Richard Allen – Page 39 – Inside Circle Track

Articles posted by Richard Allen (Page 39)

With momentum on his side, Kyle Larson looking forward to Eldora

Kyle Larson has won the last two NASCAR Cup Series races by claiming every stage victory in each of those events along the way. Now the Elk Grove, CA native will carry that momentum to the Eldora Speedway for this week’s twin Dirt Late Model Dream races that will begin at the famed Rossburg, OH dirt track on Wednesday. The 28-year-old racer has also won in Sprint Car races during the time span around his Coca-Cola 600 win on Memorial Day weekend and his most recent win on the road course this Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. With the next race…

Road courses offer playoff outsiders a puncher’s chance

A hard punching boxer can sometimes get completely outclassed by a quicker and more nimble opponent for round after round of a match. The ringside judges may have the more adept fighter well ahead on their scorecards as the fight nears its conclusion. But then, the puncher who has trailed all throughout the bout may connect with his opponent’s jaw after throwing a wild right hook and send his seemingly more skilled rival to the canvas. The most skilled of the two fighters does not always win as one well placed punch can change the entire outcome of a match….

Slower traffic increases passing opportunities with the 550 package

Looking back at the Coca-Cola 600 this past weekend, it seems like there wasn’t a lot of on-track passing that occurred during the course of the race. The 550 horsepower/high downforce package used in the NASCAR Cup Series at tracks such as the Charlotte Motor Speedway and those with similar layouts lends itself to great action in the first couple of laps following a restart but then causes cars to be locked into position once things sort out. Unless the driver ahead has a significant bobble or the handling of a leading car goes away, it doesn’t seem as if…

Rick Hendrick and HMS drivers pushing to continue dominant run

To say that Hendrick Motorsports has things going their way right now on the NASCAR Cup Series would be a massive understatement. The organization based only a short distance from the Charlotte Motor Speedway has won six of the first fifteen races on the 2021 schedule, including the last three. All four of their drivers have essentially locked themselves into the NASCAR Playoffs by winning at least one race and the company’s total of laps led to this point is nothing short of impressive. Sunday night that dominance by the team that employs Chevrolet Camaros as its racers was clearly…

Kyle Larson’s Coca-Cola 600 goal is clear

Everyone who watches the NASCAR Cup Series on a regular basis has seen the statistics. Kyle Larson wins sometimes, but he finishes second more often. Indeed, the Elk Grove, CA native is currently on a streak of three consecutive runner-up results and has finished in that spot a total of four times in the first fourteen races of the 2021 season. Perhaps more frustrating to Larson and his fans is that he has seemingly had the car to beat multiple times this year in which he ultimately did not come away as the victor. Away from the NASCAR Cup Series…

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…