Whether expected or unexpected, one problem that has shown itself early in the NASCAR Cup Series season has been that of the difficulty in getting a car with flat tires back to the pit area. The Next Gen car is very much different from its predecessor in that it sits lower, has a diffuser underneath it, and has larger wheels. Further, those larger wheels and tires with less sidewall do not allow for an inner liner as had been the case in years past. As a result of all those conditions, drivers have been losing multiple laps due to the…

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  The practice and qualifying sessions held the day before Sunday’s Wise Power 400 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California did not provide the typical sights and sounds from such a happening. Often, practice and qualifying sessions tend to play out with few if any incidents as drivers log laps then report what they have felt from behind the wheel to their crews. After that, they then go out and attempt to run the fastest single lap they possibly can in order to secure a good starting spot for the main event. Saturday’s track time for the NASCAR…

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Blocking another driver used to be highly frowned upon in racing. Along that same line, there was a time not so long ago that executing a slide job pass on a dirt track might result in a punch in the nose in the pit area after the checkered flag. But the racing landscape is an ever-changing one and both of those tactics are among the changes in modern racing styles. Nowadays, both blocking and the slide job have become as much a normal part of racing etiquette as the slingshot pass was back in the 1980’s. However, a more recent…

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Analysis After the brief practice session followed by two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, this race on the worn and bumpy 2-mile surface of the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California looks to be an adventurous affair to say the least. A number of cars either spun or crashed during those sessions and it wasn’t rookies and no-names who were involved in the mishaps. The likes of NASCAR Cup Series champions  Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott were among those to find trouble. Several drivers will find themselves in an early hole because of the issues they…

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At one time, the NASCAR Cup Series teams led by Jack Roush were among the toughest and most competitive in the sport. To demonstrate that, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch won championships for the ‘Cat in the Hat’ in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Those efforts were then followed up by the organization placing all five of its teams in the ‘NASCAR Chase’ as it was called back in 2005. Although the early 2000’s proved to be the high water mark, Roush Fenway Racing, as it came to be know later, remained a powerful force in the sport for the next…

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In October of 2021 at Talladega Super Speedway, Bubba Wallace made history when he became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race since Wendell Scott triumphed in the 1964 Jacksonville 200. On Sunday, the driver of the No. 23 Toyota came up just short of making even more history when he was just edged at the finish line by Austin Cindric in the 64th running of the Daytona 500. It was the second time Wallace had finished in the runner-up position in ‘The Great American Race’ after he followed Austin Dillon to the checkered flag in…

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When Michael McDowell slipped through the carnage of the last lap to win the 2021 Daytona 500 it was appropriately labeled as an upset win by an underdog. After all, the Front Row Motorsports driver had toiled for years in the NASCAR Cup Series with teams that do not rank as top tier operations without winning a single race. Despite the fact that his previous record on super speedways had been noteworthy, he was far from being labeled as the favorite going into that race. Some might look at Austin Cindric’s victory in this year’s Daytona 500 in a similar…

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