“Summer’s Five Things” is a daily column for NASCAR fans to catch up on the most recent, relevant, and need-to-know news and information in the sport! While mostly focused on NASCAR, this column may also feature other interesting and exciting moments from the world of motorsports. Enjoy!
- They Got It In
Weather had been a concern for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the days leading up to Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, and the track definitely did see its share of moisture.
So much concern that NASCAR moved up the originally scheduled start time up by one hour (from 2:00PM ET to 1:00PM ET) and the race still started three hours late. Rain started in the morning and lasted until the early afternoon, with a heavy, persistent mist making it difficult for NASCAR to dry the track.
However, the race finally got going a little after 4:15PM ET and the race went the full distance without any further weather delays.
Which is good, considering it started raining while the winning No. 4 team was celebrating in Victory Lane.
- The Winning Move Wasn’t Exactly A “Clean” One
This has been such a continuous storyline, that I have to imagine that by now there are many of you who are sick of hearing this term:
“Big 3.”
Just to recap — Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick have dominated and won most of the races this season and show no signs of slowing down. No one else is even close on a consistent basis,.
So, unsurprisingly, the last run of the race came down to those three very same drivers.
However, the race for the win was truly between Busch and Harvick.
Busch led a total of 36 laps in the race and looked like he might earn his sixth victory of the season. However, Busch admitted after the race that Harvick had better long-run speed than he did. The last green flag run of the race was 39 laps long, plenty of time for Harvick to run Busch down.
And that’s exactly what he did. After several laps of setting up the pass, some light contact, and dealing with lapped traffic, Harvick bumped Busch up and out of the racing groove and drove by to take the lead with seven laps remaining.
He never looked back.
Harvick earned his sixth race of the season instead, while Busch was able to hang on for second.
Truex, however, was not able to hang onto third. Aric Almirola was able to get by him, earning his highest finishing position of the season.
Busch, as you can imagine, was disappointed but seemed to offer a little bit of a not-so-subtle warning that what goes around comes around.
For what it’s worth, Harvick didn’t try to downplay the incident, and fully admitted that he did what he had to do to win the race.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Unofficial Race Results
- Stewart-Haas Racing Easily The Dominant Team in Loudon
It became very apparent early on in the race that it was going to be nearly impossible to beat Stewart-Haas Racing.
Kurt Busch started out as the pole-sitter and led more laps than any other driver in the field with 94. A miscommunication while trying to enter his pit box under green flag conditions is arguably what cost him the victory.
Harvick only led 12 laps but of course went on to win the race.
But perhaps the most pleasant surprise was Aric Almirola, who led 42 laps and earned his first top-five finish of 2018. It was only the second race of the season where he had led more than one lap.
You would think he would be excited about arguably one of the most competitive races of his career and definitely this season.
But, no, Almirola is a competitor. And, as a competitor, if you have a car capable of winning, anything short of that is not good enough.
On the final pitstop of the day, an issue with the left front tire caused Almirola to lose the lead. He was not able to get it back the rest of the race, leaving him to wonder what could have been.
Still, a reflection on what it took for Almirola to get here is worth noting. Last season, Almirola was driving for Richard Petty Motorsports and sustained a back injury in a wreck at Kansas Speedway. He was forced to miss seven races while recovering and didn’t lead a single lap the rest of the year.
After moving to SHR over the offseason, Almirola is well on his way to having the best season of his career. After 20 races, he already has nine top-10 finishes and led 113 laps, which would be a season best for him, and there are still 16 races left this season.
It’s easy to understand why Almirola was disappointed with his finish, but you have to imagine he is enjoying being in a position where it is okay to be disappointed in a top five.
The only “weak link”, so to speak, in the SHR camp in Loudon was Clint Bowyer. Bowyer started 15th and never quite made it to the front and reported about midway in the race that he thought there was an issue with the shock.
Bowyer brought out the last caution of the race — the caution that arguably cost Almirola the race — after wrecking in Turn 3, finishing 35th.
Caution … bad words ahead.
Told ya.
- Chase Elliott Really Not Even Sure How This Happened
Chase Elliott finished fifth on Sunday’s race in Loudon, his fifth top-five finish of the year, and led 23 laps, more than any other race this season.
You would think the primary emotion would be … what? Happiness? Excitement? Relief?
While there was definitely some of that, he was actually feeling something else:
“I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good. Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully we can keep it rolling because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps. I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”
For Elliott, the next highest number of laps he has led in a single race this season was 11 at Daytona. He has only nine top-10 finished in 20 races this season, way off of the 21 he earned in 2017.
In the three practice sessions this weekend, Elliott was 12th, 16th, and 22nd, and qualified 10th, so it’s understandable that he didn’t think he necessarily had a top-five car.
While it’s hard to say whether or not this will be a turning point for this team, it at the very least seemed to boost the morale of Elliott and his race team who are still working to earn the driver of the No. 9 his first career victory.
We’ll have to wait and see.
- A Blue-Collar Broadcast Booth
NASCAR on NBC decided to shake up the traditional roster for their on-air talent for the New Hampshire race weekend, putting Rick Allen on pit road instead of in his normal position as the play-by-play announcer.
And they didn’t replace him.
Instead, they left Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. upstairs to fend for themselves and call the race as they saw fit.
It went about as well as expected. Some of the more “formal” parts of the broadcast — like promo reads, transitions in and out of commercials, etc. — were a little rough, but the moments when they were focused on the actual racing were admittedly fun and refreshing.
However, I think part of the charm was that NASCAR on NBC allowed fans to choose the wardrobe for the broadcast booth this weekend — and unlikely a surprise to anybody, they chose jeans and racing t-shirts.
The results were just perfect.
Talk about bridging the gap between old school and new school. This is the type of thing that makes people love the Darlington Raceway throwback weekend so much — it’s laid back, it’s fun, and, most importantly, it’s a call-back to the nostalgia that, right or wrong, a lot of NASCAR’s past and present fans still long for.
I was skeptical going into the broadcast about how well this would work.
To be honest, I’d be disappointed if they didn’t do it again.
~~
If you would like to connect with me, you may follow me on Twitter and Instagram, or you can e-mail me at [email protected].
Summer’s Five Things: What You Need To Know for July 23, 2018
“Summer’s Five Things” is a daily column for NASCAR fans to catch up on the most recent, relevant, and need-to-know news and information in the sport! While mostly focused on NASCAR, this column may also feature other interesting and exciting moments from the world of motorsports. Enjoy!
Weather had been a concern for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the days leading up to Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, and the track definitely did see its share of moisture.
So much concern that NASCAR moved up the originally scheduled start time up by one hour (from 2:00PM ET to 1:00PM ET) and the race still started three hours late. Rain started in the morning and lasted until the early afternoon, with a heavy, persistent mist making it difficult for NASCAR to dry the track.
However, the race finally got going a little after 4:15PM ET and the race went the full distance without any further weather delays.
Which is good, considering it started raining while the winning No. 4 team was celebrating in Victory Lane.
This has been such a continuous storyline, that I have to imagine that by now there are many of you who are sick of hearing this term:
“Big 3.”
Just to recap — Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick have dominated and won most of the races this season and show no signs of slowing down. No one else is even close on a consistent basis,.
So, unsurprisingly, the last run of the race came down to those three very same drivers.
However, the race for the win was truly between Busch and Harvick.
Busch led a total of 36 laps in the race and looked like he might earn his sixth victory of the season. However, Busch admitted after the race that Harvick had better long-run speed than he did. The last green flag run of the race was 39 laps long, plenty of time for Harvick to run Busch down.
And that’s exactly what he did. After several laps of setting up the pass, some light contact, and dealing with lapped traffic, Harvick bumped Busch up and out of the racing groove and drove by to take the lead with seven laps remaining.
He never looked back.
Harvick earned his sixth race of the season instead, while Busch was able to hang on for second.
Truex, however, was not able to hang onto third. Aric Almirola was able to get by him, earning his highest finishing position of the season.
Busch, as you can imagine, was disappointed but seemed to offer a little bit of a not-so-subtle warning that what goes around comes around.
For what it’s worth, Harvick didn’t try to downplay the incident, and fully admitted that he did what he had to do to win the race.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Unofficial Race Results
It became very apparent early on in the race that it was going to be nearly impossible to beat Stewart-Haas Racing.
Kurt Busch started out as the pole-sitter and led more laps than any other driver in the field with 94. A miscommunication while trying to enter his pit box under green flag conditions is arguably what cost him the victory.
Harvick only led 12 laps but of course went on to win the race.
But perhaps the most pleasant surprise was Aric Almirola, who led 42 laps and earned his first top-five finish of 2018. It was only the second race of the season where he had led more than one lap.
You would think he would be excited about arguably one of the most competitive races of his career and definitely this season.
But, no, Almirola is a competitor. And, as a competitor, if you have a car capable of winning, anything short of that is not good enough.
On the final pitstop of the day, an issue with the left front tire caused Almirola to lose the lead. He was not able to get it back the rest of the race, leaving him to wonder what could have been.
Still, a reflection on what it took for Almirola to get here is worth noting. Last season, Almirola was driving for Richard Petty Motorsports and sustained a back injury in a wreck at Kansas Speedway. He was forced to miss seven races while recovering and didn’t lead a single lap the rest of the year.
After moving to SHR over the offseason, Almirola is well on his way to having the best season of his career. After 20 races, he already has nine top-10 finishes and led 113 laps, which would be a season best for him, and there are still 16 races left this season.
It’s easy to understand why Almirola was disappointed with his finish, but you have to imagine he is enjoying being in a position where it is okay to be disappointed in a top five.
The only “weak link”, so to speak, in the SHR camp in Loudon was Clint Bowyer. Bowyer started 15th and never quite made it to the front and reported about midway in the race that he thought there was an issue with the shock.
Bowyer brought out the last caution of the race — the caution that arguably cost Almirola the race — after wrecking in Turn 3, finishing 35th.
Caution … bad words ahead.
Told ya.
Chase Elliott finished fifth on Sunday’s race in Loudon, his fifth top-five finish of the year, and led 23 laps, more than any other race this season.
You would think the primary emotion would be … what? Happiness? Excitement? Relief?
While there was definitely some of that, he was actually feeling something else:
“I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good. Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully we can keep it rolling because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps. I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”
For Elliott, the next highest number of laps he has led in a single race this season was 11 at Daytona. He has only nine top-10 finished in 20 races this season, way off of the 21 he earned in 2017.
In the three practice sessions this weekend, Elliott was 12th, 16th, and 22nd, and qualified 10th, so it’s understandable that he didn’t think he necessarily had a top-five car.
While it’s hard to say whether or not this will be a turning point for this team, it at the very least seemed to boost the morale of Elliott and his race team who are still working to earn the driver of the No. 9 his first career victory.
We’ll have to wait and see.
NASCAR on NBC decided to shake up the traditional roster for their on-air talent for the New Hampshire race weekend, putting Rick Allen on pit road instead of in his normal position as the play-by-play announcer.
And they didn’t replace him.
Instead, they left Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. upstairs to fend for themselves and call the race as they saw fit.
It went about as well as expected. Some of the more “formal” parts of the broadcast — like promo reads, transitions in and out of commercials, etc. — were a little rough, but the moments when they were focused on the actual racing were admittedly fun and refreshing.
However, I think part of the charm was that NASCAR on NBC allowed fans to choose the wardrobe for the broadcast booth this weekend — and unlikely a surprise to anybody, they chose jeans and racing t-shirts.
The results were just perfect.
Talk about bridging the gap between old school and new school. This is the type of thing that makes people love the Darlington Raceway throwback weekend so much — it’s laid back, it’s fun, and, most importantly, it’s a call-back to the nostalgia that, right or wrong, a lot of NASCAR’s past and present fans still long for.
I was skeptical going into the broadcast about how well this would work.
To be honest, I’d be disappointed if they didn’t do it again.
~~
If you would like to connect with me, you may follow me on Twitter and Instagram, or you can e-mail me at [email protected].