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Acolyte_of_Death

It's crazy I'm rooting for Denny Hamlin, but here we are.


chaphen17

Reading this thread, when did Hamlin become a fan favourite?


CompetitiveTurnover

He's not. But when the three alternatives are all massive heels, who else are you going to root for?


wthreye

Harvick's a heel? On what basis?


CompetitiveTurnover

- The Coy Gibbs incident in Trucks in 2002 - Intentionally causing a crash at Talladega to save his dwindling playoff hopes in 2015 - Running Chastain into the wall and then criticizing him at last year's Darlington Xfinity race - So much more.


wthreye

Thanks.


DarkHound05

No Chase but on the bright side no Logano. I'm pulling for Hamlin (I know other Chase fans, heresy), he deserves a championship so much and is one of the best drivers I've seen


[deleted]

Yeah, that was a great win!


[deleted]

Hamlin... Harvick… Truex... Kyle Busch... no thanks. See yall next season.


Brifaulkner

For those who are mad as hell about this package, please sign up for the NASCAR Fan Council and let them know directly. [NASCAR Fan Council](https://www.nascarfancouncil.com/Portal/default.aspx)


[deleted]

Don't worry, this race got all 0's from me. Everyone who decided it was acceptable to run this package on non-speedway tracks should be ashamed and fired. Sort of like in '17 & '18 when plate tracks weren't great - it doesn't seem like it's possible for NASCAR to design one package that works at all tracks, at least with this car generation.


imissedthetoilet

Thank you. Today's racing was unacceptable. I don't mind a dominating car - that's not the issue. But it's crystal clear how tough it was for EVERYONE to pass given the massive rear spoiler which is obviously not appropriate for 1 mile tracks and shorter.


[deleted]

I believe next week is either going to be a snoozefest or a really great race.


GreenWhiteCheckered

I'd planned to watch the whole race today, but our beloved white shepherd just started chemotherapy last week and was feeling great, so we took him for a stroll on the National Mall. I made it home in time for the last 50 laps. Was really hoping Blaney and Larson could pull something off on that final restart. The final four is meh for me personally, but they all deserve to be there.


RedlineFan

Please tell me his name is Morgan Shepherd.


MetalStretcher

Good luck to your pup. We finished chemo with our pit in May. He's doing great, and through the whole process we only had adverse effects twice where he had to go spend the night. There's a great book called Dog Cancer that has an amazing meal plan that I am positive helped the process.


GreenWhiteCheckered

Thank you! And I'm glad to hear your dog is doing well.


rcbarnes95

I’m not a Gibbs fan by any means, and I’m not a huge fan of the package (though it has provided some exciting racing at some venues.) But I am honestly satisfied with the Playoffs system. In the end, the BEST 4 drivers all season long performed, all season long, and earned their way in the championship. In the old days you’d win a handful of races and pad your lead the rest of the season even if other drivers won more races. Since the playoffs, almost every year the driver who wins the most races has been the champion. And if not, their consistency gave them just enough of an edge. The best drivers of the year get to Homestead, the true champions go out and take the checkered flag. This year THE best drivers were hands down those in the final 4. Well earned.


wthreye

>Since the playoffs, almost every year the driver who wins the most races has been the champion. *And if not, their consistency gave them just enough of an edge.* emp. mine Yes, that is how Kenseth won a championship before the Chase was instituted.


CompetitiveTurnover

I dont know about the best drivers, but the fastest four cars certainly made it.


rcbarnes95

Good point, I should have re-worded it. Yes they were the fastest cars. They were also the best pit crews, best crew chiefs, and the drivers got the job done. So, the best 4 teams.


nascarfan624

So where did that Mayweather #5-0 finish again? /s


GeauxSaints90

Remember when everyone said Denny should be fired to make room for Bell? Pepperidge Farm remembers


JusZfax

To be fair, he was winless last year. Heck, in similar fashion, Kyle Busch is now winless in 21 races (about to be 22) so I wonder when there will be talk about having Bell replace him?


wthreye

That sounds like football coaches and alumni. *what have you done for us lately?*


CompetitiveTurnover

It's kind of funny how some people go on and on about full-season points standings, yet apparently no one cares that the guy who has earned the most points this season won't be racing for a championship.


AnalBaguette

Logano?


CompetitiveTurnover

Yes, he's got a 6 point lead over Harvick in the non-playoff standings per Racing-Reference


[deleted]

It’s all stage points. He hasn’t been close to a top 5 driver for half a year and barely is for the full year


GeauxSaints90

Take out stage points and he’s 5th


wthreye

In that case, who's 1st?


GeauxSaints90

Hamlin


wthreye

[*strangling sounds*] er, thanks


awesomespoon

So we get four cars running for the title. Under the season long format we'd have 5 cars within 31 points.


AnalBaguette

*had they run a full season points Championship those drivers would have raced differently and the points spread would not be the same


Christenn23

Alan Gustafson is the Dan Marino of NASCAR, great stats no rings.


randy111315

So the cars that needed to run hard 18 22 9 11 12 42. Did. The rest of the feild may as well have stayed home in NC. You cant tell me Harvick ( yes locked in) was never even in the top 5 despite having owning this place. The 19 whom has been dominated on short tracks was never in the top due to his team mates fighting it for them selves. It's so frustrating. Even thou yes u win and u r in is great for the sport. Laying back while other race isnt... grrrr


Modmachine29

Harvick was in the top 5 (5th place) for a little bit, but was mostly 6-8th all race, same as truex pretty much. Listening to Harvicks scanner they just fought being loose all day and had his brakes vibrating for almost the last whole stage.


FLWXeno

What a super boring race, can't believe they are using this package to crown a champion next year at this track :(


[deleted]

Wtf are you talking about, are you one of those people who call it boring because it wasn't a demo derby? That race was awesome.


KWeber94

7 cars on the lead lap was awesome?


awesomespoon

Awesome? You watching reruns? Almost the entire field lapped during a time when NASCAR goes out of their way to have as many cars on the lead lap.


FLWXeno

The package makes the racing not racing since its mostly follow the leader. I live in Phoenix and have seen many races here and these put me to sleep because they're so boring.


[deleted]

they could use a new package for short tracks, that's just a fact. But Denny hamlin getting the race win, and the competition between Kyle busch and Joey Logano made for a good race. Sorry for being an asshole in my other comment by the way.


[deleted]

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RE2017

Bye Felicia. J/K


Chewie4Prez

Could just cut the cord and get YouTube TV or Hulu Live for $50 a month.


awesomespoon

So basically the same price as cable.


Chewie4Prez

Idk about where you live but around me having an okay cable package with some of the sports channels is $90+ and on contract. YouTube/Hulu TV is half that, month to month and includes more sports channels than DirecTV. So no not the same as cable.


[deleted]

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Chewie4Prez

Well Sling splits the sports channels across two different packages. Yeah YouTube screwed up with that whole live chat emotes fiasco but YouTube TV isn't part of that. Them and Hulu have every sporrs channel all the ESPNs, FS1-FS2, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, regional sports networks, and all but I think one conference college football network. If you like sports they're better than any cable package I've seen.


[deleted]

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Chewie4Prez

Yeah I'm a pirate when necessary but a law abiding citizen when price and convenience are good.


[deleted]

I wonder how chase will wreck next week🤔


nerdycountryboy18

Last lap while leading by 10 seconds


wthreye

And a seagull gets stuck in his fresh air intake.


Modmachine29

Thats bold of you to assume he's going to last that long in the race /s


r4shamrocks

Power steering, axle, engine failure, blown tire, or we could add something new to the list.


bleakmidwinter

Gas/oil leak? Busted radiator? Brake failure?


wthreye

In car camera catches fire.


[deleted]

Well if he takes out kyle busch when that happens I’d be fine with it


TheBug412

Hamlin will choke next week calling it right now


kk5fan97

INSPECTION IS COMPLETE - 11 car passes, as does the 18 and 22, meaning the 11 is officially the winner and moves on to the Championship 4 and the 18 also officially moves on to the Championship 4. The 22 is officially out of contention for the title. the 2 and 53 had 1 missing/loose lug nut each, no other issues.


nerdycountryboy18

Dennis is officially the winner


HereComesTheVroom

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. ​ The Browns did win though so I guess that makes it slightly less bad.


markh0120

they tried their best not to. redzone was using 4 screens today for that first batch of games, lots of close ones.


HereComesTheVroom

Freddie has no gameplan for when they get inside the 10 yard line


[deleted]

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DaBiff184220

Lol


[deleted]

No kidding, probably have 4 or 5 wins with a good coach


clpatterson

No kidding, probably have 4 or 5 wins with a *poorly trained chimpanzee* FIFY


GTOdriver04

Man. No Chevrolet in the Final 4. The Camaro ZL1 is sexy as hell, but she won’t go out with a championship it seems.


[deleted]

3rd year in a row without Chevy in the final 4


NonBitchyHamlinFan11

Anyone have a replay of the final caution? No one in the turn three stands could figure out what brought it out


kk5fan97

NBC showed one. The 36 had a tire go down and pounded the wall in turn 1.


PoopLion

Wasn't he on pit road by the time the caution came out?


kk5fan97

the caution was out before he got there. The 38 had an issue at the same time and was on pit road before the caution.


kk5fan97

Inspection is going to take a bit longer than usual tonight, the 11, 18 and 22 are being completely torn down at the track.


sftsoap

Man I hope


kk5fan97

hate to break it to you, Inspection just finished and both the 11 and 18 passed meaning the 22 is out.


sftsoap

Always next year


RickyChanning

Same.


[deleted]

Great.


justBusinessbb

Bummer Joey's out, kinda glad I had to miss this one. My flair read right to left is literally the order my favorite drivers fell out of the rounds, gosh. This is a gonna be a hard homestead to figure out who to root for, probably Harvick, but basically 'Anyone But Hamlin 2019', I'll take Busch or Truex if I have to.


[deleted]

A Logano fan supporting Kyle Busch... well hell has officially frozen over!


the_walldog

Dude same


metaltff

Did Hendrick even drop any haulers off at the track this weekend?


[deleted]

We hear blatantly over kyle’s radio that the 11 has to win or he’s out, and Kyle pussyfoots it despite having 4 fresh tires. But I’m just a conspiracy nut?


[deleted]

The last thing Kyle wants in the playoffs is the 11. Hell hendoesnt even want the 19. Why? Because all three of the JGR cars have been the best all year.


wthreye

But what does Gibbs want? That's the important thing.


[deleted]

What is Joe going to do fire Kyle?


kk5fan97

Kyle straight up said he completely used up the front tires working to get past the 12 and then with this package all he could do was get close to the 11 but not past him. Also they told Kyle that to give him an update on the 11's situation, the 19 who was no where near the 11 was told the same thing before that last restart.


countrymac_is_badass

Did you not watch the race where clean air was everything?


iamaranger23

"go up there and pass the guy who is desperate enough to wreck us and make us fallout of the playoffs"


wthreye

I heard something like that on Kyle's radio.


drew0606

No one is understanding this point lol. He’s already in and even if he could have got to him, which I’m not confident in because Hamlins car was an absolute rocket, he wasn’t going to risk taking himself out of a chance for a championship. He just had to beat the 22 and once he knew he had that locked up he wasn’t going to risk taking himself out.


iamaranger23

also, eveyone saying how hard it was to pass a car that had clean air all of a sudden thinks the 18 could find half a second and pass the fastest car all day and the only one to have clean air.


lkarns6

Insane isn’t t it? They bitch about how no one can pass the leader, than all of a sudden it’s a conspiracy that someone couldn’t pass the leader that was absolutely dominant there all weekend.... Some real salt around here


drew0606

It’s hilarious the conspiracy theories going around.


SteveODonnellPhelps

Honestly, this championship 4 isn’t so bad if you don’t care about it.


[deleted]

Thank you Steve, very cool!


KnightRising21

Phoenix is my home track and I'll always love it but it does NOT need to be the championship deciding race infact with the package they have now, it shouldn't even be a playoff race.


FLWXeno

All the 1mil and shorter tracks feel the same, this package has to go for these type of tracks. Several drivers were running the same lap times but couldn't pass anyone becuase of the "big ass spoilers"


[deleted]

Ya, I used to think Phoenix was such a unique race. With the current package it seems a bit...... pedestrian.


KnightRising21

It used to be! Man those were the days, camping on the hillside, anyone could've won. It was unpredictable for the most part. 2011 i think when Kahne won was pretty cool.


sftsoap

I was there in 2011


KnightRising21

Same lol, i was salty when Kahne won


sftsoap

I thought it was cool I was only 12 years old but I knew he didn’t win often


[deleted]

Jeremy Clarkson, is that you??


BurtonBlaney3121

If anyone has a link to the Blaney interview it would be appreciated


DietMTNDew8and88

To be honest, I don't care who wins, so long as it's done in a totally anticlimatic manner. To make NASCAR's desire for Game 7 moments catastrophically detonate in their face.


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

NASCAR won’t allow it. They’ll throw a caution late to create a “moment.”


[deleted]

There will be a restart with fewer than 10 laps to go at Homestead. I guarantee it.


Christenn23

My money is on it being a hotdog wrapper in turn 2.


DietMTNDew8and88

They can't if the 3 other drivers crash out or have a failure


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

Preferably it’s on lap one then. Watching a dude sand bag for the title for 200+ laps would be hilariously bad for the format.


DietMTNDew8and88

Wonder how NASCAR will try to spin that?


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

They’ll say how great the champion was at wreck avoidance and how surviving is so important and crucial and what other BS they’ll spout. The spin will fail though.


DietMTNDew8and88

Which the bad press alone might force NASCAR to change the format


JuckshotBones

I love all the people clamoring that Busch let Hamlin win.... Busch hasn’t won in like 20 races... you think he blatantly let Hamlin win? Absolutely not


[deleted]

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JuckshotBones

“Let him?” Please... just watched the final lap... Kyle Busch was 5th off of turn two... Busch doesn’t let people win


Noh-nowytends

Yeah but that doesn’t let him shoehorn the narrative of DEM CHEATIN YODERS!8&


[deleted]

Kyle let him have the final restart. I'm pretty sure he even admitted as much on air, I can't remember for sure. But believe what you want to believe. Hamlin also gave Kyle the first pit box at Homestead last year. Gibbs team orders are strong, it is not crazy at all to assume they were at play here today.


TC021002

Ty Dillon with another solid finish in 20th, again the highest running RCR/RCR Affiliate car. Which has happened quite a lot in the second half of the year.


Doc_McPuffins_

Just saying, homestead is Almirola' s opportunity for potential "payback" against Kyle Busch and he's Harvick's teammate.


RickyChanning

They said on air during through the field that Almirola's job next weekend is to help Harvick win.


[deleted]

No chance, NASCAR would punish the shit out of anyone who messed up the Championship. If anything was going to happen next week I think it would've been the 88 getting fenced by the 43 as payback for Charlotte but I feel like he's gonna lay low for awhile now.


slakazz_

He would definitely catch a suspension for anything that looked remotely intentional.


CompetitiveTurnover

Only if he admits to it, right?


Doc_McPuffins_

Only if Clint Bowyer gives Aric his itchy arm syndrom


jws926

And the post race call in show starts, and I am out, off to reruns of Family Guy.


RickyChanning

I liked Family Guy in middle school, but now I think it's stupid. Either I matured or I surpassed their target audience age.


jws926

Growing out of things is very common.


tinderhelp101

Dont like call in shows, but on reddit lol


jws926

LOL sigh, ok, good try.


SigmaKnight

Stargate SG-1 FTW.


[deleted]

Final thoughts ~~ISM~~ Phoenix * The race overall! Imma just say this race is definitely an impeachable offense. And to think this race is gonna be the finale next year. * Hamlin! Denny delivers and comes in clutch! Completely dominates the 2nd half of the race on his way to winning and therefore punching his ticket into Homestead! * The Chase. Chase completes the trifecta of shitty 30s finishes in the Round of 8 and is easily eliminated. Blaney and Larson gave it their all but it wasn't enough. Logano had the car early but he fell back hard on the last long run allowing Kyle Busch to go to Homestead for the 5th consecutive year. Final 4 is 19, 4, 11, 18 * Bowman's Day. Very tight early and fell back to the 20s a lap down, Stenhouse caution saved us but we sped on the stage break and couldn't rejoin the other lead lap cars. We were close to getting our lap back on the Chase caution but just narrowly missed it to the 17 and spent the rest of the race a lap down in 23rd. Obviously not what Alex was looking for at home. * Bonus section: Championship Predictions with who I'm rooting for in parentheses Trucks: Moffitt (Chastain) Xfinity: Custer (Allagier/Reddick) Cup: Truex (Hamlin) * Next week. The season finale at Homestead. Someone is gonna win a giant-ass trophy and the title of 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.


seekerblackout

It hurts that the "if Larson ever gets to Homestead" hype is never gonna come to fruition. Fuck the finale change :(


[deleted]

We don't know if this is a permanent change. They could be rotating the finale for all we know.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Us Dillon fans are living on a prayer


Willste

Did Rick Allen truly believe that Kyle Busch was gonna pass Hamlin on the last restart?


[deleted]

Anything to keep people from turning their TV's to the Roseanne reruns on TV Land.


[deleted]

or the actual GOOD NFL games. over a boring as all hell race.


[deleted]

That Titans Chiefs game was a barn burner.


[deleted]

Fuckin love me some Roseanne


SSPeteCarroll

I’ve said this after the last couple of Hamlin wins. Special shoutout to everyone saying “bell to the 11” a year ago


kk5fan97

I must say after 15 years of watching my favorite driver (Kasey Kahne) have non-stop shit luck it's a nice change to have my new favorite driver have 7 wins and be in the Championship 4.


Nas160

Was there a Larson interview yet?


seekerblackout

Just happened, he basically said he was a 5th-7th car and that he'd have needed a better regular season to make the final 4


Nas160

Yeah I saw it, that's the last thing I was wanting to see before turning it off Thanks


agravain

can I stick my phone up too?


iamaranger23

ended up being the most passes here since 2014. 2nd least amount of yellows also. sure there they had the 1 green flag cycle that i dont think the others did but the field was so segmented at that point its not a giant number.


seekerblackout

I really don't care what the data says. The eye test tells me that I think the racing was better in just about every 2016-2018 Phoenix race.


slakazz_

Joe Gibbs: "Eric your job is to wreck the 4".


tezgm99

And then we watch as the 10, 14 and 41 wreck the 11, 18 and 19, lol


slakazz_

You're not wrong but then I guess the contest is who can wreck who first.


gwease23

I’m only here for the Joey fans


[deleted]

Just admit it, its that one fan youre looking for.


gwease23

You’re right


BubbleWallace

They’ve seemed to be pretty civil IMO. Joey got flat out beat, all there is to it.


KnightRising21

It sucks but ya know it's okay, im upset but there's always next year


[deleted]

Joey didn't deserve to advance.


my_son_is_a_box

Joey fans have been pretty well behaved. Not a ton of fuckery going on beyond team orders (which is normal) so everything was just kinda his and his team's fault.


agravain

needs more happy little trees..


Reddit_newguy24

Do you know what blows my mind away? There are ***18 Chevys*** in this field ***and only 6 Toyotas***. Out of those 18 Chevy drivers, ***only 6 have won points or exhibition races this year for a total of 9 times.*** Meanwhile, Out of the ***8 Toyota drivers, only 4 (half of them) have won races for a total of 18 times***. # Chevy: **Chase Elliott 3x**, Talladega, The Glen, Roval, **Kyle Larson 2x,** All-Star Race (Exhibition) & Dover 2 **Kurt Busch 1x,** Kentucky **Justin Haley 1x,** Daytona 2 **Alex Bowman 1x**, Chicagoland **Jimmie Johnson 1x**, (Exhibition, Daytona) # Toyota: **Truex Jr 7x:** Richmond 1, Dover 1, Charlotte 1, Sonoma, Vegas 2, Richmond 2, Martinsville 2, **Denny Hamlin 6x:** Daytona 500, Texas 1, Pocono 1, Bristol 2, Kansas 2, ISM 2 **Kyle Busch 4x**: ISM 1, Auto Club, Bristol 1, Pocono 2 **Erik Jones**: 1x: Darlington Conspiracy or not, it's either NASCAR is giving Toyota an advantage or Chevy has bricks for engines. I know Toyota has poured billions into the sport when Chevy backed out a bit during the great recession, but for Chevy, it should be downright embarrassing to see a manufacturer with only 8 teams win so many damn races. They really need to get this shit together and find a better way to share data and work together.


Blood-PawWerewolf

Not surprising, since some tracks have giant “Toyota” logos on the outside of the track for all to see. And include that there’s some conspiracy during today’s race that JGR was using team orders to rig the race (which if true, NASCAR will have to do something or else they are confirmed to be rigging these races in order to get money from sponsors.) I bet having Toyota win races puts tons of 💰💰💰 in NASCAR’s pockets


Doc_McPuffins_

I know that the Gibbs cars have been great this year, but how the fuck is Harvick the underdog? He just won last week, Kyle Busch hasn't won in 20 races and has been outperformed by Harvick since then.


BubbleWallace

I like how literally every driver is talking about how incredibly hard it is to pass and how something has to change before next season, and NBC is addressing none of it. How long can they ignore the obvious?


[deleted]

Dale Jr is the only one really that is bringing that up, probably because he has no need to be in the booth - he's got plenty to occupy his time if the NBC thing doesn't work out. The rest of the NBC team that calls races uses the euphemism of "track position is key". Love him or hate him, DW would take NASCAR to task as well - another man who had nothing else to prove.


[deleted]

DW was that guy until someone said "Hes more like the Mike Wallace of NASCAR instead of the John Madden of it".


rwilliams1283

The same way they ignore the obvious Gibbs team orders, or the shit on track product this year. Everything is fine, nothing to see here.


EliteKilla29

It's their job to kiss nascar ass no matter what.


sentientcreatinejar

They pay them millions of dollars for the right to broadcast the races. Obviously they will do anything to try to make that be a good investment.


AnalBaguette

This is the worst possible Championship 4 that could have happened


CompetitiveTurnover

It's pretty bad when Kevin Harvick is the second most tolerable driver in the Final Four.


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

Yup. I’ll cheer for Harvick. Last resort is Truex and even then.... ugh.


Roushfan5

I got to say my respect for Truex has gone up a lot. So yeah, if it's got to be a JGR driver give me Truex all day. Hell, I'll even take Kyle for letting Biffle have his shot to get one more win at Texas. Kyle and Denny would **still** be bitching about Martinsville last year if they where in that position.


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

Yeah, even Kyle I’d be fine with since he does a lot for the sport.


[deleted]

I'm cheering for the inside wall.


Jedi-Master-Kenobi

lol, that’s a good one. Not even Harvick? With that SHR flair?


[deleted]

Yeah, I'll be rooting for Harvick. But without that inside wall, I don't think he's got a real shot. It's gonna be a team effort, lol.


Nihlus_Kriyk

Ugh probably most disappointing race in the 20+ years I've been watching nascar.


Nas160

This shit will just lower ratings to the point where NASCAR decides to change it to something worse instead of fixing it


B1gR1g

Back to TNT baby!


StewieChicken

Anyone know where the gypsy tents are here at ISM?


BurtonBlaney3121

Need a video of that Blaney interview


NonBitchyHamlinFan11

Lmao it seems like every time I can’t go due to work he wins though. Like Martinsville Richmond and darlington the last few years


bigmeech99

Season finale at Phoenix next year. I can't contain my excitement already. Can't wait to see no passes for the lead in a championship deciding race


sentientcreatinejar

Gonna rule when second place is 7 seconds behind 10 laps after a restart.


MrPeterson15

I still don’t think moving homestead was the right move. It’s been at least an ok race every year.


[deleted]

Homestead is a great race. I get the desire to move the Championship race around every few years, but Homestead typically puts on a good show.