Hokie fan, Denny Hamlin, wins the Daytona 500!
Congratulations to the 2016 #DAYTONA500 champion @dennyhamlin! pic.twitter.com/jflw7DqCzm— Daytona IntlSpeedway (@DISupdates) February 21, 2016
Closest Finish in Daytona 500 history!
I'm not a big NASCAR guy, but I'm really happy for him. I hope this propels him to go on and win the championship.
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Hokies winning at racetracks? Must be a sign!
Not a NASCAR fan, but always root for a Hokie, whether one by choice or education. Go Hokies! Let's see if Whit will push for NCAA racing! Let the schools design the cars.
As an engineer, I really love this idea. :-)
It might be Boise but this is actually a really cool thing they are trying. Obviously not many stock-car drivers go to college but this could change tat.
Link
VT had this car for a race back in 2007.
ANd I THINK did that built their own open wheel car, I want to say they worked out of the ware lab maybe? Or at least that garage in the mil building.
I remember seeing Elliott Sadler drive the # 21 Citgo car for the Woods brothers back in 2000 in Richmond. It was all decked out in VT full battle regalia. I always pulled for Virginia boys like Rudd and the Burton brothers, and I became a huge Sadler fan on that weekend.
Boise state actually sponsors a kid at the K&N level (one down from the national NASCAR series).
ESPN video showing the finish
That finish was insane! Glad I stuck around even though Jr was out. Very exciting to watch him come from way out and make that finish line.
When my boy Kenseth moved to block in turn 4, I threw things. Coulda been an all Gibbs top 5, but he got stupid. Really happy for Denny though. Had a great car all day. Just wish they'd have kept fellow Hokie Darian Grubb on as his crew chief.
He does have fellow Hokie and former Beamerballer Caleb Hurd on his pit crew though.
To hell with that, there is not a single likable driver on that SOB's team.
Besides being redeemed by his Hokie fan status, lets be honest Denny is as bland as they come, and a spoil sport who got what he deserved from Logano in 2013.
Carl is a damn traitor who couldn't handle the pressure of being the top driver on his team.
Kenseth is a bastard who is more responsible for the Chase and the plague that is Jimmy Johnson as any man alive, there is a special place in Hell reserved for him.
And Rowdy Bush is perhaps the single most unlikable driver alive.
he made Brad into the people's hero just by name calling, consider that for a moment.
Let me guess, you're a Keselowski fan?
Sounds more like a Patrick fan to me
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She's good looking.
(/s)
...but does that mean she isn't qualified for her job?
/s
It's funny, because she is objectively good looking and is also objectively not very good at her job. In fact, I think it would be hard to argue that she has that job for any other reason than her marketability as an attractive woman.
She had credentials when she got the job, anyway. And "if you're not first, you're last" aside, she isn't last. Some make it and some don't. There's a lot of "don'ts" behind her.
But to be honest, she wasn't that great of a formula one racer. Kind of jumped on to NASCAR as more of a Self promotion situation then actually being competitive. More eyes in the USA on NASCAR then on Formula Racing.
She was Indy car not formula one
you're correcting the guy who thought Nissan was in Nascar.... Do you really think I would know the difference between formula one and Indy car.
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But thanks for the help
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But Beamer's auto garage has cars in it right?
/s, no worries man!
By association, 3rd generation Ford employee family.
Really, REALLY wanted Stenhouse to pan out, but at this point Roush is toxic at the Cup level. But Bubba Wallace has it at the Xfinity level.
But yes of all the current Ford guys he is probably the one I would be most happy to see win week to week, he is aggressive, un apologetically so, and perfectly frank in interviews, while also not feeling the need to resort to using his fists to address complaints.
I also have of course a soft spot for Junior, because who doesn't really, and Kurt after his BS suspension last year, and Truex because he is from my home town(so he is really the closest I come to cheering for Gibbs now that they have the alliance). And in full disclosure being a born and bred Eagles fan makes it hard to like anything Coach Gibbs has ever touched.
Let me start by saying that I offset your downvote, because I understand you were only posting this to mess with me, and that may have been lost on the community at large. Now for counterpoints (sorry it took so long, Scott and I got lost in Alabama today):
1. Joe Gibbs is a great American.
2. Denny is a consistently above average driver and a generally good guy, on top of being a loyal Hokie.
3. Logano is a whiny bitchboy who inexplicably bumblefucked his way into the big leagues far before he was ready.
4. Carl is meh, I won't argue for or against him.
5. Kenseth deserved his Championship, and its not his fault that NASCAR changed the rules to try and become more marketable.
6. Kyle Bush is both the asshole we deserve and the asshole we need right now. He is a shining beacon of hope for assholes everywhere.
7. Keselowski is hardly the people's hero. That distinction goes to Junior, for whatever reason.
8. Team Penske is a disgrace to the blue oval. Keselowski and Logano are the two most annoying fuckboys in NASCAR, and are really only good at starting fights and then losing them.
Well said, allow me to offer my rebuttal.
> 1. Joe Gibbs is a great American.
That is entirely unquantifiable in anything but a subjective manner, I find him to be a prickly old jerk, no better than Paul Johnson, content with either he or his drivers resorting to their fists instead of breaking the sports stereotypes.
2. Denny's average finish over his 10 complete seasons is 8th at the end of the year. Good to be sure, and befitting one of the drivers for the top 4 teams(defined as Hendrick, SHR, JGR, Penske). But in that group he is only I the middle, sandwiched in between his teammates.
3. And who was it that dropped the ball on Joey? Hmm looks like it was one Joe Gibbs... Logano also had a win his rookie year, granted a rain shortened one, but the records don't care, that is proof enough that the stage was not too big. Nobody in the past 3 years has a rookie win.
5. It absolutely is. Had he won even one more race (he had 3 seconds that year) the margin of victory would have been greater, and his consistency all the more vindicated, to say nothing of the fact that it would have been nice for him to not have finished in LAST at Miami that year. His being just ok did meaningful harm to the sport long term.
6. He is a school yard bully who got what he deserved running all those Xfinity races, I wish non rookies would be banned from running in a series they aren't doing full time for points.
7. On the macro of course, however his 'Kyle Bush is an Ass" introduction earned him more fans than his actual championship without a doubt.
8. Not at all, they are the one thing keeping Ford competitive and the only ones to have found speed. That they have a triumvirate of younger drivers who actually like to work as a team is exactly what the sport needs.
as for a ranking of drivers who like nothing more than throwing tantrums and complaining like toddlers I would say it goes something like:
1. Kurt
2. Chad Knaus, not driver obviously but he has earned it
3. Newman
4. Kyle
5. Brad
6. Danica
7. Kenseth
8. Harvick
9. Johnson
10. Logano
One glaring problem, Hamlin's career is easily superior to gano's. No question there.
Denny has also had a much longer career than Logano at this point, including 3 additional years of full time in cup and is a full 10 years older overall, resulting in over 110 more cup races run.
And the fact that 12 of Logano's 14 wins have come just in the past 3 years after the move to Penske should be a HUGE indication that he is in a place to keep winning, vs where he was with Gibbs. over that same stretch obviously JGR itself has been great, but Denny only has had 5 wins now since the start of 2013.
Who will be on top when they are both retired Is anyones guess, but Logano has done much more recent winning.
Then by that logic you have to factor in Denny's injuries as a factor to why he hasn't done as well. Get off of Gano's insignificant "accomplishments".
Hamlin missed a grand total of 4 races... not 4 months, 4 weeks, and the race after he got back posted a 2nd at Darlington, try again...
You basically played into what I was saying and completely contradicted yourself.
Yet you proceed to list all of these statistics. And (unfortunately) the majority of the statistics, records AND numbers (including the rookie season finish) swing Hamlin's way. That was a pretty feeble attempt play up the whole 2013 - Present. If "what has happened recently is what REALLY matters", then as of 2016, Denny is well ahead of the boy who's rich daddy bought him in.
> That was a pretty feeble attempt play up the whole 2013 - Present. If "what has happened recently is what REALLY matters", then as of 2016, Denny is well ahead of the boy who's rich daddy bought him in.
We shall have to revisit this come November for sure!
But the facts don't lie, Logano without Gibbs is statistically better, for wins, and cup finishes than Denny is with JGR over the same time.
You can complain all you want, but unless Denny uses the 500 to jump start his year he is in real danger of entering the downslide of his career, becoming the same as Biffle or Kahne, guys carried by stronger Teammates happy to win 1 or even 2 races a year if lucky. Logano appears to have just entered the prime of his career.
Atlanta will be very interesting to watch now that we are off a plate track.
That is a blatant and gross underscoring of Hamlin's natural raw talent (something money can't buy).
I wouldn't call finishing 6th overall as well as requiring underhanded but painfully obvious and failed attempts at tricks in order maybe get a win or improve positioning prime. I've got nothing to complain about.
> That is a blatant and gross underscoring of Hamlin's natural raw talent (something money can't buy).
The raw talent that let a gimpy Busch driving an essentially identical car run circles around him last year, along with the aging Kenseth?
> I wouldn't call finishing 6th overall as well as requiring underhanded but painfully obvious and failed attempts at tricks in order maybe get a win or improve positioning prime.
So what would you call the success he has found at Penske, anything that doesn't include the terms "revitalized, golden age, prime, better, or success or similar" is probably a sadly homersitic, underwhelming, and all around poor analysis.
Now yer gettin it.
Glad you see things my way!
Always nice to see people recognize a future Hall of Famer early like Logano!
FTFY. Sure, no problem! Always happy to assist!
I agree!
Denny's travel from obvious meth addict to the backup teammate to Kyle Busch has been nothing short of amazing!
Co-Lead. But I understand your confusion. And I'm sure it helps a bunch to have a wealthy father to buy off the press in an effort to cover up one's countless misdemeanors and "harmless mistakes". Btw, what is gano's role with Penske exactly?
Glad he is a Hokie, unfortunate for him that he cannot turn a car both ways...
Despite Denny being a VT fan, I was pulling for Truex. That guy has dealt with a lot on and off the track and is has always been a good sport about it. I wanted him to be able to pull this one off.
So I actually went to the same High School back in Jersey as Truex and my heart broke at the loss, but he is doing wonders with Furniture Row and has a bright future and revitalized career.
Disappointed in the poor run by Team Penske, but Blaney doing well in the Woods car was a nice endorsement of the partnership there.
Dale just got too damn aggressive after getting frustrated and now has potentially killed what had been one of the best plate cars in recent times. Chase shows he still has a lot to learn, and continues his trend of early wrecks in his Cup races so far.
I was raised in Chesterfield, been a Hamlin fan since his rookie season and have always loved his races at the Southern Speedway. This is mcfreakinagain awesome!
A bunch of "friends" on my FB were talking about some Nascar Conspiracy and how nascar wanted Nissan to win since Nissan gave the most money to Daytona to fix the track or something. One even said that Hamlin's comment about an extra boost at the end or something coincided with Nascar effort for a Nissan win. BTW none of them were #88 fans which made it more interesting.
I think its total BS but fun to read.
I'd keep trolling them, all while knowing there wasn't actually a single Nissan in the field, and never has been.
as you can tell I know my nascar. I totally meant Toyota.
Yeah it is all just bitching and moaning from folks. The JGR cars were strong all speed weeks and Hamlin has been a good plate racer. The biggest surprise was the lack of strength from the Hendrick cars (SHR included since they run hendrick engines). Jr was strong only when he was up front. Kahne and Johnson were very underwhelming. Elliot was put in a bad spot and spun out but he wasn't the only person to have that happen to.
My fantasy picks are furiously nodding in agreement...