Inside Circle Track

Two companies set to serve as primary sponsors for Larson’s No. 5 car

In a press release sent out by Hendrick Motorsports early Wednesday morning, the championship winning racing organization announced that two companies have agreed to serve as primary sponsors for driver Kyle Larson and his team. Machine tool maker Cincinnati, Inc. and heavy-duty truck manufacturer Freightliner have been named as the backers for the No. 5 Chevrolet. “We’re pleased to have Cincinnati and Freightliner grow their respective partnerships with us,” HMS owner Rick Hendrick said in the release. “The best way we can show our appreciation is with high performance on and off the racetrack. NASCAR has tremendous momentum going into…

Kurt Busch looking forward to the challenge of dirt racing at Bristol

Few drivers have had as much success at the Bristol Motor Speedway as Kurt Busch. The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion has pulled into victory lane at ‘The Last Great Colosseum’ on six different occasions along with posting a dozen top-5 finishes over the course of his career on the high-banked track located in the upper northeastern corner of Tennessee. As a result of all that success, this is a driver who should feel quite comfortable whenever the series heads to the half-mile concrete oval. However, the Bristol Motor Speedway that welcomes the NASCAR Cup Series on March 28th of…

Brad Keselowski comments on NASCAR’s youth movement and his own contract status

A quick look through the driver rosters of some of the top teams in the NASCAR Cup Series shows that there is a definite trend toward younger drivers. Over the past few years, some of the sport’s biggest stars have retired and been subsequently replaced by their teams with up-and-comers who, in some cases, are half the age of the race winners they are stepping in for. Some of those changes are a natural shift that is bound to occur over time as the established racers get older and younger drivers who have risen through the ranks take their places….

These 5 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers Must Perform Well in 2021

All photos in this piece provided by Getty Images Going into any new season it goes without saying that every driver and every team in the NASCAR Cup Series hopes to perform as well as possible. For each, however, those expectations of success are different for each team as some have the resources, the experience, and the capability to win races while others may not. For some, the occasional top-10, or even top-20, might meet or even exceed expectations. Of all the members on each team, the driver is obviously the most notable. Often times, whether fair or not, success…

Turn 2 Blog: Do Kyle Larson’s accomplishments on dirt make him a generational talent?

*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. Richard: Kyle Larson just continues to impress and amaze. After winning more than 50 feature races last year in Sprint Cars, Midget Sprint Cars, and Late Models combined, he has continued those winning ways already in 2021. For the second year in a row he captured the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, OK in a Midget then came…

Rich’s Ramblings: Did 2020 changes make NASCAR better?

From time to time I plan to drop in a brief recording to offer a few thoughts. I plan to make most of these on the way to or from a race track on some topic that may be of interest but not necessarily for a written story. In this edition of Rich’s Ramblings I talk about how the changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic may have actually improved NASCAR. Practice, qualifying, personnel, and more are addressed. Just click on the play button below to give it a listen. Please also consider reading Richard Allen is a member of…

The time has come for Ryan Blaney to win more often

A few years ago Ryan Blaney was thought of as a can’t miss superstar in the NASCAR Cup Series. And certainly, the High Point, NC native has accomplished some things that many others only wish they could have. But now at the age of 27, the time has come to start asking when, or even if, he will reach the status of multiple race winner and regular championship contender. Blaney is the son of former Sprint Car racing star and NASCAR regular Dave Blaney which perhaps led to exalted expectations when he entered the sport. And further, Blaney himself offered…

Here’s why NASCAR needs Bubba Wallace to succeed

Going into the 2021 season there are going to be many fans who will be rooting for Bubba Wallace and his new team. At the same time, there will be a number of fans rooting against Bubba Wallace and his new team as well. While numerous columns could be written regarding why both of the above statements will almost certainly prove to be true, this piece is only going to graze the fringes of race and other societal issues so if the reader is looking for facts or opinions about the Black Lives Matter movement, nooses, Confederate flags, or otherwise,…

What should Team Penske do with Brad Keselowski?

Early in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season the rumor mill was churning regarding the future of Brad Keselowski as his contract with Team Penske was set to expire at the end of the campaign. Some had him penciled in as the replacement for the retiring Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 car at Hendrick Motorsports with others suggesting that he would ultimately get a long-term extension that would allow him to finish out his career with his current team. About midway through the year, however, both of those ways of thinking were proven to be incorrect as the 36-year-old…

The Chili Bowl: Strengthening the marriage of NASCAR and dirt

There is often a debate regarding the relationship between NASCAR and dirt racing. Some would argue that the involvement of NASCAR, whether it be by drivers, teams, or the sanctioning body itself, benefits racing on clay due to the amount of exposure that comes with the more high-profile form of the sport lending its star power. Conversely, there are some in dirt racing who resent the involvement of NASCAR in their favorite type of motorsports because they see it as a somewhat arrogant intrusion of the haves dropping in to take purse money from the have-nots while dabbling in what…