Kevin Harvick has been one of the most prolific winners on the NASCAR Cup series over the past decade. The Bakersfield, California native has won a total of 58 races over the course of his career with 35 of those victories and a championship coming since joining forces with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. But as has been well documented, things have not gone so well of late for the No. 4 Ford crew. Harvick is currently in the midst of a 63 race winless streak that dates back to the Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway…

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NBC/USA/Peacock took over the coverage of the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series races a couple of weekends ago in Nashville and it feels like, at least to me, that there has been a definite theme in the early going. Almost like the the WWE or Marvel movies, the coverage seems to be taking on a heroes vs. villains type of concept as the broadcasts appear to label certain drivers as one or the other. Mind you, this is not really meant to pick on NBC but simply to make an observation. Keep in mind that Fox never really seemed to…

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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. Is Ross Chastain really too aggressive? Richard: This is a question I am mixed on. Everyone says they want drivers to be aggressive but then when they are public opinion condemns them for doing so, especially if they run afoul of one of the popular stars. Ross Chastain is certainly an aggressive driver and he is one that the fans, media, and other competitors have decided…

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In the movie ‘Gladiator’, the lead character Maximus Decimus Meridius played by Russell Crowe asks a rather subdued crowd following a gladitorial battle scene the question, “Are you not entertained?” The cheers that followed indicated that they were indeed entertained. In today’s era of short attention spans and various entertainment options available to potential attendees and viewers, all sports find themselves balancing the purity of their particular sport with the entertainment value they can offer fans. Every sport does it. The NFL, MLB and NBA have all structured their rules to encourage offense and games that come down to the…

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Speedway Motorsports, Inc. completely reconfigured the Atlanta Motor Speedway prior to the first visit by the NASCAR Cup Series to the track earlier this year with the hope of producing the same type of racing seen at Talladega Super Speedway and the Daytona International Speedway. And to some degree, that was accomplished as the race held on the redesigned 1.5-mile layout did feature some pack racing as well as a couple of ‘Big One’ type accidents. Steeper banking than what had been the case on the old AMS configuration as well as a tighter racing groove generated high speeds and…

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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. Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America featured another first time winner. What’s going on here? Richard: I think there are two factors at work here that have aided the fact that there have been so many new winners in 2022. First, the Next Gen car has changed everything we thought we knew about the sport from the car’s handling characteristics to pit stops. As…

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I am not foolish enough to believe that whatever I write here will have any influence on the powers that be in the decision making process for NASCAR. I also know that the decision regarding the subject at hand has most likely already been made. Still, I write anyway. I was really hoping that this past Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250 at Road America would turn out to be one of the best races of the season on the NASCAR Cup Series. Certainly, I want every race on the schedule to be a great one simply because I love racing and…

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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. Are the start times for NASCAR races appropriate? Richard: The start times for NASCAR races have been a point of contention among fans and media for several years now. The Cup Series race held in Nashville did not take the green flag until after 5:00pm(eastern), and very predictably in the heat of a Southern summer, thunderstorms became an issue. Many would argue that had the race…

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