Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Author: Andrew Kim

  • Cup rookies prepare to tackle Darlington for the first time

    Cup rookies prepare to tackle Darlington for the first time

    The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has provided a series of unexpected challenges to the 2020 NASCAR season since its abrupt hiatus following the first week of March. With the sport set to resume in less than two weeks, it will present a new weekly approach for the teams, competitors and the sanctioning body to complete this season. The return of the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington Raceway in the spring will be a new yet familiar approach for the veterans while it will be an entirely first experience for this year’s rookie class.

    None of this year’s rookies have started a Cup race at Darlington. To add to the challenge, a Darlington race has never been won by a newcomer since the Rookie of the Year award was established in 1958. Nonetheless, they will all receive their first of three opportunities in 2020 to master their toughness against every corner of the disproportionate circuit. 

    Through the first four races of the 2020 campaign, Cole Custer leads the rookie standings and holds an average result of 20.75. He finished 37th in the Daytona 500 due to a late mechanical failure but rallied with top-20 results at Las Vegas and Auto Club before earning his first career top-10 finish at Phoenix prior to the hiatus. 

    One benefit for Custer is that he has raced at Darlington in the previous three seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he averaged a 4.0 result and emerged victorious last September when initial winner Denny Hamlin was disqualified for failing post-race inspection. Another benefit is that Darlington has been a relatively strong track for Custer’s team, Stewart-Haas Racing, with 18 top-10 results and a win in 2014 with Kevin Harvick. The experience of notching a win along with driving for one of NASCAR’s competitive teams could all serve as potential factors for Custer to build toward his recent momentum at one of NASCAR’s demanding venues.

    If there is someone who has momentum on his side this season, it is Tyler Reddick. The two-time reigning Xfinity Series champion’s season has been a roller coaster. Through the first four races, his best result has been an 11th-place finish at Auto Club. He had a potential top-10 performance at Phoenix the following week spoiled by a late wreck, which dropped his average result to 22.5. 

    Like Custer, Reddick has raced at Darlington in the Xfinity Series with three teams, averaging a result of 7.0 with a best result of second last September. Of the teams representing this year’s rookie class, Reddick’s team, Richard Childress Racing, has the most starts at Darlington. Since 1976, RCR has eight wins at the track, all with the late Dale Earnhardt, but none since 1994. Having on-track speed early in a season to compete against NASCAR’s current stars could give the young Californian the confidence to flip his misfortunes into fortunes and tame the challenges at Darlington.

    Next is John Hunter Nemechek, a second-generation racer from Mooresville, N.C., whose interim role in the final three Cup races last season netted him a full-time ride this season with Front Row Motorsports. He earned his career-best result of 11th in the Daytona 500 before finishing in the top 25 the following three weeks, pulling an average result of 21.25. His only attempt at Darlington came last September, where he finished 21st driving for GMS Racing. Front Row Motorsports has been racing at Darlington since 2005 with best results coming in 2016 with Chris Buescher (17th) and in 2018 with David Ragan (18th). 

    Having a young driver like Nemechek in FRM’s two-car stable goes a long way toward building a winning success in the current season and beyond. It is a matter of the team providing more horsepower and generating consistency for the rookie to contend against the veterans and navigate a track where his father, Joe, raced 29 times. 

    In a season where racing as a Cup driver has been a first for Brennan Poole, the Darlington race in mid-May will also be his first in NASCAR’s premier series. He earned an impressive 16th-place result in his Daytona 500 debut but finished 29th, 32nd and 31st the following three races. In two Xfinity starts at Darlington, where he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing, he averaged a result of 5.5, finishing fifth in 2016 and sixth in 2017. While Poole’s results at the track have been impressive, the results from his team, Premium Motorsports, have been dismal. In eight Darlington races, the team’s best result has been 28th with Ross Chastain in 2018 and 2019, which indicates how far away the team fares against the majority.

    Like Poole, this season has been entirely new for Christopher Bell with the opportunity to race full time in the Cup Series. In comparison to his previous four seasons and successes between the NASCAR Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, Bell’s first Cup season has been disappointing. Thus far, the Oklahoma native has sustained two DNFs and has only finished as high as 21st from the Daytona 500. In two Xfinity starts at Darlington, his average finish is 17.0, finishing 34th due to an accident in 2018 but rallying to finish fourth last season. 

    On the bright side, Bell’s team, Leavine Family Racing, recorded an eighth-place result last season in their fourth attempt at the track with Matt DiBenedetto behind the wheel. The result indicates that LFR is striving to contend for wins on a weekly basis, even on NASCAR’s historic venues, and aims to repeat the success of last season as they set aside their early misfortunes and start generating positives for Bell.

    Finally, Quin Houff is a total newcomer at Darlington, having never raced at the track in any series. Of all the competitors in this year’s rookie class, he has the most Cup Series starts at 21, but has only finished as high as 30th. His team, StarCom Racing, has recorded a best result of 11th at Daytona last July with Landon Cassill, and their best performance at Darlington is 25th, coming last season with Cassill, giving both the driver and the team a lot to develop for the future.

    With six rookie candidates, this season features the largest rookie class in a Cup season since 2014, which had eight, and features the next wave of developing stars who have worked their way through the ranks of NASCAR and now get to display their full potential against the sport’s elite. Will Darlington feature a potential upset similar to when Regan Smith wheeled to the first win for himself and Furniture Row Racing in 2011? Only the sport’s return will evaluate how the rookies will fare in their first attempt at the track deemed, “Too Tough to Tame.”

  • A tale of two veterans returning to NASCAR in 2020

    A tale of two veterans returning to NASCAR in 2020

    NASCAR is in for a double treat in 2020. Already, the sport’s announcement of its return to on-track competition in mid-May is leaving the drivers, the teams and the fans excited amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, two notable veterans, both of whom entered 2020 with distinct mindsets, are set to establish comeback stories of their own for the remainder of this season: Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth. 

    Flashback three months ago, where Newman was leading in the final straightaway of the Daytona 500. For a moment, it appeared that the veteran from South Bend, IN, was en route to a breakout start to his second season with Roush Fenway Racing by winning his second career Harley J. Earl Trophy. 

    Then, the near-excitement was overturned by the near-disaster as Newman was turned by Ryan Blaney into the outside wall and rolled upside down. Then, he was launched into the air after being hit by Corey LaJoie on the driver’s side before coming down and sliding on his roof in a trail of sparks. It was a wreck that left the racing community frozen, sending thoughtful wishes and anxiously awaiting the fate of Newman’s condition, who was extricated from his demolished car and transported to a local hospital.

    Two days later, to the delight of everyone, there was the photo posted from Roush Fenway Racing of Newman exiting the Halifax Medical Center and walking alongside his two daughters. It was a photo that not only eased the pain and anxiety of many but encapsulated the success of the safety enhancements made in the modern era of NASCAR and the endless efforts made from every crew member in keeping their drivers both competitive and safe when racing. The photo also exemplified Newman’s endless grit that he has exhibited throughout his racing career when recovering from previous harrowing wrecks to focus toward upcoming races and getting stronger and better than ever.

    Should Newman return to victory lane and qualify for the postseason, it would not mark the only time when NASCAR has seen a competitor rallying from an injury. A notable example includes Kyle Busch, rallying from missing the first 11 Cup races of the season due to a compound fracture and injuring both of his legs in a wreck at Daytona to win four races in the summer stretch and claim his first Cup championship in 2015 with a win in the finale at Homestead. In addition, the following year, Tony Stewart missed the first eight races of the season after fracturing his lumbar vertebra in an off-season buggy accident, but averaged a finishing result of 17.2 in the final 18 regular-season races, including scoring a triumphant win at Sonoma, to make the postseason in his 18th and final season of NASCAR competition. Finally, Denny Hamlin fractured his vertebra after being involved in a last-lap skirmish with Joey Logano at Fontana in 2013, an injury that made him sit out four races. Once he recovered and returned, he did not acquire enough consistent finishes to make the postseason. Nonetheless, he ended the season on a positive by winning the finale at Homestead, which gave him extra momentum for 2014 and beyond.

    With the veteran cleared to return to racing, Newman’s road to a comeback begins at Darlington Raceway, a track where he has earned up-and-down results with an average finish of 12.57 and a runner-up finish in 2002. To Newman’s benefit, Roush’s entries have won at Darlington five times, but none since 2006. One thing is for certain. Newman is a hard-core racer and will not hesitate nor let his injuries prevent him from racing back into winning contention as he nearly accomplished at Daytona.

    Then, there is Matt Kenseth. A return that no one, not even the former Cup Series champion himself, expected at the drop of the first green flag of the 2020 season. At that time, returning to NASCAR was not remotely on his radar. 

    Everything, however, changed in April when prominent star Kyle Larson was dismissed from Chip Ganassi Racing for uttering a racial slur during a live iRacing event. Two weeks later, when Kenseth was presented with the opportunity to assume the reins of Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet, it was an opportunity that he could not resist in reigniting his illustrious career that spans over 20 years.

    Kenseth’s role as a substitute driver is also a move that is widely familiar in NASCAR. The most notable example was four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon in 2016, when he subbed for Dale Earnhardt Jr., recovering from concussion-like symptoms. While sharing Earnhardt’s ride with future Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, Gordon earned an average finish of 13.86 in eight races and two top-10 finishes, including a sixth-place result at Martinsville in what was his 805th and final Cup start to date.

    There is a challenge for Kenseth at hand as he returns. While Ganassi’s No. 42 team has earned an average finish of 11.0 through the first four races of 2020, Kenseth has not raced since November 2018 at Homestead, where he was a part-time competitor for Roush Fenway Racing, and has not won since November 2017 at Phoenix with Joe Gibbs Racing. This will also be Kenseth’s first time racing a Chevrolet in NASCAR since the 2001 Xfinity Series season.

    The good news for Kenseth is that in the last six years, when Kyle Larson raced at Darlington, the No. 42 team led 500 laps and earned an average result of 6.67, including a second-place result last September. In the 25 Darlington races that Kenseth has driven, he has averaged a result of 15.8, which includes his lone win at the track in 2013. He also has three Xfinity Series wins at the historic venue. In addition, in his final two races of 2018, Kenseth scored top-10 results, which should give the driver confidence to slowly pick himself and the team back up into competitive form and toward a bright future.

    With the season’s return approaching, two veterans representing two distinct teams and with two distinct approaches for this season aim to pick off where they last started off and conclude 2020 with comeback stories of their own and the burning desire to win and be competitive again.

  • NASCAR returns with three points-paying races at a single track

    NASCAR returns with three points-paying races at a single track

    Five months into 2020, NASCAR’s 72nd season of existence has been a bizarre season in the making highlighted with a hiatus in racing spanning two months due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. With the season two weeks away from resuming, a major twist to the racing schedule is in the making.

    For the first time since 1981, a NASCAR season will feature three points-paying races at a single track as the sport strives to make up the lost time of on-track racing.

    On April 30, NASCAR disclosed that Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway will host additional NASCAR national series races throughout the second half of May, totaling to seven in a span of 11 days across the Carolinas.

    Darlington will feature two additional Cup races (May 17 & May 20) and an extra Xfinity Series event (May 19) to go along with the Labor Day Weekend events that still includes the Southern 500 for the postseason opener (September 5). Charlotte, additionally, will host an extra Cup race on May 27 three days after the Coca-Cola 600 past Memorial Day Weekend. The NASCAR XFinity Series (May 25) and the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (May 26) will follow coincidentally while the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval remains as scheduled (October 11).

    The last time NASCAR raced at a track three times in a season was at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, CA, in 1981, where the season raced its opener in January, returned midway into the season in June and added another event in November to conclude the season. This does not, however, mark NASCAR’s only time pulling this feat.

    The first track to host three points-paying races in a season was at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, CA, in 1951 during NASCAR’s third season of racing. Among other examples where a track featured three racing events in a season includes:

    • Langhorne Speedway (1953). 
    • Columbia Speedway (1955, 1958-1960).
    • Charlotte Speedway (1956). 
    • Hickory Speedway (1956). 
    • Portland Speedway (1956-1957). 
    • Southern States Fairgrounds (1957 & 1959). 
    • Concord Speedway (1957 & 1962).
    • Bowman Gray Stadium (1959-1963). 
    • Asheville-Weaverville Speedway (1959).   
    • Martinsville Speedway (1961).

    The featured events at Darlington and Charlotte will mark NASCAR’s return to on-track racing since the week of March 6-8 at Phoenix Raceway. NASCAR was also intent on racing the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the racing activities for the weekend were postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Other postponements that followed suit in the spring included Homestead-Miami Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Dover International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

    An announcement for the remainder of this year’s NASCAR national series schedule has not been determined, though the sanctioning body intends to hold all 36 Cup races this season, including the postseason as originally scheduled from September through November.