Richard Allen – Page 12 – Inside Circle Track

Articles posted by Richard Allen (Page 12)

Austin Hill wins in wild Xfinity finish at Daytona

February 18, 2023 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After Sam Mayer spun on the roof of his Chevrolet on the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway, trailing a shower of sparks, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek sat in their cars and waited. And after what must have seemed an eternity to the drivers, NASCAR reviewed video of the final lap of overtime and declared Hill the winner of his second straight season opener at the World Center of Racing in front of the largest crowd to witness an Xfinity Series race at Daytona…

Right Place at the Right Time: Zane Smith wins rain-shortened Daytona Truck race

February 17, 2023 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On the fifth try, rain finally got the better of Daytona International Speedway—and that was perfectly all right with reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Zane Smith. NASCAR called Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 after 79 of a scheduled 100 laps, making Smith the winner when the fifth rain shower of the evening thwarted track-drying efforts. In front of the largest crowd for a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Daytona since 2011, Smith won the season opener for the second straight year, having taken the lead…

Here’s why a Ford will win the Daytona 500

The Bluegreen Vacations Duel races held on Thursday night at the Daytona International Speedway demonstrated something very important that will likely prove to be a factor in deciding the eventual winner of the Daytona 500. Of course, picking a winner in the races held at this track and its sister venue, the Talladega Super Speedway, is much akin to playing darts blindfolded using your left hand(provided the thrower is right handed). Still, clues emerged that have been evident in previous years as well that can help in the predicting of a winner in ‘The Great American Race’. A Ford Mustang…

There can’t possibly be 19 different winners again … right?

The NASCAR Cup Series proved to be highly competitive in 2022 with a total of 19 different drivers making a trip to victory lane at some point during the season and that’s not including a driver who won the NASCAR All-Star Race but won no points-paying events. The competition was so evenly spread out that four drivers(including the injured Kurt Busch) who won a race did not make the NASCAR Playoffs. Whether it was because the teams are becoming more evenly matched or the Next Gen car brought an element of equality, there was a record-tying number of individual victors….

Turn 2 Blog: Who has the most to prove going into 2023?

*Turn 2 Blog is a regular feature on InsideCircleTrack.com. Here, site operators Michael Moats and Richard Allen take turns offering their thoughts on the NASCAR and pavement short track racing topics of the day. Is the Daytona 500 still the most prestigious race on the NASCAR schedule? Richard: There are some who will argue that the Daytona 500 has lost some luster over recent years because of the fact that it has the randomness that comes along with the pack racing generated by restrictor plate/tapered spacer type of action but I disagree with that. This race has always been and…

Heat races could add value to some NASCAR race weekends

The NASCAR Cup Series schedule is currently in the middle of a pair of events that use what essentially amounts to heat races to set the starting grid. The Busch Light Clash held inside the L.A. Coliseum used heat races to set its lineup and the Daytona 500 has throughout its history employed the Bluegreen Vacations Duels to establish the starting order for the sport’s biggest race. So should there be more races that use preliminary races to set the field? Arguably, the best racing of the weekend during the Busch Light Clash came during the heat races. The 150-lap…

Did The Clash actually do anybody any good?

NASCAR ought to be applauded for reaching out to new audiences and finding new or renewed venues for that purpose. That said, it would seem unlikely that the second running of the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum did very much to hook new fans. In the space of a few hours, what began as a sensation stirring spectacle devolved into a tiresome grind. Sunday night began with some relatively entertaining heat races that featured many of the sights and sounds that a perspective new fan might find intriguing. Good competition, some fender rubbing, and even a dust up…

Busch Light Clash Qualifying Results & Heat Race Lineups

Here are Saturday night’s qualifying results for the Busch Light Clash which will be contested on Sunday night beginning with heat races at 5:00pm(eastern). The event will be shown live on Fox. Qualifying Heat Race No. 1: Lineup Start time: 5 p.m. ET, Sunday Starting Spot Car Number Driver 1 31 Justin Haley 2 10 Aric Almirola 3 48 Alex Bowman 4 21 Harrison Burton 5 22 Joey Logano 6 42 Noah Gragson 7 34 Michael McDowell 8 17 Chris Buescher 9 77 Ty Dillon Qualifying Heat Race No. 2: Lineup Start time: 5:15 p.m. ET, Sunday Starting Spot Car…

Jimmie Johnson has much to learn going in to Cup Series return

How could a driver who has amassed seven championships and 83 victories at the NASCAR Cup Series level over the course of a stellar career have anything to learn? When that driver has not turned a single competitive lap in the Next Gen car and has been out of this form of racing since the end of the 2020 season, the answer to that question is quite a bit. Jimmie Johnson retired from full-time competition in NASCAR two seasons ago to pursue racing in IndyCar. After finding only marginal success in open-wheel machines, the 47-year-old star is now back as…

Austin Dillon looking forward to new teammate, improved performance

A win in the cutoff race at the Daytona International Speedway last August got Austin Dillon into the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs for the fifth time in his NASCAR Cup Series career. This season, the 32-year-old driver is hoping to do more than just make the cut. With a new teammate in the stable, he hopes the entire Richard Childress Racing operation will take another step toward returning to the dominant form it once had. It isn’t as if RCR was lagging way behind the competition last year. After all, Dillon scored the one win and then teammate Tyler Reddick drove…