Watch for Chase Elliott this weekend! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Thunder Valley for the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Because of the special circumstances of this race, the format will be much different from what we are accustomed to seeing on a typical race weekend. Instead of qualifying, there will be four heat races that determine the starting grid for the main event on Saturday night. There will also be points awarded to the top ten. The drivers that improved their positions will also be awarded passing points as well. The driver with the most passing points will start from the pole. The race on Saturday will be broken up into three stages and there will be no live pit stops during the race. This will certainly be an interesting race as the cars will have plenty of new modifications, including mud flaps. It should be interesting to see how this race differs from last year’s.
Last week, William Byron thoroughly dominated en route to his second victory of 2022. The race was heavily criticized by fans as there wasn’t a whole lot of passing up-front. When the race was over, there were a mere six lead changes. Many even suggested shortening races from 400 miles to 300. This is yet another example of NASCAR fans overreacting to a bad race, as they do each week. It seems like to some of these people that if there isn’t a memorable finish in every race, they want drastic changes to the product, and it’s becoming more and more ridiculous. This is a sport that has undergone many changes over the year trying to cater to this type of fan, and it needs to stop.
Regardless of the criticism, William Byron is becoming more and more of a threat each week as he became the first repeat winner of 2022. He has also finished in the top five in four of the last five races. When Byron first started competing in the Cup Series, he struggled a bit. He would string together good finishes but was not able to capitalize and get his first victory until his third season in 2020. After that, he has consistently been in the top five on a weekly basis and has been able to contend for wins. The biggest factor in his success has to be his crew chief, Rudy Fugle. He has certainly helped when it comes to setting up the racecar and getting the feedback from his driver that is needed. Both have also done a great job at race strategy, as Byron has scored the most stage points of anyone so far. This team will certainly make a deep run when we get closer to the playoffs.
One driver that has been really impressive as of late has been Austin Dillon. After back-to-back crashes at Phoenix and Atlanta, Dillon has really been able to rebound strongly, with two tenth place finishes and a third last week at Martinsville. His team Richard Childress Racing seemed to struggle a bit after Kevin Harvick departed in 2013 for Stewart-Haas Racing. But now it seems like they are finding their way back to being a competitive team again. Both of their drivers are knocking on the door. Look out for both Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon down the line, they are bound to surprise a few folks.
With all of that being said, the driver that I have winning this weekend is Chase Elliott. Overall, 2022 has been a consistently good season for Chase. He’s the points leader with the third most amount of stage points accumulated and has five top-ten finishes. While his stats at this race last year weren’t overly impressive, he was solid and was able to score a tenth place finish. Another major factor to look out for is the experience he will get in Friday’s truck race, as he will drive the #7 truck for Spire Motorsports. While it may not seem like a lot, of the three drivers that have driven the truck to start the weekend, (Austin Hill, Alex Bowman, and William Byron) two of them have gone on to win in the series they score points in. Having these drivers run this truck has clearly helped them in some way, this is a great sign for Chase. Look for Elliott to pick up his first win of 2022 come Saturday.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!