Inside Circle Track

NASCAR holding practice and qualifying just feels right

Former NBA star Allen Iverson once went on a rather long rant during a press conference in which he admonished the assembled media for “talking about practice”. But the fact of the matter is that in sports practice is a very important aspect in a team or individual’s performance at game time. As a former high school basketball and cross country coach, I can also attest that practice can be somewhat tedious and monotonous. While practice is in fact important in all forms of sports, perhaps no other form of competition pays as much attention to it as auto racing…

Should this race remain at its 600 mile distance?

The topic of race distances on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is one that comes up from time to time in the media and just in general conversations. One thing that is often asked is whether or not the races are too long. And those are meaningful conversations for the current status and the future of this sport. Many of the race distances were established years or even decades ago during the early history of auto racing. Perhaps because of the Indianapolis 500, many North American events employed the number 500 whether it be for NASCAR or other sanctioning bodies….

Chad Knaus a bit surprised by Hendrick Motorsports revival

Any discussion of the greatest crew chiefs in NASCAR history must include the name Chad Knaus. The pit boss is best known as the leader of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team that piled up race wins and championships with driver Jimmie Johnson. Now, however, the 49-year-old from Rockford, Ill. has a new role with the organization at which he has spent most of his career in racing. After a stint in which he served as crew chief for young William Byron, Knaus stepped down from the pit box late in 2020 to assume the role of vice president of…

Todd Gilliland to Front Row crew after COTA win: “Get used to it!”

If it seems like Todd Gilliland has been around NASCAR for a while now, he has. The son of former NASCAR driver and now team owner David Gilliland may only be 21 years of age but he is now competing in what is essentially his fourth season on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. And more, it is beginning to look as if he has grown into a championship contender. Gilliland appeared to be bound for NASCAR stardom when he won an ARCA Menards Series race at Toledo Speedway at the age of 15 back in 2015. Later, the Sherrill’s…

Racing in the Rain: Let’s not do that again

I have never understood why, since the time NASCAR first threw out the possibility that its top-three series would employ windshield wipers and rain tires on road courses, so many have openly rooted for a NASCAR Cup Series event to be contested in wet conditions. Seemingly some members of the media have been the leaders in the desire to see the top stars in the sport slip and slide in bad weather. The attraction has supposedly been because doing so would be different and more interesting. NASCAR itself has helped to promote the hype by even going so far as…

“Low Downforce” is on the wrong end of the car if more passing is to occur

There have been examples over the past couple of weeks of “experts” telling us that those who didn’t like the NASCAR Cup Series races at Darlington and Dover just don’t understand true racing. Despite the fact that both of those races featured one driver getting out front and staying there most of the way due to the fact that passing the leader has become more than a little challenging at the sport’s top level. Those two races exemplified an issue that is proving to be all too frequent. In both cases, the package that allows for cars to have 750…

Pre-race Information for the NASCAR Cup Series Race at Dover

The Race: Drydene 400 The Track: Dover International Speedway is a high banked one-mile concrete oval Race Distance: 400 miles/400 laps Stages: Stage 1 will end at lap 120; Stage 2 will end at lap 240; the checkered flag will wave on lap 400 Time: 2:00PM(eastern) TV Coverage: FS1 Radio Coverage: MRN Starting Lineup: 1. Martin Truex, Jr.(19), 2. Denny Hamlin(11), 3. William Byron(24), 4. Kyle Larson(5), 5. Kevin Harvick(4), 6. Kyle Busch(18), 7. Ryan Blaney(12), 8. Chase Elliott(9), 9. Joey Logano(22), 10. Chris Buescher(17), 11. Christopher Bell(20), 12. Tyler Reddick(8), 13. Ryan Newman(6), 14. Austin Dillon(3), 15. Brad Keselowski(2),…

William Byron and Rudy Fugle clicking on all cylinders for HMS

If a follower of the NASCAR Cup Series had been told coming into the 2021 season that after twelve races there would be a driver who was working on a string of ten consecutive top-10 finishes several names probably would have come up before arriving at William Byron as the choice. However, that is exactly the case for the 23-year-old driver of the famed No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports as the Charlotte native has collected one win as a part of those top-10 results which have him ranked third in the overall standings. Compared to the first twelve races…

Kyle Larson hoping to capitalize on recent strong runs with Dover win

Kyle Larson has scored one win so far in 2021 but it feels as if the Hendrick Motorsports driver should have more victories considering that he has been in contention on multiple occasions. The Elk Grove, CA native did wheel the No. 5 Chevrolet into victory lane at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway but came up short in other events after looking like a potential winner. Larson led 269 laps at the Atlanta Motor Speedway before being tracked down by Ryan Blaney late in the going and ultimately finishing second. He ran at the front of the field for 132…

Pump the brakes on the NextGen car

NASCAR unveiled the much-anticipated NextGen car Wednesday afternoon. The new generation of Cup car is set to replace the current generation in 2022. Most of the comments have been positive following the unveiling of the new car. But before fans and media members shower tons of praise on the new car, the bottom line is whether the NextGen car is a good race car. Meaning, will the car produce competitive racing once it takes the track? In the looks department, the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, and Toyota Camry editions of the NextGen cars are the closest thing a Cup car…