Category: NASCAR Blogs

For the second time in this very young 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season driver Michael McDowell found himself at odds with one of his fellow Ford competitors when he and Daniel Suarez scuffled during qualifying for the Ticket Guardian 500 at the ISM Raceway in Phoenix. Suarez walked to McDowell’s pit area and the two briefly fought after both found themselves eliminated from contention for the pole position when they did not advance to the second round of the seemingly appropriately named “knockout qualifying” session. Suarez believed McDowell had interfered with his qualifying run by getting in his…

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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. In this edition of the Turn 2 Blog we will be discussing five topics regarding the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. We are happy to be joined by Josh Weinrich who serves as the Public Relations representative for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Last year that team won the NGOTS championship with driver Brett Moffitt and in 2019 the No. 16 Toyota captured the season opening NextEra Energy…

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One of the few non-sports television shows in recent years that I have enjoyed was hosted by one of my favorite authors. The History Channel production titled Brad Meltzer: Decoded began with the best selling mystery and suspense writer asking, “What if I told you … “. Well, what if I told you at the beginning of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that there would be 19 lead changes among nine different drivers with no cautions other than the two scheduled stage breaks and the margin of victory would be just over one car length? Most people would…

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I am going to play the “NAS $400K Piston[$100K to 1st]” contest on DraftKings.com under the name IndyJones. The game pays $100,000 to the winner and pays through the top-9,880 places. It comes with a $10 entry fee. Each driver is given a dollar value with each participant being allotted a budget of $50,000 to purchase six drivers. Last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway I banked heavily on Hendrick Motorsports being competitive under the new rules package partially put in place in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. That proved to be disastrous. This weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway…

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Going into Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway there were numerous questions that observers of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series were hoping to have answered. With the race cars being fitted for the first time in competition with tapered spacers meant to reduce air and fuel flow to the engines and thus reduce horsepower, many wondered how the racing would be impacted on the track known for causing extreme tire wear due to its aged asphalt surface. But instead of having that question fully answered, there were actually more questions raised during the running…

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I am going to play the “NAS $400K Piston[$100K to 1st]” contest on DraftKings.com under the name IndyJones. The game pays $100,000 to the winner and pays through the top-9,880 places. It comes with a $10 entry fee. Each driver is given a dollar value with each participant being allotted a budget of $50,000 to purchase six drivers. Following last week’s complete debacle in which four of my drivers were swept up in the Big One at Daytona, I have revamped my lineup for the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. As can be seen, I am banking heavily on a…

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Going into the 2019 season NASCAR faced a number of big issues. As has been widely reported, television ratings have been dropping for a decade or more along with grandstand attendance. Several of the sport’s biggest stars have retired in recent years to be replaced by younger drivers who are in the process of finding their way. And more, new leadership is now in place at a critical time in the history of the sanctioning body with its primary series sponsorship set to expire at the end of this year. Unlike most sports, NASCAR opens its season with its marquee…

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I am going to play the “NAS $750K America’s Race” contest on DraftKings.com under the name IndyJones. The game pays $100,000 to the winner and pays through the top-17,651 places. It comes with a $10 entry fee. Each driver is given a dollar value with each player being allotted a budget of $50,000 to purchase six drivers. Here are the six drivers I chose and why: Ryan Blaney($9,000) – Blaney seems like a good value here when it is considered that he led more than half of this race in 2018 on his way to a 7th place finish. He…

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With the season-opening Daytona 500 set to roll this Sunday, there will be a very different feel to this upcoming racing campaign in regard to the way penalties are handed down at stock car racing’s highest level. NASCAR officials recently announced sweeping changes regarding the punishments to be levied for infractions found during post-race tech inspections. These changes will be implemented throughout the 2019 schedule. Most noteworthy was the revelation that wins by teams and drivers whose car is found to be outside regulations will be taken away. Those cars will be disqualified with the offending driver and team receiving…

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For years the term “The Big One” has been associated with the two high speed tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Super Speedway frequently see at least one and sometimes multiple crashes in which numerous cars are involved during the running of their events. Because of the use of restrictor plates at those two venues, cars tend to run in large, tightly grouped packs in which one small mistake can lead to catastrophe for as many as 15-20 drivers at a time. Indeed, the recently run Advance Auto Parts Clash special event race…

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