BRISTOL, Tenn. — In a display of her sense of humor, Angie Skinner tweeted a picture of her standing in front of a Port-A-Potty to sum up the night of her husband, Mike Skinner.
“It’s raining. We crashed. I felt this pic near the shitter was appropriate…but b4 all the crap my baby @MSTheGunslinger was bad ass!”
For most of the 100-lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model A-Feature of the Rusty Wallace Automotive Group Short Track U.S. Nationals, “The Gunslinger” was the driver to beat. With over 20 years of racing experience at Bristol Motor Speedway, he navigated his way through the Top-Five and passed defending race winner Cole Williams exiting Turn 2 to take the lead.
But even a veteran driver like Skinner fell victim to racing at Bristol, particularly drivers who don’t have a fraction of his experience at Bristol. While trying to put Tyler Hufford a lap down, the two made contact that ended Skinner’s night.
“I went to pass the guy on the outside and he (Tyler Hufford) washed up, so I had to let off the gas,” Skinner told Speed 51. “I come off of turn four over here, and I got down really low, and he hit me in the corner. I don’t feel like I had enough room, so I just waited and he washed up the track again and I hit the gas and had a clear run on the bottom.” Skinner said.
“Apparently, his spotter told him he was going to give me the outside and he just turned left and just hit us. I feel like an idiot, we had a very fast car. His spotter told my son he was going to give me the high side, and by then I was under him and he tried to pull down and be a nice guy, so I really can’t blame him, it was my own fault.” Skinner added
Skinner finished the night in 13th and the race was won by Josh Reeves.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Darrell Wallace Jr. took the lead prior to the end of the first segment and didn’t relinquish it again on his way to winning the RustyWallace.com 100 Super Late Model feature of the Short Track U.S. Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Travis Braden led the field to the green flag at 7:27 p.m. The lead went from him, to Chandler Smith and then to Darrell Wallace Jr., who took it from Smith exiting Turn 2 on lap 32 and held it through the end of the first segment on lap 51.
Nobody had anything for him in the final 49-lap segment as he drove into victory lane at Thunder Valley.
“I should start running these more often,” Wallace said. “This is a cool event put on by everyone at Bristol, Jerry (Caldwell) and his whole staff here. Just a really fun couple of weeks. Got to come up here and test last week and I think I was still catching my breath coming into this weekend. So these things are just so fast around here. We were just on a rail tonight. So that’s just hats off to everyone at Fathead Racing and JBL Racing.”
Jake Crum finishes second and Smith rounds out the podium.
Stephen Nasse and Stephen Wallace round out the top-five.
Garrett Jones, Cole Rouse, Tyler Ankrum, Chase Purdy and Kyle Plott round out the top-10.
In the Pro Late Model 100, Cole Williams outlasted a wreck-fest of a race to win.
“Man this is freaking awesome,” Williams exclaimed with joy. “This is definitely our biggest win for our career. These boys worked their butts off all weekend long and I knew that if we kept this nose clean, we’d have a shot at it. Of course we had to have flawless restarts, and we ended up having them.”
The most significant wreck was a nine-car wreck on just the second lap of the race in Turns 1 and 2.
The second major incident occurred on lap 46 when Eddie Fatscher dumped race leader Dillon Oliver going into Turn 1, who’s car got loose, then veered up into the outside wall and then hit inside pit road wall head-on. Oliver walked over to Fatscher’s pit stall, where a member of Fatscher’s team punched him in the face.
Myatt Snider closed out the evening winning the Late Model Stock 100 feature.
“It’s awesome,” Snider said of his victory. “I feel like we’ve been close to a CARS Tours win for the longest time now. Ever since we’ve started running this, we’ve been competitive. It’s been a tough road. We’ve had a lot problems, freak accidents. Stuff that just gets in the way. What better place for it to come at than Bristol.”
BRISTOL, Tenn. — One term I’ve heard used by those attending the Short Track Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway this past weekend has been “Corporate NASCAR,” meaning NASCAR’s desires to grow the sport has made it lose touch with the interests and desires of its core fans. After watching yet another lackluster All-Star Race that was overhyped by both NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway, I believe there’s truth to that “Corporate NASCAR” label.
I’ve spent the entire weekend at Thunder Valley milling about the garage “tents” of the late model and street stock classes as they prepared to race on the high banks of the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” The differences between the atmosphere of these lower level short track racing series and a typical NASCAR weekend are astronomical, even on a typical Bristol weekend.
Race action during a Super Late Model feature race for the Short Track U.S. Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway. Photo: Tucker White/SpeedwayMedia.com
The atmosphere at Bristol this weekend has been far more relaxed and fan-friendly, allowing fans to be up close and mingle with drivers who actually were inside the track more often than not. On a typical NASCAR weekend, you’re lucky if your driver spends more than a few minutes outside of his/her motor coach prior to a practice/qualifying session or race. All the late model and street stock teams worked out of a tent where fans could walk by and chat with team members as they please. In the NASCAR world, I see teams rope off their war wagons, telling the public to piss off. Fans were able to stand near the wall inside the track, provided they didn’t do anything reckless. On a NASCAR weekend, you need to be a photographer or hard-carded to be near the walls when cars are on track.
Finally, the drivers meeting this weekend at the Short Track Nationals was actually a meeting where they went over race procedure and emphasized the different layout for Bristol (the turns were on the opposite sides of a NASCAR race and the front and backstretch were flipped). It was also open to anyone who purchased a pit pass for the day or weekend and was held out in the open.
The drivers meeting’s in NASCAR are a joke. It’s an overblown spectacle, and I’m using that term incredibly loosely, held in a secluded location that’s not open to the public, usually inside the track where a hot pass at minimum is needed to even get near, much less attend. And even a hot pass won’t always get you into the meeting, even if you’re media. What goes on when the meeting actually starts? It’s about eight to 10 minutes of naming off dignitaries and then two to three minutes at most dedicated to actually talking about race procedure.
That 24-word sentence that ended the previous paragraph is every drivers meeting ever. Once in a while, you’ll get a driver or crew chief to actually raise their hands when a series director asks everyone if there are any questions, but that’s usually a result of a fustercluck XFINITY/Truck Series race the day prior and/or NASCAR making a bizarre penalty call in a race the day prior.
But I’m not here to dwell on the atmosphere of the Short Track Nationals. I presented it to show the dichotomy between local level short track racing and NASCAR.
Now let’s discuss last night’s snoozer of a race that was the Monster Energy All-Star Race.
First off, take a look at the “over the top” infield logo for this year’s race. It’s so bland and generic for a race that’s emphasizes “no points, just old fashioned, run for the money,” high energy racing. This looks like a freaking teaser logo that’s used to keep people in the dark about what’s really coming.
But if you think the race logo is phoned in, feast your eyes on the infield logo, via this Tweet from Jim Utter of Motorsport.com.
Charlotte Motor Speedway couldn’t even take the time to paint that generic race logo on the grass? They just painted Monster Energy on the grass.
I know I’m nitpicking here, but I must if this is not to be repeated.
CONCORD, N.C. – MAY 20: Monster Energy performers entertain the crowd prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20, 2017 in Concord, North Carolina. Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Let’s now turn to the new sponsor of the Cup Series, Monster Energy.
Their idea of brining people to the track is MMA fights and motorcycle shows in a giant steel hamster ball that I’ve seen done with more at stake at a state carnival.
Now I understand perfectly that entertainment is not experienced in a vacuum and everyone has different tastes. But how is anything Monster Energy is doing leading to attracting a new crowd? Attendance at most tracks is still shaky and ratings are still plummeting, so it’s not working right now.
To make a long story short, everything Monster Energy is doing is all flash with no substance.
And now we come to the race itself.
It was yet another snooze-fest of a mile and a half race that had nothing of substance to it. Kyle Larson led from start to finish in the first two segments and Jimmie Johnson led all but two laps in the third segment before winning it.
On the final restart, Kyle Busch dove under Brad Keselowski only a few hundred yards past the start/finish line to take the lead and drove on to victory.
Clean air was key to victory.
We’ve seen this year after year where the driver who gets out front in the final segment is the driver who wins the race more often than not, last year being the exception where Joey Logano passed Larson in the closing laps of the final stage.
Yet for whatever reason, NASCAR continues to run this race at Charlotte, rather than moving it to a short track where aerodynamics aren’t so critical.
Year after year, the aero push effect has gotten worse at the intermediate tracks, especially at Charlotte, but NASCAR, International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports Inc. aren’t moving away from these types of tracks. Instead, they’ve gone to more of them. Hell, next season, we’re taking a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and moving it to the intermediate track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
To put it simply, the biggest problem with NASCAR today is the disconnect between those in charge of the sport and those who sit in the seats, and it was on display at Charlotte more than any race this season. The disconnect encompasses everything I’ve mentioned in this piece and explains why people who take part in local level racing have such a negative opinion of NASCAR today.
Now I understand that a sport the size of NASCAR has many masters to serve. They have to please the drivers, teams, tracks, media and fans at the same time, and the interests of one entity listed isn’t always shared with another. In that respect, I understand NASCAR can’t please everybody. The best they can do is do what pleases the largest number of people and apologize to those it shafts in doing so.
But the most important entity of the bunch is the fans. If people aren’t buying tickets and/or watching the race on TV, the sport grinds to a halt.
Bottom line, take care of your customers and they’ll take care of you. And last night’s All-Star Race shows NASCAR still has work to do.
