Race #9: Phoenix International Raceway (13Dec17)

[Hootius]

 

Sponsor this circuit for only $2.95 USD​

 ​

[circuit_3][/circuit_3]​

Race Length: 78 Laps (Stage 1: 20 Laps... Stage 2: 58 Laps)
Race Name in Game: Can-Am 500

 

[Hootius]

**Pre-Race Interview**
1. Phoenix is on the docket this week. Thoughts on this track?

2. Hoot and Zeke are in the Championship 4. Who will be the other 2 drivers to join them?

3. What are your thoughts of Petty jumping in with Childress and going to Chevy? Good move? Desperate move? Necessary move?

 

[Meattyloaf]

1. Not a fan of this track

2. Sean and War

3. I think it was a desperate move. Who is wanting to sponsor an organization in which the owner goes out and makes comments such as he has. Honestly surprised anyone wanted to sponsor RPM after his falling out with Smithfield, or his comments he made about Danica a few years back. His team has been terrible and for him to have made such idiotic moves with his team running the way it is, is career suicide. I've always thought of Richard as being overrated and being an asshat so I don't have much respect for the guy. Real easy to win 200 races when to there were literally 50 races a season and you got to pick and choose a handful of races you wanted to be in or not and against 10-15 guys making up the entire field that were way underfunded compared to his.

 

[Hootius]

1. Phoenix is on the docket this week. Thoughts on this track?
Hate how the 2nd game in a row they can not get the car handling good enough to handle Turn 1 entry, just doesn't make it fun. If there was a way to do 10)% default, we would.

2. Hoot and Zeke are in the Championship 4. Who will be the other 2 drivers to join them?
Sean has a big enough points gap that he should be in. War has done the best at Phoenix compared to the rest, so I think he'll be the last one in.

3. What are your thoughts of Petty jumping in with Childress and going to Chevy? Good move? Desperate move? Necessary move?
All of the above. RPM needed something and Childress is stale. 

 

[nickmichaud]

1. Really enjoying Phoenix. Thinking I have a realistic shot at the win with my consistent speed there.
2. War and Sean. Unless Kdawg can win to bump one of them out.
3. I really like this move for Petty. Chevy is making great changes and I think the camaros are going to improve the aero on these cars. Too be in an alliance with Childress is pretty cool aswell. 2 guys that go back a long ways and have contributed so much to the history of nascar. Bubba is a hell of a driver and really deserves thus opportunity . It's always awesome to see the historic '43' or '21' in victory lane. Hoping it happens this season!

 

[ZeKe_h30]

I'm afraid of turn 1, every time, all the time. Every race.

Hard to say. No one is ever locked in on points. We could see anything from a late race crash, pit mistakes, DC's, you name it. Never know till the fat lady sings. Myself though, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this race, and do my best to stay out of the way of what might be a close finish for that cut line.

I don't really have a reaction to this I guess. If the 43 car starts winning races, I suppose that would be cool, but it kind of just seems like business as always.

 

[Sean420cali]

1. Phoenix is on the docket this week. Thoughts on this track?

I hate turn 1 lol. Why they made the pit wall extend out for the video game is beyond me. I love the close racing this track brings though.

2. Hoot and Zeke are in the Championship 4. Who will be the other 2 drivers to join them?

I am more focused on the 10 point gap on Hootie for the real championship to be honest. But I do wanna make the final four as well I believe I will comfortably get in, unless some freak thing happens. War will get the other spot unless Kdawg pulls the win out.


3. What are your thoughts of Petty jumping in with Childress and going to Chevy? Good move? Desperate move? Necessary
move?

I think it's more of a lateral move at the moment. JTG has RCR affiliation and you see where their cars are running. It's all about the money though like always. Maybe they improve but I don't see them ever winning races.

 

[XSYSE]

1.  Hating this track I feel so slow and will have a hard time here.
2. I think there's enough of a gap for 3 and 4 to get in.
3.  They are not getting it done alone, wht not pool resources and maybe get something going

 

[Sassafrass_3]

1. Phoenix is on the docket this week. Thoughts on this track?
I love Phoenix. Car feels good in practice but turn 1 is difficult to hit the same each time around. My times are consistent but I'm sure I'm a half second off as usual. Fingers crossed for a top 10.

2. Hoot and Zeke are in the Championship 4. Who will be the other 2 drivers to join them?
I'm rooting for Kdawg to get the win and in. If not I'm sure it will be Sean and War.

3. What are your thoughts of Petty jumping in with Childress and going to Chevy? Good move? Desperate move? Necessary move?
Necessary, desperate move. I hope it goes well cause I like Bubba.

 

[Meattyloaf]

Q:11th
I felt I gave it what I had. With Hootie dealing with personal matters I didn't want to bug him for a setup or for help with one so I came up with one based a little off of his setup here last season.

R:10th
I felt we had an overall good race. Had a lot of two to three wide action at times and the race only seen 3 cautions. I was definitely being a little more aggressive tonight then probably what I have shown since joining PRL, but I felt the setup I had was quick and was able to hold a line better than most, that is until the tires started going away. I played a gamble and was lucky enough to catch a break at the end of the 1st stage as I elected not to pit and moved up from last to 5th on the restart during the stage. Honestly, if we went another lap or two I would've probably had fallen to 6th or 7th as War was about to pass me at the line when the caution came out. I ran as high as 3rd during that stint but not having any wheels left hurt me and I slide back to 5th. After the stage I pitted and came out 10th I would work my way back up to 7th before green flag stops, then I would work my way up to 6th on the next cycle before falling back to 8th over the next cycle. I most likely would've finished 6th or 7th but I tried my luck one to many times and caused a caution when I tried a crossover pass on the 10 I didn't clear her in time before entering the turn slide up as my wheels had been ran off by this point trying to catch Action and made contact spinning us both. During this I feel to 9th but lost a lap and was passed by another lap car locking me a lap down. I was really aggressive on the restart to prevent my self from falling to 10th and was running with the top 5 cars till I backed it down a little to prevent myself from sliding. Doing this caused me to get involved in another accident between two lead lap cars, sparking the notorious short track big one, and I fell to 10th as a result. Overall I felt I had a good race if I cleaned it up a little no doubt I could've finished 6th or 7th if not better.

 

[ZeKe_h30]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbzN2Z8u0wI&list=PLTw-LwNfsnNZUVp4riPp8XNqzoqsrI5cv&index=9

 

[vWardude]

Q: 3rd


The track wasn’t there for me during practice but I finally got it to click in the pre race practice. I took down the 3rd fastest lap and was pretty confident I would gain more speed in the race.

R: 3rd


The race started well, I was battling back and forth for positions during the stage race. Once we got past the stage and hit that first pit stop, I was rolling. The car fully clicked and I got into a smooth rhythm. Around lap 45, about halfway through, I took the lead after working my way up the field and was gaining a tenth or two each lap on 2nd. The field had nothing for me at this point. We had a solid 40 laps of green flag running where the only time I lost the lead was after pit exit due a high 16 second pit stop. I quickly gained that lead back. Unfortunately a meaningless caution came out with 5 to go when I had gained over a second and a half lead, resulting in a restart in which I cut down by Sean and the win yanked from me. I guess when it comes down to it, it’s my fault for racing like my chosen line would be respected. This win got stolen from me and I’m not happy about it, shit like that really takes the fun away from this.

 

[Sean420cali]

Q: 3rd


The track wasn’t there for me during practice but I finally got it to click in the pre race practice. I took down the 3rd fastest lap and was pretty confident I would gain more speed in the race.

R: 3rd


The race started well, I was battling back and forth for positions during the stage race. Once we got past the stage and hit that first pit stop, I was rolling. The car fully clicked and I got into a smooth rhythm. Around lap 45, about halfway through, I took the lead after working my way up the field and was gaining a tenth or two each lap on 2nd. The field had nothing for me at this point. We had a solid 40 laps of green flag running where the only time I lost the lead was after pit exit due a high 16 second pit stop. I quickly gained that lead back. Unfortunately a meaningless caution came out with 5 to go when I had gained over a second and a half lead, giving Sean the chance to do what he does best when he has nothing for a faster driver, take them out. I guess when it comes down to it, it’s my fault for racing like my chosen line would be respected because on the way to his championship, he’s shoved every driver out of his way. This win got stolen from me and I’m not happy about it, **** like that really takes the fun away from this.

Dude, we just talked for the last three hours worked everything out. I apologized for the contact I owned up to misjudging the space I had. even wanted Hootie to give you my points and you can put me for 3rd if you want. You said you might have come off as a **** to me but if I had the season you were having I would understand. I told you all I can do is hone my craft and work on that stuff. We had squashed it and were even joking around.  What is this?

 

[vWardude]

Q: 3rd


The track wasn’t there for me during practice but I finally got it to click in the pre race practice. I took down the 3rd fastest lap and was pretty confident I would gain more speed in the race.

R: 3rd


The race started well, I was battling back and forth for positions during the stage race. Once we got past the stage and hit that first pit stop, I was rolling. The car fully clicked and I got into a smooth rhythm. Around lap 45, about halfway through, I took the lead after working my way up the field and was gaining a tenth or two each lap on 2nd. The field had nothing for me at this point. We had a solid 40 laps of green flag running where the only time I lost the lead was after pit exit due a high 16 second pit stop. I quickly gained that lead back. Unfortunately a meaningless caution came out with 5 to go when I had gained over a second and a half lead, giving Sean the chance to do what he does best when he has nothing for a faster driver, take them out. I guess when it comes down to it, it’s my fault for racing like my chosen line would be respected because on the way to his championship, he’s shoved every driver out of his way. This win got stolen from me and I’m not happy about it, **** like that really takes the fun away from this.

Dude, we just talked for the last three hours worked everything out. I apologized for the contact I owned up to misjudging the space I had. even wanted Hootie to give you my points and you can put me for 3rd if you want. You said you might have come off as a **** to me but if I had the season you were having I would understand. I told you all I can do is hone my craft and work on that stuff. We had squashed it and were even joking around.  What is this?

This post was before our talk. Our talk doesn’t change the way I feel about your driving and how you have drove all season, you will have to change that for me to feel different about how you drive on the track which you say you will work on so we will go from there.

 

[vWardude]

https://youtu.be/eJhLxJVBEKE

 

[nickmichaud]

Q: 5th. Felt I was in contention for a pole. Didn't get the lap in. Still satisfied.
F: 2nd. Best chance at a win ever. Won stage, led laps. Gave up too much time in the final run as I got hit by Danica twice and have up 9 seconds t9 the leaders. Capitalized on a last turn battle with Sean and war to finish 2nd

 

[XSYSE]

I made the same error in judgement I had done before, I gambled on pit road and it initially worked, for 4th with an 8 sec. gap. We got the caution and I decided to hold on for dear life and not relent my position. I ended up spinning. The best call would have been to take my loss and move over or drop back knowing I didnt have the tires. Bad judgement.