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Author: Joseph Shelton

  • Busch’s move to RCR a gain for Chevrolet, but a huge loss for Toyota

    Busch’s move to RCR a gain for Chevrolet, but a huge loss for Toyota

    Tuesday morning’s news that Kyle Busch is moving from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing was undoubtedly the worst kept news in NASCAR for at least the past month. Busch leaves the JGR Toyota camp after 15 seasons and two Cup championships to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet currently occupied by Tyler Reddick.

    At first glance, it’s obvious this will be a boon for the mid-pack RCR camp. Since losing Kevin Harvick in 2013, RCR has celebrated success sparingly within the organization, with seven wins (four for Austin Dillon, one for Ryan Newman, two for Reddick) since the 2014 season. To bring in a driver like Busch could very well turn the tides for RCR and could bring in the level of success the group was used to during Harvick’s tenure with the team.

    It’s all dependent, however, on how much money Chevrolet is planning on throwing in RCR’s and Busch’s direction. With the move to RCR, Busch’s Kyle Busch Motorsports Camping World Truck teams will be making the switch to Chevrolet as well. Considering that the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is heavily observed by the manufacturers, the loss of the best Toyota team is a dent in their driver pipeline. This could also bring Toyota Racing Development to pay closer attention to the drivers in their pipeline and possibly rectify the issues their clogged driver pipeline is facing (i.e., Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, etc.).

    It’s a no-brainer that Chevrolet will be doing everything in their power to make RCR an elite team like Hendrick Motorsports. But one can’t help but wonder just what happened which led TRD and JGR to drop the ball so hard with Busch’s negotiations. Without Busch, there’s no successful Toyota Cup organization in Cup. Busch was TRD in NASCAR. He was the flagship name, he was the face of the Toyota surge in NASCAR.

    For them to lose such a big name to a rival team and manufacturer couldn’t have been a deliberate matter. Busch is a generational talent; that just doesn’t happen by chance. It’s more likely by mistake or ignorance if anything. But with the loss of KBM in the trucks, that leaves Halmar-Friesen Racing and ThorSport Racing as the lone Toyota truck teams. Given the usual strength of the Toyota driver pipeline, the loss of KBM leaves their drivers with few options to go elsewhere as neither team has a high turnover rate.

    The options are marginally better in the Xfinity Series aside from Joe Gibbs Racing, but it does look bleak for the time being. Undoubtedly the landscape will look different come Daytona next season, but it’s all going to be extra work scrambling to fill Busch’s shoes at JGR and Toyota.

    Meanwhile, longtime manufacturer Chevrolet could be finding even more success in NASCAR with the addition of Busch and what he’ll be bringing. Another boon is more in the direction of RCR, as they’ll be bringing in a driver with a bad boy reputation the likes of which haven’t been seen since Harvick. The partnership is fitting regarding the Childress legacy, the Busch legacy, and the Chevrolet legacy. But along with that, they’ll be bringing Busch’s brand – the dark horse, the rebel, the villain.

    Rowdy be thy name.

  • McDowell continues quiet consistency with third place finish at Sonoma

    McDowell continues quiet consistency with third place finish at Sonoma

    Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway was a career day for Front Row Motorsports Michael McDowell, but looking at the 2022 season, it seems par for the course given his performance.

    Starting fourth, the No. 34 Ford Mustang stayed at the front all race long, and in the end, finished third to eventual winner Daniel Suarez and fellow Ford driver, Chris Buescher. This normally wouldn’t be a surprise given that road courses are one of McDowell’s strong suits. But the 2022 season is almost halfway over and McDowell has already set a career-high in laps led in a season and top-10s in a season (six after Sonoma).

    What sticks out about that statistic is that he’s had top-10s on varying types of tracks. He finished seventh in the season-opening Daytona 500 and lingered mid-pack for the next seven races. But in the season’s eighth race at Bristol Dirt, he finished a stout ninth and followed it up with an eighth-place run at Talladega, a track he’s run well at in the past.

    Two weeks later he then finished seventh at Darlington for his third top-10 finish in four races and met that with an eighth-place finish at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600. At Gateway he set a personal best for most laps led in a season when he led 34 laps, setting his season total at 38. His 18th-place finish was indicative of how fast his car was. Then come Sonoma and McDowell had a chance to shine as a road racer and he came within shouting distance of his second career win.

    It helps that he’s kept his car mostly out of trouble this season, as his lone DNF came at Fontana in the second race of the season due to an electrical issue. Otherwise, he hasn’t overdriven his equipment and has kept quiet behind the wheel. But despite not having the resources that most of the bigger teams have, McDowell has credited their momentum to learning the new Gen-7 car as well as his rapport with crew chief Blake Harris.

    “I felt like this Next Gen car was going to level the playing field and give us more opportunities to show the level of team and program that we are, and I’m feeling like we’re getting an opportunity to do that now,” McDowell said. “I think we’re getting close to having the speed and if we can continue that, there’s going to be a weekend where we hit everything right and we have an opportunity to win a race.”

    McDowell and the Front Row Motorsports crew are riding a hot streak of momentum heading into Nashville, where he finished 16th in 2021. He holds three Xfinity Series starts and two ARCA starts at the speedway, so he’s no stranger to the track. But given his performance across the various speedway types this season, there’s no reason to believe that the No. 34 crew can’t put out another strong performance in 2022.

  • Dismal finishes for 23XI Racing not reflective of team’s effort

    Dismal finishes for 23XI Racing not reflective of team’s effort

    Running in the top-10 before both cars were taken out in a massive lap 262 crash during Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington seemed par for the course for the 23XI Racing Toyotas of Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace.

    Both drivers have had brief glimpses of solidity this season, with Wallace’s runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 in February while Busch was briefly the top Toyota driver this season, scoring two top-fives and four top-10s with a best finish of third at Atlanta.

    Yet Busch sits 21st in points following his crash Sunday while Wallace sits 24th, with his Daytona finish and a stage win at Talladega the only saving graces in an otherwise dismal season. Again, both entries have shown speed multiple times this season, but it’s not a matter of driver talent, but other things such as equipment and pit communication issues.

    Case in point, look at Trackhouse Racing. In their second season, they have Ross Chastain solidly in fifth in the points with two wins while Daniel Suarez has been steadily consistent with a pair of top-fives to complement his four top-10s so far this season. But in the off-season, Trackhouse acquired Chip Ganassi Racing, an organization that was no slouch when it came to Cup performance. It should come as no surprise how well they’re performing in 2022.

    But looking back at 23XI, there were many who felt that with Denny Hamlin at the helm in the ownership role the team would be a Joe Gibbs Racing satellite. Instead, the team is more of a continuation of Leavine Family Racing – flashes of decency along with mediocre performances. Factor in a new car that all of the Toyota camp-not just 23XI but JGR-is trying to figure out still and the struggles are still plentiful.

    Then there are the issues with the crew. There have been multiple issues of crew miscommunication and mistakes throughout the season at places such as Circuit of the Americas, Bristol, and Talladega. Several mistakes are being made on the No. 23 on race day that should be addressed if they haven’t yet because it isn’t just bad luck that’s afflicting both teams. Some of the issues are avoidable (who knows where the team may have finished had the crew not cost the No. 23 multiple spots on the last pit stop at Talladega) and those mistakes are piling up.

    Busch is a Cup Series champion and Wallace is no stranger to success in NASCAR. Given the right equipment and given a team that is better in sync with itself can and should provide dividends for both drivers. They’ve both shown speed and solidity this season. But it’s a matter of change coming from within 23XI that could actually finish the job for both drivers.

  • XPEL 375 proves that Texas still belongs on the season schedule

    XPEL 375 proves that Texas still belongs on the season schedule

    The finish to Sunday’s NTT IndyCar XPEL 375 proved to be spectacular finish to a spectacular race, which has proven to be something of a rarity in recent memory at Texas Motor Speedway. The facility, which has hosted races in both NASCAR and IndyCar since 1997, has been through something of a slump in recent years since it’s 2017 repave.

    Naysayers were quick to say that the race was a flop due to the dominance of runner-up Scott McLaughlin, who started second and led 186 of the 248 laps before Josef Newgarden chased him down for the win. But that’s not counting the race’s 15 lead changes among 12 drivers, or the four cautions for 52 laps.

    The quality of racing could be attributed to the special practice session IndyCar and Firestone put together to lay down some rubber in the race’s second groove, as the PJ1-stained track surface could lose grip over time. As a result, with a second groove rubbered in there was plenty of racing and action throughout the race through all parts of the field.

    As a result, the racing on Sunday made a strong case to keep Texas Motor Speedway on the IndyCar schedule. That’s a big statement considering how it’s now common knowledge that the speedway is among the least popular destinations on the circuit. Online pundits even asked if the lack of promotional efforts for the XPEL 375 were because of the perceived lack of popularity.

    All said, Texas has been around long enough that it has achieved historical status in American motorsport. Where else would the racing world have gleefully watched AJ Foyt launch Arie Luyendyk into a bed of rose bushes? Where else would we have had the pleasure of watching Justin Wilson win his last race while driving for Dale Coyne? What about 2016, where the most exciting race in recent memory ended with James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal in a nose-to-nose photo finish with Rahal coming out on top?

    It isn’t the track’s fault racing has been lackluster; all speedways go through periods where the racing isn’t that great. Texas is a great facility with a great layout. It was a given it would take time for the racing product to come in after the repave, and on Sunday that’s exactly what happened.

  • St. Petersburg win sets tone for McLaughlin, Penske in 2022 NTT IndyCar Series

    St. Petersburg win sets tone for McLaughlin, Penske in 2022 NTT IndyCar Series

    A dominant win for Scott McLaughlin in the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season opener at St. Petersburg could set the tone for how this season will go for the second-year Team Penske driver, if history is any indicator.

    Starting from the pole, McLaughlin led 49 of 100 laps and took the checkered a half-second over defending series champion Alex Palou in his 18th series start after winning Rookie of the Year last season. The three-time Australian V8 Supercar champion won in his first pairing with Team Penske engineer Ben Bretzman, firing the first shot of the season on the road to the championship.

    What stands out is McLaughlin’s season-opening win comes after three-straight seasons of champions who won the season-opening event of their championship year. Last season Palou scored his first career win in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on his way to winning twice more before clinching the season title. Scott Dixon won at Texas in 2020 on the way to clinching yet another title. In 2019, McLaughlin’s Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden won at St. Peterburg on the way to his second series championship.

    McLaughlin has the odds in his favor going into 2022. He’s got a championship legacy with Penske already. He’s with one of the top teams in the garage with Penske and Chevrolet. He’s got a season under his belt, a season that saw him claim top rookie honors and show some maturity behind the wheel near the end of the season, scoring two top-10s in the last four races while finishing 12th and 11th, respectively, in the last two races.

    Primarily a road racer thanks to his years in the V8 Supercars, McLaughlin has posted strong runs on both road courses and ovals before Sunday’s win. His best rookie finish was second at Texas in the third race of the season, followed by an eighth during the second day of the Texas double-header. In the fifth race of the year he finished eighth again at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. A fourth at Gateway was followed by a ninth-place finish at the Grand Prix of Portland were all highlights of a season that would be considered as modest by most standards.

    Seeing how dominant McLaughlin and his No. 3 team performed on Sunday shows that they’re past being modest and ready to show the aggression needed to perform like he did during his Supercar career. As the youngest and newest member of the Penske IndyCar group, McLaughlin knows he needs to perform to match the championship pedigree of his teammates, Newgarden and Will Power. If Sunday’s performance is any indicator in that case, he won’t have to wait long to deliver another Team Penske championship trophy.

  • Daytona 500 win first of many for Cindric in 2022

    Daytona 500 win first of many for Cindric in 2022

    Austin Cindric’s 2022 Daytona 500 win wasn’t the usual sort of victory you’d expect from a rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series. It wasn’t a fluke, it wasn’t a right-place-right-time when calamity strikes win and it wasn’t some fuel mileage win.

    Rather, it was a win on pure strength. Cindric was strong in his qualifying race and started the 500 in fifth. From there, he was rarely far from the lead, leading 21 laps on the way to scoring the win.

    It’d be surprising if not for the fact that he showed similar strength during his limited Cup campaign last season. The stats will say that he only scored one top-10 and led only eight laps. But what the stats won’t show is how he led in his Cup debut at the 2021 Daytona 500 and was in the lead pack heading into the final two corners before crashing. They won’t show how he started third in Austin and took a commanding lead – on slicks, in the rain – before spinning. They won’t even show how he took the lead at Road America and was running away with it before losing a rear gear.

    Cindric isn’t a typical rookie. He’s a phenom who is maturing very fast, having come a long way from a dismal 2018 XFINITY campaign where he drove for multiple teams and crashed far too many times. He’s now driving the flagship No. 2 for Team Penske heading into his first full NASCAR Cup Series season, And, it looks like he may have laid claim to the Rookie of the Year title before fellow rookies Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton have even had a chance to establish themselves.

    Is Cindric the second coming of Jeff Gordon? It’s too soon to tell. But at the same time, there are many former rookies that took the Cup Series by storm, so this is nothing new. If anything it goes to show that Cindric is in great company, and if his limited schedule last season is any indicator he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Team Penske Fords are undoubtedly the strongest in the garage and have a tendency to run well everywhere, especially road courses and superspeedways. Again, however, he’s performed well on all kinds of tracks so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him competing for wins and strong runs elsewhere.

    One thing is sure. Cindric is going to be a threat in his rookie year and for a long time to come. Expect him to prove himself, again and again, this season.

  • Wallace’s victory should and will always be considered valid

    Wallace’s victory should and will always be considered valid

    When NASCAR faithful talk about Dale Earnhardt Sr., several things come to mind. The black No. 3, seven championships, 76 points wins, the mustache, The Intimidator…also the 1998 Daytona 500 winner.

    Dale Sr.’s Daytona 500 struggles were well documented and in many ways came to define his career as much as his other successes did. There was the 1990 500, the 1993 500, the 1997 500, and others that played into his Daytona 500 campaign before he finally won in 1998. Leading the field when the caution flew on the 198th lap out of the scheduled 200, Dale Sr. crossed the line to the praise and joy of all in the NASCAR nation.

    But if Dale Sr. can cross the finish line and score his first Daytona 500 win under caution, why can’t Bubba Wallace’s first career win be considered just as valid?

    It isn’t an ideal situation when a race is called early. Drivers are left wondering if they had more on the table in order to score the checkered but ultimately, in the NASCAR record books it still counts as a win. Drivers still get the trophy and points. And there’s no shame to it; Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Kurt Busch have all won shortened events, as have Ryan Newman, and Joey Logano.

    Why should Wallace’s victory in the YellaWood 500 be any different? If Dale Sr.’s victory is revered as one of the biggest moments in NASCAR history, or Edwards’s 2016 Texas win looked back on as an end of an era, why shouldn’t Wallace get the credit for his win?

    Of course, there are those who are iffy on shortened wins. Justin Haley got his first Cup win in a shortened event due to rain when he won at Daytona in 2019. He didn’t get it on speed but on strategy. Same for Chris Buescher at Pocono in 2016, and ditto for David Reutimann at Charlotte in 2009. For that matter, the same can be said for Logano’s first career win at New Hampshire in ’09 as well. It’s easy to see why it’s tempting to put an asterisk by a shortened win when faced with that list of races.

    But like Dale Sr. in 1998, Wallace had a strong car at Talladega. He’s an efficient plate race, with three top-fives at Daytona and several strong runs at Talladega including a stage win in the spring. On Monday he ran a patient race, running near the front before putting his car into the lead five laps from the finish. It wasn’t a dominant performance like Dale Sr.’s 1998 Daytona run, but it was evident that Wallace had a potential winning car.

    It wasn’t a full race, sadly, but in the end, it was past the halfway point. Any way it gets painted, a win is a win. Just ask Michael Waltrip, who earned his second Daytona 500 win in 2003 after the race was called after 109 of 200 laps. The trophy, check, and credit is still awarded to the driver leading when the race is called.

    Social media warriors can still cry about NASCAR rigging the race and how they feel that Wallace didn’t warrant the win but ultimately it’s sour grapes. Wallace did battle, he played the game, and in the end, he was in the right place at the right time when the race was called. That was enough for Wallace and his 23XI Racing crew to break through and earn the title of NASCAR Cup Series winners.

    It’s a time for celebration, not negativity. Wallace’s win was the first for a black driver since 1963, and with that being said it’s a time for celebration for the sport for that matter. So to those who call themselves fans yet sneer and detract from Wallace’s win, it’s time they evaluate what they truly want out of this sport for themselves.

  • NASCAR missed chance to humble Gragson following “no penalty” call after Atlanta

    NASCAR missed chance to humble Gragson following “no penalty” call after Atlanta

    On Sunday NASCAR released a statement that they will not be penalizing Noah Gragson following his actions on pit road during Saturday’s XFINITY event when he backed into Daniel Hemric’s No. 18 Toyota on pit road during a live pit stop. After the conclusion of the event, Hemric confronted Gragson on pit road, which led to a brief fist fight before both drivers were separated.

    Gragson claimed that due to Hemric being in the No. 9’s pit box, albeit briefly, he had to reverse the car in order to pit properly. However, cameras showed that Hemric had parked awkwardly due to the No. 99 of Mason Massey attempting to pull out of his pit box as Hemric was entering his. Although Gragson maintains plausible deniability, cameras on the No. 18 showed Gragson reaching out of his window and flipping off Hemric and the No. 18 team before plowing into them.

    If this were an isolated event, it’d be one to briefly muse and speculate on while Gragson received a warning to keep his temper in check on a live pit road. However, this isn’t an isolated incident; Gragson has had a long line of erratic behavior both on-and-off track, leading to speculation that it is high time that Gragson needs to humble himself.

    There’s the matter of last season when he dumped Myatt Snider at Las Vegas and tried to pass it off as his car getting tight as opposed to a deliberate dump after getting blocked. There’s the matter of Kentucky later in the season when Gragson and Harrison Burton came to blows after Burton confronted him about consecutive weeks of contact between the two. Then there’s the publicized matter of Gragson lashing out at David Starr and MBM Motorsports after a tire on Starr’s car let go at Homestead collecting Gragson. Gragson’s remarks even drew the ire of announcer Mike Joy, who said in a tweet that drivers who came in on their father’s money needed to learn to earn respect. Gragson’s team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. even said on the next episode of the Dale Jr. Download that although he didn’t want to be a helicopter owner, guys like Starr and MBM team owner Carl Long deserved some respect.

    It’s common knowledge that if there’s a common denominator in a series of incidents, it’s a good chance that said denominator (in this case, Gragson) may be a guilty party. That’s a conclusion that could be come to pretty easily with just a little “Maybe it’s me” introspection. Sure, Gragson is a wheelman. Sure, Gragson has that drive to win (does anyone remember the 2018 Camping World Truck Series race at Dover?). All of this could almost be forgivable and chalked up to his “competitive fire,” if it weren’t for the way he handles himself off of the track.

    There’s the time he was kicked out of the GoPro Motorplex in 2018 for repeatedly breaking their rules during a visit, where he took to Snapchat afterward in anger. But then, there’s the matter of hitting on Executive Vice President Steve O’Donell’s daughter Shannon on Twitter. Sure, that was all in “good fun” and shows that Gragson has a “personality.” Then there’s the matter of his making a move on a Snowball Derby beauty queen only to get shut down in epic fashion.

    Okay, so the guy is trying too hard to be Tim Richmond. He’s trying to be a “heel.” He’s trying to be “old school cool.” But what would you call zooming in and filming a random woman from behind, catcalling her, and posting it to Snapchat without their permission? Is that “Old School Cool,” or is it creepy and disgusting behavior? Is that okay behavior?

    It’d be so easy to call this a smear piece on Noah, but all this is doing is trying to point out that Noah has been a regular problem for NASCAR in varying degrees. Supporters are quick to say that “Noah has a personality! Noah is playing up being a heel! Noah is refreshing!” No, that’s not it. Kyle Busch has a personality. Kyle Busch is great a being a heel. Kyle Busch has also earned respect on and off the tracked because Kyle Busch earned his spot at the table (and doesn’t record himself leering at random women).

    Can the same honestly be said about Gragson? He’s never driven for an MBM or a Spire Motorsports. When he joined the Camping World Truck Series, he jumped on board with Kyle Busch Motorsports – the best in the division. When he went full-time in the XFINITY Series, he went to JR Motorsports – one of the best in the division. He hasn’t been humbled on the track, and for that matter, his off-track antics show that he hasn’t been humbled there either.

    NASCAR missed a chance to humble Gragson. As any kid out there, Gragson could use some humble pie. There’s a line of problems here that will only build up if unaddressed, and the question is now a matter of what line will be crossed for NASCAR, Johnny Morris, or even Dale Jr. to say enough is enough and have a “Come to Jesus” meeting with Gragson? He’s a consistent driver; not exactly setting the world on fire with his four national series wins (two truck, two XFINITY), but his record isn’t enough of an insulation for his antics.

    Either the powers that be sit Noah down and humble him, or he could fall victim to his own hubris. Either way, he can’t go on like this and properly represent the sport.

  • Larson’s Vegas win isn’t a form of revenge – it’s a redemption story

    Larson’s Vegas win isn’t a form of revenge – it’s a redemption story

    It’s unanimously agreed that 2020 was a dumpster fire the world over, and NASCAR was not exempt from that assessment. There weren’t any cars on track for a while in the spring, and hardly any fans were able to attend the races. On top of that, there were off-track issues as well – notably the unfortunate instance when Kyle Larson’s utterance of an derogatory racial term cost him his job, his sponsors, and any hope of racing for the 2020 championship.

    Not long after, when the world devolved into chaos following George Floyd’s murder, it looked like any immediate hope of Larson returning to a stock car was going to have to wait. So Larson instead took to the dirt, winning several sprint car races and taking some time away from the NASCAR world. However, at the same time, Larson also completed sensitivity training on the way to being reinstated, which he was six months later before signing on with Hendrick Motorsports to drive for their No. 5 team.

    While this was going on, the NASCAR world witnessed the rise of one of the drivers as a strong voice in the NASCAR garage – Bubba Wallace. As the only full-time black NASCAR Cup Series driver, Wallace’s words became some of the most profound in the NASCAR community, especially following Floyd’s death, as well as the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. His words became so profound that when they led to NASCAR’s forced removal of the Confederate Flag, he and NASCAR were praised by many across the world.

    When a noose was found in his garage area at Talladega over the summer, many believed it was an act of retaliation due to Wallace’s actions. However, when the matter of the noose turned out to be nothing more than a serious coincidence, several detractors sneered and jeered at him, accusing him of “playing a race card” even though cities were in fact burning due to racial violence.

    Several of those detractors even went as far as assuming (and asserting) that there were issues between Larson (again, who used a seriously insensitive racial epithet out of ignorance and lost his ride as a result) and Wallace (who became a much needed social activist in NASCAR). This was in spite of the fact that when Larson said what he said, Wallace was one of the first people to talk to him and to come to his defense.

    So sure were Wallace’s detractors that Larson was acting on a misplaced matter of revenge, that they either didn’t realize or weren’t paying attention to what Larson was doing away from the track – educating himself on matters of social injustice, so much so that when his sensitivity training ended he continued to visit areas such as the Urban Youth Racing School, volunteering at a food drive in Minnesota, and even visiting the site of Floyd’s death and visiting a memorial at the site.

    In short, Larson worked to better understand the plight of those who are socially disadvantaged and to become an ally. He spoke with Wallace, former driver Willy T. Ribbs, and NHRA competitor J.R. Todd. He worked to redeem himself after losing his ride, being publicly humiliated, and being labeled a racist.

    “The first lesson: The N-word is not mine to use,” Larson wrote in an essay he released last fall. “It cannot be part of my vocabulary.”

    “For far too long, I was a part of a problem that’s much larger than me. I fully admit that losing my job and being publicly humiliated was how I came to understand this. But in the aftermath, I realized that my young kids will one day be old enough to learn about what their daddy said. I can’t go back and change it, but I can control what happens from here on out.”

    Larson has shown to all just how hard he’s willing to go to prove himself worthy by scoring three top-10s in the first four races, moving his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 into third in points following his win in Las Vegas on Sunday. After boiling the tires and thanking the fans and his team, one of the first people to meet him in Victory Lane was none other than Wallace.

    When Wallace visited Larson in Victory Lane, it spoke volumes as to how far Larson had come. Could Wallace have shunned Larson? Yes. Could the rest of the world shun Larson? Sure. But ultimately, it came down to the simple truth that Larson spoke in ignorance without thinking. People like Wallace recognized this and opened up to help educate Larson, and in return, Larson took the initiative to educate himself for the better. There isn’t any animosity. There isn’t any anger.

    Rather, there’s hope. There’s compassion. There’s empathy. All of these things that the world needs more of right now. Not revenge, there’s no revenge here. There’s only redemption for Larson. And although some may think the Vegas win was the cap on it all, if Larson has anything to say about it he’s going to keep working to spread those ideals.

  • Daytona 500 win isn’t quite an underdog victory for Front Row, McDowell

    Daytona 500 win isn’t quite an underdog victory for Front Row, McDowell

    Front Row Motorsports has undergone a lot of growth since its inception in 2004 as a part-time team in conjunction with Jimmy Means and his team, Means Racing. Over the years it has grown into a solid upper mid-pack NASCAR Cup Series team as well as a front-running Camping World Truck Series team with Todd Gilliland at the helm.

    They’re not exactly contenders in the sense that Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing can be. However, aside from a rain-shortened win at Pocono in 2016 and the occasional top-five or top-10 on a short track, they’re almost always contenders on the restrictor-plate tracks with David Ragan leading an FRM sweep at Talladega in April 2013 for the team’s maiden victory. Both Ragan and David Gilliland provided strong runs for the team at Daytona and Talladega over the years and the addition of Michael McDowell meant that the team would continue to have their moments to shine as time went on.

    Although McDowell’s beginnings were in road-racing, having won the 2004 Star Mazda championship and his first NASCAR race at Road America in 2016, he has shown himself to be a proficient plate racer. In 20 starts at Daytona, including yesterday’s 500, he has 12 top-15s including a win, three top-fives, and seven top-10s. That luck hasn’t translated so well at Talladega, where he only has a solitary top-five from 2019.

    Still, a 500 win brings momentum and when it comes to teams like FRM, they can only continue upwards on the trajectory they’ve taken. Three wins since 2013 aren’t much, but neither is FRM with 60 employees and mostly secondhand equipment. Still, to a guy like McDowell who was once a part-timer and occasional start-and-park driver, they’ve given him the opportunity to thrive and he has taken them up on it.

    The pairing of McDowell and FRM has shown some promise. In 2019 he scored two top-fives for the first time in a season, at Daytona (where he famously told fellow Ford driver Joey Logano, “I don’t get paid to push you,” after fighting for the win in the 500) and Talladega, finishing fifth in both races. In 2020 he scored a career-high in top-10s with four (Pocono, Indianapolis, the Daytona Road Course, Bristol). To add to that, 10 top-15s in 36 races. Also, in addition, he had only two DNFs and 97% laps completed on the season.

    At 36, he’s on the other end of a career in NASCAR. He’s not the four-time ARCA race winner who finished second in points in 2006. He may not get a top-10 in points or win a championship in the Cup Series. We may never see him brutally dominate a race. But that’s perfectly fine. It’s been a long time and his climb is far from over. Thirteen top-10s in 358 starts isn’t something that’d set the world on fire.

    But McDowell has established himself as a valuable asset to one of the hardest working organizations in NASCAR and one of the stronger competitors to race at restrictor-plate tracks and road courses. With a win in Sunday’s Daytona 500, it just goes to prove that the pairing of McDowell and FRM in 2018 was bound to be a successful one.