Nascar SCS Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday October 19 on ESPN at 2:00 PM ET

Nascar ^

[mabarker1]

NASCAR Revises National Series Qualifying Format At Talladega REPOST: NASCAR revised its national series qualifying format for Talladega Superspeedway which, in turn, should elevate the on-track competition for fans at the high speed 2.66-mile track. For the Oct. 17-19 events at Talladega featuring both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, national series qualifying will take on a more rapid pace that should bring out the best in the competitors and provide fans with an extra element of excitement.
Keystone Light Pole Qualifying for the Fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 17 at 5:30pm/et and will air live on FOX Sports 1. Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18 at 4:30pm/et and will air live on ESPNEWS, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
National series qualifying at Talladega will now consist of the following:
· Three rounds with the first round divided into two groups amongst the competitors. The first qualifying round is five minutes in length for each group.
· Competitors will be assigned to a first qualifying round group based on the random draw held earlier in the event.
· The 24 eligible competitors that post the fastest single lap speed from either of the first qualifying round groups will advance to the second round. The remaining competitors will be sorted based on their speed posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
· There will be a 10-minute break after the completion of the first qualifying round and the 24 remaining competitors that advance to the second round will have their times reset.
· The second qualifying round is five minutes in length and the 12 eligible competitors that post the fastest single lap speed will advance to the third and final round.
· The fastest remaining competitors will earn positions 13-24 based on their fastest single lap speed posted in qualifying in descending order.
· Following a five minute break, the 12 eligible competitors that advance to the final round will have their posted speeds reset.
· The final qualifying round is five minutes in length and the fastest single lap speed will determine positions 1-12 in descending order.
"This revision in national series qualifying at Talladega should be more exciting for our fans," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president of competition and racing development. "It will feature a more accelerated pace, provide greater opportunity for team strategy to come into play and it should more closely resemble actual racing conditions."(NASCAR)(9-4/10-17-2014)

[mabarker1]

Just Mama's Desktop that Ya gotta keep the Hamster fed to spin the wheel.

Beyond that a parts pile that has goodies but not enough of them to build another working unit.

[Chode]

makin it up as they go along...

[mabarker1]

Yup, it’s the “brainless” way.

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OK I heard some info on the Shifter Levers breaking.They are breaking due to vibrations in the Drive Line & Chassis from minor changes being made in the Setup.

Steve LeTarte says that they have been CHANGING the MOUNTING ANGLE of the ENGINE to make MINOR AREO ADJUSTMENTS to the CAR all season and at the same time they are trying to make the Shifters as light as possible to save weight.

The same info came out of the crew chief for 6whine as well.

I can only assume that the 5 & 24 Teams are doing the same but aren’t pushing it as far.

[mabarker1]

Qualifying Order
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
GEICO 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Provided by NASCAR Statistics

Qualifying positions in blue will go out during the first segment of the first round.
Qualifying positions in purple will go out during the second segment of the first round.

Sched Qual Pos	Car#	Driver	Sponsor/ Manu	Owners Points Rank	Owners Race Attempts	First Practice Speed	Practice Speed Rank
1	27	Paul Menard	Moen/Menards Chevy	21	31	197.892	18
2	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Cargill/Sam's Club Ford	27	31	195.784	30
3	49	Mike Wallace (i)	Royal Teak Collection Toyota	50	5	194.571	41
4	26	Cole Whitt #	Bad Boy Mowers Toyota	32	31	187.890	45
5	55	Brian Vickers	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	22	31	196.774	25
6	14	Tony Stewart (PC3)	Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy	25	31	195.500	34
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Diet Mountain Dew Chevy	12	31	198.986	12
8	36	Reed Sorenson	Zing Zang Chevy	34	31	189.624	44
9	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Breast Cancer Awareness Chevy	28	31	197.346	19
10	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Scott Products Chevy	13	31	196.750	26
11	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	16	31	200.268	2
12	33	Travis Kvapil	Little Joe's Autos Chevy	40	31	199.883	5
13	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmer's Insurance Chevy	8	31	198.520	16
14	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	43	9	198.800	13
15	48	Jimmie Johnson (PC1)	Lowe's Chevy	11	31	195.748	32
16	24	Jeff Gordon (PC6)	Axalta Chevy	6	31	195.604	33
17	29	Joe Nemechek (i)	ToyotaCare Toyota	52	2	194.666	39
18	42	Kyle Larson #	Energizer Chevy	17	31	199.537	6
19	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevy	4	31	196.871	24
20	66	Michael Waltrip	MyAFibStory.com Toyota	39	31	198.540	15
21	95	Michael McDowell	Jordan Truck Sales Ford	42	18	199.971	4
22	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Carsforsale.com Chevy	35	31	199.284	7
23	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna Chevy	18	31	200.117	3
24	9	Marcos Ambrose	Black & Decker Ford	24	31	195.329	36
25	2	Brad Keselowski (PC2)	Redd's Wicked Apple Ale Ford	10	31	199.238	8
26	32	Terry Labonte (PC7)	C&J Energy Services Ford	38	31	187.221	46
27	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevy	26	31	196.887	22
28	34	David Ragan	Dockside Logistics Ford	33	31	198.512	17
29	38	David Gilliland	Long John Silver's Ford	30	31	196.980	21
30	3	Austin Dillon #	Dow Chevy	19	31	196.435	27
31	41	Kurt Busch (PC4)	Haas Automation Chevy	15	31	199.197	9
32	15	Clint Bowyer	Pink Lemonade 5-Hour Energy benefitting LBBC Toyota	20	31	200.385	1
33	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Chevy	23	31	193.564	42
34	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevy	3	31	195.011	37
35	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx One Rate/Deliverminator Toyota	7	31	196.338	28
36	83	J.J. Yeley(i)	Burger King/Dr Pepper Toyota	41	31	194.650	40
37	12	Ryan Blaney (i)	SKF Ford	45	3	196.875	23
38	51	Justin Allgaier #	BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy	29	31	195.421	35
39	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	14	31	199.110	11
40	99	Carl Edwards	Subway Ford	5	31	194.995	38
41	20	Matt Kenseth (PC5)	Home Depot Toyota	9	31	198.631	14
42	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Halloween Toyota	2	31	199.160	10
43	7	Michael Annett #	Golden Corral Chevy	31	31	197.248	20
44	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	1	31	195.776	31
45	23	Alex Bowman #	Dustless Blasting Toyota	36	31	192.440	43
46	98	Josh Wise	Dogecoin/Reddit.com Ford	37	31	196.125	29
GREEN = Drivers in the Chase RED = Needs to qualify by speed, not eligible for a regular provisional, no owners points or too deeply ranked in owners points OP = made race via owners points / provisional, then starting spot set by speed PC1 = is the first past champ eligible, PC2 is the 2nd...and so on if more # Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate (i) = driver not running for 2014 Sprint Cup Series Championship Drivers Points

[mabarker1]

Happy Hour Speeds (pdf)

[mabarker1]

• Richard Petty Motorsports needs to find new location: Richard Petty Motorsports is in the process of finding a new home for next season after the facility it currently uses in Concord, N.C., has been sold, a team spokesman confirmed. RPM, which fields two fulltime Sprint Cup Series teams [#s 9 & 43], is currently housed on Zephyr Place NW near the Concord Regional Airport. The organization moved to its current location from Statesville, N.C., in 2010. The organization is in the process of looking at several different facilities, team officials confirmed.(Charlotte Observer)(10-18-2014)

[mabarker1]

• Kenseth and Hamlin don't regret actions at Charlotte:
  Are you disappointed or regret your actions from last weekend?
  Kenseth: "None of it -- you never want to get into confrontations, at least I don't. I like to avoid them. I'm definitely not built for fighting and it's not really in my genes -- not something I ever really want to do, but I guess everybody has their breaking point. Last week was bad enough to run bad all night and to be frustrated and then get two tires and get towards the front and Brad (Keselowski) clearly saw me roll outside of him and he hung a right on purpose and ran me right into the wall and ruined my night and possibly took us out of Chase contention. So, I was mad enough about that and then to come down afterwards and have your stuff off and your net down and come and pull those high school stunts playing car wars after the race was just absolutely unacceptable. That definitely put me over the edge. I don't regret my actions. I'm not proud of them or happy about them or any of that, but I don't regret them. I don't know that I would do anything different if the same thing went down again."
  Were you expecting a fine from NASCAR?
  Kenseth: "I was not. You never know, but I think that in the past if you go in there and first of all it was not a planned action and I didn't go in there with fists flying or anything else like that. I just really wanted to get to him (Brad Keselowski) I guess, I'm not sure what I wanted to do when I got there, but I wasn't really expecting one. It was obvious I didn't really have a plan right?"
  Do you regret any of the actions from Saturday night at Charlotte?
  Hamlin: "I really didn't do anything. Honestly, I gave him (Brad Keselowski) a brake check down the backstretch, but besides that I didn't do anything. My team guys wouldn't let me do anything -- that was kind of a bummer. The only thing I was trying to do in the garage and even on pit road was just box him in so I could get to him before his team guys got there. I didn't ram into him on pit road or anything like that, if you watch I just kept trying to box him in to where he couldn't go anywhere and I talked to Brad and told him that. I don't regret anything and I really didn't feel like I did anything wrong. Obviously, from the penalties NASCAR didn't feel like I did either."
  Did you hit Brad Keselowski in the garage?
  Hamlin: "No, I boxed him (Brad Keselowski) in and he was in a position where he knew he was boxed in and he wanted to get out very quickly so that's when he got into our right front and spun the tires."(Toyota Racing)(10-18-2014)

[mabarker1]

UPDATE: Terry Labonte, two-time NASCAR premier series champion, will attempt his last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Talladega Superspeedway in the GEICO 500. "I told (owner Frank Stoddard) at the beginning of the year this was going to be my last season, which I told him that last year, too, so this is about the third time I've run my last race," Labonte said. "But I told him at the beginning of the year this would be my last season...It's been fun. It's been exciting. I still love the sport. I wish I was 10 years younger."(NASCAR.com)(10-18-2014)

[mabarker1]

• Coverage of Qualifying for the GEICO 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 4:40pm/et.
  Television (TV): ESPNEWS, 4:30pm/et
  Radio: Live online at Motor Racing Network (MRN)
  Scheduled Qualifying Re-Air: none

[Chode]

i take it they are not made of titanium

[mabarker1]

No Titanium allowed in NASCAR to My knowledge. It gets scratched and breaks, kinda line scoring glass.

Maybe they should try carbon fiber.

I want to know just what areo changes they get be moving the engine.

[Chode]

i did not know that... as to the aero, good question

[mabarker1]

line=like

[mabarker1]

It SPAWNED!!!

Congrats to Kyle & Samantha Busch: #18-Kyle Busch and wife Samantha announced on Twitter Saturday that Samantha is pregnant and expecting the couple's first child in May 2015.(10-18-2014)

[mabarker1]

To the Back: #20-Kenseth (engine change)

Cup Q has started.

Another Mexican Standoff.

[mabarker1]

Talladega Superspeedway

(NASCAR Statistics)

How are pit stall's chosen? by qualifying results, the 1st choose their stall and so on.
If a car/driver has to go to the rear of the field before the start of the race due to driver change, backup car,
engine/transmission change, etc they do NOT lose their pit stall selection

[mabarker1]

Starting Lineup

[mabarker1]

Go FAS Racing forced to change #32 paint scheme: Retiring Sprint Cup driver Terry Labonte isn't into sentimental talk of his last race, and when he saw a tribute paint scheme with various colors to commemorate some of his past rides, he said it was cool but also quick to crack a joke. "If I had known they were going to do a paint job, I would have told them after (this was my last race)," Labonte said Friday with a laugh at Talladega Superspeedway. The Go FAS Racing team had hoped to surprise Labonte with the scheme Friday but then opted to tell him earlier in the week - because Labonte isn't a big fan of surprises. Among the tributes was a driver side that has red-and-yellow colors of his Kellogg's paint scheme (his 1996 championship), and a passenger side that is light blue to commemorate his Piedmont Airlines ride (his 1984 championship). Labonte apparently wasn't the only one surprised. NASCAR has a fairly long-standing rule that the cars must have the same colors on both the driver side and passenger side of the car. The rule is designed for safety reasons so drivers, spotters and NASCAR officials don't get confused. Various sponsors, wanting to promote two different products on a race car, have been denied permission to split the car side-to-side. Front and back can be different colors but side-to-side is a no-no and must be the same color.(Sporting News)(10-19-2014)

[mabarker1]

• Gibson will return to Stewart-Haas: Danica Patrick's crew chief is not going anywhere. Tony Gibson tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he has a contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing. Gibson came on board as crew chief for Patrick for the last two races during her 10-race partial Sprint Cup schedule in 2012. Since then, he's been the only crew chief she's had in her two full-time seasons in NASCAR's top series. With Gibson, Patrick won the Coors Light Pole Award for the season-opening Daytona 500 in 2013. Together, they have four top-10 finishes together and he has overseen Danica's gradual growth this season. Gibson has three Sprint Cup victories, all atop the pit box for Ryan Newman from 2010-12 during that driver's tenure with Stewart-Haas. He made his crew chief debut in NASCAR's top series at the 1994 season finale for veteran Jimmy Hensley. Gibson has also worked with Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin among others.(NASCAR Illustrated)(10-19-2014)