THE LEFT TURN
NASCAR heads north to New Hampshire for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
Jul 16, 2021, 11:58 am
Kurt Busch scored his first victory of 2021 last week. Image via: Wiki Commons.
NASCAR heads to the Magic Mile this week in New Hampshire for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. This track produces racing similar to what you see on a short track, but the biggest difference is its banking or lack thereof. This track is easily the flattest on the schedule, as there are only two degrees of banking. Because of its tight corners, there is a good chance we see some beating and banging as we have in the past. This is the last race before NASCAR goes on its unprecedented two-week break for the Olympics.
Last week, Kurt Busch scored his first victory of 2021 after fending off his little brother Kyle Busch in a remarkable battle. In the closing laps of the race, it appeared that Kyle had the upper hand on his brother as he was pulling away, but it all came to a head when he approached the #42 car of Ross Chastain. To help his teammate, Chastain raced Kyle extra hard, causing him to lose time, allowing Kurt to catch up and make the winning pass. After the race, Kyle was none too pleased with Chastain's antics. "Just shows you what kind of a driver he is," Busch said in his post-race interview. The move by Chastain sparked a debate among NASCAR fans on whether the move was fair. When Ross was asked about it, while he didn't explicitly say he intentionally held up the 18, he did allude to helping his teammate if he needed it in his post-race interview. I understand why Ross did what he did. He had an opportunity to help a teammate out, and he took it. This has been going on ever since auto racing began, and for Kyle to get as upset as he did was a bit of an overreaction in my opinion. Ross raced him hard but clean, and he didn't even make contact with him.
The Silly Season is now in full effect as the first two dominoes began to fall. It was announced Thursday that Xfinity regulars, Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton will be promoted to cup as they will drive both the #2 and #21 cars for the Wood Brothers and Penske Racing. While we had an idea that Cindric could very well be moving up to Penske next season, Harrison Burton came as a bit of a surprise considering his close ties to the Toyota camp. Originally though, the plan was for Cindric to take over the 21 for a year while they figured out what they were going to do with the #2 car, but those plans changed as soon as it became apparent that Brad Keselowski would be moving to Roush-Fenway Racing to become a driver owner. This allowed Roger Penske to move Cindric to the #2 car and move Burton to the #21 car. Both of these young drivers have shown a lot of speed in the Xfinity Series, as Cindric won the championship last year and Burton captured his first career win as well. These two drivers have a lot of upside and can very well contend for wins on the big stage. It will be fun to see these two develop as we go along.
Unfortunately, this leaves Matt DiBenedetto the odd man out as it was announced he will not be returning to the Wood Brothers next season and will be a free agent looking for a ride. While Matt has shown flashes, including contending for a win at Road America two weeks ago, it always seems like he's had trouble closing out races. These next five races before the playoffs will be crucial for him to find a competitive ride next season. I wish him all the luck and would love to see him get another chance, but it seems like the window is closing for this popular journeyman driver.
The driver that I have winning this week is Kevin Harvick. If you listen to Harvick's in-car audio, you can tell that this season has been tough for the 2014 champion. Yes, the speed has been there, and I am sure there are a couple of drivers that would kill to have this kind of season with 6 top fives and fourteen top tens. But after the incredible season he had last year, this has been a massive disappointment. On the bright side, the team is going to a track where they have had more success than anyone. He has won here three times and has the highest average finish in recent races, as he hasn't finished worse than second. A win would be a huge boost of momentum for this team and if this Stewart-Haas Racing team can get hot at the right time, watch out, there's a reason they call Harvick the closer. Look for him to take the #4 Ford Mustang to victory lane on Sunday.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.