Martin Truex, Jr. started the race with a penalty on the first lap. Denny Hamlin controlled the start and may have spun his wheels but it didn’t matter. NASCAR rule states that you may not beat the polesitter to the start finish line and MTJ certainly did that, tire spinning or not. Hamlin is pretty sly on restarts and even if he didn’t spin his tires, he will definitely play the restart to bait his opponent into a mistake.
You knew it was going to happen sooner or later and for most of the season, it has been later. Denny Hamlin finally found Victory Lane at the perfect time, the first race of the 2021 championship run. Hamlin led the second most laps at 146 on his way to the checkers followed by none other than Kyle Larson who led 156 and finished second.
After seeing superspeedway cars get airborne this year, NASCAR changed the race package for Daytona which provided tight pack racing – which fans may like, but drivers not so much. While the cars were a tad slower, the closing rate was the same or more which causes a lot of issues when drivers start blocking.
NASCAR almost pulled it off. Another new track configuration prompted by a desire to see better racing at a flagship track that has been losing interest. This time they didn’t bring in tons of dirt or repave a track. This time they used the old road course at Indy and for 78 laps, the race was pretty decent.
Kyle Larson held off a hard-charging Chase Elliott for his first ever win at Watkins Glen, and his Cup series-leading 5th win.
With Elliott starting from the rear for failing pre-race inspection, Larson was one of the favorites to win the race.
But, first he had to get past Martin Truex, Jr. (more…)
Say what you want about the true awesomeness of Aric Amirola and his team finally winning, but that might not have been the outcome had NASCAR not fallen asleep at the wheel.
In a battle of the Busch Brothers, Kurt Busch used teammate Ross Chastain to scrub off a pesky Kyle Busch for his first season win at Atlanta.
Chase Elliott did not qualify or practice well in NASCAR’s Cup Series return to Road America. He was so out of rhythm that he started 34th. As it turns out, all you need is to start racing to find your rhythm. (more…)
While racing at Pocono isn’t always exciting, it sure did produce a couple of unexpected winners this weekend.
In the race called Pocono 1, Kyle Larson looked to have his 4th race in a row well in hand when his right front tire blew in Turn 4 sending him into the wall and Alex Bowman to Victory Lane. That gives Bowman three wins tying him with Martin Truex, Jr. and one behind teammate Kyle Larson.
Once again, Kyle Larson spanked the field on his way to Victory Lane leading 264 of the 300 laps. While many in the field suffered from grip, brake and tire issues, Larson quickly made his way to the front and stayed there. If another driver found the lead, it wasn’t for long. Larson had his car hooked up and he didn’t waste time finding the lead every time. The only other driver to lead double digit laps was Kyle Busch with 10.
