Martin Truex Jr.’s reign atop the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings lasted all of one week. Kevin Harvick returns to the No. 1 spot — where he had been the previous two weeks before Truex overtook him — in this week’s balloting.
But it’s close: While Truex was a unanimous choice among the NBC Sports NASCAR writers last week, Harvick was not an all-in pick this week. In fact, Harvick beat Truex by two points.
Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval race winner Chase Elliott made the biggest jump in the rankings, going from being unranked to No. 3 this week, just three points behind Harvick and only one point behind Truex.
The biggest drops were Denny Hamlin (tied for second last week to tied for 10th this week) and Kyle Busch (tied for fourth last week to tied for 10th this week).
Here are this week’s rankings:
1. Kevin Harvick (35 points): Third-place run at Roval marked his ninth top 10 in the last 10 races. Last week: Tied for fourth.
2. Martin Truex Jr. (33 points): So much for him winning three or even four in a row. Still, had a strong run on the Roval. A win at his home track of Dover would lock him into the Round of 8. Last week: First place.
3. Chase Elliott (32 points): Honestly, could anyone have predicted he’d bounce back from his wreck with 44 laps left – which dropped him from first to 37th place – and wind up winning? One of the best comebacks NASCAR has seen in years. Could be the key motivating factor that sends him all the way to Miami. Last week: Unranked.
4. Brad Keselowski (29 points): Fifth-place finish at the Roval was his fifth top-five result in the last six races. He’s under the radar but should not be overlooked. Last week: Tied for second.
5. Alex Bowman (19 points): Charged from the rear to a second-place finish in a backup car while feeling sick after being involved in two spins. That deserves recognition. Last week: Unranked.
6. Clint Bowyer (17 points): Had strong run when he needed it to advance to the next round. Now can he and his team repeat that effort in the second round? Top 10 finishes in five of his last six races. Has potential to be Cinderella story of playoffs. Last week: Ninth.
7. William Byron (13 points): Top 10s in three of last four races, but has to pick up performance even more if he hopes to advance to Round of 8. Last week: Unranked.
8. Kyle Larson (12 points): Penalty hurt him at Roval but he’s moving on to the second round, so there’s that. With teammate Kurt Busch now eliminated, Larson is carrying the championship torch for Chip Ganassi Racing. Can he deliver? Last week: Sixth.
9. Ryan Blaney (8 points): Even though he has top 10s in three of last four races, he’s in same boat as guys like Byron, Bowyer, Bowman and Larson: he has to significantly pick up his performance if he hopes to advance to the next round. Last week: Unranked.
(tie) 10. Denny Hamlin (7 points): Not a memorable run at the Roval but it’s all about surviving and advancing in the playoffs. Sitting fairly pretty heading into start of Round of 12 this weekend at Dover. Last week: Tied for second.
(tie) 10. Kyle Busch (7 points): Winless streak has now hit 15 races. Roval mechanical failure not his fault. Saving grace was all the playoff points he’s earned, allowing him to be No. 1 in the Cup standings heading to Dover. But he needs a win desperately. Can it come at Dover? Last week: Tied for fourth.
Others receiving votes: Jimmie Johnson (4 points), Michael McDowell (2 points), Joey Logano (1 point), AJ Allmendinger (1 point).
CONCORD, N.C. – Chase Elliott plowed into the Turn 1 barrier with enough force to set off the airbags in a road car … and then won the race 44 laps later.
The world’s best drivers skidded on nearly every lap through two tricky speed traps on a superspeedway originally designed to push mph limits to the max.
Crew chiefs deviously plotted to game the system by determining whether it’s smarter to skip required sections of the course and instead serve stop and go penalties.
The beguiling mix of madness and mayhem reaffirmed that Sunday brought another witnessing of Peak NASCAR at its most irresistibly entertaining and, yes, silly.
The Roval is 17 turns and 2.32 miles of big, dumb fun, but it also was a brilliant and bold masterstroke by Marcus Smith (with a playoff cutoff race scheduling assist by NASCAR) to make Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fall race relevant again.
The notion of, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea for saving the bland night racing on our historic 1.5-mile oval … let’s turn it into a quasi-street course that automatically becomes the toughest track in NASCAR’s premier series!” is an inspired stroke of counterintuitive genius.
It is innovative because it is so goofy in so many ways.
Train racing and Figure 8s never will make their way to Cup (we think), so the Roval will have to serve as the nearest cousin to the Saturday night short track creations that put stock car racing in its own league of necessary craziness.
NASCAR, a soap opera on wheels that has been renewed into its eighth decade, often is at its most appealing when it perilously straddles the line between circus and sport.
While other series such as IndyCar and Formula 1 toe a much harder line on competitive purity (and marshal its rules under the direction of strict stewards), NASCAR always has titled more toward seat-of-the-pants entertainment. That’s not just in its approach to determining championships but also in race management and the willingness to embrace virtually anything (Stages! Double-file restarts! All-you-can-eat Green-white-checkered finishes!) that can enhance “the show.”
They are different philosophies to approaching auto racing, and neither is wrong.
But one certainly is more haphazard.
And the Roval is the racing embodiment of NASCAR at its most gloriously shambolic.
“Hybrid” often is used to describe the abrupt connections of temporary chicanes, off-cambered corners and narrow transitions that don’t flow nearly as well as any natural terrain road course of sloped elevation changes and wide runoff areas.
This is the Dr. Frankenstein monster of a road course, but that doesn’t mean it’s a blight on racing. No less an authority than the legendary Mario Andretti proclaimed the road course as a gem with “phenomenal” sightlines as good as any in motorsports.
Another way to describe the Roval – and a term used quite often the past two years in the garages at Charlotte– is that it’s a delightful @#%!show that delivers the kind of nonstop unpredictability (the leader has wrecked on a restart two consecutive years!) and emotional bonanza that NASCAR was built upon.
Though both editions of this race have been mesmerizing, what happened afterward – whether it’s Bubba Wallace splashing an ailing Alex Bowman with Powerade while Chase Elliott channeled Russell Crowe in a victory celebration, or Jimmie Johnson and the series holding its collective breath while the 2018 playoff standings were tabulated – also measures up as just as compelling.
But there is a major caveat to all the goodness derived from chaos.
It’s possible to have too much awesome fun.
Todd Gordon, crew chief for Joey Logano, underscored this during a Monday interview on SiriusXM NASCAR’s The Morning Drive. Gordon said his team explored if it might be better to blow through the backstretch chicane (i.e. at the roughly 170 mph-plus speeds of the Coca-Cola 600) rather than properly driving through.
Gordon said #nascar clarified “anything that advances position” that way also equals a drive-thru penalty. https://t.co/inWMZBbjaY
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) September 30, 2019
Consider how much wilder – and probably untenable – the action would have been if NASCAR hadn’t foiled this nefarious plan by clarifying that any advance of position by cutting a chicane would result in a pass-through penalty (and not just the usual stop and go for missing it).
That was good preemptive officiating by NASCAR, which also did a fine job of managing the chicanes during Sunday’s race and ensuring the many offenders were punished.
But the news wasn’t so good with caution flags. There were at least four spins (including Alex Bowman making contact with Bubba Wallace on the first lap) that somehow didn’t merit a yellow, meaning that for roughly two cautions for spins, there was at least one that wasn’t. Two of the cautions were for single-car spins in which neither car needed assistance or was damaged in a way that scattered debris – both usually the conditions for a road-course caution.
Because NASCAR doesn’t employ “local” yellows (in which conditions apply only to a section of the track), the importance of being consistent is paramount in being fair to teams. It’s akin to an umpire establishing a strike zone by the end of the first inning and sticking to it: If there’s a spin that’s a caution, all similar spins also must be yellows.
Things are way less fun amidst the confusion of guessing when the yellows will fly.
There also were multiple instances in which NASCAR struggled to get the order correct, namely a caution in which Elliott started three spots behind Kevin Harvick despite beating him out of the pits. There also were an agonizing four laps of yellow between Stages 1 and 2 because the field couldn’t be reordered for a one-lap restart (despite coming off a harmless single-car spin).
As righteously difficult as the Roval is to navigate and strategize for drivers and crew chiefs, it is proving just as hard for NASCAR to manage.
While 17 turns are a lot to monitor, the size and scope of the track aren’t a valid excuse for struggling to adjudicate the race (NASCAR does just fine with Road America’s 4.2-mile track). NASCAR is reviewing the possibility of adding spotters around the track to help make calls more efficiently and quickly. That’s good, because there’s much more at stake.
Complicating the balance of entertainment and integrity is that this is a playoff race. Everyone’s game – officials included – must be raised to withstand the greater scrutiny.
The circus is fun, but next year, please send in a few less clowns and a few more corner workers to help ensure consistency with calling the caution flags.
Because there assuredly will be many in this big, dumb and massively fun race that has become one of the most unlikely treats of the Cup season.
Forgotten after Sunday’s unforgettable race was that IndyCar and NASCAR seemed to take another major step toward each other with Josef Newgarden’s six hot laps around Charlotte’s road course generating lots of buzz and positive chatter.
IndyCar doesn’t resume until March 2020, but NASCAR already should be targeting a race where it can have a star (preferably a former champion) working the paddock … or maybe even turning laps the way Newgarden did at Charlotte.
That’ll help build the momentum for the doubleheader discussion that has a lot of big names talking (“Why wouldn’t we bring those guys to race with our sport and join ours? I think it’s a great idea,” Clint Bowyer said on NASCAR America last week) but still needs to convince some major domos on both sides.
IndyCar has indicated a willingness to race on Saturday nights and allow NASCAR to have the Sunday slot – a compromise that should help engender an American motorsports extravaganza on a single weekend.
What we would like to see: Two doubleheaders. One certainly should be in May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with NASCAR taking second billing on the layout for the Indy Grand Prix.
The second preferably would be at the Roval (with NASCAR in the prime slot), but that will require some schedule reworking. That might naturally happen for other reasons, though, by 2022 (or maybe even ’21)
Other tracks that have been bandied about as possibilities are Richmond Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway, both of which will play host to both series next year (Phoenix Raceway also would be an option if IndyCar worked out a return).
Another possibility? Daytona International Speedway, which once played host to IMSA and NASCAR on the same July race weekend. Using the track’s road course and oval on consecutive days could allow for both NASCAR and IndyCar to showcase themselves without worrying about speed disparities on the same course.
Imagine a pair of doubleheaders at the country’s two most famous racetracks: Indianapolis and Daytona.
Another way to build IndyCar-NASCAR collaboration? Loosen the testing restrictions that both series have to make exceptions. Though Newgarden has talked openly about a ride swap (or just racing a Cup car in general), Team Penske president Tim Cindric explained that “it’s hard to get approval for these things.
“The testing schedule is so difficult, and the teams are so competitive,” Cindric said. “Everyone gets some advantage by (Newgarden) driving a Cup car or an Xfinity car or Joey (Logano) in an Indy car.
“You can maybe do one once in a while, but they’re all looking at what advantage are you gaining by doing that? There’s something to be said in all these series for drivers who aren’t in that series being able to run and try things. Maybe more openness to that would help some situations. It’s very difficult from where I sit aside from the financial perspective to do something productive and give them a chance where it’s not a boondoggle but a real chance to experience it.”
Beyond being a great experience, lest we forget the NASCAR-Formula 1 ride swaps of Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003 at Indy and Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton at Watkins Glen International in 2011 were terrific exposure opportunities, too, that attract nontraditional media.
NASCAR should sit down with Bubba Wallace for splashing Powerade in Alex Bowman’s face after Sunday’s race. It was a regrettable move (even if it instantly became stock footage for all future promotional feud reels), particularly with innocent bystanders also being sprayed (a particularly sticky situation for Pepsi endorser Jeff Gordon to be unwillingly doused with a chief rival’s product).
But if executive vice president Steve O’Donnell announces he will be talking to Wallace … shouldn’t he have added that NASCAR officials also will be sitting down Bowman, who wrecked Wallace without compunction solely for having the temerity to wave his middle finger at him (because Wallace had crashed Bowman on the first lap)
Yes, Bowman was sitting on the ground in a semi-prone position that left him mostly defenseless. But he wasn’t undergoing any medical treatment beyond having water poured on his head, and Wallace took no action that could have hurt Bowman.
The harm that Bowman potentially could have done to Wallace at speed during the race was far greater. Even in a low-speed corner, hooking a car in the right rear to send it driver’s side into a wall and then boasting about it with impunity afterward sends a message that’s about as positive as confronting a competitor in distress postrace.
Speaking of discussions involving Bowman and Wallace, we may never learn what was briefly said between the two after the Roval.
But upon a slo-mo, Zapruder-esque review (and help from some lip-readers) of multiple camera angles of the video above (watch at the 1:11 and 1:36 marks), it would seem to be a less than friendly greeting from Bowman punctuated by a vulgarity.
That’s not meant to excuse Wallace’s reaction, but the context probably should be considered in any full analysis (by NASCAR, media, fans, etc.) about what happened.
In the new Dale Jr. Download podcast, the eponymous host makes another plea to repave Bristol Motor Speedway with asphalt (as it was in its pre-concrete days).
Marcus Smith, chairman of the company that owns Bristol and the guest on the podcast, tries to placate Earnhardt by saying, “Maybe we’ll have a dirt race at Bristol one day.”
“Wow!” Dale Jr. says. “Dirt race at Bristol!”
“I’m going to call it the Dale Jr. Invitational,” Smith replies.
That’s pretty funny stuff … though are we sure Smith is kidding about his plans for a track that once played host to a World of Outlaws race?
— Marcus Smith (@MarcusSMI) September 30, 2019
NASCAR announced Tuesday that it delivered the 2020 rules to Cup teams. Changes include a reduction in the number of Cup road crew members at the track and a limit on how much wind-tunnel testing Cup teams can do.
Cup teams are allowed up to 12 road crew members (crew chief, engineers, mechanics, shock specialist, tire specialist, spotter, etc.) per team this season but that number will drop to 10. The move is being done as a cost-cutting measure for teams. The five-member pit crew for each team is not a part of the 10-member road crew limit.
Also teams with three or more cars were allowed up to four roster spots in addition to the road crew limit. That changes to three next year, matching the maximum for teams with one or two cars.
NASCAR has never mandated how many hours of wind-tunnel testing teams can do but that will change next year. Teams will be allowed no more than 150 hours of wind-tunnel testing in the calendar year for 2020. Teams will be required to submit paperwork to NASCAR before such tests that will state how many hours they will be in the wind tunnel.
Wind tunnel tests will only be permitted at:
NASCAR stated that additional wind tunnel facilities may be added to the list of approved sites.
NASCAR also stated that wind-tunnel testing hours are not transferrable to other organizations. Attempts to do so will result in the hours being voided for all organizations involved.
Manufacturers are not permitted to perform any wind tunnel testing outside of 2021 Next Gen car development. There is no restriction of wind tunnel testing for the 2021 car for manufacturers.
Many of the rules will remain largely unchanged as the sport prepares for the significant changes set to come in 2021 with the expected arrival of the new car.
Among the noteworthy rules for 2020:
With the rule that teams will be allowed a maximum of 12 certified chassis, a team only will be permitted to retire and replace a chassis with a different one when:
With a broken suspension hindering his car and nothing to gain, Kyle Busch parked his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota late in Sunday’s playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval.
While some observers criticized Busch, NASCAR on NBC analyst Jeff Burton understands why Busch did it, even if a part of him doesn’t totally agree with the move. Burton gave his take on Busch’s decision to exit early in this week’s NASCAR on NBC podcast,
“Part of me is like never quit,” Burton told co-host Nate Ryan. “I grew up in an era where you took pride in doing whatever it took to be on that race track when that checkered flag flew. However, (Busch) was right. There really wasn’t anything to gain (to remaining in the race).
“If they come down pit road and if they can fix it, what is he going to gain that will help him win the championship? He’s not going to get a playoff point, so what is he going to gain? That’s probably one of the negatives in this rules package, is that Kyle and his team really could say there isn’t anything to gain.”
Busch, winless in his last 15 races after placing 37th at the Roval, tweeted after the race that the problem with his car was a broken sway bar. Given how few laps (nine) remained when he exited while the race was under a brief red flag, replacing the piece would have been futile.
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) September 30, 2019
“(A broken sway bar doesn’t make it undriveable) but it makes it completely uncompetitive,” Burton said on the podcast. “The thing is horrible to drive and you might pass some guys that are horrible that might have had some issues but listen man, Paul Menard ran good all day and he finished 16th. Ryan Preece finished 21st. You weren’t going to pass him. So I hear what Kyle is saying with that.”
Now the focus for Busch is on Dover International Speedway. Last weekend at Charlotte, Busch was asked about his expectations for Sunday’s race at Dover (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
“Not very optimistic. Let’s just go with that,” he said.
Busch applauded teammate Martin Truex Jr., who won the spring race at Dover while Busch finished 10th, leading just one lap.
“Yeah, my teammate was really, really good there in the spring obviously,” Busch said. “He passed everybody and won the race. I sat there in 10th to 14th all day and just complained about it. I guess I need to get better at passing.”
In this week’s race preview media release, Busch further expressed his frustration.
“Obviously, the race in the spring there was really frustrating for us, so I’m hoping that we find more than we did there the last time with these cars the way they are now,” Busch said.
Even with last spring’s disappointment, Busch has a good record on Dover’s 1-mile concrete oval with three wins, 12 top five and 18 top 10 finishes in 29 Cup starts.
“It’s definitely a roller-coaster ride and you need to treat it like it’s fun and not to be scared of the place, I think, because you can get so much out of that place,” Busch said. “There are two ways about it – you can probably be really, really good there, or really, really bad there. Some days you’re going to be better than others, obviously, with how you can get your car set up compared to the competition.”
Despite some struggles in the opening round, Busch enters the second round as the points leader because of his season-high 46 playoff points, including 15 for winning the regular-season title.
“Kyle’s going to haul ass at Dover,” Burton said. However, the former Cup driver also understands if Busch isn’t exactly optimistic about returning there after his showing in May.
“It’s going to be hard to pass at Dover, period, end of story, and Kyle’s going to have to brace himself for that, brace himself for a very difficult race where aerodynamically if you’re in second, you’re going to be disadvantaged. It is what it is and he’s going to have to find a way to get above his dislike for the package. I believe that. I believe you can’t race with anger, you have to race with passion. But he’s an extraordinary race car driver that can get by with some things that I surely couldn’t get by with.”
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Like a heavyweight championship fight, we’re ready for Round 2 of the NASCAR Cup playoffs.
After four of the 16 Cup playoff contenders were eliminated following the Roval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway kicks off the Round of 12.
Meanwhile, the elimination race in the first round of the Xfinity Series playoffs will be held Saturday at Dover.
The Gander Outdoors Truck Series is off until Oct. 12 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Here are the preliminary entry lists for this weekend:
Cup – Drydene 400 (2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBCSN)
There are 38 cars entered.
Joe Nemechek will start his fourth race of the season in the No. 27 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet.
There is no driver listed for the No. 54 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet.
B.J. McLeod is back in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford, while JJ Yeley is back in the No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Ford.
Chase Elliott won this race last year. Denny Hamlin finished second and Joey Logano was third. Martin Truex Jr. won there on May 6, followed by Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson.
Click here for the entry list.
Xfinity – Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 (3 p.m. Saturday on NBCSN)
There are 37 cars entered.
Harrison Burton makes his sixth start of the season in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Bayley Currey makes his 10th start of the season, but just the second in the No. 38 Chevrolet for RSS Racing.
Stefan Parsons makes his fifth start of the season in the No. 99 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Toyota.
There is no driver listed on the preliminary entry list for the No. 74 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet.
Christopher Bell has won the last two Xfinity races at Dover. Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier finished second and third in last fall’s playoff race, while Allgaier and Tyler Reddick were second and third in this spring’s race at Dover.
Click here for the entry list.
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