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Bust Or Bracket-Buster Fun? NASCAR Attempts $1M In-Season Tournament
Bust Or Bracket-Buster Fun? NASCAR Attempts $1M In-Season Tournament

Fox News

time3 days ago

  • Automotive
  • Fox News

Bust Or Bracket-Buster Fun? NASCAR Attempts $1M In-Season Tournament

When NASCAR signed its new broadcast deal, siphoning off five-race packages to two entities, it provided the perfect road map for an in-season tournament. To do nothing would have been a lost opportunity, so kudos to NASCAR for putting together its 32-driver in-season tournament that begins this weekend at Atlanta, coinciding with the five-race stretch on TNT. Here's how it works: The top 32 in driver points after Nashville were eligible for the tournament. Seeding is based on best finish over the past three races — Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono — resulting in Denny Hamlin earning the top seed. Ties were broken by the next-best finish. If two drivers had the exact same three finishes, then whoever had the best finish first over the three weeks got the higher seed. NASCAR now has a traditional tournament bracket that will run concurrently with the next five races — all regular-season events run as normal with the addition of the tournament as somewhat of a sideshow. In Atlanta, the No. 1 seed (Hamlin) is matched against the No. 32 seed (Ty Dillon), the No. 2 seed (Chase Briscoe) faces No. 31 (Noah Gragson) and so on. Whoever has the best finish at Atlanta in each of the 16 matchups advances to the next round at the Chicago street winner of No. 1 vs. No. 32 gets matched against the winner of No. 16 vs No. 17 at Chicago, the No. 2 vs. No. 31 winner gets the No. 15 vs. No. 18 winner and so on. After Chicago, eight drivers remain for Sonoma, four for Dover and the final two facing off at Indy. There is no reseeding, drivers already know potential opponents based on where they are seeded in the bracket. There are plenty of things to wonder about whether NASCAR is doing this the right way. Did the seeding by best finish over the last three races make sense? William Byron, the series points leader, enters as the 18th seed. Kyle Larson, who is second in the standings, is the 10th seed. Either doing it by overall points or points the last few races could make more sense, although there certainly are some intriguing first-round matchups, including Michael McDowell vs. AJ Allmendinger — two drivers who are solid drafting track and road-course racers. The winner could have a strong chance at making the Final leads one to wonder if having three wild-card type races — Atlanta and two road courses at Chicago and Sonoma — is a recipe for quite an unconventional Final 4. NASCAR is paying the winning driver $1 million. Not the team but the driver. Does that really make sense when all we hear is how it is a team sport? NASCAR will likely argue that the more money they can pay the driver, the more incentive for a driver to take this tournament seriously. Just remember: This is an attempt and doesn't have to be the same for 2026. NASCAR can learn lessons this year. This tournament certainly should grab the attention of fans during the summer beyond the standard playoff bubble chatter. People will fill out brackets and watch, hopefully creating buzz on social media. Gambling sites can use it to offer other ways for people to bet on the race. If someone's favorite driver exits early, there remains something to dig into beyond just who will win the race. Some might feel the race should be good enough. But as the NBA in-season tournament has shown, having something additional during the regular season isn't a bad thing. It will be interesting to see the fan reaction and whether drivers get engaged in this tournament. For now, don't bother me. I'm busy filling out my bracket. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

What is DRS in Formula 1?
What is DRS in Formula 1?

BBC News

time5 days ago

  • Automotive
  • BBC News

What is DRS in Formula 1?

DRS in Formula 1 stands for Drag Reduction System - a device controlled via the steering wheel that allows drivers to increase speed and pressing the DRS button, a flap on the car's rear wing opens, reducing drag by allowing air to flow through the can only be used in designated zones on circuits, primarily along straights. These zones are determined by detection points.A driver must be within one second of the car in front at the detection point in order to use DRS, which helps drivers overtake and escape the 'dirty air' created by the car is only available in dry conditions and is disabled during wet system - first introduced in 2011 - was implemented to increase the chances of on-track are notified via their steering wheel display when DRS is practice sessions and qualifying, DRS can be used freely within the activation zones to help set faster lap number of DRS zones varies by circuit - for example, Monaco has just one, while the Australian Grand Prix features four. What will happen to DRS in 2026? DRS will be removed in 2026 as part of new Formula 1 all cars will be able to activate a low-drag mode on straights at any time, regardless of proximity to another separate power-boost modes will replace DRS on the steering wheel.'Z-mode' opens elements on the front and rear wings to increase downforce and speed through can switch to 'X-mode', which reduces drag to maximise straight-line modes will be available in specific zones around each track and can be activated manually by the driver. 'It was only ever meant to be a temporary solution' The idea behind the DRS overtaking aid was to create a sticking-plaster solution to the problem created by aerodynamics in is, make the car's performance dependent on downforce, and overtaking will always be hard because the disruption to the airflow over a car behind another reduces its grip and makes it hard to follow was meant to simulate a slipstream - a straight-line advantage to the car behind - and the plan was to make overtaking possible, not to balance those demands has not always been easy - sometimes overtaking has been too easy; sometimes it still was only ever meant to be a temporary solution. And when the current regulations were conceived, the hope was that it could be discarded, because following would be a lot easier. It became apparent even before they were introduced in 2022 that would not be the another rule-set has forced another solution. But it's not because DRS hasn't worked; it's because the rear wing opening has had to be added to the front wing doing something similar to balance the energy demands of the new cars with their new hybrid 2026, there will be a 'push-to-pass' system that gives an extra boost of electrical energy for the car behind. It's arguably even more artificial than DRS, and whether it will work is far from the only question hanging over the new rules. What have the drivers said? There were mixed views from F1 drivers about the new regulations when they were announced last summer."I have spoken to some drivers who have driven it on the simulator - I haven't - and they said it's pretty slow so we will see if it's the right direction or not," said Lewis Hamilton at a drivers' news conference in 2024. "We have just got to make sure the cars are efficient, fast and a step forwards and actually racing is improved."McLaren's Lando Norris said: "I guess there are reasons for it but I don't want it to go the opposite way. Especially with how complicated it is."You could have massive gaps and then people are going to say it's boring again. Right now it is as exciting as it has been for a very long time."This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... What are penalty points in F1 and how do they work?How does Formula 1 points scoring work?How does F1 measure photo finishes?

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