Who cares about the All-Star Race format?

When racing enthusiasts think of the NASCAR All-Star Race they think of the most legendary moments of that event. No one thinks about the format that was used in whatever years those moments occurred. It doesn’t matter how many laps there, if there were segments, or if there were mandated pit stops. However, people do remember Darrell Waltrip’s engine mysteriously blowing just as he crossed the finish line in the inaugural “The Winston”(as the All-Star Race was called back then) or when his crew and that of Rusty Wallace duked it out after those two drivers tangled on the last…

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The most important thing about Kurt Busch’s Kansas win was …

Kurt Busch’s win in last Sunday’s Advent Health 400 at the Kansas Speedway was important for several reasons, some of which may seem obvious while others might not be so readily evident. The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion passed two of the biggest stars in the sport when he moved around his brother Kyle and Kyle Larson late in the going to secure the victory. At the same time, there were other factors that made this win by the 23XI Racing Toyota significant and noteworthy.  The 43-year-old native of Las Vegas entered that event 21st in the Cup Series standings…

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Turn 2 Blog: More than 16 winners? & Who takes the All-Star Race seriously?

*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. On Sunday in the Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway, Kurt Busch became the eleventh different winner in the first thirteen NASCAR Cup Series races in the 2022 season. With still thirteen more races to go before the NASCAR Playoffs cut, could there be sixteen or more winners? Richard: In years past I have not given much consideration to the possibility of there being sixteen different…

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Harrison Burton searching for signs of better days ahead

Breaking into the NASCAR Cup Series, no matter how much experience and success a driver has had at other levels of motorsports, is never easy and Harrison Burton is finding that out during the first third of the 2022 campaign. The 21-year-old driver from Huntersville, North Carolina has seen his share of success by achieving four wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and and eleven more in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series but he now finds himself searching for the formula that will help those earlier triumphs translate to the top division of the sport. So far, that has…

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Kyle Larson on how he transitions from one type of car to another so seamlessly

Kyle Larson has won a race this year in a NASCAR Cup Series car at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Along with that, he has also won on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at the Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California, and he has won in a Dirt Late Model with the Castrol FloRacing Night in America Series at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The 29-year-old driver from Elk Grove, California is one of the most diverse racers of this or any generation. But it’s not like he has caught lightning in…

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Can we stop acting like late race contact is something new?

It’s funny to me how fans, media, and competitors are acting like the late race contact we have seen this year as drivers race for wins is something new. I know I’m showing my age here but I was there when Dale Earnhardt wrecked Terry Labonte on the last lap at Bristol Motor Speedway … twice. I was there when Jeff Gordon executed the bump-and-run on Rusty Wallace to claim a win also at Bristol… and also twice. Drivers have moved other drivers out of the way for wins, or even just for position, since NASCAR began. It’s just part…

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Turn 2 Blog: Formula 1 is Trendy for Now & A Throwback to … Yourself?

*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. This weekend saw the unusual circumstance of a NASCAR Cup Series race and a Formula 1 event running in the same country at the same time. Will more F1 races planned for the United States have any impact on NASCAR? Richard: Formula 1 is the trendy thing to do now in the U.S. for some because of the NetFlix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’. It was unfortunate…

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NASCAR vs F1 competition for viewers about to heat up

This Sunday will be a remarkable day for motorsports in America. The NASCAR Cup Series will be in competition on one of its most historic tracks in one of its most anticipated annual events while Formula 1 will race on a newly created circuit in one of the most glamourous locations in the country. Two major auto races in the same country on the same day. What could possibly be wrong with that? Unfortunately, there is one problem. NASCAR’s much-loved Throwback Race at Darlington Raceway in which teams cover their cars in nostalgic schemes meant to remind fans of favorite…

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Turn 2 Blog: Elliott gets a win & Stenhouse almost causes Playoff chaos

*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. How important was it for Chase Elliott to finally get a win? Richard: After the Monday continuation of the Duramax Drydene 400 at Dover Motor Speedway the cycle has been completed for Hendrick Motorsports. Chase Elliott’s victory made him the fourth of the drivers on that four-car team to score a NASCAR Cup Series victory in the 2022 season. Although he came into the race as…

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Michael McDowell on how the Next Gen is affecting smaller teams

We are now ten races into the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule which also means that drivers and teams are ten races into their adjustment period with the Next Gen car. And more, there have been races on Super Speedways, short tracks, a road course, intermediate tracks and even a race on dirt so there has been an opportunity to get a feel for the new machine on every type of venue on which the sport competes. One of the believed benefits of this new car was that it would place the smaller teams on more of a level playing…

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