Mathguy64 said:

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The speed cut and pack racing started was earlier when Bill Elliot hit 212 mph in qualifying and the car started becoming an airfoil and they couldn't keep them on the racetrack. Guys in wrecks either flying into the catch fences or flying off the back edge of the track all together. That qualifying run scared nascar so much they immediately put in the carb spacer to limit HP.

I think RFK yesterday proved you can run flat out and make it work.

Everyone was stuck in a prisoners dilemma strategy. Everyone said "we can win by minimizing gas time on our road". So they all chose the strategy. But it's dumb. Once one team chose a different strategy of run fast it ruins the prisoners dilemma.

Everyone else was very lucky a yellow didn't catch them all a lap down.

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I think Bobby Allison nearly going into the stands at Talladega and nearly taking out the flag stand was what made them finally go to restrictor plates. That was back in the 80s and was probably more driven by fears of liability than it was safety of the driver's.

There were always packs of cars at those tracks, but there was always always a few cars that would outclass the field and others that were laggards. The whole-field-in-one-pack racing we see today is largely the result of the restrictor plates that started in the late-80s. They minimized the technical advantages, maximized driver skill, and gave the driver only two controls - a gas pedal and a steering wheel. Put the pedal to the floor and try to find a spot to draft. Hope the guy next to you doesn't screw up.

You don't often see Cliff Daniels make a strategic error. But boy they sure did there. Not pitting in Stage 1 was a massive error.

The aggression level is at 12 out there. Nobody is playing nice at all. Blaney just destroyed his own car trying to move Berry.

I was out for the last hour. Is Larson still off cycle? Was surprised to see him 9th and on the lead lap

Byron has just been that dominant. He's going to lap all but 4 or 5 cars.

Yeah I got caught up as it went in. Wow. The 24 continues to own Martinsville.

There's still a chance but Kyle has it all but locked up for his 3rd championship.

That was an ass whipping. Byron was just that good. And Larson basically just needs to not DNF in Miami. Only Bell and Hamlin are left.

Ive really enjoyed the new (old) format.

Denny would've clinched today in the old Winston Cup pure points format.

pic.twitter.com/zZijsfFtPB

— NASCAR Winston Cup Series Standings (@NWCS_Standings) November 1, 2026

Wonder if their Cup car will be electric and have a speaker that makes "Vroom! Vroom!" sounds.

If ECR is going to build engines for Kaulig and Dodge, I would imagine technical data sharing from Chevy would be turned off to RCR

Hocevar is getting roasted today now that the data has come out on how hard he slammed on the brakes to check Cindric. Somehow Berry is avoiding the mud but he did the same thing just not as obvious.

People are hammering nascar for not penalizing him on the spot.

I'll bet there was more to Hocevar than him just being an idiot. Either Cindric did something earlier that hasn't made the video rounds or something in a prior race.

Dude has a ton of raw talent. He needs to learn to not be an ass on track.

Hope he gets wiped out by Cindric in 5 different races for all 5 of those checks. Ridiculous by Hocevar.

Brad made big bold claims and let Carson off the hook earlier this year. Don't think Cindric is going to do the same.

Mathguy64 said:

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Hocevar is getting roasted today now that the data has come out on how hard he slammed on the brakes to check Cindric. Somehow Berry is avoiding the mud but he did the same thing just not as obvious.

People are hammering nascar for not penalizing him on the spot.

I'll bet there was more to Hocevar than him just being an idiot. Either Cindric did something earlier that hasn't made the video rounds or something in a prior race.

Dude has a ton of raw talent. He needs to learn to not be an ass on track.

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He's had a lot of incidents where he loses his mind for no reason. Denny talked about this a lot on his podcast yesterday. He made the analogy that he's more interested in being the next Cleetus McFarland rather than being a quality driver. I tend to agree. I hope when the drivers eventually decide to take care of this themselves, NASCAR doesn't penalize them for it.

Mathguy64 said:

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Hocevar is getting roasted today now that the data has come out on how hard he slammed on the brakes to check Cindric. Somehow Berry is avoiding the mud but he did the same thing just not as obvious.

People are hammering nascar for not penalizing him on the spot.

I'll bet there was more to Hocevar than him just being an idiot. Either Cindric did something earlier that hasn't made the video rounds or something in a prior race.

Dude has a ton of raw talent. He needs to learn to not be an ass on track.

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There were several teams in the chase that got taken out by bonehead stuff at Martinsville. Now that some contenders are formally eliminated, it could be an interesting race at Homestead for Hocevar and Berry

And as soon as I wrote this I saw Spire Motorsports has suspended Carson Hocevar for the Homestead race

Burdizzo said:

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And as soon as I wrote this I saw Spire Motorsports has suspended Carson Hocevar for the Homestead race

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Well that solves nascar's problem of whether or not to park him.

Now Berry is on the clock.

Burdizzo said:

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And as soon as I wrote this I saw Spire Motorsports has suspended Carson Hocevar for the Homestead race

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Yeah I like Carson but I was hoping NASCAR would suspend him. Even better that it's his own team.

well done Spire

Well nascar piled on. 25 points (meaningless) and $100k driver fine. Ouch. That's not chump change.

Berry fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points.

State of the Sport address coming up

Larson clinches the Cup championship

Im gonna laugh if Hamlin wins this race.

TRM said:

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Im gonna laugh if Hamlin wins this race.

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Hamlin is the Aaron Judge of NASCAR. He hits meaningless HR all summer but bottoms out in the playoffs.

I'll say this. If Blaney gets a better pit crew and doesn't get destroyed by Berry last week he may have won this year.

Mathguy64 said:

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I'll say this. If Blaney gets a better pit crew and doesn't get destroyed by Berry last week he may have won this year.

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He got hosed at Talladega too. Two races of bad luck. If not for that, this race at Homestead might have been much different. Thems the breaks.

Congratulations to Larson. I have a 12 sticker on my truck, but I am a fan of Larson too.

Kyle Larson's kid with the red,curly, mullet - that kid is destined for NASCAR with that haircut