad.”
Teams need to cool their engines between attempts at fast laps in order to keep their cars from overheating. Teams are not allowed to cool their cars on pit road in between runs because it would require opening the hood to attach a cooling box. NASCAR does not want teams to make adjustments on pit road during the knockout sessions and since policing every open hood would be difficult, it is not permitted. As a result, the disparity in speed created some dicey situations - several of which occurred again Friday.
#15-Clint Bowyer, who qualified third, said he nearly collided with #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. during one run and called for a change due to the “dangerous” difference in speed. “We’ve got to stop that,” he said. “...I about smoked him. That’s not the guy you want to hit at a 140 mph deficit. (A collision is) going to hurt me and it might hurt Dale Jr., and that would be bad for business.”
#1-Jamie McMurray, who was among the drivers to raise the safety issue at Phoenix, said he texted NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton a few days ago and was told, “Let’s give it a couple weeks and just see what plays out.” [NASCAR spokesman Kerry] Tharp echoed that sentiment in a statement to USA TODAY Sports on Friday. “We’re only two race weekends in with the new qualifying format,” he said. “It’s something new and it’s something that will take time to get used to. We will continue to look at it.”(USA Today)(3-8-2014)

[mabarker1]

See above post.

I’m seeing the same thing the Drivers are complaining about.

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!

This will end badly and Nutscar will be exposed as the Idiots they are.

Just like that bad intersection or stretch of road that all drivers know about but nothing is done about it until a “connected” (political/cop/judge) person has a Family member hurt or killed.

Then it gets fixed in a week.

This kinda Q works in F1 because of the tracks they run on.

[mabarker1]

Memorial planned for Dick Trickle:

Green Bay has Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau and Vince Lombardi; Madison has speedskater Eric Heiden. Rudolph [WI] has racing legend Dick Trickle, and now friends are working to build a memorial in Trickle's former stomping grounds. Trickle, 71, died May 16 in Iron Station, N.C. "Dick deserves it," said longtime friend and fellow racer Tom Reffner, 73, of Rudolph. "He did the best of anybody from our area by far, and I just think it's the right thing to do, and I think it's the right thing to do for Rudolph itself."

Family members are supportive of the efforts. Trickle is survived by Delores Iwanski of Waukesha, Chuck Trickle of Las Vegas, Sue Trickle of Minneapolis, and Duaine Trickle of Plover. Memorial plans include a statue of Trickle with ceramic tiles featuring photos of Trickle and his cars. Aluminum frames will have descriptions of the cars, owners, sponsors and the years Trickle drove the car. The project kickoff date is May 18 at the Rudolph Community Park on the west side of highways 13 and 34 in Rudolph. Reffner didn't have any cost estimates; the project still in in the planning stages, and no numbers are set in stone, he said.(Wisconsin Rapids Tribune)(3-8-2014)

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

It’s an easy answer. In F1 they put blowers into the air intakes as soon as the car returns to the pit/garage. Nascar needs to develop a blower that will attach to the grill and blow 45 mph air through the radiator. Not cooled air, just outside air. Cooling down on the track should be prohibited and cooling down with water hoses is too complicated and has a potential for cheating.

[Chode]

ahhh... back from the dead i see 8^)

[mabarker1]

Most of Me anyway.

[mabarker1]

They only have a 2 x 24” grille area on the front, that would get the radiator but not do much for engine itself.

They already have a quick connect cooling cart they can use but the connector is under the hood- Nutscar says no under hood action.

I see a simple fix- MOVE the connector to inside the driver compartment and reach in the window to plug it in.

[mabarker1]

Jaques Derbis

[mabarker1]

I guess I'm solo today;(

[mabarker1]

Whack-a mole wall

[mabarker1]

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

With the fan idea, the engine has to keep idling while the blower cools the coolant and it circulates. The engine obviously is running on the cool down laps, so its no different. I don’t think there is room for the cooling carts as they are parking three cars per pit stall. I think keeping the hood down is smart. External quick connects are a good idea but the aero aspect would need to be resolved. I thought the cool down machine were always in the garage, not on the pits. There may be issues with water on the pits that could be a problem.

[mabarker1]

Jaques Derbis strikes again

[mabarker1]

O.K.

They would keep the unit on the backside of pit wall like is done during the races.

The connections would be inside the cabin in My plan. The connectors are like an air hose but liquid/gas rated so they don’t leak so stray water would be minimal. Could be put on the right side of the cabin to keep clear of the driver and at some tracks they don’t run the right side Lexan and if they are it comes out easily.

[mabarker1]

Brad overruns His pit box