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Didn't watch much this weekend, but it's cool to see Truex win it.

Happy that Jr was able to finish this race too.

I wonder what the fall out would have been had Truex not won the championship, the day after France made those comments about the sport.

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What comments?

Get a kick out of all the talking heads and internet people saying "the right guy won" aka the guy who had the best overall season. It's an admission that the chase is ridiculous and we all got lucky here that nothing stupid happened to cost the 78 the title.

The same people last year all shouted "jimmie is just as deserving as anyone." So which is it?

It's whichever one fits reality best.

I don't think anybody here really liked that Jimmie won last year, or at least not the way he won it. But I guess we may not be the "internet people" you're referring too, and while I don't remember the reaction elsewhere last year it wouldn't surprise me if that was the response.

Correct, was talking about internet journalists and twitter folks.

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ALPINE SKIING CRASHES SPREADSHEET

When your opposition is comprised of Logano, Ky Busch and Edwards I suppose it's not too difficult to win the popularity stakes

Happy that the right man won. Just can't put my finger on their success though. Pretty sure no one can say they ever thought of Truex as a grade-A driver until the past couple of miraculous years with Furniture Row. I always had him pegged as a Dale jr level talent, as in, good but not great. So if it's the car, how the heck is FR consistently out-doing JGR at their own game? With the window to operate so small these days, adjustments are key, so perhaps Cole Pearn is the next Chad Knaus.

P.S. I always supported Danica's presence just for the sole purpose that there will be more female race fans but she went out pretty much the only way people will remember her. Someone driving way over her head trying to make up for lack of the talent you need for justifying the kind of top rides she's been in.

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They were best at 1.5 mile tracks.

To think Furniture Row was barely hanging on with washed-up chumps like Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek just a decade ago....

So 2nd at Martinsville and 3rd at Phoenix doesn't count? Yes, 1.5 milers 'are' present-day NASCAR and hence my question, how did they out-do their parent team on such a consistent basis? Martin was never an A-grade driver for almost a decade yet suddenly he's right up there with the Kyle Busches and Jimmie Johnsons on a consistent basis. And I'm not just going by the rides he was in before this. You can always tell when it's the driver and when it's the car. I'm pretty sure no one in the past decade would have said Martin would be capable of the kind of performances he's put in the past two years even if you'd put him in a top car yet here he is. I'm happy for him as he's not a douche but quite mystified at the same time.

Who are you comparing him to that has shown talent despite midpack equipment? Today a driver can only perform to the potential of their car and team; the Harry Gant and Neil Bonnett days are long gone. A driver can still be a waste of good equipment (see Patrick, Danica) but in terms of winning it's 90% equipment regardless of who you're talking about.

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Wanted to thank all you guys for the support over the last two weekends, I really appreciated it.

Couldn't have had a more challenging weekend than this last weekend at Homestead. As mentioned on the first page, we lost a motor in first practice and only got 7 laps on track all day. Qualifying was alright, I think we ended up 23rd. The new motor was an SB2 and quite a bit under powered than the primary motor, just a factor of racing with a limited budget.

During the race I lost all radio communication with my spotter about lap 5. At the end of the first stage we came down pit road and tried to swap radios, my crew couldn't get the new one connected in time, I thought I had beaten the pace truck off pit road but I hadn't. Kept digging and ended up getting held a lap for passing the PT. End of the 2nd stage we still couldn't get radio communication so we decided to stick it out. Lost a few laps under green from sitting on pit road. Talk about a stressful first 1.5 mile race having no spotter. Stuck to the high line and just held it.

Daytona in February.

Dumb question but since you're obviously not in the KBM equipment or whatever, what issue is the biggest deterant to making a low budget team faster? Engine? Chassis? Aero? Suspension? you get the drill. Like what do the top like say 12-15 truck have that the smaller teams can add to make the biggest improvement?

I'd say its engine mainly.

Take an extreme example like Norm Benning, who is probably 3-4 seconds slower everywhere. I wonder how his engine would go on the dyno compared to Bell's.

It would probably blow up

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In order from biggest factor to least, at least with our team:

1.Engine 2.Chassis 3.Aero

With the new spec ILMOR coming into play next year, you're going to see a HUGE closing of the gap between us and the top teams. BUT this passed season: When we lost the motor in practice on Friday it was a Childress motor, which is just as competitive as TRD and such. The backup motor was a standard run of the mill Chevy SB2. A lot less attention to detail in those, but also a lot more budget friendly. Still, horsepower is the most important thing. Close battle with the chassis department though.

Chassis wise, the truck I had at Phoenix as well as Homestead was an ex NTS/Turner-Scott chassis with a KBM front clip on it. Call it a Frankenstein truck if you will. Since Keselowski joined, he's been trying to get a more consistent inventory of chassis. There are 18 trucks in the shop right now including Cole Custer's #00 from Canadian Tire in 2016 (photo finish with JHN) 4 of Stewart Freisen's trucks from earlier in the year before he jumped ship to GMS. Several more Turner-Scott trucks and a couple mix matched trucks that have been clipped numerous times. --- Consistently having the same chassis manufacturer in house makes it a lot easier with set up. Each one of those trucks now will be a different animal on the track.

Thankfully they have a great fabricator in house, young kid that's with "the times" and aero wise we are just as good as the best of the teams. Confident we can go into Daytona and not worry about drag, as well as Michigan and the other aero-sensitive tracks like Texas/Kentucky.