For EAGLE: Some history.

[E-A-G-L-E!]

With the one where the checkered flag came out late, I suppose they went by who was ahead at what should have been the last lap?  But what did they do for the one that it came out a lap early, let the race stand?

[MFAWG]

All 3 races scored as completed. The checkered flag is the official end of the race. If it comes out early, so be it.  Same holds if it comes out late. The very first thing they teach you is to obey all official commands, and if the flagman says the race is/isn't over, it doesn't matter what anyone 'Thinks'.

There's no other way to do it, as it's a manifestly unfair situation. It actually happens quite a bit at local tracks.

It's actually fairly easy to lose count even in a 25 or 30 lap feature, believe it or not.

[E-A-G-L-E!]

All 3 races scored as completed. The checkered flag is the official end of the race. If it comes out early, so be it.  Same holds if it comes out late. The very first thing they teach you is to obey all official commands, and if the flagman says the race is/isn't over, it doesn't matter what anyone 'Thinks'.

There's no other way to do it, as it's a manifestly unfair situation. It actually happens quite a bit at local tracks.

It's actually fairly easy to lose count even in a 25 or 30 lap feature, believe it or not.

Oh!  That really makes a lot of sense. 

I believe it; I know I lose count at about 2.

[E-A-G-L-E!]

History lesson started. By the Daytona 500 next season Ms. Eagle should be a bona fide card carrying NASCAR gear head.

Fine with me.   But I'm gonna need more than one lesson for that to happen.  So when is the next class period?

After history, will we get into the mechanics or will that be interwoven?  And I don't want "The Female Guide to Motorsports" version, either.

[E-A-G-L-E!]

When is the Daytona 500, anyway?   I know races aren't on a set date (at least, I think that's right), so is it on a particular Sunday in a particular month?

Maybe a small lesson on the order in which the races are run would be a good idea sometime...

[MFAWG]

Dayton 500 is February 17th, and the race will be 50 years old this year.

Unfortunately, alot of the fun has gone out of the week, because it's now an 'exempt' event, meaning that the 35 top teams from last year are guaranteed spots in the field.

In the past, they would qualify, take the top 10 from qualifying and then run 2 125 lap qualifiers on Thursday, with the remaining teams coming out of those. Basically, an open event to anybody that had a car.

Shame, really.

[stroh]

So the Gatorade twin 125's are gone?

[MFAWG]

No, they're still running them, but it's run to seat the field and they take a whopping 2 cars that aren't already otherwise exempt.

The top 35 exempt rule deeply sucks, IMHO. If MFAWG was King Of NASCAR, it would be top 20 exempt, 3 exemptions (most recent past champion driver and owner, defending event champion) and the other 20 spots made strictly on qualifying time, or better make 'em run 20 or 30 lap qualifiers EVERY week.

Too much driving around in circles, not enough racing going on out there.

Of course, I'd also pretty much dismantle the points system, but that's a different post.

[campy]

No, they're still running them, but it's run to seat the field and they take a whopping 2 cars that aren't already otherwise exempt.

The top 35 exempt rule deeply sucks, IMHO. If MFAWG was King Of NASCAR, it would be top 20 exempt, 3 exemptions (most recent past champion driver and owner, defending event champion) and the other 20 spots made strictly on qualifying time, or better make 'em run 20 or 30 lap qualifiers EVERY week.

Too much driving around in circles, not enough racing going on out there.

Of course, I'd also pretty much dismantle the points system, but that's a different post.

I'd personally like to see NASCAR get rid of the provisional system altogether and let the fastest 43 cars race on Sunday.  I know it would never work, but to me it would make things a little fairer, and it would add a little bit of strategy as far as how you go about setting up the car in practice...qualifying or race setup wise.  Of course impound races screw with this, and it would make for *feces*tier racing if all 43 cars were in qualifying trim during those races.

[MFAWG]

Fastest 43 in has a nice philosophical ring to it, but in practice car owners need to be able to protect their sponsors in the event of a poor qualifying effort or worse, (and it does happen) a qualifying accident. In general, we're not talking the week of qualifying that happens at Daytona and Charlotte, but essentially a 1 or 2 day event.

Racing in through actual (GASP) races would take care of the practice of 'Qualifying Trim' quite nicely without the need for the moronic impound rules as well.

Take the car off the hauler Saturday morning, practice for an hour, run a 2 hour support series event, qualify for 2 hours and go straight into 2 30 minute qualifying events.