Inside Circle Track

Scott Bloomquist set for SRX run at Knoxville Raceway

The Superstar Racing Experience made its debut this past weekend at the Stafford Speedway with local hero Doug Coby scoring the win on the asphalt-surfaced Connecticut track noted primarily for Modified racing. The new racing tour which will feature both active and retired drivers from various disciplines of the sport will be conducted on a variety of short tracks in a total of six races run on six consecutive weekends. Paved tracks as well as dirt-surfaced venues will serve as the sites of those events. The SRX is spearheaded by former NASCAR crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham with…

Four contract year drivers who needed a big All-Star weekend … but didn’t get it

In the grand scheme of things, the NASCAR All-Star Race doesn’t mean very much … unless you happen to be the driver who wins it and collects the $1 million first prize. Beyond that, the other drivers are like those contestants on a game show who don’t win anything and only receive a year’s supply of ‘Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat’ as a consolation prize. But there could be an exception to the opening paragraph of this piece. A driver who has had a lackluster campaign throughout the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series season could perhaps use the…

Pre-race Information for the NASCAR All-Star Race

The Race: NASCAR All-Star Race The Track: Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile quad-oval with banked turns. Race Distance: 100 laps Race Format: The race is broken into a total of six segments. Round 1– This will be a 15-lap segment. At the end, there will be an invert to set the starting order for the next round. Somewhere between the first 8 and 12 positions will be inverted based on a random draw. Round 2- This will be a 15-lap segment with the entire field inverted to set the starting order for the next round. Round 3- This will…

Has Stewart-Haas really declined that much?

There is little question that Hendrick Motorsports has been the top team in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last several weeks. At the same time, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have proven to be respectable adversaries when the entire season is taken into consideration. But one organization that is notably missing from list of worthy contenders at the top level of the sport is that of Stewart-Haas Racing. It seems as if there has been a significant drop off for the team owned by former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart and businessman and Formula 1 team owner Gene Haas….

Donny Schatz looking forward to representing dirt racing in NASCAR Truck

Rookie drivers make their debut in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on a regular basis. However, very few of them enter their first race with the kind of credentials that one first-timer will bring with him on July 9th at the Knoxville Raceway. Donny Schatz will be no ordinary rookie when he climbs into a Ford truck for David Gilliland Racing on the famed half-mile dirt track most noted for its Knoxville Nationals race for Sprint Cars and the Knoxville Late Model Nationals. Schatz is not lacking for experience or success at the Iowa facility. The Tony Stewart Racing…

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…