During the course of the race, Christopher Bell thought his chances of racing for a NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix were slim or none. After just squeaking into points at the end of Stage 1 he was nowhere to be found by the end of Stage 2. Homestead was eating up tires and while there were multiple racing grooves, around the top was the best, plus you needed drive off of the corners to compete. Bell’s car was having none of that and Bell was in a sour mood.
But after teammates Denny Hamlin (accident) and Martin Truex, Jr. (engine) bowed out, all of the organizations hope was now pinned on Bell. After a short red flag for cleaning up the mess left by Kyle Larson totally misjudging his entrance to pit road and smashing the sand barriers, Bell’s car seemed to have some pep in it that wasn’t there before. Well, getting your front end into clean air will do that for you.
Then all Bell had to do was keep Ryan Blaney, also needing a win, in his rear view mirror for the final 16 laps. Blaney had led 53 laps, second only to Kyle Larson who led 96 before his demise. As the laps wound down, Tyler Reddick was fighting for every millisecond he could squeeze from his car as he chased Blaney who was chasing Bell. Reddick had passed William Byron for third but Byron was safe in points with his season leading 6 wins. Blaney held the magic position that Reddick needed to stay above the playoff cutoff line. Reddick finished a strong third but when the points are this close and you are essentially trying to beat the only guys who can keep you out of the playoffs, it’s a whole different ballgame.
Things of note: Covid brain last week
I mentioned last week that staying interested in racing right now when your driver is out is a challenge, then I rambled on about Martinsville and rooting for Blaney to win.
Yeah, Homestead is before Martinsville.
I was mishmashing the two events.
I blame my Covid brain fog – which is and was real folks. I know I had brain fog the first time I had The Invisible Enemy, but this time was worse I think, so my apologies.
But as serendipity would have it, I mentioned that Bell would have to outlast MTJ and while MTJ has the wins and experience, Bell has been flat out faster. So yeah, I’ll take that small win.
In the meantime, a shout out to some drivers who really did have a good race and that is what you build for in 2024. AJ Allmendinger finished P5, Bubba Wallace P6 and led 9 laps, Ty Gibbs was P9 after a strong qualifying effort, Aric Almirola P9 and who knows how much longer he is racing, and Austin Dillon P10 leading the way for RCR and a struggling Kyle Busch.
And lastly, I’ll bring it up again – what was Kyle Larson doing? On one hand, I am wondering if Blaney knew that Larson was going to come screaming into the pits to make up time. Larson has that reputation. So did Blaney slow down a bit more than he needed to in order the throw Larson off? Maybe but that is pretty high risk if Larson plows into Blaney instead of destroying the barrier. So there could be some gamesmanship going on but I find it hard to believe what happened was what Blaney had in mind. As it was, he got tagged in the rear and that may have messed up his shot at a win. Week 4 of the season? Sure. Playoff season? I say no.
Next to last race: Martinsville
The points are tight, you strap your harness tighter and go after it.
Chris Buescher is in a must win situation at -43. There is no way to point yourself out of that hole. This has not been his best track so he’ll need to figure out how to do better than he ever has. Good luck with that.
Denny Hamlin and MTJ are both -17 and could conceivably point out of that but they will need help from Reddick and Blaney.
Reddick faces a tough battle even though only back -10. His challenge is that Hamlin and MTJ run consistently better than him, and most other drivers, at Martinsville, Blaney is the second highest ranked driver, and Larson, Byron, and Bell have all won here. A series of disasters would have to befall several drivers in order for Reddick to advance so, yeah, go big or go home.
Blaney has been more consistent of late and he’ll need to keep his cool and repeat that kind of performance to advance. He doesn’t HAVE to win, just run Top 3.
No big deal, right? Keep the shiny side up! You can check out my past columns (COVID brain-ones included LOL) here.
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