DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2021) – The format of next Tuesday night’s 43rd Annual Busch Clash At DAYTONA on the iconic DAYTONA Road course will be 35 laps with one scheduled caution set on lap 15, while the starting lineup for the will be determined via a blind draw Monday night on Daytona International Speedway’s Facebook page. (more…)
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (February 4, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announces today PristineAuction.com will join their sponsorship lineup for 2021. PristineAuction.com will be an associate sponsor in the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) with Christopher Bell on the No. 20 and will be featured as a primary sponsor for two races with Ty Gibbs at Phoenix Raceway in March for the ARCA Menards Series event and the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race. (more…)
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (February 3, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing announced today that driver Sammy Smith will compete in six ARCA Menards East Series races during the 2021 season. He will make his debut in the No. 18 Engine Ice Toyota Camry at New Smyrna (FL) Raceway on Monday, February 8. (more…)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 17, 2020) – NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway today announced the criteria for eligibility for NASCAR Cup Series drivers to compete in one of the most unique and anticipated events in all of motorsports – the historic 2021 Busch Clash At DAYTONA on the iconic DAYTONA Road Course. (more…)
After dropping to the rear of the field, you wondered if Chase Elliott had what it would take to overcome that setback and contend for the title. (more…)
The last thing Kevin Harvick needed was another bad race at Martinsville.
The last thing he needed was a driver below the cut line coming into Martinsville to win the race.
The last thing he needed was to have every driver he was chasing finish ahead of him. (more…)
Kyle Busch has been wanting to forget 2020 as the pandemic season has not proved to be in his favor. The lack of practice and testing sure seemed to hurt him the most. But he overcame all of that and put teammate Martin Truex, Jr. in a must win situation in the process. (more…)
Chase Elliott came back with a vengeance and won back-to-back races on the Roval. Elliott went back in the filed after an issue and at one point, the PRN broadcast team mentioned that he was making ground up but still a longshot to come back and win. I guess no one told Chase Elliott that.
Let’s face it, while I don’t think he would call himself a road course specialist, the kid is super good turning left and right. And it doesn’t seem to matter where the road course or roval is, he has been dominant on them. Rain or shine doesn’t seem to matter either.
Unlike the Xfinity race, the Cup race just had a slightly wet track to contend with. It wasn’t too long before cars were swapping out rain tires for slicks. I don’t mind watching cars race in the rain or on wet tracks, but stock cars aren’t really set up for that even with rain tires. They are about as ungainly as a race car comes.
As much of a statement as Chase’s win was, the same could be said about Kyle Busch on the other end of the spectrum. Busch finished a very disappointing 30th and fulfilled his promise that they would be eliminated in this round. He may not win this year.
Of all the drivers that have surprised me in this playoff is the elder Busch brother. Kurt Busch managed a 4th place finish and as we look towards Kansas, Kurt has five Top 10 finishes in his last seven races there. If he can run like that, he stands a chance on advancing quite a ways. Kurt also has an enviable record at Texas but he may need some help by the time they get to Martinsville.
Kansas has been very kind to Denny Hamlin, winner of the past two races and tied with Martin Truex, Jr. with two wins. But MTJ hasn’t won there since 2017. Other recent winners include Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.
My picks for the drivers exiting this round was pretty close. My list a few weeks ago was:
So Bowman advances, Austin Dillon falls and Kyle Busch had an epic fail.
For the next round that includes Kansas, Texas and Martinsville, the choices get a lot tougher. A simple mistake could be the difference between advancing or not. Texas may be the race that makes or breaks some of these guys.
My picks for failing to advance to the finals are:
Dark horse to fall:
Shocker but really not:
I basically see Kevin Harvick as the only driver not vulnerable to points. He has a good shot winning anywhere and has been the most consistent driver this year. Everyone else feels like a bad race could stop them. Obviously, it’s win and you advance but aside from Harvick, few drivers seem like a sure bet these next three races.
Who do you have?
(Featured image courtesy of Team Chevy PR)
Denny Hamlin knew he had a fast car and once he figured that out, he went to the rear of the field and let all the wrecks happen in front of him. And they did, beginning on lap 1.
Kurt Busch shook up the playoff picture by winning at his home track for the first time ever. Denny Hamlin led an impressive 121 laps and had a late caution not come out, he just might have won with his fresher tires. (more…)
