After one of the most unpredictable races ever at Daytona, the Sprint Cup Series heads into another unpredictable race Saturday night at Kentucky.
Kentucky Speedway has been around for more than a decade, but it has taken almost that long for the track to finally get the biggest NASCAR series to come to town.
The Nationwide Series will run its 11th race at the track Friday night, and five drivers in the Cup field have already won at that track. So, why is this race unpredictable?
Well, two of the winners, David Gilliland and Joey Logano, who has won the last three Nationwide races at Kentucky, haven’t won at the Cup level since Logano won the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire in 2009.
The other three winners who are in the Cup race, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, all won at the track in the old-style car. The current Cup cars will not drive very similar to the cars each of those drivers took to Victory Lane.
Usually when something new comes into the sport, one team tends to dominate for a little while. Hendrick Motorsports dominated when the Car of Tomorrow was introduced in 2007, and Joe Gibbs Racing dominated last year when NASCAR brought back the rear spoiler and did away with the wing.
To add a little more concern that Saturday’s race might not be the most exciting race ever, the winner in nine of the 10 Nationwide races has started inside the top 10. Only Harvick came from outside the top 10 in the first-ever Nationwide race at the track. He started 11th. Plus, Logano has started from the pole in each of his three wins.
With all that said, it is still very possible Saturday night’s race will be fun for both the drivers and fans. Although the track is 1.5 miles long, it is different from several of the other intermediate tracks.
Kentucky Speedway doesn’t have long, sweeping corners. The straightaways are long and the drivers really have to bury the car down into the corner, but they can still race two and three wide through those corners. This track races more like Rockingham than it does Chicagoland or Kansas.
The bigger teams might have a bit more of an advantage than usual this weekend because although the race has many unknowns, the big-time teams are able to limit them through simulation work before the cars ever leave the shop to pull ahead of the competition. Enjoy the race, everybody.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Nationwide Series move to Brickyard a bad deal
Another short track bites the dust as the Nationwide Series will move its race to the Brickyard in 2012.
The Nationwide Series had run at the short track, originally known as Indianapolis Raceway Park, across town in Indianapolis since the series was created in 1982. Now, it might not return.
The Nationwide Series will run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 28, 2012, the day before the Brickyard 400.
What were NASCAR and everybody else involved thinking? Surely this deal was driven by the prospects of making more money. The purse will likely be larger for a race at the big track and the seating capacity is substantially larger, but this is a bad deal in every way other than money.
Since the Sprint Cup Series first came to Indianapolis in 1994, the Brickyard 400 has been one of those special races on the motorsports schedule. Any race at Indy is a big deal, but that’s also because only the best get to race there.
Having only the Sprint Cup cars compete once a year on the 2.5-mile speedway kept the Brickyard 400 as an exclusive event. Sure, it will be a special moment for whoever wins in the Nationwide Series at the track, but it waters down the weekend, especially since most of the regular contenders in the Nationwide Series are Cup drivers anyway.
Another negative is the fact that the Nationwide Series is kicking a great short track to the curb. That move will only perpetuate the bland reputation the series has as a knock-off version of the Sprint Cup Series. Many of the drivers are the same in both series, the cars look very similar and most of the tracks are the same.
The Nationwide Series had a cool deal at the short track. Indianapolis Raceway Park was one of the only remaining short tracks that still had a bit of the country fair feel to it. Plus, the racing was usually close and exciting. It was a unique place. The Nationwide race at the Brickyard will be little more than just another tandem race weekend, especially when the novelty wears off.
In some ways, this is just another case of NASCAR’s eternal longing to reach big markets. NASCAR got tracks in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Kansas City, and for years it wanted to put tracks up by Seattle and New York.
Thankfully we didn’t get another bland 1.5-mile track from those deals. At least this week’s race in Kentucky is a little closer to traditional NASCAR markets, even if they might not be as big. Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Motor Speedway is already sold out.
Now that the decision has been made to move the Nationwide race, it will be tough to bring the series back to the short track. No matter how boring the race is on the big track, there will always be a Nationwide race the day before the Sprint Cup race from here on out.
Even if the Nationwide Series would return, it would be on a different weekend and would lose the excitement of having racing throughout the weekend in the same city, but at completely different racetracks. That’s also part of what made the Indianapolis weekend special. Only a big-time racing city would have two races on the same weekend at different tracks.
So, savor the upcoming Indianapolis race weekend July 30-31, because it will likely be the last time it stands out as a weekend that is different than any other weekend.
The Indy race weekend will still important simply because it’s Indy, but it won’t be the same.
The Nationwide Series had run at the short track, originally known as Indianapolis Raceway Park, across town in Indianapolis since the series was created in 1982. Now, it might not return.
The Nationwide Series will run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 28, 2012, the day before the Brickyard 400.
What were NASCAR and everybody else involved thinking? Surely this deal was driven by the prospects of making more money. The purse will likely be larger for a race at the big track and the seating capacity is substantially larger, but this is a bad deal in every way other than money.
Since the Sprint Cup Series first came to Indianapolis in 1994, the Brickyard 400 has been one of those special races on the motorsports schedule. Any race at Indy is a big deal, but that’s also because only the best get to race there.
Having only the Sprint Cup cars compete once a year on the 2.5-mile speedway kept the Brickyard 400 as an exclusive event. Sure, it will be a special moment for whoever wins in the Nationwide Series at the track, but it waters down the weekend, especially since most of the regular contenders in the Nationwide Series are Cup drivers anyway.
Another negative is the fact that the Nationwide Series is kicking a great short track to the curb. That move will only perpetuate the bland reputation the series has as a knock-off version of the Sprint Cup Series. Many of the drivers are the same in both series, the cars look very similar and most of the tracks are the same.
The Nationwide Series had a cool deal at the short track. Indianapolis Raceway Park was one of the only remaining short tracks that still had a bit of the country fair feel to it. Plus, the racing was usually close and exciting. It was a unique place. The Nationwide race at the Brickyard will be little more than just another tandem race weekend, especially when the novelty wears off.
In some ways, this is just another case of NASCAR’s eternal longing to reach big markets. NASCAR got tracks in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Kansas City, and for years it wanted to put tracks up by Seattle and New York.
Thankfully we didn’t get another bland 1.5-mile track from those deals. At least this week’s race in Kentucky is a little closer to traditional NASCAR markets, even if they might not be as big. Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Motor Speedway is already sold out.
Now that the decision has been made to move the Nationwide race, it will be tough to bring the series back to the short track. No matter how boring the race is on the big track, there will always be a Nationwide race the day before the Sprint Cup race from here on out.
Even if the Nationwide Series would return, it would be on a different weekend and would lose the excitement of having racing throughout the weekend in the same city, but at completely different racetracks. That’s also part of what made the Indianapolis weekend special. Only a big-time racing city would have two races on the same weekend at different tracks.
So, savor the upcoming Indianapolis race weekend July 30-31, because it will likely be the last time it stands out as a weekend that is different than any other weekend.
The Indy race weekend will still important simply because it’s Indy, but it won’t be the same.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Rating the Coke Zero 400: 5 Stars *****
The third restrictor-plate race of the season served up another wild night at Daytona as NASCAR celebrated the Fourth of July with a race that deserves a 5 Star Rating.
David Ragan drove another very good race at Daytona and this time he finally closed the deal. Ragan has always been a good restrictor-plate driver, but something has always kept him from winning. Saturday night, however, he and Matt Kenseth were set up perfectly to drive off to the win on the final restart.
After a green-flag run of 105 laps that included two green-flag pit stops, everybody went back to their Sonoma ways with a take-no-prisoners style of racing. First, Jeff Gordon made an incredible save after getting turned sideways in Turn 3. In a rebound that can only happen at a plate track, he came back in just two green-flag laps to finish sixth.
The debate about the two-car draft style of racing will be debated as much as whether or not there should be more road courses on the schedule, but this style continues to evolve. Each time the Sprint Cup Series visits either Talladega or Daytona, the racing changes. It might not be much, but the little difference the drivers learn each race will take restrictor-plate racing into an unknown future.
Yes, there was still a bunch of two-car drafting Saturday night, but there were glimpses of the old style of drafting, as well. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were able to keep up with the lead pack all night, but they were never constantly pushing each other. Drivers still have to be pushing each other if they want to make passes, but it looks like drivers won’t lose the draft if they don’t have somebody constantly on their rear bumper.
That doesn’t mean a driver without a partner can contend. He will still drop like a rock to the back of the field and eventually get lapped, but there might be some room for the more traditional drafting than everybody first thought, and that will only become more pronounced as both surfaces at Talladega and Daytona start to age.
So, after a wonderful holiday weekend, next week the series makes its first-ever stop at Kentucky Motor Speedway. This track is 1.5 miles long, but don’t expect the same, relatively boring racing some other 1.5-mile tracks often produce. Something about this track usually produces pretty good racing, as well as surprise winners. That would certainly fit the 2011 season. Happy Fourth of July, everybody!
David Ragan drove another very good race at Daytona and this time he finally closed the deal. Ragan has always been a good restrictor-plate driver, but something has always kept him from winning. Saturday night, however, he and Matt Kenseth were set up perfectly to drive off to the win on the final restart.
After a green-flag run of 105 laps that included two green-flag pit stops, everybody went back to their Sonoma ways with a take-no-prisoners style of racing. First, Jeff Gordon made an incredible save after getting turned sideways in Turn 3. In a rebound that can only happen at a plate track, he came back in just two green-flag laps to finish sixth.
The debate about the two-car draft style of racing will be debated as much as whether or not there should be more road courses on the schedule, but this style continues to evolve. Each time the Sprint Cup Series visits either Talladega or Daytona, the racing changes. It might not be much, but the little difference the drivers learn each race will take restrictor-plate racing into an unknown future.
Yes, there was still a bunch of two-car drafting Saturday night, but there were glimpses of the old style of drafting, as well. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were able to keep up with the lead pack all night, but they were never constantly pushing each other. Drivers still have to be pushing each other if they want to make passes, but it looks like drivers won’t lose the draft if they don’t have somebody constantly on their rear bumper.
That doesn’t mean a driver without a partner can contend. He will still drop like a rock to the back of the field and eventually get lapped, but there might be some room for the more traditional drafting than everybody first thought, and that will only become more pronounced as both surfaces at Talladega and Daytona start to age.
So, after a wonderful holiday weekend, next week the series makes its first-ever stop at Kentucky Motor Speedway. This track is 1.5 miles long, but don’t expect the same, relatively boring racing some other 1.5-mile tracks often produce. Something about this track usually produces pretty good racing, as well as surprise winners. That would certainly fit the 2011 season. Happy Fourth of July, everybody!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
June races showcased potential Sprint Cup championship contenders
June is often considered one of the most important months of the NASCAR schedule. It is a month that includes several different types of tracks that force teams to have a good, solid program overall.
From horsepower to fuel mileage, the races in June tend to expose which teams have their act together and which teams are good, but maybe not good enough to make a run at the championship.
So, what insights might we have gained this June? For one, Carl Edwards and the #99 team is for real. It would be shocking if Edwards isn’t a factor in the late stages of the Chase.
He may not have won a race, but aside from an engine problem that relegated him to a 37th place finish at Pocono, a race where he started sixth, Edwards racked up three top fives while maintained the top spot in the points ahead of second-place Kevin Harvick.
Speaking of Harvick, the #29 team doesn’t have a commanding lead in the points standings as it did last year at this time, but Harvick has closed Edwards’ points lead to 26 after starting the month 35 points behind coming off of his win in the Coca-Cola 600.
Harvick finished in the top 15 in every race during June. Plus, he persevered to a ninth-place finish Sunday at Sonoma after he got caught up in an early wreck that left his car with substantial damage.
That consistency, combined with his three wins, will keep Harvick in contention throughout the Chase.
The other obvious team that awakened during June is last week’s winning #22 team and its driver, Kurt Busch. The team’s struggles earlier in the season have been well-documented, but Busch’s rebound actually started a week before June began.
Busch has flown from ninth to fourth in the points since Dover and has reeled off a win and four top 10s, including three straight poles.
This team likely won’t stay as hot as its been lately, but Busch is not far behind Edwards and Harvick at this point. And, while assuming Jimmie Johnson will be in the championship mix, Busch is next in line as a dark-horse contender for the title. The key for this team will be finding the consistency the other three contenders have.
While June is a month to separate the contenders from the pretenders, July begins with a shootout at Daytona to start the unofficial second half of the season. The Fourth of July race at Daytona is another one of the special events where points don’t matter so much.
But, with the chance of a surprise winner relatively high, this race could have a big say in who gets into the Chase because of the wild-spots this season. In that case, there might be one way to satisfy the “Winning doesn’t count enough” crowd.
While it still won’t directly help him win a championship, the winner of Saturday night’s race, or any of the upcoming 10 races, could at least have a chance to win the championship. In that way, winning could have a huge say in the championship, especially if a wild-card driver ends up winning the Sprint Cup.
From horsepower to fuel mileage, the races in June tend to expose which teams have their act together and which teams are good, but maybe not good enough to make a run at the championship.
So, what insights might we have gained this June? For one, Carl Edwards and the #99 team is for real. It would be shocking if Edwards isn’t a factor in the late stages of the Chase.
He may not have won a race, but aside from an engine problem that relegated him to a 37th place finish at Pocono, a race where he started sixth, Edwards racked up three top fives while maintained the top spot in the points ahead of second-place Kevin Harvick.
Speaking of Harvick, the #29 team doesn’t have a commanding lead in the points standings as it did last year at this time, but Harvick has closed Edwards’ points lead to 26 after starting the month 35 points behind coming off of his win in the Coca-Cola 600.
Harvick finished in the top 15 in every race during June. Plus, he persevered to a ninth-place finish Sunday at Sonoma after he got caught up in an early wreck that left his car with substantial damage.
That consistency, combined with his three wins, will keep Harvick in contention throughout the Chase.
The other obvious team that awakened during June is last week’s winning #22 team and its driver, Kurt Busch. The team’s struggles earlier in the season have been well-documented, but Busch’s rebound actually started a week before June began.
Busch has flown from ninth to fourth in the points since Dover and has reeled off a win and four top 10s, including three straight poles.
This team likely won’t stay as hot as its been lately, but Busch is not far behind Edwards and Harvick at this point. And, while assuming Jimmie Johnson will be in the championship mix, Busch is next in line as a dark-horse contender for the title. The key for this team will be finding the consistency the other three contenders have.
While June is a month to separate the contenders from the pretenders, July begins with a shootout at Daytona to start the unofficial second half of the season. The Fourth of July race at Daytona is another one of the special events where points don’t matter so much.
But, with the chance of a surprise winner relatively high, this race could have a big say in who gets into the Chase because of the wild-spots this season. In that case, there might be one way to satisfy the “Winning doesn’t count enough” crowd.
While it still won’t directly help him win a championship, the winner of Saturday night’s race, or any of the upcoming 10 races, could at least have a chance to win the championship. In that way, winning could have a huge say in the championship, especially if a wild-card driver ends up winning the Sprint Cup.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Rating the Toyota/Save Mart 350: 3 Stars ***
After three straight poles, Kurt Busch finished first on the other side of the race Sunday as he dominated another rough race at Sonoma. The first road course race of the season gets a 3 Star Rating.
Teams complained throughout the weekend about a softer tire compound that would make it more difficult to get around the winding racetrack. With that being the case, some teams were bound to hit the setup right while others would struggle throughout the day, and for the most part that is what happened.
However, the #22 team not only hit the setup correctly, but it also kept Busch out of harm’s way by staying out on the first caution after he charged from his 11th place starting spot. After the first caution, Busch was hardly ever outside the top five and led 76 of the 110 laps on his way to victory.
All of a sudden Busch is once again a legitimate contender for the championship. He started out the season well, finishing in the top 10 in the first four races of the season while leading the points, but then the wheels fell off and he had just one top-10 finish in the next seven races.
Now he’s finished in the top 10 in four of the last five races and it looks like the entire Penske organization might have finally found its groove to be competitive week in and week out. The other Penske car, Brad Keselowski’s #2, finished 10th.
After several weeks of ho-hum racing at tracks such as Kansas, Pocono and Michigan, we are back to the part of the season with more different types of tracks.
Sonoma and Daytona are two of the most unusual tracks coming up on the schedule, and while they might look completely different, the racing at the two tracks is relatively similar. Sure, Sonoma is a technical, road-course track where speeds get all the way down to about 30 mph and Daytona is a wide-open superspeedway where drivers hardly touch the brakes, but sometimes the way the races play out is similar.
Road courses often offer several different names in the top 10, cars can get torn up easily and several drivers walk away from the track upset. Well, next week at Daytona might not be too different.
Three of the first five finishers in the Daytona 500 haven’t been back in the top five since February, and David Gilliland is the only one of those who has recorded another top 10 since Daytona. Thirteen drivers officially did not finish the Daytona while only four recorded DNF’s this week, although plenty more had substantial damage.
Overall, the racing at Sonoma wasn’t any more intense this year than it was in 2010. Actually, it was probably a bit less because the tires made driving the car more difficult. Here was another instance where it would really behoove Goodyear to have a tire test before races like this one so we don’t continually have teams surprised by how the tire reacts once they show up to the track.
Anyway, what happened at Sonoma will likely stay at Sonoma. Yes, Kasey Kahne took a shot at Juan Pablo Montoya in his post-race interview, but certainly none of the pushing and shoving will carry over to the high banks next, and it’s unlikely Kahne would intentionally finish off Montoya at a later point. Right now Kahne wouldn’t have much to gain by wrecking Montoya. It would just extend a situation created by, as Kyle Petty put it, a “bonehead move” farther than it ever should.
Enjoy the holiday weekend with racing back at the greatest speedway in the world.
Teams complained throughout the weekend about a softer tire compound that would make it more difficult to get around the winding racetrack. With that being the case, some teams were bound to hit the setup right while others would struggle throughout the day, and for the most part that is what happened.
However, the #22 team not only hit the setup correctly, but it also kept Busch out of harm’s way by staying out on the first caution after he charged from his 11th place starting spot. After the first caution, Busch was hardly ever outside the top five and led 76 of the 110 laps on his way to victory.
All of a sudden Busch is once again a legitimate contender for the championship. He started out the season well, finishing in the top 10 in the first four races of the season while leading the points, but then the wheels fell off and he had just one top-10 finish in the next seven races.
Now he’s finished in the top 10 in four of the last five races and it looks like the entire Penske organization might have finally found its groove to be competitive week in and week out. The other Penske car, Brad Keselowski’s #2, finished 10th.
After several weeks of ho-hum racing at tracks such as Kansas, Pocono and Michigan, we are back to the part of the season with more different types of tracks.
Sonoma and Daytona are two of the most unusual tracks coming up on the schedule, and while they might look completely different, the racing at the two tracks is relatively similar. Sure, Sonoma is a technical, road-course track where speeds get all the way down to about 30 mph and Daytona is a wide-open superspeedway where drivers hardly touch the brakes, but sometimes the way the races play out is similar.
Road courses often offer several different names in the top 10, cars can get torn up easily and several drivers walk away from the track upset. Well, next week at Daytona might not be too different.
Three of the first five finishers in the Daytona 500 haven’t been back in the top five since February, and David Gilliland is the only one of those who has recorded another top 10 since Daytona. Thirteen drivers officially did not finish the Daytona while only four recorded DNF’s this week, although plenty more had substantial damage.
Overall, the racing at Sonoma wasn’t any more intense this year than it was in 2010. Actually, it was probably a bit less because the tires made driving the car more difficult. Here was another instance where it would really behoove Goodyear to have a tire test before races like this one so we don’t continually have teams surprised by how the tire reacts once they show up to the track.
Anyway, what happened at Sonoma will likely stay at Sonoma. Yes, Kasey Kahne took a shot at Juan Pablo Montoya in his post-race interview, but certainly none of the pushing and shoving will carry over to the high banks next, and it’s unlikely Kahne would intentionally finish off Montoya at a later point. Right now Kahne wouldn’t have much to gain by wrecking Montoya. It would just extend a situation created by, as Kyle Petty put it, a “bonehead move” farther than it ever should.
Enjoy the holiday weekend with racing back at the greatest speedway in the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
