Inside Circle Track

Kyle Busch rallies from early accident to win Food City 500

Kyle Busch is typically the favorite to win at Bristol. Heading into Sunday’s Food City 500, Busch had won 7 times at the half-mile in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. An eighth victory looked to be in doubt when Busch was tagged from behind on a lap 2 incident. Chase Elliott dominated the early stages of the race. The pole sitter was comfortably in charge until a lapped car made contact with Elliott that resulted in a flat tire and a spin. Elliott was so far ahead he was in 5th place when the caution waved. But Elliott would…

Dolly Parton, Dollywood to sponsor Tyler Reddick at Bristol

An east Tennessee legend will be represented on one of the cars competing for the win on Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race when that series rolls into the Bristol Motor Speedway for the Alsco 300. Country music superstar and Sevier County native Dolly Parton will have her likeness on the hood of Tyler Reddick’s Chevrolet while Dollywood, a theme park located in the resort town of Pigeon Forge, will have its name placed on the side of the No. 2 ride prepared by Richard Childress Racing. The RCR Twitter account posted a photo of the car on…

Heat Races Could Solve NASCAR’s Qualifying Problems

Eventually NASCAR is going to get tired enough of all the shenanigans that have taken place so far this season during their qualifying sessions that they will institute an actual change rather than minor modifications. No doubt the sanctioning body is exhausted with having to explain why no car in a particular round posted a time or why a driver was or was not able to get on track to make a run as a result of a “clog” on pit road. It seems apparent that someone or some entity within the sport, whether it be the television networks or…

Who is most likely to challenge JGR and Penske supremacy?

There have been six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races held so far in 2019 and all six of those events have been won by drivers from the stables of Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske. What’s more, drivers from those two organizations currently reside in six of the top-10 spots of the series standings. Apart from their three wins, JGR drivers have scored 11 top-5 and 18 top-10 finishes among their four Toyota cars so far in 2019. Denny Hamlin won the season-opening Daytona 500 then Kyle Busch collected trophies from ISM Raceway in Phoenix and Auto Club Speedway…

What has happened to Chevrolet?

So far in 2019 there have been three races won by Toyotas as Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have scored those victories in this young season. At the same time, Ford drivers have taken two checkered flags as Team Penske pilots Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have each paid a visit to victory lane. However, those who campaign on behalf of the Chevrolet name plate have failed to earn a win thus far on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. More alarming for the fans and teams of the ‘Bow Tie’ brand, Chevrolet has not even…

Meeting high expectations has been difficult for NASCAR’s new package

Coming into the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season there were some very high expectations among fans, media, and competitors because of a new set of rules that would impact the amount of horsepower produced by the engines and the amount of down force placed on the bodies of the cars. Many seemed to believe that the changes instituted by the sanctioning body would bring about more drafting and pack-type racing as seen on the restrictor plate tracks in Daytona and Talladega. And at least on the start of each race and the restarts following each caution or stage…

Kyle Busch’s wins vs Richard Petty’s wins vs Dale Earnhardt’s Daytona wins

Unless you have been secluded somewhere well outside of the racing world, you probably already know that Kyle Busch is closing in on his 200th career win in NASCAR sanctioned races. His 52 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins, 94 NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, and 53 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series checkered flags amount to a total of 199 triumphs. It is certainly a remarkable feat for any race car driver to visit victory lane that many times. However, there are a significant number of detractors who argue that Busch has padded his statistics by winning races in what amounts…

Is there more to the story with McDowell vs Suarez?

For the second time in this very young 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season driver Michael McDowell found himself at odds with one of his fellow Ford competitors when he and Daniel Suarez scuffled during qualifying for the Ticket Guardian 500 at the ISM Raceway in Phoenix. Suarez walked to McDowell’s pit area and the two briefly fought after both found themselves eliminated from contention for the pole position when they did not advance to the second round of the seemingly appropriately named “knockout qualifying” session. Suarez believed McDowell had interfered with his qualifying run by getting in his…

Team Penske taking the early lead in 2019

Last season it was Stewart-Haas Racing who got the early jump on the rest of the field on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer earned multiple wins during the first half of the 2018 season. However, it was Team Penske that scored the ultimate triumph when Joey Logano won the final race of the year to secure the season-long championship. And it looks as if Roger Penske’s organization has carried that momentum into this season. The season opening Daytona 500 went reasonably well for Team Penske as Joey Logano finished a solid, but somewhat…

Richard’s Ramblings- NASCAR Cup Cars Racing Like Crate Late Models?

Do the new rules for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars that call for engines to be fitted with horsepower reducing tapered spacers cause the cars to race like the Crate Late Models that you might see at your local dirt track? Here are my thoughts: Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Respond to this piece on Twitter –> @RichardAllenIDR or on Facebook –> InsideCircleTrack/Facebook