Inside Circle Track

Jeremy Clements hoping to parlay Playoff eligibility into more support

Jeremy Clements experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the hours and days following his win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway. The euphoria of winning on that form of racing’s biggest stage and earning a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs was soon replaced by the news that his car’s engine manifold had been deemed illegal at the NASCAR R&D Center. While the Spartanburg, SC driver and his family-owned team were allowed to keep the win, his Playoff eligibility was stripped along with crew chief Mark Setzer being suspended and fined….

Bass Pro Shops Night Race photos

Photos from Michael Moats of the Bass Pro Shops Night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Turn 2 Blog: Bristol concrete or Bristol dirt?; and RFK’s great showing at Bristol

*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. Where has THAT RFK been all season? Richard: The overall performance of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing was a big surprise as Chris Buescher drove to his second career NASCAR Cup Series win on Saturday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway. There have been moments in which it has looked like that organization might contend for a win this year, especially with Buescher, but nothing sustained and…

Is there an advantage to not making the NASCAR Playoffs?

It would seem logical to say that the best sixteen drivers and teams are those who qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs. However, there have been two races held so far within the run for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship and both of those events were won by drivers who are not eligible for the title. Could it be that there is some sort of an advantage to not making the Playoffs? Obviously, all teams entered the season with the goal of being one of those sixteen who will be in the hunt for the championship. But in the somewhat…

Turn 2 Blog: Playoff Disrupters; Can RCR Rise to the Challenge?; Clements Wins … Again

*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 do you make of these Playoffs disrupters? Richard: I mentioned in one of these pieces a while back that I wanted there to be as much chaos as possible leading into the NASCAR Playoffs, and now that they have started, I am still on that train. It’s not that I hate the Playoffs or anything like that, I just love all the drama. There have…

Next two races will go a long way in determining how Kyle Busch ends stint at JGR

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Kyle Busch is on his way out at Joe Gibbs Racing. The driver who has delivered two NASCAR Cup Series championships and 56 race wins in the sport’s top division along with dozens of victories in the lower divisions apparently will not be getting a contract extension for 2023 and beyond from the organization he first began driving for in 2008. As a result, one of racing’s most successful and talented drivers will likely be plying his trade elsewhere in the future. That said, the upcoming races at the Kansas Speedway this…

Turn 2 Blog: Darlington Drama & Chase Elliott in Playoff Trouble?

*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. The NASCAR Xfinity Series race featured a great finish on Saturday. Darlington Raceway seems to have a tendency to do that, doesn’t it? Richard: The closing laps of the Sport Clips 200 that saw Noah Gragson beat out Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson in a sparks-flying, sheet metal-rubbing last few laps was one of the best finishes I have ever seen in any form of racing….

Carson Hocevar to make Dirt Late Model debut at Eldora Speedway

Carson Hocevar has won big Super Late Model races on pavement over the course of his career including the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway and the Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway, both in Indiana. And now, the 19-year-old driver from Portage, Michigan plans to give Dirt Late Model racing a try this week at the historic Eldora Speedway. The Tony Stewart-owned half-mile clay oval located in Rossburg, Ohio will host the prestigious World 100 on Saturday night with preliminary racing action beginning on Wednesday evening. The main event will pay $55,000 to its eventual winner as well as awarded the…

Erik Jones win was the only fitting ending for such a crazy NASCAR Playoffs opener

The sixteen drivers and teams that make it to the NASCAR Playoffs are the best in the sport, right? The top-16 finishers in a NASCAR Playoffs race should be loaded with the names of drivers who are, in fact, in the running for the championship, right? The Cook Out Southern 500 held on Sunday night at the Darlington Raceway, however, did not live up to expectations for anyone who might have thought the opening round of the Playoffs would be dominated by title contenders. Instead, one championship hopeful after another suffered significant issues which either took them out of contention…

Of course something crazy is going to happen in the NASCAR Playoffs

The easy thing to do going into the first round NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs would be to pick four drivers near the back of the standings and predict that those drivers will be the ones to be eliminated after the first three races. However, the 2022 season has shown itself to be one in which the easy thing to predict doesn’t actually come to fruition very often. So Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez will be eliminated from championship contention following the first cutoff race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, right? Instead, however, the virtual certainty based…