THE LEFT TURN
NASCAR takes its talents to South Beach for the Dixie Vodka 400
Feb 26, 2021, 1:16 pm
Start your engines! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues their tour of the great state of Florida as they head for the high banks of Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Dixie Vodka 400. This track will provide a lot of side-by-side racing as the track's 18-20 degree progressive banking gives plenty of grooves for everyone to go. Expect a lot of drivers to run around the wall all throughout the day to try to find more grip. Sunday has all the makings for a lot of speed and green flag runs as well.
Earlier in the year, Fox released an ad campaign stating that this year could potentially be "the best season ever" and so far it's living up to the billing as we saw the second consecutive first time winner at the Daytona Road Course. In the final two laps, Christopher Bell made the race winning pass on Joey Logano to take the victory. The sophomore driver out of Oklahoma, made the move to JGR last year after driving for Leavine Family Racing. This young driver is a clear force to be reckoned with in the future as he has now teamed up with champion crew-chief Adam Stevens.
With both of those drivers getting their first career win, there is a good chance we see more first time winners this year and one driver who is really impressive so far has been Ryan Preece. Coming into this season, Preece faced a lot of uncertainty considering his team doesn't have a charter for the season. This hasn't stopped the New Englander though as he has rattled off back-to-back top tens. While yes, there was a level of attrition in both races, let it be known that Preece has been really fast in both qualifying for the 500 and the duels. I wouldn't be surprised to see him find victory lane in 2021. He's hungry and running extremely efficient, and this team has been staying out of trouble. I look forward to seeing him continue to improve as I have been a fan of his since his time in the Xfinity Series.
While it has been a rough two weeks for him, another driver to look out for this week is Tyler Reddick. While he has been in a mini-slump, this is a track where Reddick has excelled. Now yes, he has only ran one race here in the Cup Series, but his success goes back to his time in the Xfinity Series as he made a momentous run en route to a championship. Mile and a half tracks have also been a strength for him as he has scored six top tens on these types of tracks. Look for the #8 Cheddar's Camaro to be up front on Sunday.
The driver that I have winning this weekend is Kyle Larson. As everyone knows these past 12 months have not been the best for the California driver. He has faced tons of scrutiny (to his own doing of course) during his suspension and his reinstatement. He has done well though in his time since then though and in my opinion has really worked to rectify his mistakes. With the slate now clean, Larson has been doing a great job on the track. But overall the one thing that has plagued him has been his inability to finish races. Ever since his start, Larson has continued to choke away races week in and week out. We saw it first hand last week when he drove straight into the tires trying to pass Joey Logano. If he had shown a bit more patience, he might have won as he was in the top three at the time. Homestead is easily his best track, if there is any place he can win it's here. He currently has a 96.8 driver rating here and has led 277 laps. If he can keep it together, look for Larson to take the checkered flag and bring the #5 back to victory lane.
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How mounting mistakes make Astros setbacks harder to ignore
Jul 10, 2025, 3:10 pm
The late ex-catcher and longtime broadcaster Joe Garagiola wrote a book called “Baseball is a Funny Game.” He wasn’t kidding, whether he meant funny as amusing, peculiar, or both (he meant both). The Astros lived it this past week, following a very satisfying three-game slap down of a previously red-hot Dodgers team in Los Angeles by having a Cleveland Guardians squad that staggered into Houston on a 10-game losing streak sweep the Astros three straight. As I put it during one of our “Stone Cold ‘Stros” podcast episodes this week: baseball, like a word that rhymes with spit, happens. The Astros try to clean it up this weekend with a chance to kick dirt on the Texas Rangers’ presently extremely faint American League West hopes. While no fun to endure, the Astros getting swept is no big deal. They weren’t going the rest of the season without any more bumps in the road. Unless they falter badly and/or Seattle has a huge rest of the way, the Astros' 29-10 surge before the Cleveland series is the stretch that will most define them making the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. The Astros hadn’t lost a home series since early April. Their longest losing streak all season remains just three games. They have to beat the Rangers Friday night to keep it that way.
Erratic starting pitchers Lance McCullers and Jack Leiter match up in the series opener, then it’s a pair of humdinger matchups. Saturday Framber Valdez goes to battle opposite Jacob deGrom. Sunday Hunter Brown starts on four days rest for just the second time this season countering the Arlington team’s Nathan Eovaldi. Framber tries to bounce back from his worst showing in over two months. Brown tries to rebound from his worst start since July 6 of last year. deGrom is quite a story. There has been no more dominant starting pitcher in his generation. It’s just that deGrom almost makes McCullers’s injury history look not so bad. Jacob deGrom won National League Rookie of the Year in 2014. He won back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, then finished third in the short 2020 COVID season. In 2021 he was off to what if maintained would have been one of the greatest seasons ever. 15 starts with a 1.08 earned run average. 92 innings pitched, a comical total of just 40 hits allowed, with only 11 walks, and 146 strikeouts. Sicko stuff. Then his shoulder fell off. deGrom missed over a year, came back and made 11 starts in 2022. All of that as a New York Met. The Rangers then crossed their fingers and gave him a five-year 185-million dollar free agent contract. DeGrom lasted six starts in 2023 before needing his second Tommy John surgery. The Rangers of course went on to win the World Series without him. deGrom returned to throw 10 innings late last season and looked good. With everyone around the Rangers holding their breath, deGrom has not missed a start this season. While not striking out batters near his rate in the past, deGrom has been fabulous. He’ll take the mound against the Astros sporting a 9-2 record (for a losing team) and 2.29 ERA. deGrom's career ERA is 2.50. He is 37 years old.
Options dwindling
All you can ask of players is that they prepare well, be mentally focused, and play their best. There is only so much juice to be squeezed from lemons. Zack Short, Cooper Hummel, and Taylor Trammell each played every inning of the Guardians series. They are 30, 30, and 27 years old respectively. Short has the highest career big league batting average of the three. That average is .169. Hummel sits at .167, Trammell at .165. Short went zero for 11 with seven strikeouts. Hummel went one for eleven and struck out in his last six at bats. Trammell actually had a good series going three for eleven including a three-run homer and a double. Bigger picture, manager Joe Espada is filling out a lineup card with one hand tied behind his back.
Espada’s task got no easier with the latest seemingly Astros-nomically inept medical work. It is mind-blowingly ridiculous that Jake Meyers further damaged a calf muscle while taking the field Wednesday night, just three days after he left a game with that calf ailing him. Organizationally the Astros look like a clown show on this (pretty sure Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez would co-sign). At least the All-Star break arriving after play Sunday will cover four days of Meyers’s absence, which is a good bet to extend beyond that, maybe well beyond that. That absence will be sorely felt. Beyond his elite patrol work in center field, Meyers’s offense this season made the leap from atrocious to well above average. About to come off the injured list, Chas McCormick gets one last chance to revive his Astros’ career. Decent prospect Jacob Melton is a center fielder who remains out injured. Kenedy Corona was called up this week when Christian Walker went on paternity leave. Corona also plays center field but is not a meaningful prospect. If Meyers is to miss months not weeks, general manager Dana Brown almost has to pursue an outfielder via trade.
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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