Start your engines! Photo via: Wiki Commons
The Cup Series makes its annual trip out west this weekend to the world-famous Sonoma Raceway in the Napa Valley in California. This 2.5-mile road course is a favorite among drivers and teams because of the beautiful scenery and how much fun it is to drive on. The corner that is the most challenging is the carousel. With this corner being as tight as it is, we see many drivers try and make a pass there, and it does not usually work out. It also doesn’t help that the track is highly elevated, so you aren’t sure what is going on in front of you. This will be a hot spot come race day. The key to this race is to manage your brakes, which will become difficult considering how much they will use them in this race.
Last week at Gateway, Joey Logano out dueled his arch rival Kyle Busch in a fantastic battle in the closing laps to capture his second win of 2022. In the final three laps, it appeared that Busch was going to be able to hang on for the win but after a caution from Kevin Harvick, Busch would not get a good enough restart and Logano would make the race winning pass.
When the race was over, Logano’s victory was the second-biggest headline of the day, as Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin’s dust-up was the biggest talking point. Early in the race, Chastain and Hamlin were racing around each other and no matter how hard he tried, Chastain just couldn’t get around him. Finally, in stage 2, Ross decided to just punt him out of the way, which effectively ended Hamlin's day. With a good result out of the question, Denny’s sole objective was to annoy Chastain. Any time the #1 would get to Hamlin, he would jump out of the throttle and hold him up and make it next to impossible to pass him. Chastain would then get into the back of Chase Elliott and spin him out as well. Elliott would also retaliate by pushing Chastain into turn one. Needless to say, Chastain pretty much made all of St. Louis mad at him, but despite all of that he was able to rebound for a decent 8th place finish. When the race was over, Ross was extremely apologetic, he would take full responsibility for his driving. He would also say that he would talk to Hamlin and that he “owed half the field an apology.” While Hamlin would respond by saying he appreciated his apology, payback was still coming. This will be must-see TV going forward as a new rivalry has emerged.
Chastain wasn’t the only one who ruffled some feathers as Ricky Stenhouse Jr would run into the back of Bubba Wallace and spin him out. We would also see Todd Gilland and Cole Custer get together as well. When the checkered flag flew, everyone hated everyone, a massive success for everyone who watched it. This track will be one all fans have circled on their calendar.
The driver I have winning this weekend is Kurt Busch. Last week at Gateway, he was one of the fastest cars on the track, he backed it up with a victory in stage 2 and an impressive third place finish. Overall, 23XI has shown lots of speed over the course of this season from both of their drivers, and now Kurt gets a chance to showcase his road course racing talents at a track that he knows how to get around better than anyone. While he only has one win here, his experience has earned him an impressive 9.5 average finish here. He also has a habit of rebounding and coming from the back and reeling off great results. We saw it last season when he started 30th and climbed his way all the way to 6th. Kurt is one of the most talented drivers out there, and he continues to prove it week and week out. I look for him to take the checkered flag this Sunday and continue his career resurgence.
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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!
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