“How can you wreck someone when you don’t touch?”
Denny Hamlin ran Kyle Larson up into the wall late in the race and bullied his way to his 7th win at Pocono. As NASCAR crowds are wont to do, they voiced their displeasure with Hamlin upon exiting his car to take the checkered flag. Hamlin didn’t seem too perturbed by the boo birds and said they can boo his (Pocono commemorative) rock later on. (more…)
William Byron won the rain-shortened Atlanta race for his series leading fourth win of the year. Byron was leading the field when the caution for rain flew and with the race past the halfway point, it was a legit finish when the rain made its way to the track.
I wasn’t sure how this street race in Chicago would turn out. While hoping for the best, I was on the fence not only about the drivers’ ability to not turn this into a crashfest into Turn 1, but also thought this much-hyped event was nothing more than another NASCAR gimmick to drive eyes onto the sport even for a brief period of time.
Well, Ross Chastain did it, and did it without driving anyone into the wall. Chastain has had speed at Nashville in the past and he took his pole position and stayed out front much of the race to grab his first win of the season.
Martin Truex, Jr. returned to form at Sonoma showing off his road course skills by leading 51 of the 110 laps. MTJ was in the Top 10 in both early stages and was obviously set up for the long green flag runs that occurred.
Back before the 2010 season, then Senior VP of Competition Robin Pemberton uttered those famous words, that now have many fans scratching their heads… Boys, have at it.
NASCAR was accused by many of being too strict and taking away the “rubbing is racing” attitude that fans supposedly loved.
I sure hope you got your fix on racing this weekend, if not, then you are a superhuman fan!
Nashville, TN driver Josef Newgarden (yes, he is American) won his first ever Indy 500 in controversial fashion. It’s nothing he did to generate controversy, but Indy race control kind of pissed off the team of Ganassi driver Marcus Ericsson.
NASCAR and Kyle Larson were both in rare form for the return to North Wilkesboro for the 2023 All-Start race. Fans were delighted to see Cup racing return to the famed track for the first time since 1996. All the TV talking heads were crowing about how great this race was going to be, what a challenge it would be for the drivers. They even trotted out Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for leading the charge to bring back short track racing in the heart of NASCAR Country.
Ross Chastain can’t seem to shake controversy. Love him or hate him, it follows him around like a shadow. This week, William Byron found himself to be the fortunate recipient of a win thanks to another Chastain kerfuffle. This win puts Byron on top with 3 wins this season,. While only 5th in points, he is the leading candidate for the playoffs.
Last week I noted that Martin Truex, Jr. had three wins at Dover but hasn’t been all that great there as of late. He certainly turned that around leading 68 laps and holding off Ross Chastain after a late race restart. After being rained out on Sunday, the Cup teams returned on Monday to a green track that rubbered up nicely as the race progressed. This race was not a case of tires not dropping off as The Monster Mile started eating tires.
