I think really the only two tracks that see those speeds are California and Michigan. I know they can hit up to like 205-206 mph going into turn 1 there.
Only way the new cars will flip now, I beleive, is when a car is latched onto their quarter pannel. Only problem is that this issue is not fixable. Airplains take off at around 90 mph and these smaller cars are going 200 mph with another car (basicaly) trying to wedge its self beneath it. The idea that cars can be kept on the gorund at that speed is basicaly mute.
If a flying car is slower, however, the fans are in less danger.
On another note, I'll miss the old Daytona and the way that it lacked bump draft lock. That draft lock stuff takes 90% of the field out of the hunt for the win on the last lap. I liked bump drafting in the pack though, so it's a trade off I'll have to live with I guess
Why? WHY? WHY!!!!???? I hope they avoid changing the points system because I like the way that the current one awards good finishes (top 10's). The proposed system would make somebody who crashes out in a big wreck and is able to do an extra lap as opposed to totaling their car and not moving afterwards an extra 3/43 points rather than 9/195. NASCAR needs to leave things as they were and allow the fan base that left in the boringness of '06 - '09 to return. They don't need to alienate them by changing everything.
It is awarding those with the best average finish. Most wins seem to not mean as much anymore, which one a big discussion the past two or three years.
This here seems to make everything simplified and make the points "look" close even if they are truly not. So when Johnson has "only" a 7 point lead instead of a 35 point lead more people will tune in to watch him lose.
Nascar fans know exactly how quickly a 35 point lead can disappear though. Its so dumb to make the points seem close, like you said, just so the non-Nascar fan sees the points battle as closer than it actually is.
That's the only reason I can conseive for them doing it. 35 point lead sounds closer than 7 even though they are the same in their respective systems. Only issue I have with the proposed system is that in the final race (say there was a 10 point lead now or about the equivilant in the proposed system which would be 2) then in this system the winner of the race could lose the championship if the guy finishes 2nd. Old system the win would go to the winner if they finished 1-2. Old system is more likely to get the "Game 7 feel" that they are looking for anyways IMO.
What I find silly is how are they going to do bonus points? The whole thing just seems wrong, but maybe its because I've grown up around the whole system my whole life. But then that raises the question "By gaining new viewers, are you losing old ones?".
I think the answer to that is yes without a doubt, especially the way they are gaining their new viewers. NASCAR seems to like alienating its loyal fanbase to gain new viewers, the problem is how long are these new people actually going to stick around?
They don't look at it like that, they look at it as a "continuous growth" of new viewers. So if they come and go its fine, as long as they keep coming. In a way it makes sense from a business standpoint. Honestly if you just have the same old same old, and try to keep the loyal ones around, you end up with LFS. If you keep trying to keep things "fresh" and attract new people more and more (risking losing your initial group) and try to produce new things, you end up with iRacing.
Odd comparison I know, but it kind of puts things in perspective for me.
The problem I see is when they lose their loyal fanbase, guess who will be at the tracks each race. No one.
I understand what they are doing, but I think they are going about it in the wrong way. If they change anything I'd think they'd make the cars look better like in the Nationwide Series or something like that. The current points system is the best one I know of.
The new bumpers on the Cup cars this year do look a lot better already, I don't think the ugliness of the cars is as much of a problem as it was when the CoT first came out.
Actually the system would make consistansy more important rather than awarding wins, top 5's and top 10's with extra points. If this was the system used Mark Martin would have 2 championships, and Dale would have only had 5. (quick fact)
I'm a Martin fan and I don't like the idea of the change still. I guess I'm not one who typicaly enjoys change either though.
Mark's got 1 last chance at this title, and probably it's his last good chance at the 500 this year. Lance McGrew might be able to help him with that since he worked on Jr's car for so long, but off of the Superspeedway I'm not sure what they'll be able to do together.
The Budwiser Shootout could have up to 32 entrys now, and it's only 24 days away!
IMO the Shootout ought solely to be pole winners only, not a full rehersal for the 500. Why is NASCAR allowing everyone into the shootout? Bring back poles only rule. Heh why not kick Bud out, get Coors in, call it the Coors Clash or Challenge?
I read a list of changes Brian France made since 03, its scary. 10 Cot redesigns in 5 years, arrogantly ignoring a poll that showed 75% (iirc) of fans want the chase gone. That brings meto another point. NASCAR wants a tight points battle every year. Not gonna happen. Brian France referrred to a "game 7" situation. More Game 7's have been blowouts yes?
France I do beleive is taking on too many things. I like the chase, but I think they should just leave the way things were last year alone for the time being unless they are going to make the cars look more stock (like stock cars that they are suppsoed to be).
Since Brian France became chairman of NASCAR in Sept. 2003:
-The field is frozen after a yellow (Sept. 14 2003)
-The Lucky Dog rule was added less than two weeks later and one week after the above rule (2003)
-The Chase was introduced (2004)
-The provisional rule, after including 6 provisionals + a champion's provisional since 1998, is reduced to 4 regular provisionals and 1 champion's provisional (2004)
-Wins were given an additional 5 points (2004)
-The All-Star was tweaked for the 7th time and the 2nd time in 2 years (2004)
-The Green-White-Checkered Rule was added (2004)
-The cars were redone, making them to have a more pointed nose, rather than the round ones since '98 (2005-2006) Here are some comparisons (Dodge 2003, Dodge 2005) (Chevrolet 2003, Chevrolet 2006)(Ford 2003, Ford 2006)
-Top 35 rule was added and the provisional rule was replaced (2005)
-The Chase was redone, and added 2 more slots (2007)
-The COT was introduced (2007)
-The Chase is changed for the 9th time, this format would only be used for one year (2007)
-Champion's Provisional limited to 6 (2007)
-The All-Star is changed for the 10th time, like in 2007, this format only lasted one year (2008)
-The Shootout is changed, now being solely based on the manufacturers (6 for each one) rather than skill, the driver isn't even important, it was the owners points that mattered (other than the 4 champion berths) (2009)
-The Truck series is forced to take tires or fuel on stops, not both (2009)
-The All-Star is changed AGAIN for the 11th time and 4th time in 6 years (2009)
-Literal Double-File restarts are used (2009)
-Wave-Arounds introduced (2009)
-Having an EOLL penalty denies the right to a wave around, rather than serving the EOLL after being waved around like before (2009)
-The Shootout is changed AGAIN, now emphasizing manufacturers over skill and eliminating the addition of poles (2010)
-The Green White Checkered rule can be used three times, instead of once (2010)
-The Shootout is changed ANOTHER TIME, now it's only for chase drivers, shootout and daytona winners, the rookie of the year, and champions (2010)
-The COT has the wing replaced with a spoiler (2010)
-The Nationwide gets it's own COT (2010)
-The Shootout is changed AGAIN, now it includes the past ten rookie-of-the-years (2011)
-Drivers can only accumulate points in one series, regardless of how well they did in the others (2011)
-Points system completely discarded and replaced(Hopefully a rumor?) (2011)
-The COT is changed AGAIN (2011)
-The COT is scheduled to change YET AGAIN (2013) (making it the 5th new car design within 10 years)
Benny, I agree. It'd be nice to paint some older schemes for once :P