Ross Chastain

[zerofor]

And you know about the sponsorship money. Some get it and some don't. I don't think the amount of sponsor money speaks of talent.I've seen a lot of highly sponsored cars that couldn't race their way out of the hauler.That speaks more to how connected you are rather than talent.

[zerofor]

Bubba Wallace is moving to the #43 to replace Aric Almirola until Aric is recovered from his injuries... Great move by RP Motorsports and a good deal for Bubba because Roush is shutting down the #6 Xfinity team after Pocono due to lack of sponsorship... Bubba gats his chance, so let's see what he can do with it... One of the best personalities in NASCAR right now...

I've been on the fence about him not for sure if talent got him to where he is now or NASCAR's diversity program. But he had a strong run in the Petty car last weekend just missing the top ten.It was good to see for both.Maybe Petty will field a two car team next year and find him some sponsor money. If Roush can't find sponsor money for him in Xfinity maybe Petty could.

[elmer]

You really think Chastain has more talent than Preece?
That's one hell of a stretch to say that a guy who won a couple times in Florida Trucks, is better than a guy who regularly wins on the Modified Tour...
Daddy's money got one of them their ride, and it isn't Preece.
Ryan has a great network of sponsors that believe in his talent and are willing to put their support behind him. He stepped back from NASCAR because he knew that team wasn't capable of winning, and that winning is the only way to get the attention of owners whose cars ARE capable of winning.
Ross is a pay-to-play racer.... Ryan is a hired, paid professional.
Zero comparison on talent levels.

Just look at their finishes each week. Chastain finishes in front of him pretty much every week, in the same sub par equipment as Preece. The facts are in the results. Yes Chastain's daddy has a lot of money and Chastain did have a truck ride with Keselowski a few years ago. But that only lasted one season due to lack of sponsorship. I'm not saying he's the next Richard Petty, but I would like to see him get a chance in top notch equipment.

[zerofor]

And what I have seen Chastain race in has never been a top notch ride.When he was racing locally his equipment was fast but sure as hell didn't look top notch or what I would call state of the art.It mainly looked like something built in the garage out behind the house.When I saw Preece at New Smyrna that car appearance wise looked like a big money car.The only fair comparison between the two is last season racing two cars from the same stable running the same tracks.The road courses are a great equalizer and Chastains finishes there were pretty decisive over Preece there too.I wish Brad would have found him sponsor money to continue in the trucks.He never even got a complete season in that truck since Brad drove it several times that season and Dave Blaney drove it at Eldora.

[Mark Keeler]

The Chastain Florida Pro-Truck may have looked underfunded in "appearance" but that was all. I like Ross, watched and called a lot of his Pro-Truck races. Have also covered Preece's career an equal amount. As someone who lives in Charlotte, works in the sport and has seen a whole different side of this sport I can tell you two things that are Fact...

1. They were not in "equal" equipment despite coming out the same stable. Ross' car had a full-time team of employees (albeit smaller than the 'big' teams) that built, maintained and set up his Xfinity cars. While Ryan did more work on his Own Xfinity car than anyone. And did not have the same "team" support or even base equipment.

2. Ryan did not have any "family sponsorship" that pushed him into and funded his prior Truck experience or backed any of his Xfinity rides.

And now for one Opinion... in true "Equal" equipment, I would take Preece against Chastain any day and against 80% of the other Xfinity drivers in the garage on any given race day.

And please don't take any of this as a knock on Ross. I really like him as a person and a driver and have been impressed with everything he has done and how far he has gone on the path he has taken. But at the end of the day, Preece's "talent" combined with his knowledge and ability to work on and set up cars can not be understated.

Just realize that just because two cars roll out of the same garage, they can be far from "equal". Many of the smaller teams (same thing at BK Racing in Cup) have their "primary" car and one or two "hand me down" just get them on the track, cars. And it has nothing to do with talent on who gets what... it is 100% dependent on what money is brought to sit in which seat. Hell I know drivers that go to the track with the same team... One car brought $1,000,000. in sponsorship and for full team support, full crew, better car, while the other only brought $500k and had to be his own crew chief throughout practice and qualifying and only had an "official" one for the race because NASCAR required it on paper... and that was in Cup just this year. And that is all 100% fact. Same driver got chastised by team for actually "racing" into the top 25 which they felt put the car at too much risk because that car was "built to finish 25th or worse" and the team had no interest in doing better with it because it had a better (funded) car that was there to "carry the team colors". And the "$500k" car was being driven by a driver who has a dozen KN Wins and a championship, ARCA Wins and a handful of Late Model and Modified wins, while "$1M" seat held a driver with a career best 2nd place KN finish and not a Single win in lower divisions.

I'll reiterate, I've seen a whole different side to this "sport" in the two years I've been in Charlotte that would turn most people off to the NASCAR product in the upper three levels for good.

[zerofor]

And I will give a big attaboy to Preece for setting up his own stuff

But those days in NASCAR are over.The days when a guy like Kulwicki,Rudd,Waltrip,owned their own single car teams and did a lot of the setup themselves that is. And the differences in the equipment within an individual team has existed forever.If you have ever heard Mario Andretti tell the story about the motors he got the year he won Daytona.I will give you the fact that for all I know the car Preece ran last year was the worst,most bent up,used up car that team had.And head to head as I noted in an earlier posting in this thread it was kind of remarkable how close together a lot of their finishes throughout last year were.But it is a case of the old IROC series.On the surface all the cars are presumed to be equal but are they really? I just like the way Chastain stacks up head to head based solely on DRIVING.Neither one will be turning wrenches on the car once the green flag drops.

[Phil Jacques]

But those days in NASCAR are over.The days when a guy like Kulwicki,Rudd,Waltrip,owned their own single car teams and did a lot of the setup themselves that is. And the differences in the equipment within an individual team has existed forever.If you have ever heard Mario Andretti tell the story about the motors he got the year he won Daytona.I will give you the fact that for all I know the car Preece ran last year was the worst,most bent up,used up car that team had.And head to head as I noted in an earlier posting in this thread it was kind of remarkable how close together a lot of their finishes throughout last year were.But it is a case of the old IROC series.On the surface all the cars are presumed to be equal but are they really? I just like the way Chastain stacks up head to head based solely on DRIVING.Neither one will be turning wrenches on the car once the green flag drops.

Something you are being EXTREMELY ignorant about is experience. Going into last year, Chastain had twice the experience Preece had. He was seeing some of those tracks for the 4th and 5th time in cars he was familiar with. Preece was seeing them for the 1st or 2nd time in a lot of cases with a new team and car to him. For an open wheel modified guy that is use to a 2650lb car with close to the same power and twice the tire of an Xfinity car, there's going to be a big adjustment period. In the second half of 2016 after he had visited, even though the finishes didn't show it, Ryan out ran Ross almost every race. Blown engines, parts failures and a terrible pit crew cost him a number of good finishes as well as being punted off the track in the final laps running a solid 3rd at one of the road courses IN THE RAIN. Look at how they ran during the race, not the finishes at the end of the day. The driver can't control failures and mishaps on pit road, so if you are really going to debate who the better driver is, let's look at the reality of the situation.

Ryan will absolutely drive circles around Ross any damn day of the week and he will prove that this weekend at NHMS.

[zerofor]

Not ignorant about the experience part Phil but I hadn't mentioned it and it is a factor. The pit crews for all the cars on that team are a throwback to the seventys,they have to be friends,cousins,and guys needing to get away from home.They go in running twelfth and come out running twenty fifth.But that is every car on that team.They ain't getting any help on pit road.But think about it Phil that experience level thing may be part of the reason I feel Chastain has the edge.You said it yourself,Preece only just started to get a feel for those tracks as he was learning the feel of a full body car versus the open wheel mod.Time may give Preece that edge but the seat time still needs to come.Next year will show a lot more even though it once again won't be a level field since Preece will be bringing a big gun to the track for Gibbs and Chastain will have a squirt gun with Davis.This has been a good thread.Maybe there is still interest in NASCAR after all.Who would have thought that?

[Mark Keeler]

Your contention that the drivers ability to setup and even work on and in some cases build the car in today's NASCAR is sadly mistaken. And your point of Chastain not having the edge on pit crew is also representative of your lack of actual knowledge to the reality of the situation.

I will state again that I am a Chastain fan and have followed him closely for the last 18 years... but if you put actual Fact up against Opinion, you would have to be completely blind to think that Ross is the better Driver. Again, comparing actual Facts of their vastly different situations vs personal opinion.

And I will reiterate that seeing the 'sport' (at the upper tiers) from the inside vs the couch/grandstands will open anyone's eyes to the facts of what they think they are watching on FOX or NBC. The reality vs show is laughable in most cases. And is the biggest reason why I chose a career that keeps in "short-track" racing as opposed to the alternative.

[Phil Jacques]

Zerofor...

If Ross Chastain is so good as you seem to believe he is...

Tell me one thing...

Why didn't he get a chance with Gibbs?

[zerofor]

Mark once again I will say

I have no knocks against Preece,I know what he has done in the modified and I know the level of competition he has raced against.( it has been impressive) Once again I haven't ever been to Davis Racing's shops so I don't know for fact who's doing what or getting what.The race setup stuff is invaluable and I applaud a guy who can do it as its only going to make him better BUT he can't turn wrenches from behind the wheel and that's why I take that part out of the equation. The good news is next year is here NOW.Xfinity is currently practicing at Loud on and Preece is in a Gibbs car eighth fastest and Chastain is his usual twenty second quickest.If Chastain finishes ahead tomorrow you guys owe me a if Preece comes out on top I owe you guys one.But you have to come get yours.lol

[zerofor]

Zerofor...

If Ross Chastain is so good as you seem to believe he is...

Tell me one thing...

Why didn't he get a chance with Gibbs?

I said it earlier Phil.Preece had those mod tour wins.All Chastain has is some local wins,now five years in the past-- and some podium finishes in the trucks.A big money team wants to see those wins.They want to know you can seal the deal.In this case those tour wins proved invaluable to Preece.Wins are a big deal to a guy before he hands you the keys to his very expensive candy store.

[Phil Jacques]

How did Preece get a WMT ride then? His family didn't fund the ride in the historic #3 Bohler car... They also didn't fund the #16 Flamingo Motorsports Ride or the current #6 TS Haulers ride... But it must be all that daddy money.

Surely if Chastain was so good, he could have gotten a ride in PASS or something down south in some top notch rides with his Watermelon Money...



Just for the record, Preece sat 4th the majority of Xfinity practice barely .100 off the leader until others started doing mock Q runs...

[zerofor]

Phil your a new england guy you would know the answer to the first question better than me.I'm going to go out on a limb here (since I don't know much about Preece other than his tour mod wins) and say if he was a good set up guy and did a lot of his own shop work,somebody took notice of that.That's what moves you into better rides.Finishing. Finishing well and somebody seeing hey this guys doing this without a big race shop.On Chastain you make your choices.Could be he was offered a ride he turned down for reasons known only to him.It happens. It happened to me when I raced.I turned down a chance to get in a far better car than I had ever been in but I didn't want to step on the toes of someone I mistakenly called a friend. You make your decisions even if sometimes they are wrong.Now Preece is a talent I will say that. The tour wins spoke for that.He still needs another year under his belt to see all the tracks he only got a look or two at.Chastain has already been through it.

[Phil Jacques]