As NASCAR fans, we’ll forever hold the candle for abandoned race tracks like Rockingham and Nashville Superspeedway, but we somehow seem to hold a bigger candle for North Wilkesboro Speedway. As race fans, this is the sort of thing that tugs at our heartstrings regarding how the track just sits there sadly, falling into disrepair. It’s a track with many years of history and a long list of winners named Petty, Waltrip, Earnhardt, and Gordon. But despite all of that, there are some truths that even the most die-hard NASCAR fans have trouble accepting.
There will never be another Sprint Cup race there.
There will never be a return to the glory days 20, 30 years ago.
If the track is ever used for competition again, it won’t look anything like it did 20, 30 years ago.
Despite our highest hopes, the likelihood is that the days of any sort of competition ever returning to North Wilkesboro are long, long gone.
So what canbe done? There’s a current initiative going on centered around the speedway called Save The Speedway, which is dedicated to the preservation of the track. However, there is only so much they can do. From 2010 to 2011, racing did resume at North Wilkesboro with divisions such as the USAR ProCup, PASS Late Models, and the ASA Late Models. However, that obviously did not last.
Enter NASCAR. Not exactly the Sprint Cup Series or the XFINITY Series, or even the Camping World Truck Series. Bring the K&N Pro Series to North Wilkesboro and turn them loose. How? Why? Well, look at it this way. If places like Dominion Raceway and Evergreen Speedway can host the K&N Pro Series as bare bones race tracks, then so can North Wilkesboro.
For one, despite the Late Models and the USAR ProCup events, the turnout for both events wasn’t as big as was hoped. But people respond to NASCAR events. NASCAR is a name brand, as recognizable as Coca-Cola or Chevrolet. If NASCAR had been involved with the Late Model/ProCup events, it’s guaranteed that people that are curious about our sport would have turned up. For that matter, fans and competitors across the country would have shown up for the chance to be a part of history and/or be noticed as a competitor.
WOODFORD, VA – Spencer Davis, driver of the No. 41 Chevrolet takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR K&N Pro Series race on May 30, 2016, in Woodford, Virginia. Photo by Matt Hazlett/NASCAR via Getty Images.
As for North Wilkesboro operating as a bare bones facility, it would be hard to see, but it could prove to be a benefit for the track. All over the facility, things are collapsing and falling apart. Why save them? What good would come out of rebuilding them at this point? Ten years ago, a case could have been made in saving as much of the facility as possible, but at this point, one of the saving graces would be to just clear up the debris, then repair the racing surface as well as the stands. Granted, North Wilkesboro had a unique and awesome Victory Lane, but at this point that’s irrelevant. Incorporate the usual NASCAR Home Tracks tradition of holding the Victory Lane on the frontstretch.
Trimming down unnecessary buildings and trash at a race track is nothing new. Charlotte tore down some stands, and Atlanta has torn down multiple buildings and bleachers. North Wilkesboro needs to trim down. Get rid of irreparable facilities. Bring in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, which is the last vestige of great, basic racing in NASCAR. Accomplish all of that, and in due time, North Wilkesboro Speedway could be saved.
Few drivers have had as bad a run with luck as Martin Truex Jr. He’s had absolutely dismal seasons, like in 2014 when he first took over the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing entry (one top-five, five top-10s, one lap led all season long and a 24th-place points finish). He’s had good rides just collapse on him, like his No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing ride following the 2013 season. He’s come extremely close to winning after dominating a race, like at Kansas a few weeks ago where he started on the pole and led 172 of 267 laps only to have a pit stop penalty end his run prematurely.
So to come to Charlotte, win the pole for the Coca-Cola 600, then set a race record by leading 392 of 400 on the way to victory, there’s no doubt that Truex and the No. 78 crew truly deserved a visit to Victory Lane, especially after all that they’ve gone through. To do it in such a fashion, leading roughly 98 percent of a race (588 of 600 miles, a NASCAR record), is even more fitting considering how close that No. 78 has been to winning in 2016 and how strong that team has been this year. It was a perfect way to end the perfect weekend, and hopefully, it’s a sign of more victories this year for Truex.
“I can’t believe we led that much,” said Truex. “I was just out there running and the laps were clicking off, and it’s like, dang, halfway already. Usually, in this race you get halfway, and they’re like, it’s halfway, and you’re like, oh, my goodness, like seriously, that’s it? We’ve been in here forever. The race just — I guess because we were leading and there wasn’t a lot of caution laps and went green for so long, it went by quicker than normal, and the next thing I know there was 100 laps to go, and I was like, holy crap, there’s only 100 laps to go. The next thing I knew there was only 50. The race went by really quick, and I guess that’s because we were leading and things were going well.”
So where does this leave that team? Obviously, they’re Chase bound come September, and to get a lock on a Chase spot so soon must come as a relief for that team. Not that they wouldn’t have qualified for it any other way; the No. 78 team has been consistently fast this season and wouldn’t have had any trouble making the Chase on consistence alone. Rather, they can breathe easier now and race accordingly for more wins.
On that note, with Cole Pearn sitting on top of the pit box it won’t be difficult for Truex to go after more wins. Since taking the Crew Chief spot in 2015, Pearn has been exactly what Truex needed to gain his confidence and his competitive edge back behind the wheel. In 49 races, Truex and Pearn have brought home two wins, 10 top-fives, and 28 top-10s. If he hasn’t been at the front, he’s normally been near the front week after week.
This team is championship caliber. They were in the Final Four last year at Homestead, finishing fourth in the final points. Now that they’re aligned with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, they’re looking to redeem themselves in the title hunt and possibly clinch that Sprint Cup championship. Winning the Coca-Cola 600 after coming so close so many times this season was the first shot fired by Truex and his team. It’s safe to expect more from them before the year is up.
In the last couple of weeks, Kyle Larson has been showing some much-needed results. He finished second in a spirited battle with Matt Kenseth at Dover, then followed it up with an aggressive win in the Sprint Showdown, the last-chance qualifier for the Sprint All-Star event at Charlotte. Then in the All-Star, he fought hard with eventual winner Joey Logano before slapping the wall and finishing off the pace.
Still, he showed he can be aggressive when necessary and is capable of winning races, which is much needed considering the 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year has yet to clinch a Sprint Cup victory. But despite his recent hot streak (if it may be called such), a win in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway may be easier said than done.
That’s not for lack of ability, obviously. Larson is set to become a racing legend. He’s as good of a driver as they come and possesses a ton of talent behind the wheel. But for every good stretch he’s had in the past season, almost immediately he’s met with some misfortune or midpack run. For example, at this time a year ago, Larson followed a 25th-place run at Charlotte with a third-place run at Dover and an eighth-place run at Pocono. Immediately after, he had five straight dismal runs with a best finish of 15, including three-straight finishes below 30th.
This year, meanwhile, prior to his second-place run at Dover he had a stout run of seventh in February’s Daytona 500 and a third-place at Martinsville. Two top-fives and three top-10s in a season that has seen more finishes below 30th than anything. So in regards to the possibility of a win in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, it may be a possibility, but to call it a probability is a stretch in logic.
Not that some of his failures are his fault. He’s been caught up in crashes, he’s had parts fail, and unfortunately, he has Chad Johnston on top of the pit box this year (which counts for some of his poor runs). But if Dover was a sign of things to come, if he wins at Charlotte it will be a victory truly earned. Either way, Larson’s overdue for a win.
When William Byron began his first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, he was expected to have a few good runs throughout the season. The 18-year-old already had a championship under his belt when he won the 2015 K&N Pro Series East championship driving for HScott Motorsports in partnership with Justin Marks, so he had already proven he had the talent needed to win in one of NASCAR’s biggest series.
It took him five starts, but at Kansas on Saturday, he managed to hold off two-time series champion Matt Crafton for his first series win. With that win, Byron validated KBM owner Kyle Busch’s decision to sign him, and Byron became another shining star on the rise in NASCAR. Currently lined up with rookie teammates Cody Coughlin and Christopher Bell, Byron’s KBM predecessors include current XFINITY Series superstar and five-time race winner for KBM’s truck program Bubba Wallace and 2014 Rookie of the Year/truck series champion Erik Jones.
A lot of the success could be credited to the Joe Gibbs Racing engines that the KBM Toyotas receive, but let’s not sell the drivers short. Jones and Bell may be champions and Wallace may have been a multiple-time winner, but Coughlin comes from a long line of racers and has more than a few years experience in stock cars, while Bell, a former dirt standout, won at Eldora last year in his third truck series start.
HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 20, 2015: Erik Jones, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images
How Busch came across Jones is a great example of how the KBM drivers are graded in regards to potential. In the 2012 Snowball Derby held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Jones was able to hold off Busch to score his first win in the prestigious event. Busch immediately made a move to sign Jones to his race team, and it paid off within a year as Jones scored his first series win, then two years later scored his first championship.
With Byron, it may not be something as dramatic as Jone’s big break, but it’s obvious Busch saw how fast the kid is. He’s been fast all through the 2016 season, and although he had a shaky start at Daytona and an engine failure at Atlanta, he’s been mounting an excellent title offense and now that he’s solidly in the Chase, he can focus on getting more wins and bettering himself as a driver. With that, Byron could place an emphasis on being a championship threat and carrying on that winning heritage at KBM.
Since making his Xfinity Series debut in 2009, Blake Koch hasn’t exactly set the NASCAR garage on fire. As a matter of fact, until 2016 he had been considered more of a journeyman driver, just there to fill the seat when the situation called for it. But despite running a full 2015 with TriStar Motorsports and having a few promising runs, LeafFilter (Koch’s sponsor) owner Matt Kaulig left TriStar Motorsports at the end of the season and formed his own team, Kaulig Racing, with Richard Childress Racing assistance. He landed Koch as his driver, and 2016 has seen the 30-year-old driver grow exponentially behind the wheel.
How much has Koch grown? After eight events he holds two top-10s and sits 13th in points. He’s had the speed in his No. 11 Camaro, as shown at Bristol where he posted the fastest speed in practice. He’s been steady in qualifying, where he has yet to qualify outside the top-25 and has a season-high qualifying effort of eighth at Fontana. In the season opener at Daytona, he started and finished ninth, cementing that things were indeed changing for him and the LeafFilter crew.
He’s a solid guy with a new, decent team and loyal sponsorship that has stuck with him since 2014. A power-based win is out of the question for the crew thanks to the dominance of Cup drivers in XFINITY, but don’t count out places like Road America, where he led with six laps to go last year before being sidelined by a faulty battery. For that matter, don’t count out any of the short tracks this season, as Koch has had strong runs this season at Bristol and Richmond, the latter of which he finished a career-best eighth.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – APRIL 08, 2016: Jeb Burton, driver of the No. 43 J. Streicher Ford, and Blake Koch, driver of the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, have an on-track incident during the NASCAR XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Kaulig Racing is a small team, and as with all new teams, there will be hiccups. At Texas, fellow competitor Jeb Burton cut a tire and was drilled by Koch’s No. 11. Issues at Bristol relegated Koch to his worst finish of the year, 37th. He’s only gotten three lead lap finishes this year. Of course, there are struggles for a team currently trying to find their place in the sport.
But look at his 2015 season after three races. Not a single lead-lap finish and not a finish better than 19th. As a matter of fact, for the entire 2015 season, Koch had only five lead-lap finishes, with only three of them on road courses. It’s a given, Koch is doing more with his new team in 2016 than anything that was ever done at TriStar Motorsports.
Koch’s best chance for success is now, and there’s no argument that he’ll make the most of his opportunity. With RCR assistance and the full backing of the Kaulig group, Koch will set a number of career-highs before the season wraps up in November.
This week in NASCAR, the biggest story in the news isn’t Carl Edwards dominating Bristol on Sunday, or Kyle Busch’s bad luck early in the Food City 500, or even the fan who was almost turned into a speed bump by Busch. Instead, the biggest story was a true feel-good story in NASCAR, a rare one of the underdog’s hard work paying off: Matt DiBenedetto’s hard-fought sixth-place finish.
Following the race, the driver of the No. 83 BK Racing Toyota gave a heartfelt, emotional interview to FOX Sports, and as a result gained a huge outpouring of congratulations from fans and peers alike. Many of these fans feel that DiBenedetto embodies the gracious underdog role quite well, and they want to do something for him; vote him into May’s All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Reddit.com’s r/NASCAR community of fans was the driving force behind Josh Wise’s fan vote win in 2014 and are looking to repeat this year, thanks to Reddit user /u/AfroMidgets and former driver Kenny Wallace. The movement has gained traction on Twitter as well, with fans and drivers alike placing their votes for DiBenedetto, including Wise:
CHARLOTTE, NC – MAY 16. 2014: Josh Wise, driver of the No. 98 dogecoin-reddit.com Chevrolet, during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Showdown in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton /NASCAR via Getty Images)
Considering the strength-in-numbers approach that r/NASCAR has, DiBenedetto could very well be another entrant into the small All-Star field. Reddit user /u/beezwacks, who is one of the r/NASCAR moderators, had this to say about the fan drive:
The /r/NASCAR community loves to support underdogs who show promise, and Matt DiBenedetto has proven he is one of those. We’re looking forward to watching our grassroots campaign to vote DiBenedetto into the All-Star Race grow, giving the BK Racing driver more exposure and with luck and effort, the fan vote in the All-Star Race.
Despite the positive fanfare that this idea has brought up, there is no doubt that there will be fans who disagree with the process. After Wise’s 2014 All-Star fan vote victory, many fans were angered that he was voted in over the popular Danica Patrick. A DiBenedetto fan vote could anger many of those same fans again. However, the fan vote is in place to vote in drivers that fans find worthy, and the process is the same for all drivers.
Another perk that could come into being if DiBenedetto is voted into the All-Star was brought up during Wednesday’s r/NASCAR AMA (Ask Me Anything) that he held. If he is voted into the All-Star race, he has agreed to change the name over his door to the subreddit’s nickname for him: DiBurrito.
With the movement to put DiBenedetto in the All-Star race gaining momentum and gathering strength, it seems that regardless of the end result of the voting, he has finally made the transition from nobody to somebody in the NASCAR garage.
Despite not having set foot in a stock car since 2008, Kyle Petty still remains a huge part of the NASCAR scene as an NBC Sports analyst as well as a renowned humanitarian. The eight-time Sprint Cup race winner’s legacy can also be linked to his family’s Victory Junction Gang Camp for children with terminal illnesses, opened in 2004 in honor of Petty’s late son Adam, who was killed in a racing accident in 2000.
Petty’s Charity Ride Across America, which is entering its 22nd year, has been an instrumental part in the growth of the Victory Junction Gang Camp, and will kick off on April 30, 2016.
SM: With the Charity Ride Across America entering it’s 22nd year, what are some things that come to mind regarding the ride?
Kyle Petty: Well, it’s hard to believe it’s been going 22 years. That’s the first thing. When we started it, it was just a group of us going to ride from California to North Carolina. We did it, we never thought it could get any better, but here we are 22 years later and still doing the same thing.
This year, we’re leaving from Palm Springs, California on April 30 and from there, we’ll be heading over to Phoenix and visiting with Manheim Auction, Manheim being one of our event sponsors. The next day we’ll be leaving Phoenix to El Paso and going by the Harley-Davidson dealership there where we’ll be having a big dinner, and on May 2 we’ll be traveling to Lajitas, Texas. The next day we’ll be heading to San Antonio, where we’ll be staying an extra day so people can have an opportunity to go around, visit the Alamo, and do some sight-seeing around San Antonio. On May 5 we’re going to Beaumont, Texas, and we’ll wrap up the ride the next day in Biloxi, Mississippi.
We’re excited. This is a route we’ve never taken before, so we’re looking forward to taking this route.
SM: What is the expected turnout for this year’s Charity Ride?
KP: We have about 120, 130 bikes. We try to keep it in that range, because being an eight-to-nine day event, obviously, we’ll be stopping in Lajitas and taking about 200 hotel rooms (which is basically all the hotel rooms there). We’ll be serving breakfast, lunch, as a group. We’ll be traveling as a group. We’ll be fueling as a group. So we try to keep our number of bikes down to 120 to 130. We’ll have about 200 people, we’ll have some support vehicles along with us and a medical staff that travels with us as well.
SM: Who are some names we can expect to see on this year’s Charity Ride?
KP: Well, my father’s going again this year (NASCAR Hall of Famer and seven-time Sprint Cup champion Richard Petty), I think he’s gone about 20 of the 22 years. Harry Gant (18-time Sprint Cup race winner) has gone all 22 years. Herschel McGriff (2017 NASCAR HoF nominee) is going with us for the first time. Donnie Allison (10-time Sprint Cup race winner) is going with us again. NFL Hall of Famer Herschel Walker is going with us, as is Rick Allen (NBC NASCAR Analyst) and Eddie Gossage (Texas Motor Speedway president). Rutledge Wood (Top Gear America host) may come in, we’re waiting to hear from him, but we’ll also be having retired Lieutenant Colonel Allen West with us as well.
That’s about the group of celebrities we know, but I’m telling you, the other 115, 120 riders that are going with us are the real celebrities that are going with us.
SM: Aside from the Victory Junction Gang Camp, are there other charities that are involved in the Charity Ride?
KP: No, you know, when we first started we used to stop at children’s hospitals all over the United States. We went to 20-something-odd children’s hospitals all across the United States. That was what the ride’s mission was. When my son Adam was killed in a racing accident in 2000, we decided to build Victory Junction. Since that time, the majority of the money, probably 98 percent of it, goes to the camp in order to give these kids the opportunity to come to Victory Junction and experience a medically safe environment and enjoy the camp at the same time.
SM: There have been discussions of possibly bringing the Caution Clock to the Sprint Cup Series. What are your thoughts on the Caution Clock in general?
KP: I don’t enjoy it. I don’t like it. I was born in June of 1960 and attended my first race in July of 1960, and I’ve been going to race tracks ever since. I’m a purist in the purest sense of the word. I think racing needs to be done on the race track and does not need to be manipulated by timeouts, time clocks, and fake cautions, and things like that. You got to be able to go out and kick everybody’s butt. If I’m kicking everybody’s butt and they throw a caution, that penalizes me and helps the people whose butts I’m kicking.
I don’t like the Caution Clock in the Camping World Truck Series, I dang sure wouldn’t like it in the Sprint Cup Series.
CONCORD, NC – MAY 27, 2007: Kyle Petty, driver of the No. 45 Coke Zero Dodge, makes a pit stop during the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
SM: Cup drivers running in the XFINITY events is nothing new and has been the basis for an age-old debate in NASCAR. However, it seems that with the constant domination by Cup drivers, this argument has reached a fever-pitch. Is the XFINITY Series facing an identity crisis?
KP: Yes and no. I think the XFINITY Series has its own identity with Daniel Suárez, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, and guys like that that are going to be future Cup stars that get their start in the XFINITY Series. I do believe it has its own identity because you’re watching future stars. Are they competing against today’s stars? Yes. Is that right or wrong? I’m not sure.
I don’t believe it’s wrong for Kyle Busch, or Brad Keselowski, or Joey Logano, or Jimmie Johnson every now and then, or Dale Junior to jump in and run a XFINITY race. It’s been that way since the beginning of time. I think what we see that’s different now than what we saw during those eras was that you had drivers that did that. Now you have owners that do that. You drop back to the XFINITY Series, the owners that are winning all the races are Jack Roush, Richard Childress, and Joe Gibbs.
So you have XFINITY drivers racing against Cup owners and Cup drivers. The deck is stacked totally against them. It wasn’t that way when Dale Earnhardt Sr. did it, it wasn’t that way when Darrell Waltrip did it. Mark Martin was the first guy to actually have a Cup owner as a XFINITY Series owner. I would rather see (NASCAR) back up and say, “Hey, you guys can run all the races you want to, you just have to drive for a XFINITY team. As long as you drive for a XFINITY team, that’s fine.”
That would give the XFINITY drivers more of a level playing field. Right now, I don’t believe the field is level for those guys in the way that it had been in the past. They struggle, but I think you get better as a race car driver racing against better drivers. And if you’re racing against Kyle Busch, you’re racing against the best. You’re racing against Joey Logano, you’re racing against the best. Guys like Suárez and Jones learn from those guys.
SM: Which rookie from the 2016 Sprint Cup class looks the most promising: Chase Elliott or Ryan Blaney?
KP: Good question. I think they both have tremendous promise and tremendous potential. I think that goes back to what we were saying about the XFINITY Series a little bit because you got Chase Elliott driving for Rick Hendrick in the No, 24 car that Jeff Gordon won 96 races with. Obviously, it’s a winning race car.
You’ve got Ryan Blaney driving for the Penske organization basically; even though it’s tagged Wood Brothers Racing it’s still Penske cars and Penske equipment. I think when you look at that, those guys are maximizing their potential and maximizing their car’s potential. I think both those guys are pretty promising.
Another guy I’m going to throw in that mix is Chris Buescher. Nobody is really talking about him. He’s driving a car that’s underfunded, not up to the standards and capabilities of the No. 24 car or the No. 21 car, yet he is doing some good things in that car on a weekly basis. He’s finishing in the top-25, top-30, and that’s about all you can ask for from that team and that car.
Blaney and Elliott may get to Victory Lane sooner, but at the same time, once Buescher gets a ride he’s going to be a force also.
SM: Who are some surprises we could expect to see in this year’s Chase field?
KP: You have to give a tip of the hat to two guys: A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Dillon. I think Austin has made tremendous progress this year. That team has made some progress as well. He’s running in the top-five, top-10, and having solid finishes. Because of that, he seems to be the leader of the Childress organization right now. I look at him and see that he could probably make the Chase.
As for Allmendinger, that group of guys has done a tremendous job this year. They are not a major organization like Roush or Hendrick; they are below that, yet they are still able to run with those guys and put together good solid runs and good solid finishes. I think he could be a guy that makes the Chase as well.
SM: Lastly, here’s a reader question: What’s the funniest/weirdest thing a fan has yelled at you from behind the booth while you were on or off the air?
KP: We were in Watkins Glen last year doing the post-race show when this fan came up and he might have had a little bit too much to drink. He had a cane because he had broken his leg, and he kept waving his cane in the air and screaming at Joey Logano that he (Logano) got lucky. He kept screaming, “You’re lucky, Joey Logano! You’re just lucky! Lucky! Kevin Harvick should have won that race.” Harvick had run out of fuel on the last corner of the last lap.
He kept saying it and kept saying it. We had told him to be quiet when we went on air, but he kept saying it and finally I turned around in the middle of the program while we were on air and told him, “Lucky is I don’t come down there and beat you over the head with that cane. That’s what lucky is.”
So that’s probably the strangest or weirdest thing that has happened.
We’re eight races into the 2016 Sprint Cup season, and we’ve already got a top nominee for the feel-good story of the year. With BK Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto earning a sixth-place finish for a career-high Sprint Cup run following the Food City 500 at Bristol, fans and competitors all around the garage sang the 24-year-old driver’s praises.
Race winner Carl Edwards was quick to acknowledge DiBenedetto’s accomplishment, saying, “They finished sixth? Man, that’s unbelievable. That’s probably tougher than what we did. That’s a real testament to them.”
Denny Hamlin, who finished 20th, came down pit road as well to congratulate DiBenedetto while the driver of the No. 83 was giving an emotional interview for the television crews, echoing Rich Bickle’s tearful interview after he finished fourth at Martinsville in 1998.
DiBenedetto’s interview just goes to show what’s great about NASCAR. While it may seem like the front is always the same guys day in and day out, and it may seem like old hat for drivers and fans, every so often one of the little guys who will work just as hard as his crew will have a good day. DiBenedetto’s emotions show that he is a guy that’s just happy to be a part of the big show.
Look at his record in the Sprint Cup Series. Five lead lap finishes in 33 starts with a previous career-best finish of 18th (Talladega, Spring 2015). He didn’t start his rookie campaign in 2015 until the fourth race of the season at Phoenix, following two DNQs. Driving for BK Racing, DiBenedetto has piloted some severely underpowered Toyotas and has managed to keep his equipment in once piece, which is no small feat in the Sprint Cup Series.
He was once a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in the XFINITY Series. These days that usually means surefire success, but in 2010, due to sponsorship woes, that left DiBenedetto without a ride. So for the better part of four years (until he signed with BK Racing), he was going from ride to ride just to be a part of the sport.
Still, despite all that, despite all the struggles he’s faced with the No. 83 team in the 33 starts he has made with the team, he has managed to hang on, and now has something to show for his struggles behind the wheel in NASCAR. Taking into consideration the struggles he’s faced while trying to reach the upper echelons of NASCAR, the emotions that he showed in his post-race interview were real.
DiBenedetto is a talented young driver who has a lot of years left on the clock, and with the improvements made by BK Racing in the off-season, he’s in a position where an underfunded race team could be built around him to at least be a consistent race team. That may take time, but he’s shown that he is more than willing to stick around for awhile.
After several weeks of unhappy fans, lackluster racing, and multiple Sprint Cup regulars winning all of the XFINITY Series events, Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 provided a much-needed shot in the arm for a division struggling with credibility. Polesitter Erik Jones passed Cup regular Kyle Larson with an aggressive maneuver with three laps remaining and managed to hold off teammate Kyle Busch to earn his third-career win after leading 62 laps. Jones became the first XFINITY Series regular to win a race since Regan Smith won at Dover last fall.
The race yesterday was everything that every other XFINITY race this season hasn’t been: Exciting.
There were multiple lead changes (10). There was plenty of beating and banging for the lead. There were plenty of tense moments. And in the end, thankfully, a XFINITY Series regular won a race, guaranteeing that there won’t be an absolute shutout of those guys from Victory Lane in 2016.
It’s old news that the XFINITY Series has been suffering recently. Multiple races have been shutouts, with Cup regulars often leading every lap, sometimes by huge margins. In 2015, six XFINITY regulars won in 33 events. In 2014, that number was nine. XFINITY regulars have been getting the short end of the stick regarding success in the division, so to see Jones taking his No. 20 and muscling it past a pair of established Cup stars was good to see, from both the division’s standpoint and from the fan’s standpoint.
BRISTOL, TN – APRIL 16: Erik Jones, driver of the No. 20 Gamestop/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)
Will this ultimately fix the big problem that the series is facing? No. That looks to be a long way off. But that’s not going to take away what a success Saturday’s race was. The heat races were a bit of a bore, but that was understandable; the drivers wanted to take care of their cars for the main, where it mattered. Should every XFINITY event feature qualifiers and a main event? Probably not. But if nothing is going to be done to address the Cup drivers running rampant in the series, then let the powers that be possibly look into shortening the races. That, or possibly bringing back some of the old tracks that put the division on the map (Gateway, Pikes Peak, Nashville Fairgrounds).
Whatever the case, wherever the division goes from here, it’s obvious that NASCAR needs to look at Saturday’s race and properly gauge the reaction of the fans as well as the series regulars. Twitter blew up with rave reviews of the event, drivers and fans alike were singing praises, and many were glad to see legitimate racing at Bristol for the first time in a long time, considering the racing product had declined following Bruton Smith’s “renovation” of the track in 2007. So much can be done for this struggling division based off of Saturday’s race, and fans and drivers can only keep their fingers crossed that something will be done.
With a fifth-place run at Saturday’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott, and his No. 24 crew have proved that the 2016 Rookie of the Year competition is in their favor. Not only was it his first career top-five, it was also his fourth top-10 in seven races. With that, he holds a spot safely in 14th, well within the confines of the 16-car Chase for the Cup. In comparison, Elliott’s nearest rookie competition, Ryan Blaney, has only two top-10s this season and sits 20th in points.
Although his season has been marred with crashes at Daytona (where he started on the pole) and Las Vegas, Elliott has proven to be consistent and consistently fast. He can usually be found running in the top-10, regularly fighting for the fifth-through-eighth positions, which is stellar for a rookie. Although he’s not setting the track on fire like his predecessor Jeff Gordon, he’s still answering a lot of unknowns about whether or not he’s a good choice for that seat.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – APRIL 09, 2016 Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet leads Joey Logano in the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford during the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
At the time, he still has a few weaknesses to overcome; he’s a rookie, so it’s expected. But when it comes to the 1.5-mile tracks and the superspeedways, Elliott has shown that he is up to the task, as he is constantly in position to do well in the No. 24. Take Texas, for instance. Late in the going it was looking like the No. 24 could have had something for the leaders. Two tires didn’t exactly work out well for him, and a four-tire pit stop set him back a bit, but to come back to a fifth-place finish is the sort of performance that’s going to take that team to Victory Lane this season.
Elliott said of his Texas performance, “I definitely think it was a solid night. It’s not a perfect night. We would love to turn all four cars in the top-10 to all four cars in the top-five and I think that’s a goal we have to shoot for. I think we have a team and people that are capable of doing that so we want to keep working at it. I think as I said before, we’re, for us, we’re excited to run in the top-five. We’re also not content, and we want to be contenders and running fifth isn’t a contender. You’ve got to be up a little higher. That’s our goal, and we’ll keep working at it.”
Surely the crew will be working on that and will be bringing home excellent results. With the way they’re performing, it’s perfectly reasonable to see them winning a race and making the Chase this season and ultimately winning the Rookie of the Year award at season’s end. It’s plausible, it’s probable, and with Alan Gustafson calling the shots on the pit box it’s all but a certainty this season.
