(NOTE: Chuck’s last article)
Phoenix International Raceway continues to deliver quality racing for sure. And like it or not, the Cup playoffs usually produce a quality winner.
This year, one could argue that NASCAR and its playoff system did Phoenix wrong.
First of all, let’s get the Martinsville results out of the way. Ryan Blaney drove his rear off and won the race to complete his effort to try for his second title. That makes it Blaney, Joey Logano (for title number three), Tyler Reddick and William Byron as the Championship Four. That is quite the foursome, but it also begs the question, is this the right foursome to compete for the title?
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. found victory lane once again and threw the playoff battle into a tizzy. Combined with the huge wreck late in Stage 3, the Charlotte Roval will play an outsized role in determining the next round of the playoff picture.
Christopher Bell is safe but with Ross Chastain and Stenhouse each stealing a win in this Round of 12, the stakes for everyone else couldn’t be higher heading to The Roval. (more…)
Alex Bowman won the rain shortened Grant Park 165 street race to take his official spot in the Cup playoffs. Bowman broke an 80-race drought that included him sidelined for a spell and wondering when he would ever see Victory Lane again.
The fact that Denny Hamlin has three wins on the season and yet is ranked in 4th place in driver points goes to show you just how poorly he has been performing when he isn’t winning.
Talladega is always a crap shoot, even when the racing is relatively tame for most of the race. Then, for some reason, drivers who were managing the race so well lose their minds with just a few laps to go.
It’s always sunny in Phoenix, or at least it was for Toyota. Toyota drivers led nearly every lap of the Shriners Children’s 500 with Christopher Bell leading 50 of those laps on his way to Victory Lane.
And then there were four.
Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron.
No Denny Hamlin or Martin Truex, Jr. No Kevin Harvick, who is heading to the broadcast booth in 2024. No Chase Elliott, Joey Logano or Kyle Busch.
Last week I noted that if you led 100 or more laps at Las Vegas, you had a pretty good shot at winning the race. Well Kyle Larson did just that, and more. He won both stages and led the most laps with 133 and the final 45. But it almost did not come to pass.
Last week Denny Hamlin led a lot of laps and left without a win. This week the same thing occurred, but at the end saw him win as an owner with Tyler Reddick leading just two laps, but the most important two laps.
