THE LEFT TURN

NASCAR visits Pocono Raceway for a doubleheader this weekend

NASCAR visits Pocono Raceway for a doubleheader this weekend
Double the fun this weekend! Photo via Wiki Commons.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Tricky Triangle this week for a doubleheader. The rules of last season will apply to this season as well as there will be two races, one on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday afternoon. Also the inversion rule will apply as well as the first place car on Saturday will swap places with the twentieth place car starting on the pole for Sunday's race. This will be the first time that Pocono has hosted fans since 2019, so it will certainly be a delight to have a full house back at the races.

Last week, Kyle Larson continued his hot streak by winning his third race in a row at Nashville. It seems like there is no one that can stop him as he has not only won but led the most laps in all three of his wins. He continues to send a message that he is the class of the field.

While Larson was in his own zip code, there were a few drivers that were not so lucky, some of those drivers being the Penske teammates of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney. Overall while Blaney showed speed early, a brake issue put him in the wall ending his day. Keselowski on the other hand was just slow all throughout the day. While Joey Logano was able to salvage a decent tenth place finish, it was a forgettable day for the Penske Fords. It seems like they have been off the pace lately, while yes no one has had anything for Larson and the Hendrick cars, it seems like they are a step behind. While all three are locked into the playoffs, they will definitely need to pick up the pace.

The big headline this week was the addition of Kaulig Racing for 2022. Their current Xfinity drivers, Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger will be promoted with Haley running full-time and Allmendinger running select races. This is certainly another great sign for the sport as it continues to grow. The team will purchase both their charters from Spire Motorsports. With this acquisition, newly formed Trackhouse racing will lose their charter and become an open team. Even though not much will change on the surface for this team, there will be a big discrepancy in revenue. Team owner Justin Marks stated that nothing will change next season and they will continue to run full time. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the course of the next few weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, Kyle Larson is in the midst of one of the most dominant stretches that we have seen in quite some time. He will be heavily favored this week, but he will have his work cut out for him if he wants to win four in a row as this track has been one where he hasn't had the best results. In his past three races here, he has finished outside of the top twenty twice. There is a silver lining though, in his last start here two seasons ago he was able to score a solid fifth place finish, and a runner-up finish one year earlier. Look for him to be in contention to win one if not both races this weekend.

The drivers that I have winning this weekend are Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Both of these drivers have a winning pedigree here, as they both have a combined four victories. They also have the advantage of a good track position on Saturday, as they both start third and fifth. Both drivers have a lot of good momentum going into this week. Busch has been the only guy who can keep with Larson, and Harvick is coming off a top five last week. Look for both drivers to be fast this weekend.

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
The Texans are the class of the division. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans received a lot of praise for their moves in free agency across various outlets. And for good reason, most people believe the team got significantly better with the additions of Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry among others.

But there's another factor to consider this offseason. How much have the other teams in the AFC South improved?

When looking at the PFF grades in free agency, the Colts received a B-minus. Most of the Colts moves this offseason involved spending a lot of money re-signing their own players. Which is great in theory, but it's hard to improve the overall quality of your roster when you're bringing back players that were already there to begin with. A lot will be riding on player development for the Colts to see a big jump this season. A healthy quarterback wouldn't hurt either.

The Jaguars have made some big additions financially this offseason by signing receiver Gabe Davis and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. They also lost the top receiver on the market, Calvin Ridley, to the Titans. Gabe Davis wasn't able to establish himself as a reliable No. 2 receiver with Josh Allen throwing him the ball in Buffalo. So it's hard to believe he'll take the next step in Jacksonville. Their best move of the offseason might have been retaining edge rusher Josh Allen by using the franchise tag on him. So what did PFF think of Jacksonville's offseason? They received a B-minus, just like the Colts.

The Titans have a lot of turnover heading into the 2024 season, and not just on the roster. They have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, who's looking to revamp Tennessee's offense. Early in free agency, they agreed to terms with former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, signing him to a 3-year deal at $8 million per season. Which is more money than the Ravens are paying for Derrick Henry, who left the Titans in free agency. Calvin Ridley was the most notable addition to the squad, he received a 4-year, $92 million deal. And while this could be viewed as an overpay, at least he gives the Titans' offense some upside. Their receiving corps looks a lot more dangerous with Ridley added to DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks.

They also spent big at the center position, adding Lloyd Cushenberry on a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Because the Titans spent a lot of money on some highly coveted players, PFF gave them a B.

Now that brings us to the Texans. The Texans re-signed some of their own players like Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. But they also made some big splashes with Hunter, Autry, Al-Shaair, and Joe Mixon. But the Texans spent their money in a more conservative way by not handing out many contracts over two years in length.

The Texans managed to add the best pass rusher in free agency with Hunter, but it's only a two-year deal. The overall talent level is going up on this roster, and GM Nick Caserio isn't having to sign players to long contracts that could come back and haunt him.

That's why we're seeing post-free agency power rankings coming out with Houston in the Top 10. And that's also why PFF gave the Texans an A for their moves in free agency.

Be sure to check out the video above as Craig from Sports Talk Extra takes an in-depth look at PFF's grades for the AFC South, and much more!

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome