Inside Circle Track

Would you subscribe to a streaming service that showed only NASCAR content?

I have written several times on this website’s sister page, InsideDirtRacing.com, that the landscape of dirt racing was forever changed by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was around that time, with the restrictions placed on large gatherings, that streaming broadcasts began to proliferate across Dirt Late Model, Sprint Car, and Modified competition. Now, there is rarely an event to take place on clay surfaces that cannot be viewed live within the comfort of a living room, hotel room, or in a sports bar. The way sporting events are being viewed by fans is most definitely in a state of transition. A…

Ross Chastain: “We were and we are willing to do anything”

If Hollywood were looking to make a movie about racing, a possible script idea could sound something like the following. A driver spends several seasons struggling at the lower levels of NASCAR with no real success achieved only to finally get a big break. However, that opportunity is ultimately ripped away leaving said driver seemingly out of luck. However, new opportunities arise that ultimately lead to a seat with a new and unproven team that quickly emerges as a contender allowing the driver to score Cup Series wins. Those victories ultimately lead to some miraculous last lap heroics and a…

Kyle Busch looking for return to championship form at RCR

Without a doubt, the biggest piece of news involving a driver moving from one team to another this past season was that of Kyle Busch parting ways with longtime team Joe Gibbs Racing then ultimately landing at Richard Childress Racing. The 37-year-old star has compiled one of the most impressive records in NASCAR history with two Cup Series championships and 60 wins at the top level of the sport to his credit. And all of that has been accomplished before the age that has often been considered the prime of a racer’s career. Now, for the second time in his…

Turn 2 Blog: Looking ahead to 2023

*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 driver or team is on the upswing and will continue moving up in 2023? Richard: I am going to pick an entire organization that seems to be on the upswing and I believe that trend will continue next season. That team is Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. As the 2022 season played out, it seemed as if both of their cars were getting stronger and finding…

Turn 2 Blog: Grading the 2022 NASCAR season

*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. Give the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season an overall grade Richard: Had this question been asked a few months ago, my grade would have been much higher. During the early part of the season, the outlook was promising as the new Next Gen car seemed to help the racing on the intermediate sized tracks. However, as the campaign wore on, cracks began to show themselves. Over…

Coming off injury, Alex Bowman facing pivotal season

Alex Bowman has had a solid career in the NASCAR Cup Series up to this point. After driving for lesser funded teams at the sport’s top level in 2014 and 2015, the native of Tucson, Arizona joined Hendrick Motorsports on a part-time basis in 2016 then as a full-time competitor from 2018 to the present. In those years piloting a car for that powerhouse Chevrolet team, the 29-year old has won a total of seven races and has qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs in all five of his campaigns with HMS. Bowman’s best Playoff effort came in 2020 when he…

Is Ty Gibbs truly ready for the Cup Series?

There is no question that Ty Gibbs is a talented race car driver. A total of 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins in only 51 starts and a the 2022 championship on that tour serve as a testament to his skill. The 20-year-old has accomplished much in a short period of time. And now the grandson of legendary football coach and team owner Joe Gibbs will soon be looking to add to those achievements at a higher level. The younger Gibbs has also won 18 ARCA Menards Series races and was the 2021 champion on that circuit. After filling in for…

This is one of the most important off-seasons in recent NASCAR history

With the NASCAR banquet now behind us and the awards from 2022 having been doled out, it is now time begin focusing on the 2023 season. In reality, however, teams began working toward next year a number of weeks ago. But now that the past campaign has officially been brought to it’s conclusion, all efforts inside the garages located around the Charlotte area can be pointed in the direction of the upcoming schedule of events. Of course, every NASCAR Cup Series off-season is important as preparations for next year are made but this one is taking on added significance with…

Aggressive driving is now just the way of things

It seemed as if many of the 36 points-paying races and two exhibition races held on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule had at least one incident that created a talking point over the course of the next week. And more often than not, those incidents were the result of aggressive moves made by one driver against another. It’s not that there haven’t been aggressive moves in the past history of NASCAR that have caused wrecks, but it does feel like those mishaps occurred at a higher rate than ever before this past season. Or perhaps, they get discussed more…

We’re still waiting for those promised paybacks

How many times did we hear during this past NASCAR season that this driver or that driver was going to be on the receiving end of paybacks when the time was right? Drivers who had been wronged at some point during the season, those promises claimed, would dish out revenge at a time when it would hurt the most. The drivers most often named in this speculation by fans, media, and even other competitors were Cup Series driver Ross Chastain and Xfinity Series pilots Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson. Each had been involved in incidents on various occasions that had…