There is an entire group of NASCAR fans that believe with all their heart, a driver with a career average finish of 12.5 and never winning a race would have a much better career than a driver with an average finish of 14.7 and 50 career wins.

connor zilisch booty shorts is fucking insane

I think NASCAR is trying to tell us the math is mathing for the Hendrick 5

A new episode of "Hauler Talk" has just dropped. A few takeaways: -- NASCAR is saying that to get penalized for going below the double yellow line, a car must have the whole tire down there AND improve the position AND not be forced down there. So three things. -- In Kyle Larson's case, he didn't go below the yellow line (was on it), so it's a moot point. -- Austin Hill would likely have been black-flagged if he hadn't already finished as the last car on the lead lap. He was not forced below the line by Larson in Turn 2, NASCAR felt; Hill went down there himself AND improved his position. But they didn't call anything because the penalty would have put him right where he was. -- Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar went below the line but were not penalized because they were forced below the line by Todd Gilliland, NASCAR felt. -- NASCAR looked at penalizing Gilliland but it was inconclusive whether he forced them down there on purpose, so they didn't make a call (but they could have and it was close, apparently).

NASCAR's Mike Forde shared today on Hauler Talk that officials "probably" would have had to make a call on Austin Hill passing Kyle Larson in the event he had gone on to win Talladega. Hill ended up finishing as the last car on the lead lap anyway (which would've been the same result as if he had been black flagged), so a call was not made. In NASCAR's judgment, Hill went below the yellow line before he was ever pushed down there by Kyle Larson. There was also considerable discussion of whether Todd Gilliland should've been called for forcing Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar below the yellow line, though no call was made in the moment. On Hill: "The result would've been the same, he would've been the last car on the lead lap. We did not call that, essentially, for that reason. But that was one where there was discussion of if the 33 had won that race, would we have to take the win away. ... So that was probably a call we would've had to have made." on Gilliland: "In the moment, I think we said it was kind of inconclusive of whether he came down to block them, to keep them from passing the 34, so we made that a no call. I think that was the closest one. There was some discussion of 'man, maybe that's one where we should've potentially made a call there.' We chose not to in the moment, but there was more discussion around that one than any of the other ones that we made." In regards to further clarification on why there was no call on Kyle Larson and where things stand with the yellow line rule in general: "The tire has to go fully below the yellow line. So if there is even a half an inch that remains on that yellow line, we're not going to call a penalty. So in our judgment, we felt that was pretty clear. That's kind of where the conversation ends as far as NASCAR goes. It's 'do we feel that, were there tires below the yellow line? No? OK. That's it.'" ... "To get a penalty, almost three different things have to happen: You have to be below the yellow line, you have to improve your position, and then in our judgment did you get shoved down there."

Horrible comms. The officiating crew is as good as it has ever been, and it really shouldn't be up for debate.

A new episode of "Hauler Talk" has just dropped. A few takeaways: -- NASCAR is saying that to get penalized for going below the double yellow line, a car must have the whole tire down there AND improve the position AND not be forced down there. So three things. -- In Kyle Larson's case, he didn't go below the yellow line (was on it), so it's a moot point. -- Austin Hill would likely have been black-flagged if he hadn't already finished as the last car on the lead lap. He was not forced below the line by Larson in Turn 2, NASCAR felt; Hill went down there himself AND improved his position. But they didn't call anything because the penalty would have put him right where he was. -- Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar went below the line but were not penalized because they were forced below the line by Todd Gilliland, NASCAR felt. -- NASCAR looked at penalizing Gilliland but it was inconclusive whether he forced them down there on purpose, so they didn't make a call (but they could have and it was close, apparently).

If Toyota or ford only had one team eligible for the championship, they would have done the same shit and everyone knows it. Quit bitching

A new episode of "Hauler Talk" has just dropped. A few takeaways: -- NASCAR is saying that to get penalized for going below the double yellow line, a car must have the whole tire down there AND improve the position AND not be forced down there. So three things. -- In Kyle Larson's case, he didn't go below the yellow line (was on it), so it's a moot point. -- Austin Hill would likely have been black-flagged if he hadn't already finished as the last car on the lead lap. He was not forced below the line by Larson in Turn 2, NASCAR felt; Hill went down there himself AND improved his position. But they didn't call anything because the penalty would have put him right where he was. -- Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar went below the line but were not penalized because they were forced below the line by Todd Gilliland, NASCAR felt. -- NASCAR looked at penalizing Gilliland but it was inconclusive whether he forced them down there on purpose, so they didn't make a call (but they could have and it was close, apparently).