Inside Circle Track

Turn 2 Blog: How hard should the others race the contenders in the finale?

*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. Which driver is the most surprising entry in the 2022 version of the Championship 4? Richard: The answer here probably depends on when the question was actually posed. Few, if any, had Ross Chastain penciled in as a serious NASCAR Cup Series championship contender before the season started. But once things got underway, the watermelon farmer and his relative upstart Trackhouse Racing team quickly showed themselves…

Might Martinsville’s Xfinity race overshadow the Cup hype?

It has been said that all publicity is good publicity. But is that statement always true? What if the publicity in question outweighs the event that is actually supposed to garner the most publicity? The NASCAR Playoffs system was implemented for the primary purpose of creating drama over the closing weeks of the racing season. Whether one sees it as legitimate drama or artificially contrived drama, it is drama nonetheless. The ultimate purpose is to showcase action that will provide something for media, fans and competitors alike to talk about throughout the final third of the schedule. Of course, the…

What would you do to grab a Championship 4 spot?

This Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will mark the final event before the four drivers who will compete for the season title next weekend in Phoenix. When the checkered flag waves on Sunday, there will be four drivers to be eliminated from contention while the remaining four will punch their ticket to the Championship 4 finale. As it stands going into the Martinsville event, Joey Logano is locked into the Championship 4 by virtue of his win two weeks ago in Las Vegas. Since Kyle Larson, who had already been eliminated from the Playoffs, won last weekend…

Will Martinsville produce a Playoff worthy thriller?

This weekend’s Xfinity 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at the Martinsville Speedway will again serve as the deciding contest that will determine the Championship 4 going into the season finale in Phoenix. In past years this particular race on the paper clip-shaped half-mile track has produced some epic moments such as when Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott clashed in 2017 or when Kevin Harvick desperately tried to stay alive in the NASCAR Playoffs by spinning Kyle Busch on the last lap in 2020. And don’t forget the incident between Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin last fall. This event has provided…

NASCAR had to walk a tightrope when issuing Bubba Wallace penalty

Virtually everyone, whether a racing fan or not, has not only seen but commented on the crash and subsequent physical confrontation between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson during this past Sunday’s South Point 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And those comments have gone the way one might expect of a highly publicized situation involving the stock car racing’s most prominent African-American driver. On Tuesday, it was announced that Wallace had been suspended for the upcoming Dixie Vodka 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway because of his actions related to the incident with Larson. In deciding to suspend Wallace, NASCAR…

Turn 2 Blog: Were Bubba Wallace’s actions worthy of suspension?

*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 Bubba Wallace cross the line when he hit Kyle Larson in the right rear at Las Vegas? Richard: As most reading this have probably already seen, Kyle Larson made a three-wide move going into turn three when Bubba Wallace and Kevin Harvick went side-by-side on the back stretch. As the cars exited turn four, Larson’s car got loose and slid up the track forcing Wallace…

Turn 2 Blog: How much does football season impact racing?

This week’s edition of the Turn 2 Blog that would have normally been posted on InsideDirtRacing.com has been moved to this sire due to a technical issue which we are working to correct. Sorry for the inconvenience. How surprised were you at Garrett Smith’s win in the Dirt Track World Championship? Richard: This is one of those yes and no sort of answers. In the sense that a 19-year-old won a $100,000 crown jewel race is surprising no matter what the circumstances. Those are races that are supposed to be won by guys named Davenport, Overton, McCreadie, Owens and the…

James McFadden earns first WoO Sprint win of 2022 at Lakeside

Lakeside Offers Three Different Leaders as J-Mac Snaps 81-Race Winless Streak KANSAS CITY, KS – October 15, 2022 – With pressure mounting and the calendar winding down, James McFadden came through in the clutch and found his way back to Victory Lane in Saturday’s Lakeside Speedway Showdown presented by Micro-Lite. Ending an 81-race drought that dates back to September 2021, the Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia native provided an outstanding charge as he led the final 11 laps to make his long-awaited return to the win column with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. Not only did the sigh of relief net J-Mac his…

Garrett Smith pulls shocker by taking the Dirt Track World Championship

Garrett Smith pulled one of the biggest surprise wins in a long time by winning the Dirt Track World Championship on Saturday night at Portsmouth Raceway Park. The young driver led all 100 laps in the season finale for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season. The Rocket Chassis driver from Eatonton, Georgia earned $100,000 for the victory in a race held on the 3/8 mile Portsmouth, Ohio track shown live by MavTV and FloRacing.com. Tim McCreadie secured his second consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship by simply starting the race. The top-18 on the starting grid…

Can Tyler Reddick match 2022 stat line with new team?

When thinking of Tyler Reddick’s 2022 season one might wonder whether the success experienced by the 26-year-old driver is more due to his talent as a driver or is it more due to the cars being provided to him by Richard Childress Racing. On Saturday afternoon this driver and team added another achievement when the Corning, California native placed his No. 8 Chevrolet on the pole for the upcoming South Point 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That qualifying effort was Reddick’s third pole of the season. With that impressive number, the two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion has also…