THE LEFT TURN

NASCAR Gander Outdoors 400 preview; rules updates

Trey Campbell
Oct 5, 2018, 5:41 am
Ryan Blaney was a winner last week. Ryanblaney.com

This Sunday, the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series heads for Dover Delaware for the first race of the round of 12. Last week, Ryan Blaney advanced to the next round after taking the checkered flag in the inaugural Charlotte Bank Of America Roval 400. The race was one of the highlights of the season as both Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. both spun in the final corner paving the way for Blaney to swoop in and steal the victory. This week, we go to a much different type of track in Dover. The last time the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup came here, Kevin Harvick thoroughly dominated after leading a race high 201 laps en route to his third victory of the season. While it’s the same track, the stakes will be much higher as one of the 12 drivers in the playoff field will look to clinch a berth into the round of eight and be one step closer to racing for a championship at Homestead.

Earlier this week there were some major announcements regarding next year’s rules package.  Next season, NASCAR announced wholesale changes to the cars including limiting horsepower to 550, a smaller rear spoiler and a “tapered spacer” to restrict speeds on the cars and keep them closer together. The move was met with major criticism by not only fans but former drivers as well. The one thing that truly upset them was how NASCAR decided to cut back on horsepower. They think that these changes take the challenging aspect of racing out of the drivers' hands and that they are running too slow. Personally, I think it would only be fair to give it a chance and to see how it works out; besides if it’s anything like the all-star race, as I stated in the last article, the fans will be quick to change their tone and it should grow on them.

There will be two new rookies in the Cup Series in 2019, Daniel Hemric will drive the No. 31 Caterpillar Camaro for Richard Childress and Ryan Preece will drive the No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty racing. Both drivers are coming off successful Xfinity campaigns and now will now get the call-up to drive in big leagues. I personally believe that the move to call Hemric up was due to happen at some point as he had been running so well in the Xfinity Series but the move to call  Preece up was a bit surprising, While it is clear that he is a threat every time he races, many believe that his limited schedule in the lower divisions will make things more difficult in the Cup series. Only time will tell for the two but it is refreshing to see two drivers that worked incredibly hard and didn’t have a lot of help get their chance in the big time.

The driver that I have winning this week is Joey Logano. Coming into this race, Logano has been quietly flying under the radar. Last week, he emerged through the carnage to capture a 10th place finish and moved on to the next round and though he wasn’t talked about a lot as a contender, he stayed out of trouble. This week should be a different story for him. Overall, stats wise this track falls right in the middle for Logano. Over the course of his 19 starts here, He currently has three top fives and ten top 10s. While he hasn’t been exactly been a threat to win at Dover he has always been around the top 10 plus both of his teammates have also been running well so now it is his time to shine. Look for Logano to take the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil fusion to victory lane.

One of the sleepers to look out for this week is the young William Byron. This has been an up and down season for this year’s rookie of the year but this week should be a good change of pace for this young man. In his debut here, he went on to a 14th place finish and while that may not look that great on the surface, it should be noted that Dover is one of the tougher race tracks on the surface and to come in and have a solid top 15 really says a lot about his ability. He is looking to rebound after a tough race last week at the roval when he was swept up in a multi-car crash with seven laps to go. This week he should rebound and get a top 10 result as he continues to grow and develop into NASCAR’s next star.

(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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NASCAR heads for Richmond Raceway for its first night race of 2019

Kylebusch.com


This Saturday, the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series heads for Richmond Raceway for the first night race of 2019. This track is a 0.75 D-shaped oval and is the second of back-to-back short track races for the series. The track is one of the more spacious of the short track group as the track has multiple groves to pass on so there should be plenty of side-by-side racing come race-day and don't be surprised if someone uses their bumper to get by someone for the win like we saw back in 2016 with Kyle Busch and his former teammate Carl Edwards.

Last week, Kyle Busch came back from a crash in the early stages to win his third race of the season. This race was one of the most entertaining of the season as both Kyle and his brother Kurt battled all throughout the closing laps but unfortunately The big story of the weekend, was not the great race that we saw. Come Monday all NASCAR fans wanted to talk about was how there were"empty seats" in the grandstands. While I can understand how a lot of fans are scorning the new direction of the sport and some of their complaints are valid but I don't think that this should overshadow what a great race we saw Sunday. Overall, while yes NASCAR is in a slump right now, but it doesn't help matters for some "fans" to continue to talk about how the sport is "dying" and A lot of the times, these people don't even offer any solutions either, they just talk about how bad the sport is doing and relive the glory days and that helps no one. Needless to say, I think we can all agree though that there needs to be serious changes made to help NASCAR get to where it needs to be and there are a whole laundry list of things that can be tweaked. One thing is the schedule could use some changes; there are tracks new to this series that fans might be interested in seeing like Circuit Of The Americas or a short track like Iowa Speedway. There have been grumblings of a massive overhaul come 2021 so I hope that this can drum up some more interest in the sport.

Going into this week, no driver has been on a hotter streak than Kyle Busch. As I stated earlier, last week at Bristol he won his third race of 2019; not only has he been winning races left and right but he has been consistently up front as well. He has finished in the top 10 in all eight races in 2019, something only Terry Labonte has done all the way back in 1992 and unfortunately for the competition, Richmond Raceway is a track he has thrived on ever since he started driving stock cars; in fact he got his first NASCAR Xfinity victory at this track all the way back in 2004. This track just seems to cater to Kyle's driving style and he should have no trouble contending for the victory come Saturday.

The driver that I have winning this week is not Kyle Busch though because I am taking the elder of the two in Kurt Busch to win this week. This year, the driver they call the outlaw has really shined and while he hasn't won a race yet, I think this week is the week. Over the course of his nearly 21 years in racing at this track, he has definitely had his ups downs here but he has found success. He was able to win here back in 2015 and all the way back in 2005 so it's clear that he knows how to run at this track. Not only is he coming to a track that he is good at, but he is riding a wave of momentum as he has finished six of the eight races this year in the top 10 and has easily been the fastest Chevy in the field. I look for Kurt to win his first of many in 2019 as he looks to contend for a championship in what very well could be his final season in NASCAR.

(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Reference.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Reference.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).

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