Inside Circle Track

This year could test Atlanta’s super speedway status

After a significant reconfiguration of the Atlanta Motor Speedway that was first used last season, the NASCAR Cup Series will return to that venue for the first of two 2013 visits this weekend. While the two races held here in 2022 showed that the type of racing had changed from previous visits to the historic track, it may be this season that will show what the racing will be like going forward. Prior to the 2022 season, AMS had its banking increased from 24 to 28 degrees in the turns while the racing groove was narrowed. The aim of the…

Turn 2 Blog: The new package didn’t help & Phoenix not the best place to decide championship

*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. Did the new aero package put in place for the shorter tracks and road courses actually do any good at Phoenix? Richard: After the Next Gen proved to be a bit of a disappointment on short tracks and road courses in 2022, NASCAR trimmed the rear spoiler and took away some of the diffusers under the cars in hopes of improving the product on the short…

Turn 2 Blog: Chase Elliott’s waiver & Expectations for Jonathan Davenport 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. Should Chase Elliott receive a waiver that would allow him to make the NASCAR Playoffs despite missing races? Richard: As has been well documented, Chase Elliott suffered a broken leg while snowboarding last week which will cause him to miss multiple races. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion was looked at by many going into this season as the favorite to emerge from the NASCAR Playoffs…

Can William Byron find the consistency that could lead to a championship?

As he did on Sunday in Las Vegas, William Byron has shown during his relatively short NASCAR Cup Series career that he can win races for his Hendrick Motorsports team. The 25-year-old driver now has a streak of at least one win in each of the past four seasons. But the bigger questions surrounding the driver who hails from Charlotte are can he become a regular front runner and multiple-time winner during each campaign and can he seriously challenge for a championship at the sport’s top level. The 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion’s best result in the final series standings…

Should NASCAR teams limit what drivers are allowed to do away from their primary occupation?

The topic of what sorts of activities race car drivers should engage, or perhaps better said, be allowed to engage in away from the track has been discussed for quite some time. This past week, the subject was again brought to the forefront when it became known that 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott had sustained a broken leg in a snowboarding accident. As a result, it appears as if the sport’s most popular driver will be sidelined for multiple weeks. The impact of driver missing races, especially such a noteworthy star as Elliott, can be far reaching. Team…

Austin Hill makes it two-for-three with Xfinity win in Las Vegas

Dramatic late pass lifts Austin Hill to NASCAR Xfinity win at Las Vegas March 4, 2023 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS—Austin Hill ran down rookie pole winner Chandler Smith from three seconds back, passed him as the cars approached the white flag and held on to win Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory was the second of the year for Hill, who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet won for the first time at Las Vegas…

Kyle Busch cruises to Truck Series victory in Vegas

March 3, 2023 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS—Kyle Busch revels in changing circumstances. Five days after winning at Auto Club Speedway in his second NASCAR Cup Series race in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Busch powered his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevy to victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Despite a couple of twitchy moments in traffic, Busch dominated Friday night’s Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 84 of 134 laps and beating runner-up Zane Smith to the finish line by 4.981 seconds. The victory was Busch’s first of the season, the…

Did you expect Kyle Busch to win so soon? He didn’t

Kyle Busch is an extraordinary talent in a race car and Richard Childress Racing proved last year that they are a competitive organization once again by winning a total of four races and placing drivers Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick in the NASCAR Playoffs. Even with all of that taken into consideration, winning a NASCAR Cup Series race in only their second outing together might seem to be a bit of a stretch. After all, every aspect of the new pairing was foreign to all parties. Busch only joined RCR during the most recent off-season after parting ways with Joe…

Did the first “real” race show that Chevrolet has taken the lead with the Next Gen?

The Next Gen car proved to be a bit of a puzzle during its first year in competition as no particular team appeared to get a handle on the new machine put in use on the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. No particular driver or even manufacturer just completely dominated the season as had sometimes been the case during the Gen 6’s run as the primary racer being used at the sport’s top division. A total of 19 different pilots steered into victory lane over the course of last year’s campaign to demonstrate that the car either truly had brought…

After two races, are enough people watching?

The grandstands at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California this past Sunday were obviously not filled to capacity although there was a very solid crowd there to attend the Pala Casino 400. Earlier in the day, however, the track had reported that the NASCAR Cup Series race was a sellout, and it very well could have been. Perhaps some tickets were sold to companies who did not use them all or perhaps the cool and rainy weather(it snowed there on Saturday) caused some southern California natives to opt for the warmer and drier environment of their living rooms instead of…