THE LEFT TURN

NASCAR takes its talents to South Beach for the Dixie Vodka 400

NASCAR takes its talents to South Beach for the Dixie Vodka 400
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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The Angels beat the Astros, 4-1. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.

Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.

The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.

Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.

Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.

Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.

Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.

Key moment

Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.

Key Stat

Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.

Up next

Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.

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