Despite finishing with a very damaged car (will have to watch the replay, got tagged a couple times from out of the blue around lap 50), I had a great time. I was happy to see just how much equal footing everyone had in this race. Stewart has definitely 'clicked' when it comes to oval racing and was a front-runner all day. Congrats to Lugnut who got Pole and came from behind for the win. Bummer for Darren, who had a disco when he was doing so well (as usual).

I was enjoying my time at the front of the pack, watching again how Darren lags the field to stay out of trouble. Good strategy, although with the 2011 mod you quickly get left behind if you tail off behind the field - then you have to hope for a caution. I thought running up front was the other safe strategy, until I bumped Birdski just the wrong way out of turn 4 and turned him 'round. That put Karma against me, and sure enough I got massively tagged a few laps after the restart on lap 50. Not enough to cause a caution, but enough to permanently slow my car into the 'uncompetitive' class. After that my car couldn't stay in a drafting pack - heck, non-drafting cars could pass me while I was drafting someone else!

Stewart and I almost had a coup on the field with a short-pit, go-for-broke strategy, but alas I gooned it away with a spin on pit exit due to a really flakey damaged car. That brought out a caution that allowed the field to catch back up and re-leveled the playing field.

I was happy to get a good start on the G/W/C and jump a few places for a top 5 finish. Given just how slow my car was w/ damage, and that it could not stay in the draft pack, the G/W/C was a best-case outcome for me. And that's a sobering result despite having earlier logged the race's fastest lap, in the 47s.

I still do not get why our racing crowd eschews NASCAR, when in-fact it is some of the closest racing we do here. Today was a great exercise in strategy, and door-to-door racing at its finest. I had a blast today, just as I did during the practice races (where we actually had more racers than the actual event). If anyone is unsure about NASCAR sim racing, at least try out the practice races. You'll find out that this is some of the best racing out there.

Thanks for the kind words guys and grats to Lugnut for a well deserved win. Despite the disco I had a blast today. Some really great racing and clever thinking by everyone. These races simply have to continue. Even with only 10 people it's some of the most accessible and intense fun you can have with a race sim.

Regardless if it continues at SimHQ or not, i couldn't imagine my racing without an occasional dose of turning left and without you guys i probably would have never been persuaded to give it a chance.

Well I decided that I would stay back and out of trouble in the initial stages of the race and thats just what I did. As the first green flag pitstop rolled around, I stayed out one lap longer than the majority of the field and was glad to find that Darren saw this and stayed out with me. One lap later and our pitstop was flawless as we emerged out in front of the field.

We managed to maintain our lead by running a nice smooth racing line while the other guys were racing it up trying to get by each other and catch us. I knew as long as they kept going two by two they were never going to catch us.

Sometime after midway or so I found myself in front with Lugnut and Papa K pushing hard and I felt then that I had the race in the bag. We built up an incredible lead till another yellow brought the field back into contention. Even after the game steward shoved me to the end of the longest line I wasnt too worried as I knew I was undamaged and had good pace. An early pitstop with chunx and a fortuitous yellow gave me the lead again for a short time and I thought I was back on course for the win.

Two laps to go and I made a dumb mistake and got just a little to close to Frank in the corner and as he struggled to straighten up his car, we touched again and it sent me hard into the wall.(Sorry Frank) I got a lot of damage from that impact and couldnt even keep it straight and low through the corners but as it happens, that actually helped me a little as I spun and brought out a caution! This meant I was able to pit and fix the damage enough for me to run with the pack. I knew I wasnt going to win from there though but at least I finished with the pack which was ok considering lol.

I really hope we dont lose nascar racing at sim HQ it really is the most fun you can have with your clothes on! If you havent tried it yet then you owe it to yourself to give it a try. There are plenty of people who will only be to glad to show you the ropes and you don't even have to worry about having to create setups for your car as its all fixed. So come on and join the next Nascar race! You know you want to.

My schedule hates me, I have no weekends anymore.

Despite my frustration in getting turned twice, I know neither was malicious but just yet another racing incident. There will always be a certain degree of luck when playing around on SS's. I thought Henny and I might just have a run at the end there but Lugnut played it brilliantly in not letting us slip by either side and then PK was back up in his draft for the last dash to the finish pretty much stealing any momentum we might have had. I would've followed you all the way to wall outside Henny had you really pushed it.

Still a whole lotta fun was had. Would hate to see it never happen again here.

You said it Forgie. Tons ‘o fun! I still consider myself quite the newbie sim racer and appreciate all the answers to my really intelligent questions during the race Talladega was the perfect track for me ... a wide open super speedway where I could concentrate more on my line, working in the pack, thinking about and adjusting my pit stop strategy and wondering what you guys were talking about in your NASCAR language. Also, I said it once during the race and I’ll say it again ... thank God for yellow flags!

I’m quite surprised to see the European interest in Sprint Cup racing with the likes of you, Blythe and Koch showing to up to these United States-centric racing formats. Good on ya! It still blows me away when I see people from around the world come together to go bumper to bumper in a racing sim. I think we might’ve gotten just a tad spoiled here when I look at the turnout number.

Has SimHQ ever done Sprint Cup road courses like Watkins or Infineon?

Yep. We've done a couple of races at the Glen before with the Sprint Cup cars.

Especially during the spring, when there are storm chasing opportunities on the weekends, I really have to go and do that.

Sundays are really bad for me as well.

Are there any thoughts to maybe revisit VHR later in the year? I know the calendar is pretty well sorted through September, so it'd be tough to fit one in before then.

I'd like to see us running the Nationwide or the Truck series, maybe at something smaller.

I know late last year there were races at Indy and Charlotte. We've run Daytona and Talladega this year.

Some thoughts on potential venues that would make for some good racing:

Michigan/California - large, sweeping corners. Fairly easy to learn, plenty of room to race, tire management usually being a factor as it's really easy to push them too hard and wear them out. Combined with the occasional fuel mileage run there are often a number of strategies that come into play.

Atlanta/Texas/Charlotte - the three "big" 1.5 mile tracks, all very similar in layout but slightly different in their own ways. A little more advanced than Cali/Mich but they also offer good racing.

Richmond - a taste of close-quarters short track racing in an easier form than you find at Bristol or Martinsville. Still tough racing but the track is a bit easier to learn.


The road courses can be fun, but the problem is that these cars are tough to handle there, even at an easier layout like WG. The gap in talent will be very evident as you really need to be good to get the most out of them. I suspect it'd be like most of the public races I've run - there will be two or three guys who are a second or more quicker than everybody else, a group of midfield drivers, and a group just struggling to make clean laps. Might be fun for 10-15 laps or so, but more than that and you've just got a bunch of guys making laps with no chance to really race.

Yes. We will have another event after the calendar clears out.