Surprised no thread about this but it is NASCAR so only so much interest.

Still, as bizarre as racing gets, right or wrong, memorable. Ross Chastain finds a way to move up to the final race, in position for a championship. Following Bubba Wallace showing his ass to all taking out Kyle Larson, NASCAR getting some attention.



YIKES

That's hilarious
Short track like that probably the only way it could work.

I thought it was great.

There weren't any rules saying he couldn't, so...

Curious if he/the team get any damage penalties for barrier damage?
Wonder if NASCAR makes a rules clarification on using the wall to assist driving. Rubbin's racin' and he was rubbin' the wall pretty good.

Kyle Larson kinda did this at an Eldora dirt race, not full on running the wall but yeah, kind of. KL tends to run a very high line anyway. I don't think it worked but got him close to a win.

And Dale Sr. did this in his way at the '95 Bristol night race, not using the wall but rather Terry Labonte.

I don't know what was better.

The grin on Ross' face or the dumb look on Denny's?

Sounded like the crowd had picked who they like.

Most amazin' thing I've seen since bears ridin' bicycles!

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
And Dale Sr. did this in his way at the '95 Bristol night race, not using the wall but rather Terry Labonte.

Eight wheels turn better than four. Just saying.

I may be wrong about this, not into the finer points of NASCAR's playoff system.

Bubba Wallace drives for Denny Hamlin/Michael Jordan, North Carolinians. Wallace won at Kansas a few weeks back, Hamlin just behind. Wallace is out of the playoffs, Hamlin in at that time. Had Wallace let Hamlin past, Denny may have been in position to get to the final four for the championship.

I don't know that for sure but it seemed it was more important that the team get a Wallace win v. Hamlin. It was Hamlin who got barely beat by Chastain yesterday at the line, Chastain in, Hamlin out.

One way or the other, what a fun race.

I think that was the single greatest lap in NASCAR history and I'm not a Chastain fan. I'm betting there will be some kind of rules change to prevent doing that in the future.

When I saw it the first time, it looked like a fake or photo-shopped video.
Hard to believe someone hasn't done this before (yes, someone has, sort of).
Days of Thunder, 2022 edition.

More like Ricky Bobby Style!


.

I stopped watchin it a few years ago, but things like this would bring me back....

Well that was fun!

Hearing that the #1 car is likely going to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Also of note: on Saturday, Brandon Jones figured out what it is like to drive for Ty Gibbs Racing.

Can somebody please explain why that worked?

Bumping a wall generally slows a car down significantly. How can running against the wall, on the outside line (traveling a greater distance), make the car go FASTER?

That was some Wile E. Coyote stuff right there, and my brain still can't understand it.

This playoff series has been interesting. My favorite driver is Christopher Bell. He got crashed out by bubba wallace (Kyle Larson bumped bubba, who then immediately crashed out Larson doing 170mph. Larson spun out and hit Bell (who was 2nd in the final 8 playoff drivers) ). So, I was REALLY PO'd at bubba for his temper tantrum that took Bell to last place in the playoffs.

People are speculating that if Bell hadn't been in the way, Larson could have died (these new cars are apparently lousy at rear impacts at those speeds). SO, Bell's win this Sunday was a REALLY good development for me.

People are really talking about bubba. He made an ass of himself, attacking Larson alongside the track with the big red and gold McDonald's logo on his track suit. bubba hurt himself much more than the lame 1-race penalty NASCAR cited him.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
Can somebody please explain why that worked?

Bumping a wall generally slows a car down significantly. How can running against the wall, on the outside line (traveling a greater distance), make the car go FASTER?

Centrificized momentemum

I'll have to Google that one. . .

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
Can somebody please explain why that worked?

Bumping a wall generally slows a car down significantly. How can running against the wall, on the outside line (traveling a greater distance), make the car go FASTER?

Seems the other cars slowed to drop to the inside line.
He kept his foot in it & carried all the straight speed & lost less than braking to take the normal line.
One video I saw said his laptime was 2 sec faster than the others & was even faster than pole.

Not necessarily that he went faster [accelerated], just lost less speed than the others.

Guessing this could only work on a tight short track.
Indy or TMS or Daytona, no chance to carry enough speed to make the advantage.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
Can somebody please explain why that worked?

The cars are ~3,000 pounds. Lateral Gs are close to 2G. The tires need to sustain a ~6,000 pound lateral load without losing traction.

If the lateral load exceeds what the tires can grip, the car gets loose (rear) or tight (front) and car spins, wheelhops, and/or makes for a shitty day at the track.

With the momentum of the car being redirected by the SAFER barrier, the side load of the tires is removed from the equation, leaving only forward grip.

When the momentum and forward grip exceed the friction load on the side of the car/wall. The car can go faster. Tighter turns (like at Martinsville) allow this to work well.

Larger tracks would require less grip from the tires to turn the car, not requiring the driver to slow down in the turns as much. reducing the advantage given.

Probably why this worked so well at a paperclip style track and not Phoenix or larger tracks with more banking.