Kyle Merkel

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@DaleJr American Life - Primus

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 What it sounds like is that dominating the first half of the season and then being very good, but not dominant the second half should be rewarded less in your mind than being butt cheeks the first 3/4th of the season and then dominant the last 1/4th.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 “Backing into a championship” by vastly outperforming RedBull in the first 3/4 of the season is crazy work. Why even have a season? Why not just have some long test sessions so teams can dial everything in then just have a 5 race season with hopefully all bugs worked out for you?

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 This isn’t just about “bad things happen”. It’s about ability to recover. More chances to claw back or for other drivers to stumble themselves. Sometimes the competition is too good all year for drivers come back from mistakes. Sometimes they can. It’s the beauty of a season.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 Except that a one race finale is/was forced by the sanctioning body to be the end all be all because they said so for the sake of “excitement” vs getting intentionally wrecked on the last lap of the 500 is not condoned and will probably earn a suspension by the sanctioning body.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 Negatives are a part of the sport. Taking the gut punch out of the ramifications of a bad finish makes the season’s “high highs” not near as high and the “low lows” not so low. Just to then make the highs through the roof and lows through the floor for only the final 5 races.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@mstallknecht41 @John_Mahaffey6 Wouldn’t a points restructure mostly solve this with a much larger points gap from Race Winner to 2nd than what we have now? ie. 100 to 1st, 70 to 2nd for 30% gap compared to current 40 to 1st, 35 to 2nd for 12.5% gap.
Worth the risk to go for wins.
Still awards consistency.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@jeff_gluck Well Jim France pretty much said that O’Donnell is a liar on the stand when answering questions about his reaction to the Heather Gibbs letter. O’Donnell may not fully deserve it, but the decision maker threw him under the bus.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@bobpockrass BOB! NASCAR has settled! The war is over! You can stop working! Please go to sleep!

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@jeff_gluck I would say that although NASCAR fans will get into it with each other or media in the comment section over their ideas, a lot do not want to get into a verbal discourse with media on said media’s platform. Also, polls are mostly anonymous. “Silent majority”.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@BoziTatarevic @MattWeaverRA Is that a different rear spoiler too? I can’t tell.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@IceTitan80 100 points to the winner, 75 for 2nd. If the winner got no stage points and 2nd won both stages, points at the end of the race would 100 to winner, 95 to second… except at the Coca-Cola 600 of course.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@sharpe56 @Jordan_Bianchi So that the team won’t care about the races for the next nine weeks and only focus on setting up the championship race car?

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@miseryintheland @JohnNewby_ @jeff_gluck @SiriusXMNASCAR Yep. 15 spots at most, 12 being ideal. Plus more points to start for Regular Season Champ and wins. Would be 5+ drivers mathematically eligible in the final race every year and it wouldn’t be forced like the current format.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@Mikep78Mike7008 @SnackhouseRacin @jeff_gluck Reset the score to 0-0 at the beginning of the final round in boxing and say “the previous rounds don’t matter. Win this one to win the whole thing. Also, there will be 3 dozen other boxers also throwing punches, but they don’t get the belt even if they knock you out”.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@SnackhouseRacin @jeff_gluck One would happen naturally and the other because NASCAR forces it to happen… yeah. Fairly big difference.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@SnackhouseRacin @jeff_gluck With how close the cars all are now with this NextGen car, the points battle would come down to the final race more often than not. I believe there would have been 5 drivers all mathematically eligible in the final race last year if it were full season points.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@Michael95494331 @_1017__ @Jordan_Bianchi I don’t care if us fans know. I do care if the teams know since they are in a business relationship that involves revenue sharing while NASCAR is telling the teams how they are allowed to spend money while also getting a large amount themselves.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@Michael95494331 @Jordan_Bianchi They can’t pass each other when they’re all at full throttle in this car. It’s follow the leader unless they get turned from the guy behind. It’s not even racing now. It’s a shoving match to see who can push the guy in front of them ahead by an inch. Maybe one day they’ll fix it.

[Kyle Merkel @Kyle_Merkel_]

@_1017__ @Michael95494331 @Jordan_Bianchi No kidding. They’ll do all they can to hide it