NASCAR....How bad have you got it?

A Great 500 !!!

I thought it was an excellent 500, especially with all the 3 wide racing. And they used to say Daytona was too narrow for 3 wide racin' WRONG !!!!
Starry, here's your eagle, Challenger.
http://www.eagles.org/about/Our-Special-Eagles/challenger.php

Hard to believe there was no Busch in the race. Kyle will be lucky if he gets to race again by the next time they come back to Daytona. He's young, and in shape, he does have that going for him. I don't know who's going to replace him, but if it's the rookie, Kyle's break could be his lucky break !!!
 
Dude, where’s my car: NASCAR auto stolen before race

HAMPTON, Ga. – When Travis Kvapil got the call Friday, he figured someone on his race team was playing a joke.

“They said there was trouble with the car,” Kvapil said. “I thought we could figure it out when we got in the garage area. They’re like, ‘No, the car is gone.”’

The No. 44 NASCAR Sprint Cup car owned by small-budget Team XTREME was stolen from a hotel parking lot near Atlanta Motor Speedway, police said, forcing Kvapil to withdraw from this weekend’s race before he even got a chance to qualify.

The $250,000 race car was still missing late in the afternoon, and police were hoping the public could assist in the search. The owner of one NASCAR sponsor offered a pit pass to every race the rest of the year to anyone who helped located the high-powered Chevrolet.

“It’s insane,” said team owner John Cohen, who didn’t have a backup car to run in Atlanta.

For a few hours, the team held out hope of the car being found in time for qualifying today, but it was forced to withdraw when it missed NASCAR’s mandatory inspection.

The Sprint Cup race is Sunday.

“It’s really bizarre,” Kvapil said. “You can handle maybe getting a flat tire, or getting caught up in a wreck, or a blown engine, something that actually happens on the race track. Or you don’t qualify, because you don’t have enough speed. But to not even get a chance ... that’s pretty disheartening.”

It was an especially tough blow for Team XTREME, which doesn’t have the funding of major multi-car operations such as Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite a wreck in qualifying, the team managed to make the field for the season-opening Daytona 500 with Reed Sorenson behind the wheel. He finished 32nd in the race.

Sorenson switched to a different team for the Atlanta race, prompting Team XTREME to hire Kvapil, a one-time Sprint Cup regular who had only five starts in the top NASCAR series last season and was looking to make his first appearance of 2015.

“I was excited to be part of a small team and trying to build up with them,” Kvapil said. “Personally, it’s a big setback.”

A trailer with the red race car inside was hitched to a black 2004 Ford F-350 pickup truck parked outside a hotel in Morrow, Georgia, about 15 miles south of Atlanta and a short drive from the speedway, police said. Surveillance video showed the truck and trailer being driven out of the parking lot around 5:30 a.m., Morrow police Detective Sgt. Larry Oglesby said.

The team, which had been working 18-hour days to get the car ready for Atlanta, was scheduled to leave for the track at 5:45 a.m., and a crewman had been outside a few minutes before the theft, smoking a cigarette.

“I’ve been doing this since 1979,” crew chief Peter Sospenzo said. “I’ve probably been to 1,200 hotels and 1,200 race tracks. Never once has this happened. It’s crazy. But there’s a first for everything, I guess.”

The trailer is plain white with no markings. The person who stole it likely didn’t realize the race car was inside, and may have thought it was lawn equipment or something else he could easily sell, Oglesby said.

“Hopefully they’ll open this one up and say, ‘Oh no, this isn’t what we thought,’ and will drop it off at the nearest vacant lot or apartment complex or somewhere,” he said.

Normally, the car would have been transported using the team’s hauler, an 18-wheel tractor trailer. But, with a winter storm moving through the Southeast this week, Cohen sent the hauler to Atlanta earlier in the week. Back at the shop, the team was still working on the car, a different version than the one that ran under restrictor-plate rules in Daytona. It was sent separately to Atlanta late Thursday after the storm cleared out, accompanied by Sospenzo and six other crew members.

“My whole plan backfired,” said Cohen, who has been running a Sprint Cup car since 2012 and is one of the few African-Americans involved in NASCAR’s top series.

In addition to the race car, the trailer also contained a spare engine valued at $100,000 and racing equipment valued at $17,500, according to a police report. Even so, Cohen vowed the team would return for next weekend’s race in Las Vegas.

Kvapil said the thieves probably won’t be able to cash in on their surprising haul.

“There’s really no use for it out in the general public,” he said. “I hope they realize that and will leave it somewhere where the police can find it.”

The theft gave NASCAR star Jeff Gordon a new perspective.

When his crew chief was complaining about the way the No. 24 car was running before practice, Gordon told him, “It would be a lot worse. Our car could’ve been stolen.”

Then Gordon turned serous, saying: “I hate it for Travis and those guys. I hope they get to the bottom of it.”

http://tbo.com/ap/offbeat2/dude-wheres-my-car-nascar-auto-stolen-before-race-20150227/
 
Wow... That totally sucks.. I hope they get it back in time... Or one of the big teams steps up and let's them borrow one to race. God knows there are plenty out there.


Way to go Joey and Ford on da pole!
 
I saw that earlier today. It takes a bit of effort to steal something that big.

Wonder if we'll find it abandoned in a parking lot or if they had a tracking device with it.
 
They found it in good condition but too late to race!

------------------------------------
Stolen NASCAR car found in suburban Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. — Police say they have found the NASCAR race car stolen from a hotel parking lot near Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR’s Team XTREME says the car was found early Saturday northwest of Atlanta in Gwinnett County. The team tweeted a pictured of team owner John Cohen standing in front of the No. 44 Chevrolet, which was valued at $250,000 and appears undamaged.

Morrow police Detective Sgt. Larry Oglesby, leading the investigation in the Atlanta suburb, confirms to The Associated Press the car was recovered.

The discovery comes too late to help the team, which was forced to withdraw from the weekend race at Atlanta. The car was stolen, along with the pickup truck and trailer that was hauling it, just a few hours before Travis Kvapil was to run in qualifying.

http://tbo.com/sports/auto-racing/stolen-nascar-car-found-in-suburban-atlanta-20150228/
 
Alleged theft

Does anyone else think this was most likely an inside job? Every time the police mentioned the theft, it was always "alleged". When I read thru the reports, "inside job" jumps out at me. I guess we'll never know, unless there is an arrest. Anyways, I'm glad they got their car back, I'm sure a lot of lessons were learned because of this theft. Always lock, and double lock your stuff up, even for only 5 minutes. Also, in this day and age, tracking devices are pretty reasonable.
 
Does anyone else think this was most likely an inside job? Every time the police mentioned the theft, it was always "alleged". When I read thru the reports, "inside job" jumps out at me. I guess we'll never know, unless there is an arrest. Anyways, I'm glad they got their car back, I'm sure a lot of lessons were learned because of this theft. Always lock, and double lock your stuff up, even for only 5 minutes. Also, in this day and age, tracking devices are pretty reasonable.

You can even lojack your hunting dogs these days. :eek:
Was watching a history channel show & they had GPS collars for on some hunting dogs incase they lost them out hunting.

shoot even hiding an Iphone with a find app would help.
 
A trailer is still missing

Warrant issued in theft of Team Xtreme Racing car, truck and trailer

The Morrow (Georgia) Police Department has issued a warrant for the arrest of a person of interest in the theft of Team Xtreme Racing's Sprint Cup Series car last weekend in Atlanta.

Sgt. Larry Oglesby told FOXSports.com the person of interest is the same person seen allegedly stealing the dually truck and trailer from a Georgia hotel in the early morning hours on Feb. 27.

Oglesby said the person of interest has not been cooperative, was asked to come in for an interview, but declined and contacted a lawyer. As a result, the Morrow PD issued a warrant for his arrest Friday afternoon, contacted the person's lawyer later that day and it was delivered Monday morning.

Oglesby said he hopes once the person of interest is in custody at the local jail he will open up and be more cooperative.

A citizen found the Team Xtreme Racing No. 44 Chevrolet at 3 a.m. Feb. 28 in Gwinnett County, while the dually truck was found around 6 or 7 a.m. that same day by a citizen in Stockbridge, Georgia, according to Oglesby.

Once they were found, Oglesby contacted the owner of both vehicles, and a team was sent from North Carolina to recover the two items.

The trailer is still missing, and the investigation remains open.

The missing trailer contains a spare Chevrolet racing engine and miscellaneous racing parts, according to police. The trailer is estimated at $10,000, the engine is estimated at $100,000, and the miscellaneous parts are estimated at $17,500.

The recovered dually truck had an estimated value of $12,500, and the Sprint Cup Car was estimated at $250,000.

Team owner Johnathan Cohen said he learned of the arrest warrant from the FOXSports.com email asking for comment.

"This guy ruined my season," Cohen said of the person of interest. "It hurt my points and could hurt a lot of people's lives."

Contrary to Oglesby's comments, Cohen said the team's spare engine was never in the stolen trailer and had been transported to Atlanta Motor Speedway in the team's primary hauler the day prior to the theft.

However, Cohen said the miscellaneous parts -- including shocks, gears and a transmission -- are nearly impossible to replace and have impacted the team's ability to prepare for this past weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the next two events at Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway.

FOXSports.com has obtained a copy of the original police report from the incident:
http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/sto...-trailer-atlanta-arrest-warrant-issued-030915
 
Pretty good race today.. Brad came pretty much outta nowhere and it's good to see a Ford in victory lane..

As always.. No toyoto and no jimmie.. Another good day!
 
Racing was pretty great today! Takes Keslowski in the lead for me to cheer for a Busch...

Harvick rocked it again today! Was so good to see him back home this week. He gives so much back to his old HS and the city of Bakersfield. I love that he remembers where he came from and gives those kids some hope and drive to follow their dreams.
 
TireGate

During practice at Martinsville, Denny Hamlin was all for banning drivers for life if caught with tires that had been altered. And what happens when he wins the race? He burns his rear tires down to the rim so they can never be checked. Before that he put his car into a big, high speed drift, supposedly for the fans. Methinks it was more of an attempt to flatten all 4 tires before going into Victory Lane. When that didn't work, he did a burnout at least 3/4 of the way around the track, resulting in a car on rims in Victory Lane. I sure would like to have heard his communication with his team after taking the checkered flags. Not that Denny would knowingly cheat, I'm just saying.........
 
Saddened to hear that Steve Byrnes lost his battle with cancer today. May he reat in peace... :(
 
Today's finish was crap. The whole point of the GWC finishes was so we didn't have bullshit endings like today, to give the drivers a chance (or 3) to finish racing, to give the fans an exciting finish . Fans pay good money to see arace. That means a race to the end. Not for NASCAR to take way too long to clean up a caution that ensured there would only be a GWC finish. NASCAR made a bad decision on the rule change to only have one... Or one and a half.
 
Congrats on Jeffy with the win...


Matt Kenseth pulled off the biggest pussy ass dickhole move I have ever seen in all the years I've watched NASCAR... taking over Earnhardt SR wrecking Terry Labonte at Bristol.

What a fuckin cock.
 
Congrats to Jeff...not a huge fan of his, but it was cool to see him win at Martinsville today.
 
Was stoked to see Jeff win! He has always been one of my favorites.

NaScAr wanted have at it boys and didn't like what they got... Not a big fan of either Kenseth or Lagano, but did like the payback from Kansas since it was only the two of them that got fucked.
 
Tuesday, what will Nascar do?

Today we hear from Nascar on Matt's penalty, if anything. I remember the announcers said that even if Matt's car got repaired, he would not be allowed back on the track. But, sure enough, he was back on the track, traveling at half the speed of the rest of the cars, waiting to take out Joey, and no black flag for Kenseth. I'm thinking maybe sit 1 race out, and the lightweight $100K fine. No big deal for a top driver who is not in the Chase. I'll be very surprised if it's anything more.
 
Today we hear from Nascar on Matt's penalty, if anything. I remember the announcers said that even if Matt's car got repaired, he would not be allowed back on the track. But, sure enough, he was back on the track, traveling at half the speed of the rest of the cars, waiting to take out Joey, and no black flag for Kenseth. I'm thinking maybe sit 1 race out, and the lightweight $100K fine. No big deal for a top driver who is not in the Chase. I'll be very surprised if it's anything more.

Peeks in to say Morning to Fishy! :rose:
 
Was stoked to see Jeff win! He has always been one of my favorites.

NaScAr wanted have at it boys and didn't like what they got... Not a big fan of either Kenseth or Lagano, but did like the payback from Kansas since it was only the two of them that got fucked.

I'm rather surprised at your thoughts..

Comparing Kenseth blocking a much faster car lap after lap with him completely wrecking the leader in a chase race just doesn't add up, IMO.

Kenseth didn't get fucked... But Logano certainly did.


Matt should have invited him off the track if he wanted to show his displeasure...instead he showed himself to be a spineless pussy. Not to mention his "explanation" for the wreck. That made him a massive douche too.

If Dale Sr had done that to Kenseth at Kansas... everyone would have cheered.

I don't expect NASCAR to do a whole lot.. but he should be dealt a hammer IMO.
 
Kenseth suspended for 2 races... good.


Coulda been worse...toss in a punch to Matt's vergina too.
 
Back
Top