Category: NASCAR Blogs

I’m old enough that I have clear memories of every championship-determining system that NASCAR has used during its modern era from the season-long compilation of points to the current NASCAR Playoffs. Each has had its merits and each has had its drawbacks. And depending on your point of view, this year’s NASCAR Cup Series finale in Phoenix clearly shows that the current system has drawbacks … or merits. Keven Harvick has, to this point, had a very impressive 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has to date scored nine wins along with 20 top-five and 26 top-ten…

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The final cut leading into the NASCAR Cup Series championship finale will be held this weekend(hopefully) at the Martinsville Speedway. When the checkered flag waves over the field on Sunday, the four drivers who will compete for the series title at Phoenix Raceway will be known. Since it was announced last year that this paper clip-shaped half-mile track would serve as the venue for the final cutoff, the anticipation has been building. Many believe that this race on this track will provide twists and turns along with a dose of intensity that will make it the perfect site for the…

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Whether it be from fans, media, or from the competitors themselves, there has been no shortage of opinion regarding the aerodynamic package put in place by NASCAR a couple of seasons ago for its top series. Often maligned, the combination that calls for lowered horsepower and higher downforce on the Cup Series cars was originally designed to manufacture closer competition, particularly on the tracks measuring 1.5 to 2 miles in length. Criticism often centers around the fact that the measures such as larger spoilers and front splitters cause the cars to be firmly stuck in the turns while the lowered…

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Months of speculation as to when or even if driver Kyle Larson would be reinstated by NASCAR has been ended. On Monday, the sanctioning body announced that the driver who was indefinitely suspended for the use of an inappropriate racial slur while participating in an iRacing event during the pandemic shutdown has fulfilled the necessary requirements to end the suspension. He will be allowed back into the sport on January 1, 2021. After the use of the “N-word” became known publicly, social media pounced on the driver who made his way into the top divisions of NASCAR via the sport’s…

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The strange and disjointed NASCAR Cup Series season is winding toward an ending with one more segment of three races remaining before the Championship 4 will race in the Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 8th. Half of the 16 competitors who began the NASCAR Playoffs as title contenders have been eliminated with four more set to be removed following the next three events on the series schedule. The upcoming race this weekend at Kansas Speedway followed by contests at Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway will determine who will be eliminated and who will remain with a…

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Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 is set to take the green flag just after 2:30pm on the road course fashioned out of the infield and traditional NASCAR track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. According to The Weather Channel, the forecast for that time of day calls for a 70% chance for rain in the Charlotte, NC area. That, of course, means there is the possibility that the NASCAR Cup Series could compete in wet conditions during a race that will serve as a cutoff for the second round in the NASCAR Playoffs. NASCAR calls for its teams to be…

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In the immortal words of Talladega Nights movie character Ricky Bobby, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” If that statement holds true, then where is the line drawn in the NASCAR Cup Series between success and failure? Fast forwarding from Ricky Bobby’s time to a time in which everything in the Cup Series seems to revolve around the NASCAR Playoffs, is there a definite point in which a driver and team’s season can be labelled as a failure? As we approach the second round of playoff cuts, perhaps this is a time in which such labelling can be applied. Were…

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Talladega Super Speedway produces some of the most intense and action-packed racing in all of NASCAR. Unfortunately, however, the longest oval in the sport does have a tendency to produce finishes that can be somewhat controversial and perhaps even disappointing. All three races held at the Alabama track this weekend among the sanctioning body’s top-three divisions could very well fall into both of those categories. Most notably, the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 ended with multiple penalties being handed out with some believing that at least one more infraction went unpunished. Denny Hamlin just barely beat Matt DiBenedetto to the…

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One of the first things that immediately jumped off the page at me when I took my first look at the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule was the fact that there are now six points-paying road course races on the circuit. Joining mainstays Watkins Glen, Sonoma, and the Charlotte Roval will be Road America, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, and the Circuit of the Americas in the upcoming season. There will be more right turns than ever before on the traditionally oval dominant tour. The 2021 Busch Clash will also be run on the road course layout at the…

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*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. Richard: The rumor mill had been churning for a while but on Wednesday the official announcement was made that the NASCAR Cup Series will contest a dirt race for the first time since 1970. Star drivers such as Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano will test their skills on a clay surface that will be put down on the high-banked Bristol…

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