Chase Elliot won his first race. Jerry Markland/Getty Images
The Monster Energy Cup series hits the high banks of Michigan international Sunday for this week's Consumers Energy 400. Last week at Watkins Glen, Chase Elliott FINALLY was able to pick up his first career victory. While he was clearly the best car in the closing stages, the win did not come easy for the third year driver as he not only had to outrun the defending champion in Martin Truex Jr, but also he had to save enough gas to make sure he could even get to the finish line.
During the final laps, it looked like Truex was going to steal another victory this season but just couldn’t seem to get around Elliott. Due to how hard he was driving to catch him, Truex ran out of fuel in the final turn sealing the win for Elliott. For many, this was a very popular victory as Chase was greeted with thundering applause from the crowd, and the fans at the track and at home all knew that they had truly witnessed something special. Overall, was Watkins Glen the most exciting finish of the season? No. Probably not, but who knows, this could very well be the beginning of a legendary career for one of NASCAR’s many rising talents.
One of the biggest storylines of last week was the struggles of Jimmie Johnson. All throughout the day, his Lowes Camaro ran mediocre at best and while he wasn’t the worst, he had nowhere near the speed that his teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron had.
He ran around 16th for the most part of the race until he was involved a crash with A.J. Allmendinger with 10 laps remaining that relegated him to a 13th place finish. While he may make the playoffs since at this point he has a pretty substantial lead over 17th, there are a lot of things that can happen that would see Johnson miss the playoffs for the first time over the course of his illustrious 16 year career.
For this to happen, two drivers currently outside of the top 15 in points would need to win a race. This is truly uncharted water for Johnson as he as now in the midst of his longest winless streak of his career. Will he win a race this year? If you would have asked me maybe two months ago, I would have said absolutely, but right now I just don’t know. Over the course of his last four starts, his best finish is 10th at New Hampshire, and this race team has just not shown me that they can contend for victories. Regardless, I still think that he will be able to make the round of 16 on points and then after that who knows what could happen. Look for Jimmie to try and rebound and get back in a rhythm at Michigan.
The favorite going into this week has to be defending Michigan winner Clint Bowyer. The last time the Monster Energy Cup Series came here in June, Bowyer was able to fend off his Stewart Haas racing teammates of Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch before the rain came and ended the race prematurely. Regardless of Michigan not being anywhere close to his best race track over the course of his career, winning this race in June had to be a big momentum booster and I would not be surprised in the slightest if he was able to go out and sweep both races this year and further solidify himself as the fourth championship contender.
This weekend's winner will be the same guy who won last weekend at Watkins Glen, Chase Elliott. Listen, while Kyle Larson might be the more logical choice I am still going with NASCAR’s newest golden child. Last weekend, Chase drove the best race that I have seen him run his entire career and now that he has that elusive first win what's to stop him from him from backing it up with another one? Besides, this is easily his best track. In all five of his starts at Michigan, he could have won here at least three times. I think this year, Elliott will battle Larson all the way down to the final laps and finally get revenge on Larson and all those times he has finished second to him over the last two years. Look for Elliott to get Hendrick Motorsports back to their old ways come Sunday.
(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Refrence.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).
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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.