Inside Circle Track

Will anyone top John Hunter Nemechek for Truck Series title?

The time has come for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series run toward the championship. With fifteen races in the books so far in the 2021 season, ten drivers are about to embark upon a seven-race stretch that will ultimately end with one racer being handed the big trophy at Phoenix Raceway. But of those ten drivers, one would seem to be the clear favorite. John Hunter Nemechek’s five victories have more than doubled those of his closest rivals in the number of race wins scored throughout the campaign. As a result of this year’s overall performance, the 24-year-old driver…

AJ Allmendinger wins wild NASCAR Cup race on Indy Road Course

August 15, 2021 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service INDIANAPOLIS – The first NASCAR Cup Series road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was full of drama – for A.J. Allmendinger, who led only the last two laps of overtime to secure his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday, and for those who fell short of the cherished trophy in an action-packed final few laps. Denny Hamlin was leading the race on the final restart with two laps to go before being hit from behind by rookie Chase Briscoe in Turn 10, just before Briscoe was supposed to serve…

Austin Cindric achieves goal of winning at Indy

August 14, 2021 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service INDIANAPOLIS – It was essentially a storybook ending for Austin Cindric Saturday afternoon in the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard and the 22-year old with Hoosier roots appropriately celebrated his first win at the renowned Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course by singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” as he took a victory lap. Cindric easily out-paced the NASCAR Xfinity Series field by 2.108-seconds to take his series best fifth victory of the year and 13th of his career. It marked the second win on the day for the Team Penske Racing,…

Weekend Preview: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

August 12, 2021 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson has a chance to enhance road course credentials at Indianapolis As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to its second consecutive road course race—the series’ debut event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course—we have a challenge to Chase Elliott’s supremacy and a budding asphalt rivalry between two of the world’s best dirt-track racers. Both involve Cup’s most prolific winner this season, Kyle Larson, who likely will factor in the finish of Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (1 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson already…

The Indy Road Course may produce a better race but it won’t be as prestigious

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is hallowed ground as far as the racing world is concerned. The 2.5-mile rectangular layout provides the setting for the most famous auto racing event in the world. The Indianapolis 500 has been contested every year since 1911 with the exception of the World War years. Winning at IMS would be a dream come true for any racer, and in 1994, the drivers from NASCAR would also be given the opportunity to experience that dream. And since then, legendary names such as Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson and Jarrett have been among those NASCAR stars to visit the…

Ty Gibbs: True talent or a product of his situation?

One of the most interesting stories of the 2021 season so far in NASCAR has to be that of young Ty Gibbs. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has definitely proven that he can win races at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level as well as on the ARCA Menard’s Series. His most recent effort this weekend at Watkins Glen International only further cemented the fact that he can wheel a race car as he won the Xfinity Series Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 200 in convincing fashion by leading more than half of the contested laps on the road course located in…

Kyle Larson outruns NASCAR field for Watkins Glen victory

By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson had to navigate lapped traffic in the closing laps and hold off his hard-charging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott – the track’s most prolific winner of late – to earn the victory in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen. But the 28-year old Californian Larson has been a driver to count on this season, finishing either first or second 10 times through the 23 races to date. And Sunday’s trophy at the historic Watkins Glen International road course is Larson’s NASCAR Cup Series-best fifth of the year; 11th of his career….

Ty Gibbs adds another NASCAR Xfinity trophy with WGI victory

Aug. 7, 2021 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service Even the very drivers he beat offered congratulations to 18-year old Ty Gibbs for the teenager’s victory in Saturday afternoon’s Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey 200 at the renowned Watkins Glen International road course. No matter which side of the track Gibbs re-started from, no matter the occasional hiccup getting up to speed, the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs proved he was up for the task – leading a race best (and career best) 43 of 82 laps to claim his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in 10 assorted…

Austin Hill wins weather interrupted NASCAR Truck Series race at The Glen

Aug. 7, 2021 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service Race leader Austin Hill was declared the winner of Saturday’s United Rentals 176 at the famed Watkins Glen International road course after lightning in the immediate area forced the field to stop on pit road 11 laps from the scheduled race finish. Hill had taken a 1.023-second lead over John Hunter Nemechek before the trucks headed to pit road where they waited under red flag conditions for nearly an hour before the race was officially called. The race marked the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season finale, officially setting the…

Is Kyle Larson worthy of comparisons to Foyt, Andretti?

It has been quite some time since drivers such as A.J Foyt and Mario Andretti used to compete and win in virtually everything on four wheels. However, there has been a revival of that sort of competitor as this year we have witnessed a driver earn wins across many of the disciplines that make up the sport of auto racing. Kyle Larson is achieving things that most modern-day racing fans have never seen in their lifetimes by acquiring checkered flags and trophies from highly coveted races within the various forms of motorsports. It’s rare here in the 21st century to…