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Tag: NASCAR Xfinity Series

  • Winless Streak Doesn’t Define Wallace’s, Roush-Fenway’s Effort

    Winless Streak Doesn’t Define Wallace’s, Roush-Fenway’s Effort

    When Darrell Wallace Jr. signed with Roush-Fenway Racing for his rookie campaign in the XFINITY Series in 2015, many felt he’d carry his winning ways over to the No. 6 Mustang that Trevor Bayne was vacating. Wallace has proved to be a strong driver the year before, winning four Camping World Truck Series races for Kyle Busch Motorsports and finishing third in points. On top of that, the Roush-Fenway XFINITY group happens to be one of the stoutest organizations in the XFINITY Series garage, with multiple series championships and victories under its belt. Without a doubt, Wallace was going to be a champion.

    Two years later, his former KBM teammate Erik Jones is now a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year contender, while his best friend Ryan Blaney is growing steadily as a competitive Cup Series driver. Meanwhile, Wallace continues to pilot the No. 6 RFR Mustang in the XFINITY Series, continuing his hunt for that elusive first series victory.

    It will happen.

    RFR and NASCAR both hold a lot of stock in Wallace. Both believe in his talents and his affability. On top of that, Wallace has shown that he can carry his fair share of NASCAR’s weight on his shoulders and continues to help the sport’s brand expand. He’s done television work for the sport, he’s making his motion picture debut in Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 June 16, and his escapades with Blaney are as humorous as they are insightful when shared with the fans.

    But don’t count out his driving ability. In 2015, his first season in the No. 6, he scored a pole, three top fives, and 14 top 10s on the way to a seventh-place points finish. Granted, he was a rookie, and Cup drivers did win 23 of 33 races that year. But he did have an average finish of 11.8 to be proud of.

    2016 could be credited to a sophomore slump, which doesn’t happen often for drivers on their way up through the XFINITY Series, to be honest. With three top fives and nine top 10s, a ninth-place points run wasn’t indicative of the effort the group put in; still, outside of a runner-up finish to Erik Jones at Dover in May, Wallace’s No. 6 Ford just didn’t have the strength to hang with the rest of the competition.

    But in 2017, Wallace has been quietly consistent. Sure, a large crash at Daytona derailed his day after 28 laps, but the No. 6 has placed sixth in the three races since and sits comfortably in fifth in the points. A year ago at this point, he was sitting 10th in points with a sixth at Daytona to show for it. In 2015 he was a little stronger; four-straight top-15s with a seventh-place at Las Vegas had Wallace firmly in the fourth-place points slot. Statistically speaking, he is doing better than he ever has in 2017, and considering he finished third at Fontana a year ago he could very well use that quiet strength of his and become the third XFINITY Series regular to win a race this season.

    Wallace will have plenty of opportunities as his No. 6 Mustang has had plenty of speed this year. He’s no longer a rookie, he’s no stranger to Victory Lane, and considering his status as one of NASCAR’s new breed, it will be huge for the sport as well as Wallace and his crew when he nabs that first of many wins.

     

  • The White Zone: It’s time NASCAR leave The Brickyard

    The White Zone: It’s time NASCAR leave The Brickyard

    NASCAR, stop fooling yourself into thinking stock cars at Indianapolis can work.

    Why do we continue this charade of “NASCAR belongs at The Brickyard” and “shares in its prestigious history?”

    We don’t belong.

    Last year’s Brickyard 400 drew an estimated 50,000 people to a venue that holds 250,000 last year. This supposed “crown jewel” race only filled up 20 percent of the seats. Meanwhile, last year’s Indianapolis 500 was run in front of a sold-out crowd.

    The attendance is a joke. We don’t attract sellout crowds to Indianapolis Motor Speedway anymore, and haven’t done so for a number of years.

    The racing is atrocious. The low banking of the turns and lack of horsepower in the cars makes passing another car on track next to impossible. The cars aren’t heavy enough with downforce that they can just slingshot around another like IndyCar drivers do in the Indianapolis 500 and don’t have the throttle response to complement the low downforce on the cars now.

    I can’t think of one standout race that was fantastic through the overall running and didn’t just have a memorable finish. But I can think of awful races over the years. There was the tire-debacle race of 2008 where tires blew out every 10 laps, the high-downforce disaster of 2015 and last year’s snoozer.

    There was talk of putting the cars on the infield road course at Indianapolis, but that was killed about a week ago. Now NASCAR is going with a new gimmick for a sacred venue like The Brickyard, restrictor plates. That’s right, instead of more throttle response, we’re going to try even less. And they’re not even doing it for safety reasons like at Daytona and Talladega, and Loudon in 2000. This is to “enhance” the competition. I’m not a fan of contrived measures to “enhance” the competition.

    They’ll use the XFINITY Series race as a guinea pig to see how it plays out. If it works, it’s coming to the Cup level for Indy next year.

    And since I brought it up, let’s talk about the pathetic joke that is the XFINITY Series at The Brickyard. NASCAR left great short track racing at Lucas Oil Raceway Park right across town and replaced it with follow the leader, unwatchable garbage. Why? Because Indy pays a larger purse and they could afford to pay NASCAR’s expensive sanctioning fees.

    In other words, chasing after the money is what got us here. To hell with what produces great racing, let’s take a series already losing any identity it once had away from yet another short track and to yet another downforce-centric track just because it pays more money.

    Now if this does work, I’ll happily eat my words. Feel free to cc this to Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) when the XFINITY Series race concludes if plates make it better. But past history at Loudon in 2000 and IROC at Indianapolis tells me I’d be safe betting on not likely.

    Bottom line: The attendance is abysmal and the racing is dreadful. NASCAR isn’t adding to the legacy of The Brickyard. If anything, NASCAR is tainting it by putting on such horrendous racing. Let’s cut our losses, leave Indianapolis and find another race track that’s more suited for stock car racing.

    That’s my take for what it’s worth.

  • The White Zone: The XFINITY Series is a joke

    The White Zone: The XFINITY Series is a joke

    HAMPTON, Ga. — The NASCAR XFINITY Series and The Simpsons have something in common: They’re both husks of their former glory and only occasionally produce something serviceable to good, but nothing spectacular.

    Once upon a time, the XFINITY Series was a NASCAR touring series that put on decent racing, ran separate from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series many weekends and had a good mix of battle-tested veterans and rookies seeking to make a name for themselves. Only occasionally did it have the Cup interloper when the series was a companion event to the Cup race.

    Minus the number of standalone events, this description fits mostly well on the current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

    The series I see now is nothing more than a contradiction that’s dominated by Cup drivers and runs an almost identical schedule to the Cup Series. The quality of racing ranges from mediocre at best to abysmal most weekends. During standalone weekends, the quality is hit or miss.

    A textbook example of how bad the racing is now is this past weekend’s XFINITY race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Cup drivers led from start to finish. Brad Keselowski won the first stage, Kevin Harvick won the second stage and Kyle Busch won the race. There was also a two-car wreck at the start with Ty Dillon and Blake Koch.

    That was the race in only 40 words.

    Oh a few other things happened as well, but those are the events that mattered in it. It doesn’t matter in the slightest that Elliott Sadler left with a three-point lead over William Byron. Those will just reset prior to the start of the Chase, I’m mean “playoffs,” in September.

    Let’s not forget the apologists for Cup drivers in XFINITY “hand waving” the lousy driving by saying the rookies gain “valuable experience” learning from the veteran Cup drivers. Take this line from Michael Waltrip in yesterday’s broadcast of the Rinnai 250 on FS1.

    “How lucky are we in 2017 these kids mixing it up with these veterans?!”

    I don’t know what race Waltrip was watching, but it wasn’t the same XFINITY race that was led start to finish by all Cup drivers. They were in a different time zone all day long.

    Oh and to top off yesterday, Busch’s car failed post-race inspection. But he keeps the win, so any penalty that results means absolutely nothing. The owners titles? That means nothing to anybody other than the owners. And even then, it’s small fry compared to the drivers title. It’s a discussion for another article, but NASCAR has incentivized teams with drivers not running for a drivers title in the XFINITY Series, and the Camping World Truck Series by extension, to run illegal race cars/trucks in order to win the race. You keep the win, pay a fine and lose a crew chief for a few weeks.

    Expect to see more of this same scenario, minus a car failing post-race inspection, week after week this season.

    And this isn’t an isolated race. This has been the trend for years. Last season, XFINITY drivers won only 12 of the 33 races. Only five different XFINITY drivers won and only three of them were full-time XFINITY drivers. Nine full-time Cup drivers — Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano and Michael McDowell — won the other 21.

    Compare this to the 1982 XFINITY Series season, the inaugural season of the then NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series. Seven primarily Cup drivers — Dale Earnhardt, Geoffrey Bodine, Morgan Shepherd, Joe Ruttman and Darrell Waltrip — won just nine of the 29 races. Granted, only five drivers ran all 29 races, but these were drivers who primarily ran XFINITY in their career.

    The only saving grace this season might be that NASCAR has put a cap on the number of races a Cup driver can run in the lower divisions, with the caveat of not applying to drivers with less than five years of full-time Cup experience.

    And just so I don’t come off as “too cynical,” I’ll offer some solutions to bring some respect back to the XFINITY Series.

    FIRST: NASCAR must acknowledge that the XFINITY Series in its current state is garbage.

    Nothing will change until the NASCAR executives in Daytona Beach accept the reality that the “No. 2 auto racing series in the United States” rings hollow with the NASCAR nation when the quality of its racing is so atrocious.

    1.5: Acknowledge that the XFINITY Series is nothing more than Cup-Lite.

    Matt Weaver of Autoweek sums up the argument in his piece A broken NASCAR Xfinity Series: Can it be fixed?.

    “Many will respond, ‘Just enjoy the racing,’ but that’s a tall task given the current schedule and on-track product. More than ever before, Xfinity is simply a carbon copy of its Sprint Cup older brother.

    “Like a clone, it has no soul, no personality and no purpose other than to add another event to a track’s Sprint Cup race ticket.

    “All told, the Xfinity Series just isn’t a lot of fun right now.

    “At the height of the sport’s popularity, the old Busch Series was an exciting alternative to the Cup Series. It spent months at a time apart from the premier division, visiting tracks like Indianapolis Raceway Park, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, Gateway and Myrtle Beach.”

    Weaver is right on the money. The series is just weekend filler. In fact, these are some of the same arguments lobbed towards The Simpsons. But whereas The Simpsons will still produce an episode that shows a spark of their former greatness, there’s hardly any of that with the XFINITY Series.

    It’s hard to “enjoy the racing” when the race for the lead is between Cup drivers who won’t fight for the title in the XFINITY Series and the current arrangement of the schedule favors the downforce-heavy 1.5 mile tracks of the Cup Series over the short track-centric schedule that once defined the XFINITY Series.

    This leads me to my next point.

    SECOND: DIVERSIFY THE SCHEDULE!!!

    While there’s hardly any spark of greatness with the modern XFINITY Series, I did see some of it this past season during a five-race stretch that lasted from Iowa in July to Road America in August. During that stretch, the XFINITY Series visited the short track of Iowa Speedway, the road course of Watkins Glen International, the road course of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the short track of Bristol Motor Speedway and the road course of Road America. Only two of those events, Watkins Glen and Bristol, were companion events to Cup.

    I watched that Bristol XFINITY race from the press box in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 and never found myself once disinterested in what was going on, even though a Cup driver won the race.

    And that leads me to my final point.

    THIRD: Cup drivers have to go.

    To those who say we need Cup drivers to bring in more fans, I’ll take that argument seriously when NASCAR requires tracks to publish attendance figures again. Why should I, or anyone else, care if Cup drivers are necessary for drawing crowds when this sport isn’t transparent about their own attendance figures, except when its a “sellout?” You can just look at the stands yourself on any raceday and see the crowds are abysmal. The Cup drivers aren’t drawing a crowd that legitimizes the argument.

    The only argument that has any merit is Cup drivers bring in sponsorship. But it’s kind of a self-defeating argument because it shows just how little the series can sustain on its own merits. It also begs the question, why does NASCAR continue using the tagline “Names are made here” when we’re told tracks need Cup drivers to draw a crowd?

    This is a classic case of having your cake and eating it too. NASCAR, you can’t continue having Cup drivers in XFINITY whilst promoting as the series where names are made, at least if you want people to take it seriously.

    Alas, it’s probably too little too late for the XFINITY Series.

    We beg and plead with people to pack the standalone races at tracks such as Iowa and Kentucky to the nosebleeds to show NASCAR that people want more standalone races, but it doesn’t work.

    At this point, the XFINITY Series is damned to being a shell of its former self that only once in a while puts on a decent race.

    Again, maybe the cap NASCAR put on Cup participation this season will prove me wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.

  • Kyle Busch Wins Cup Dominated XFINITY Race at Atlanta

    Kyle Busch Wins Cup Dominated XFINITY Race at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga. — A Cup driver dominated and won the first stage, a Cup driver dominated and won the second stage and a Cup driver dominated and won the XFINITY Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway dominated by Cup drivers.

    Right off the bat, Kyle Busch led the first eight laps before Brad Keselowski passed under him on the backstretch to take the lead on the ninth lap. Keselowski maintained a one to two second advantage over Busch the remaining 31 laps to win the first stage.

    He led most of the second stage, but lost the lead to Kevin Harvick on lap 62 and Harvick won the stage.

    Harvick led most of the final stage that was interrupted by a caution halfway through, but Kyle Larson took command of the race. He lost the lead on pit road to Busch pitting under caution. Keselowski tried to challenge Busch in the closing laps by taking advantage of lapped traffic, but it proved too little too late and Busch took the checkered flag.

    It’s Busch’s 89th career victory in 329 XFINITY Series starts.

    Larson came home third, Harvick finished fourth and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five.

    Darrell Wallace Jr., William Byron, Austin Dillon

    The only wreck in the race involved Ty Dillon and Blake Koch on the second lap. Entering Turn 1, Dillon cut his left-rear tire and spun out. Koch dove onto the apron to avoid him, but wound up t-boned him.

    Denny Hamlin spun out on the frontstretch after suffering a flat left-rear tire, which was caused by running over a lug nut after making an unscheduled stop for a flat right-front tire.

    Justin Allgaier and Brennan Poole made unscheduled stops during the first stage for flat tires.

    The race lasted one hour, 57 minutes and 16 seconds at an average speed of 128.435 mph. There were six lead changes among four different drivers and five cautions for 26 laps.

    Elliott Sadler leaves Atlanta with a three-point lead.

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  • Kyle Busch Captures Pole for XFINITY Race at Atlanta

    Kyle Busch Captures Pole for XFINITY Race at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag after taking pole position at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the Coors Light Pole Award after posting a time of 30.153 and a speed of 183.862 mph. William Byron will start second in his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.167 and a speed of 183.777 mph and Brad Keselowski will start third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 30.186 and a speed of 183.661 mph.

    Kyle Larson will start fourth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.241 and a speed of 183.237 mph as Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five in his No. 20 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 30.278 and a speed of 183.103 mph.

    Daniel Hemric, Matt Tifft, Cole Custer, Brendan Gaughan and Ryan Reed round out the top-10 starters.

    Brennan Poole and Kevin Harvick round out the top-10 starters.

    Carl Long, Mike Harmon and Morgan Shepherd failed to make the race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/N1702_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Kyle Busch fastest in final XFINITY practice

    Kyle Busch fastest in final XFINITY practice

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Kyle Busch topped the chart in final XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 30.881 and a speed of 179.528 mph. Kevin Harvick was second in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 30.927 and a speed of 179.261 mph. Aric Almirola was third in his No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing Ford with a time of 30.966 and a speed of 179.035 mph. Denny Hamlin was fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 30.977 and a speed of 178.971 mph. Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-five with a time of 30.977 and a speed of 178.971 mph.

    Harvick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 176.153 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/N1702_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • Hemric Fastest in Second Atlanta XFINITY Series Practice

    Hemric Fastest in Second Atlanta XFINITY Series Practice

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Daniel Hemric topped the chart in the second XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 30.865 and a speed of 179.621 mph. Aric Almirola was second in his No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing with a time of 31.002 and a speed of 178.627 mph. Cole Custer was third in his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.040 and a speed of 178.060 mph.

    Brad Keselowski was fourth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 31.096 and a speed of 178.287 mph and Darrell Wallace Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 31.146 and a speed of 177.989 mph.

    Kyle Busch, who posted the seventh-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 175.217 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/N1702_PRAC2.pdf”]

  • Almirola Fastest at Atlanta in First XFINITY Practice

    Almirola Fastest at Atlanta in First XFINITY Practice

    HAMPTON, Ga. — Aric Almirola topped the chart in the first NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 30.567 and a speed of 181.372 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 30.597 and a speed of 181.194 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 30.668 and a speed of 180.775 mph.

    Brad Keselowski was fourth quickest in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 30.671 and a speed of 180.757 mph. Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.788 and a speed of 180.070 mph.

    No driver ran a series of consecutive laps of 10 or more laps.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/N1702_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • NASCAR Streamlines Penalty Structure

    NASCAR Streamlines Penalty Structure

    The old multi-tiered penalty structure in NASCAR is now a simplified dual-tiered structure and the consequences for failing inspection are more defined.

    Instead of a six-step penalty grid, P1 through P6, the penalty structure is now a two-step grid that ranges from Level 1 (L1) to Level 2 (L2).

    The lower level deals with minimum heights, weights, the Laser Inspection Station (LIS), gear ratios and lug nut violations, when 17 or fewer are secured. The higher level concerns “major safety violations,” telemetry or traction control usage, breaching of the testing policy and tampering with the “holy trinity” elements of the car: engine, fuel and tires.

    L1 infractions call for a penalty of 10 to 40 points in all three national touring series.

    In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, in addition to the points penalty, an L1 infraction results in a fine of $25,000 to $75,000 and a one to three-race suspension for the crew chief or team member(s) responsible for the infraction. L2 infractions in the Cup Series carry a 75-point deduction, call for a six-race suspension and a $100,000 to $200,000 fine.

    In the XFINITY Series, fines are scaled back to $10,000-$40,000. But it carries the same one to three-race suspension for a crew member responsible for the infraction as it does in Cup. An L2 violation in XFINITY has a $50,000-$100,000 fine but carries the same six-race suspension as Cup.

    An L1 violation in the Camping World Truck Series results in a one or two-race suspension and a $5,000 to $20,000 fine. An L2 violation results in a four-race suspension and a $25,000 to $50,000 fine.

    Post-qualifying failure of the LIS results in disallowance of time. Post-race failure is an L1 violation resulting in a loss of 35 points, a three-race suspension for the crew chief and $65,000 fine.

    A missing lug nut results in a $10,000 fine for the crew chief. Two missing doubles the fine and leads to a one-race suspension. Three or more is an L1 penalty with a $65,000 fine and three-race suspension for the crew chief and 35-point deduction.

    Per Zack Albert of NASCAR.com, “‘Encumbered’ finishes…will remain in effect this season for post-race L1 and L2 violations. The rules allow a victory to stand in the event of an infraction, but a winning team will be stripped of the benefits associated with the win.”

    The series directors now have discretion to issue a list of pre-race penalties ordered by severity: “Loss of annual ‘hard card’ credential, loss of practice time, loss of pit selection position, tail of the field penalty, a green-flag pass-through on pit road after the initial start, a green-flag stop-and-go in the pits after the start, and lap(s) penalty,” per Zack Albert of NASCAR.com.

    NASCAR will continue taking select cars and trucks to their R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for their weekly Tuesday inspection after every race.

    NASCAR issued the update to the deterrence system for all three national touring series to move officiating towards penalizing infractions that occur during a race weekend.

    “Our goal was to be able to, more like football or basketball or any sporting event to where we could officiate and police within the event,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR vice president of officiating and technical inspection, said to NASCAR.com. “I think the real message is that we want to get these infractions, the smaller infractions, we want to get them corrected at the race track.

    “It’s very similar to a 15-yard penalty. If you can get three 15-yard penalties and you can still win the game or drive down and score a touchdown, then good for you. If we can issue these penalties and you lose pit selection or you start at the back or a drive-through (penalty), and you can still come back and win the race, well then we feel like what that infraction was, the penalty fits the crime.”

  • NASCAR Implementing New Policy on Damaged Race Vehicles

    NASCAR Implementing New Policy on Damaged Race Vehicles

    Say goodbye to the days of damaged cars and trucks returning to the track down double and triple-digit laps looking like modified cars.

    As first reported by Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com and Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com, the sanctioning body is implementing new procedures affecting wrecked vehicles in all three national touring series this season, called the Damaged Vehicle Policy.

    Teams may no longer replace damaged body parts that are the result of contact or an accident. Repairs, such as fixing sheet metal, will still be permitted. They only have five minutes to do repairs, however. If the repairs take more than five minutes or the car goes to the garage, the car is retired from the event and won’t be allowed to return.

    If a car on the clock is busted for speeding, 15 seconds is docked from their five-minute time. Also, if a car on the clock requires more crew members than the six NASCAR allows over the wall to make repairs, the car will be removed from the race.

    Teams may correct mechanical or electrical failures, that aren’t a result of a wreck or contact, on pit road or in the garage without penalty or being subject to the five-minute clock.

    Damaged cars are still required to maintain minimum speed.

    Previously, teams could spend as much time as desired to repair their cars and send them back out onto the track, provided they continued to meet minimum speed. This often led to cars returning to the track with either no hood covering, thus looking like a modified, or covered all in black parts with no sponsor decals.

    “We have a lot of cars that are going back on the track that end up in 38th position, for instance, that probably don’t need to be out there from a safety and competition aspect,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “Because they always tend to bring out more yellows with stuff falling off.”