NASCAR Blogs – Page 12 – Inside Circle Track

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Turn 2 Blog: Is it a good thing for drivers to be so vocal?

*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. Are you surprised that Kyle Larson was eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs before the ‘Round of 8’? Richard: My answer to this is both yes and no. Yes in the sense that the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion driving a Hendrick Motorsports car not making it to the ‘Round of 8’ is surprising no matter who is driving. But that is especially true when the driver…

Three drivers who have had successful seasons even if their Playoff runs end now

There are several ways to measure success in the NASCAR Cup Series. For some drivers and teams, their season is not counted as a good one unless they make the Championship 4 for the title-deciding finale at Phoenix Raceway. But to others, going to the last race on the schedule with a chance to win the championship is not absolutely necessary for the campaign to be labeled successful. Three drivers will enter this weekend’s cutoff event on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway able to call their season a good one even if they are eliminated from contention on Sunday…

Turn 2 Blog: Is this the week when someone exacts revenge on Ross Chastain?

*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 concerning are the driver safety issues we have seen this year? Richard: I’m not necessarily trying to play devil’s advocate here but I wonder if there are in fact more injuries in racing today because there actually are or because we are more aware of them due to increased safety protocols and the greater spread of information through social media and other sources? As with…

Randomness of Texas blowouts adds to Playoffs drama going into Talladega

One leader after another blowing tires and crashing, suffocating heat, rain that pushed the race into the nighttime hours, and a much maligned track made for quite an unpredictable Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday. But what that race also did was add tons of drama to the ongoing NASCAR Playoffs. An in depth look at the NASCAR Playoffs schedule offers some insight into the sanctioning body’s thinking in terms of how each stage is meant to provide certain degrees of drama(perhaps not in the way Texas did). Each three-race set of contests is…

Turn 2 Blog: Bristol concrete or Bristol dirt?; and RFK’s great showing at Bristol

*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. Where has THAT RFK been all season? Richard: The overall performance of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing was a big surprise as Chris Buescher drove to his second career NASCAR Cup Series win on Saturday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway. There have been moments in which it has looked like that organization might contend for a win this year, especially with Buescher, but nothing sustained and…

Is there an advantage to not making the NASCAR Playoffs?

It would seem logical to say that the best sixteen drivers and teams are those who qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs. However, there have been two races held so far within the run for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship and both of those events were won by drivers who are not eligible for the title. Could it be that there is some sort of an advantage to not making the Playoffs? Obviously, all teams entered the season with the goal of being one of those sixteen who will be in the hunt for the championship. But in the somewhat…

Turn 2 Blog: Playoff Disrupters; Can RCR Rise to the Challenge?; Clements Wins … Again

*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. What do you make of these Playoffs disrupters? Richard: I mentioned in one of these pieces a while back that I wanted there to be as much chaos as possible leading into the NASCAR Playoffs, and now that they have started, I am still on that train. It’s not that I hate the Playoffs or anything like that, I just love all the drama. There have…

Next two races will go a long way in determining how Kyle Busch ends stint at JGR

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Kyle Busch is on his way out at Joe Gibbs Racing. The driver who has delivered two NASCAR Cup Series championships and 56 race wins in the sport’s top division along with dozens of victories in the lower divisions apparently will not be getting a contract extension for 2023 and beyond from the organization he first began driving for in 2008. As a result, one of racing’s most successful and talented drivers will likely be plying his trade elsewhere in the future. That said, the upcoming races at the Kansas Speedway this…

Turn 2 Blog: Darlington Drama & Chase Elliott in Playoff Trouble?

*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. The NASCAR Xfinity Series race featured a great finish on Saturday. Darlington Raceway seems to have a tendency to do that, doesn’t it? Richard: The closing laps of the Sport Clips 200 that saw Noah Gragson beat out Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson in a sparks-flying, sheet metal-rubbing last few laps was one of the best finishes I have ever seen in any form of racing….

Erik Jones win was the only fitting ending for such a crazy NASCAR Playoffs opener

The sixteen drivers and teams that make it to the NASCAR Playoffs are the best in the sport, right? The top-16 finishers in a NASCAR Playoffs race should be loaded with the names of drivers who are, in fact, in the running for the championship, right? The Cook Out Southern 500 held on Sunday night at the Darlington Raceway, however, did not live up to expectations for anyone who might have thought the opening round of the Playoffs would be dominated by title contenders. Instead, one championship hopeful after another suffered significant issues which either took them out of contention…