Richard Allen – Page 30 – Inside Circle Track

Articles posted by Richard Allen (Page 30)

Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott taking part in USAC’s Hangtown 100

Two of racing’s biggest stars are participating this weekend in the USAC-sanctioned Hangtown 100 race for Midget Sprint Cars. And it’s not just any high-profile drivers taking part in the event held at California’s Placerville Speedway, it’s the two most recent NASCAR Cup Series champions who are hitting the quarter-mile dirt track for competition. The Hangtown 100 is part of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Championship Series. Kyle Larson entered the weekend as the defending champion of the Hangtown 100 from the last time the event was contested back in 2019. And more, the 2021 Cup Series titlist unveiled…

Brad Keselowski making moves to reassert Roush organization as “top-tier team”

The organization led by Jack Roush was a perennial contender for NASCAR Cup Series race wins and championships earlier in its history. Drivers such as Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards were frequently seen at the front of the field and near the top of the standings just over a decade ago. However, the company that was long the standard bearer for Ford Motor Company’s stock racing efforts has over the past few years fallen to the level of a mid-pack runner. The organization’s last wins came in 2017 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scored victories at the…

Can NextGen car help Stewart-Haas regain form?

A look at the overall statistics from the 2020 season makes it seem as if the entire Stewart-Haas Racing organization was highly competitive. However, a closer examination of those numbers reveals that, in reality, it was only one of of that company’s teams that compiled the bulk of those stats. During that season, SHR had a total of 10 wins and 30 top-5 finishes. Their Ford machines led a total of 2121 laps during that campaign. But that closer look mentioned above reveals that the No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick actually amassed nine of those ten wins and…

NASCAR Championship vindicates Kyle Larson’s extracurricular racing schedule

After Kyle Larson was suspended by NASCAR early on in the 2020 season, the Elk Grove, California native went on an amazing tear through the dirt racing world that saw him collect trophies from Sprint Car, Midget, and Late Model events across the country. Essentially, not having any Cup Series entanglements freed him up to do other things and he did those other things remarkably well. But at the beginning of 2021, Larson was reinstated by that sanctioning body and was then signed by powerful Hendrick Motorsports to drive their No. 5 Chevrolet machine. Once that took place, some began…

Should a season championship be decided by the last pit stop of the last race?

While there were all sorts of possibilities for how the NASCAR Cup Series season could have ended, its conclusion ultimately played out in the best possible way. Following the 2020 campaign in which the driver with the most wins over the course of the year did not even make the Championship 4, the driver that had dominated in virtually every way possible in 2021 ultimately hoisted the trophy on Sunday evening at the Phoenix Raceway. And he did so in the most dramatic of ways. Kyle Larson earned the NASCAR Cup Series title after having won the regular season championship,…

NASCAR watches its Playoff dream come true with Xfinity finish

Daniel Hemric stood atop his car and did a successful backflip off in celebration of the last lap pass that not only earned him his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win but also the season championship for that tour. And if they were capable of doing so, it’s likely that some high ranking NASCAR officials would have been doing the same thing from atop their desks, sofas, or luxury suite seats at the end of the Xfinity Series Championship Race on Saturday night at the Phoenix Raceway. The leaders of the sport got everything they hoped for when they devised the…

Ben Rhodes earns NCWTS title; Chandler Smith wins Phoenix race

November 5, 2021 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – A bantamweight boxer in the training room, Ben Rhodes punched like a heavyweight on Friday at Phoenix Raceway. On Lap 142 of 150 in the Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship race, Rhodes tapped the tailgate of Zane Smith’s Chevrolet with the nose of his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota, nudged Smith up the track in Turn 2 and made the pass that secured his first title. At the time, the pass was for fourth place—as Chandler Smith was running away to victory in a…

If not this year, how many more opportunities will Denny Hamlin have?

There is no doubt that Denny Hamlin is one of the top drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Chesterfield, Virginia native has scored a total of race 46 victories at the top level of the sport including three Daytona 500 triumphs. And more, the Joe Gibbs Racing pilot is a perennial championship contender. That said, however, the 40-year-old star has never been able to parlay his ability to contend for a championship into an actual championship. Hamlin’s placements in the final series standings throughout his career have been nothing short of remarkable. He was second in the final rundown…

Championship contenders have to let Martinsville go

From a fan’s perspective, having the final cutoff race of the season at the Martinsville Speedway provides for great excitement and entertainment. From a competitor’s perspective, having that final cutoff race on the paper clip shaped half-mile track must be a gut wrenching experience. Martinsville is a track where virtually anything can and does happen. And, it’s almost a certainty that sheet metal is going to be wrinkled, feelings are going to be hurt, and tempers are going to reach the boiling point on that short track in such a high pressure situation. Once a driver and team have cleared…

Playoff system meant to reward winning sometimes rewards not winning

The old NASCAR points system that was used up until the end of the 2003 season was one that rewarded consistency. Designed in the early days of the sport, the sanctioning body sought to have a format that would encourage drivers to run the entire schedule so points were distributed in such a way that those who showed up most often would place highly in the standings while those who might win races but not run the full circuit would have little chance of winning a championship. However, it was decided that such a system was not exciting enough in…