Inside Circle Track

Starting Lineup and Race Info for the Consumer Energy 400 at Michigan

Race: Consumers Energy 400 The Place: Michigan International Speedway The Date: Sunday, August 12 The Time: 2:30 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 400 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) Starting Lineup: 1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 202.794 mph. 2. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 202.731 mph. 3. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 202.100 mph. 4. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 201.805 mph. 5. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 201.748 mph. 6. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 201.658 mph. 7. (78) Martin Truex…

NASCAR must find someone who will lead from the front

Championship winning UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was quoted as saying “Great leaders are always out front with a banner, instead of behind with a whip.” In a sport in which being the leader is a highly prized position to hold, NASCAR has seemingly been led from the rear for almost two decades. During the organization’s formative years and then during the time in which it came to be known as the top form of motorsports in America, NASCAR was headed up by two of the strongest leaders a sport could have. On a weekly basis there was no doubt…

A healthy NASCAR is good for short track racing

There are many fans of other forms of racing who may criticize NASCAR or downplay the importance of that racing body to their particular favorites. Plummeting television ratings and empty pockets within the grandstands surrounding many tracks provide those who claim to dislike that form of racing with opportunities to point out failures. And certainly, this most recent news of NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France’s arrest for a DUI and possession of oxycodone has offered up yet another chance to point fingers at the top form of stock car racing. However, the simple truth is that all of racing,…

Jeremy Clements looking forward to Xfinity Series hitting road courses

Last year Jeremy Clements shocked the NASCAR world, or better yet the entire racing world, when he pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory by winning the Johnsonville 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was the first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win for the driver whose family-run team operates out of a shop in Spartanburg, SC. The victory not only provided those who enjoy rooting for the Davids of the world in their perpetual battles with the Goliaths a reason to cheer but it also allowed the 33-year-old racer to achieve one of his…

Blake Jones looking to achieve big goals following first NASCAR Cup start

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to realize a dream. And sometimes those dreams are never realized at all. This past Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway racer Blake Jones realized one of his lifelong dreams. Even while growing up as a small child in Sevierville, Tennessee Jones wanted to be a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver and when the command to start engines was given after a persistent New England rain shower delayed the start of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, the 21-year-old racer had accomplished that goal as he fired the No. 23 BK Racing Toyota to…

Should NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity circuits race on dirt?

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series made its sixth annual trek to Rossburg, Ohio and the dirt-surfaced Eldora Speedway this past Wednesday night. The result was a door-slamming finish as Chase Briscoe just edged Grant Enfinger at the finish line to get the win. But perhaps the real story surrounding the event came even before the green flag waved as track owner and former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart lobbied for more races, particularly for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, to be staged on dirt tracks. “Maybe one of the days, we’ll get an Xfinity or…

Brett Moffitt looking forward to first Eldora CWTS start

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will make its sixth appearance at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway on Wednesday night but it will be the first visit to the half-mile dirt facility for one of the series top drivers. Brett Moffitt has won three CWTS races so far in 2018 and currently resides in the third position of the series standings. However, he will be touring the famed clay surface in Rossburg, Ohio for the first time in his racing career when he pulls his No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota onto the banking later this week. But the 25-year-old driver…

Michael McDowell using faith in Christ to stay on NASCAR track

In the high speed, high pressure world of auto racing there are always going to be ups and downs. No matter who the driver or what team that racer competes for, there are going to be moments of joy and moments of disappointment. For Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaigner Michael McDowell, those highs and lows are made easier to deal with by his deep faith in God’s plan for his life. The Glendale, AZ native decided to make racing his profession at an early age. Then as a young adult he made the decision to follow Christ when he…

There are two distinct paths to success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series

The Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway was the first NASCAR-sanctioned event I had covered as a credentialed member of the media in several years. But even with my rather full schedule of dirt races, I do manage to follow the various NASCAR series with some degree of regularity. The result of my attendance this past Saturday did provide a new perspective in regard to the differing paths a driver might take to make it into and succeed on the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Driver Ryan Preece took a huge gamble with his racing career during the 2017 season….

Jeremy Clements Racing working harder and working smarter

It has been said that working hard is not necessarily to key to success. Instead, some argue that working smart is actually the way to go when one wants to come out on top. Jeremy Clements Racing is actually trying to work both harder and smarter within the cozy confines of their Spartanburg, SC shop in order to keep pace with the powerful opponents they go up against on a regular basis. In 2017 driver Jeremy Clements pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent NASCAR history when he and his single-car team that has no affiliation with any…