TRM said:

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Hershey97 said:

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Penske locks down Keselowski. Another big-name free agent off the board who many thought might replace Jimmie in the 48

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I'm guessing the 48 is coming down to Larson, DiBenedetto, Jones, or Bowyer.

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I still contend that Hendrick will retire the 48 for the foreseeable future and whoever replaces Johnson on the team will race the 25.

lunchbox said:

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TRM said:

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Hershey97 said:

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Penske locks down Keselowski. Another big-name free agent off the board who many thought might replace Jimmie in the 48

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I'm guessing the 48 is coming down to Larson, DiBenedetto, Jones, or Bowyer.

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I still contend that Hendrick will retire the 48 for the foreseeable future and whoever replaces Johnson on the team will race the 25.

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I agree it'll go back to the 25. Also agree it could be Dibenedetto (replaced by Cindric) or Jones (replaced by Bell) along with a couple other drivers. I wouldn't bet on Larson since Chevy was one of the ones who dumped him nor Bowyer since he hasn't done anything in the past few years, but anything could happen. (I actually see Tony Stewart giving Larson a ride replacing Bowyer/Almirola/Harvick, whoever leaves or retires first)

Jimmie also tweeted this yesterday which could lead to a part-time year and then Hendrick going down to 3 teams, but I think that's a stretch.

HMS could use a vet presence like Bowyer since Elliott, Bowman, and Byron are still young. Agree Larson might be a tough sell to Chevy and the sponsors but he's the best driver available. He just had a 7 race win streak broken in ASCOC this past weekend.

Russ Dalrymple said:

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Anyone have a lesser known driver that follow outside of the big names?

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I grew up watching all racing, was a huge Dale Sr fan. As an adult (now almost 41) I still watched and was a big Tony Stewart guy, but as a side deal I started following the Furniture Row team when Reagan Smith was driving for them. Ever since finding a small team to root for I've found it much more fun to find one and pull for them.

I suggest picking drivers weekly depending on the track

Leavine Family Racing (#95 team driven by Christopher Bell, alliances with Gibbs) has sold team, most likely to Spire Motorsports. In my opinion, makes Erik Jones' seat even warmer in the 20 and the potential of him going to the 48 greater. Not sure of Bell's contract status or how this changes it, but could also see him replacing Jimmie if JGR doesn't oust Jones.

I've read that Ally has a sponsorship for the 48 until 2023 and the HMS would move Bowman to the 48 and shut down the 88.

Bell's contract is with Gibbs. He's basically on loan. Yeah, Jones is gone from the 20.

Yep he's essentially on loan to the former satellite team, but now it comes down to who Gibbs and Toyota Racing Development want to keep. They've invested a lot into growing Jones who although hasn't been very successful, has the same number of wins as Kyle Busch in the past calendar year. Similar to how they grew Joey Logano in the 20 who left and found great success with Penske. Wonder if that plays into the decision, not wanting to make the same mistake again.

Definitely think Bell is more talented, but he's performed worse than Dibenedetto has in the 95. I wouldn't think he's guaranteed the seat quite yet. (Of course he doesn't have the same amount of practice time Dibenedetto has with the shortened schedules. His first time driving a cup car at these tracks is when they take the green flag, which is a steep disadvantage).

Pahdz said:

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Russ Dalrymple said:

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Anyone have a lesser known driver that follow outside of the big names?

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I grew up watching all racing, was a huge Dale Sr fan. As an adult (now almost 41) I still watched and was a big Tony Stewart guy, but as a side deal I started following the Furniture Row team when Reagan Smith was driving for them. Ever since finding a small team to root for I've found it much more fun to find one and pull for them.

I suggest picking drivers weekly depending on the track

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I was always a fan of Sr. Of the big names, I've been a fan of Denny Hamlin. Of the lesser names, I've started to follow Timmy Hill.

Blanco Jimenez said:

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I've read that Ally has a sponsorship for the 48 until 2023 and the HMS would move Bowman to the 48 and shut down the 88.

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I read something similar but that Ally would move to the 88...who knows....

Jones out, Bell in

Four races this weekend with the new choose rule in effect and new starting lineup starts next week based off this week's results.

Trucks (Michigan) today at 5 on FS1

Tomorrow
Xfinity (Road America) at 11 (NBCSN)
Cup (Michigan) at 3:00 on NBCSN

Sunday
Cup (Michigan) 3:30 on NBCSN

I wish Cup raced Road America...love that track

Exciting finish. Surprised they didn't throw the yellow, but I guess they didn't want to run over too much for MLB.

Lightning delay at Road America.

Penalties to start the day at Michigan.

Newman and Buescher penalized for illegal spoiler. Johnson and Gase penalized as well.

Hadn't heard about Gase and Johnson to the rear.

This Xfinity race is brutal. Red for a couple hours and most of the laps have been under yellow.

The one downside to RA.... yellow laps take an eternity

TRM said:

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Hadn't heard about Gase and Johnson to the rear.

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Yeah, didn't say exactly what but failed inspection.

Shaping up to be a fantastic finish. The Dinger is so fun to watch on road courses

Good finish to the race. It was good seeing Bubba Wallace roll the dice and take the chance to try to jump up to the front.

Choose rule made things interesting with all the restarts.

TRM said:

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Choose rule made things interesting with all the restarts.

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Agreed. I like it.

Tentative starting lineup. Lots of guys near the cut line with a chance to get stage points and I believe there is no competition caution tomorrow.
1. C. Buescher
2. C. Bowyer
3. T. Reddick
4. M. Kenseth
5. A. Almirola
6. M. DiBenedetto
7. W. Byron
8. C. Bell
9. J. Johnson
10. E. Jones

Multiple cars moving to back of the pack due to moving to back up cars, etc.

Very uneventful thru 2 stages today. It's basically Kevin Harvick and everyone else.

Some action now.

Stage 3 was good. Really good finish as Harvick holds off Hamlin by less than a tenth of a second.

Action did pickup.

On to Daytona.

TRM said:

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Hershey97 said:

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Penske locks down Keselowski. Another big-name free agent off the board who many thought might replace Jimmie in the 48

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I'm guessing the 48 is coming down to Larson, DiBenedetto, Jones, or Bowyer.

ETA: Brad only signed a 1-yr extension. I guess sponsors don't want to commit too far out into the future.

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I wondered if the reason he wasn't given a longer contract is to keep a spot open for Austin Cindric when the time comes. Austin's dad is Tim Cindric, President of Team Penske. He's 21 and has 4 wins at the Xfinity level this year. I can't help but think his future is at Team Penske and that means either Austin will need to take one of the existing 3 spots (Keselowski is the oldest) or they add another full time team. If Keselowski keeps running like he is right now then I lean towards 4 teams.

By the way, thanks for starting this thread. I did not know it was here but good to have somewhere to go to talk NASCAR.

Christopher Bell to drive the #20 for Joe Gibbs Racing next year, replacing Eric Jones, after LFR sold. No real surprise there once they decided not to renew Eric Jones.

Daytona Road Course tomorrow

Xfinity NBCSN @2pm

Sunday
Trucks FS1 @11am
Cup NBC @2:30

Austin Dillon tests positive for the coronavirus and will at least miss Sunday's race.

TRM said:

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Austin Dillon tests positive for the coronavirus and will at least miss Sunday's race.

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For those that have more experience watching in recent years than me, is Dillon good on road courses?

kalltamu said:

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TRM said:

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Austin Dillon tests positive for the coronavirus and will at least miss Sunday's race.

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For those that have more experience watching in recent years than me, is Dillon good on road courses?

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No, the last 2 years his best finish is 16th at Sonoma in 2018. Usually qualifies and runs around 25th