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?
chuck abrams
Talladega Win for Stenhouse Mixes Up the Playoff Battle
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 Wins In Rainy Chicago Street Race
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.
Denny Delivers At Dover
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.
Tyler Reddick Sneaks Through Chaos For Talladega Win
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.
Christopher Bell Gets First NASCAR Cup Win of 2024 in Phoenix
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.
Ryan Blaney Masters Martinsville
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.
Kyle Larson Cashes In At Las Vegas Cup Race
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.
Tyler Reddick Outshines His Team Owner Denny Hamlin at Kansas
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.
Michael McDowell Wins at Indy, and Shakes Up the Playoffs
Michael McDowell led a race high 54 laps on his way to his second Cup win, but a win that puts a lot of pressure on several bubble drivers. While securing his place in the playoffs, he leaves Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman wondering what’s next with just two races to go in the regular season.
The Art of NASCAR Racing in the Rain: Chicago-Style
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.
Domination Leads to Victory For Martin Truex Jr. At Sonoma
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.
Have at it, boys! (Or not…)
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.
Sneaky Talladega Win For Kyle Busch
If you watch Talladega racing at all, you know that just about anyone can win the event due to the style of racing. If you watched on Sunday, Kyle Busch was probably not one of the drivers you picked to win. He wasn’t racing in the Top 10 most of the day and the field was bunched up about as tight as you could make it.
The Chronicles of Reddick. Win at COTA.
Let’s start this off with a huge hand clap for Tyler Reddick as he overcame a difficult track under hot conditions battling an opponent who was better than he was on restarts. Reddick led 41 laps while battling William Byron, who led 28, in a race that saw them seesaw the lead back and forth after starting out on the front row.
Kyle Busch Burns Down Fontana
With rain canceling qualifying and practice, Kyle Busch started 21st in the 36 car field. That was good for Ross Chastain; otherwise Busch might have led even more laps on his way to his first victory for RCR.
This was the final race on the current track layout at Fontana and it didn’t disappoint. Cars were racing all over the track but having the lead was important to keep clean air on the nose of the car.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins The Biggest Race Of His Career
Welcome back race fans! Long time to be away from racing. As many of you know, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is the kickoff to the season for me but I have to admit my attention was elsewhere a lot of this young season. After watching qualifying for the 500, I pretty much missed the Duels for the first time in forever.
There have been a fair amount of changes this year leaving me to question just how good the racing was going to be.
Kyle Larson Dominates Homestead
If you lead 199 laps of the scheduled 267, you are hoping that you’re pulling into Victory Lane at the end of the contest. Kyle Larson finally did just that but had to get by Martin Truex, Jr. on pit road to do it.
Erik Jones Puts Iconic 43 Back Into Darlington Victory Lane
Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.
Last week I said that Erik Jones was my sleeper driver to turn the tables on the playoffs and he did it in rare form.
Kyle Busch Surprises With Bristol Dirt Race Win
Kyle Busch was not supposed to win this one. This was shaping up to be a battle between Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe, or one of several other drivers under the age of 30. If a veteran was going to win, it was going to be Joey Logano at the ripe old age of 31.