Drivers and teams were quick to share their excitement with the package and their appreciation for NASCAR letting them have input. At the end of the day, these changes mean the cars are harder to drive - the opposite direction the Cup Series has been headed for the last several years. Steve O'Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer with the sport said, "You’ll hear this from the drivers is that this package with the Next Gen car puts it back in the drivers’ hands and we’re excited about what that will do in 2022, for sure." Fans are, he added, "going to see the best drivers and the best engineers in the world go out there and attack this car and attack each race track, and it will be hard to drive." The first real showing of this car in a race will be the Busch Clash and the Los Angeles Coliseum, where the new package will make its racing debut. The next week's car, for Daytona and other superspeedways - potentially including Atlanta following the repave, with a future test scheduled - is yet to be finalized, though. "We’re close,” said O’Donnell. “We’ve done a number of tests already but our next step in the process for superspeedways will be in Atlanta...to confirm what package we want to put on that race track. We expect that to be the superspeedway package." That package will try to improve cooling and probably lower the downforce levels as well. Ultimately, it's a win for fans and drivers who've pushed for more power, limiting the influence of aerodynamics in races and making the cars more difficult to drive. NASCAR continues to listen to its fans, with its new schedule echoing some fan favorites, and this is no different. In this case engine builders and designers should be pleased as well, with only one package to focus on for the season.
0 Comments
For 2020 and 2021, Ty scored 13 wins in ARCA, as well as four more in the ARCA East and West series, on the hunt for the championship. Critics of his performance have pointed his dominant equipment and agressive racing style, sometimes wrecking leaders for the win. That might be one of the reasons he struggled to land sponsorship outside of his Monster Energy deal, sometimes winning with an unsponsored car. Ty's real breakout performances this year have been in the XFinity Series, where he's racked up three wins in eleven starts, along with eight top fives. That's got him on the national stage, which has helped his sponsorship issue. Once again, this is a chance that his name helped him get, but one he's capitalized on. More than that, he's winning while his teammates aren't. That convinces me that he's a real talent and a next-generation star. His path to success echoes that of another NASCAR driver, Joey Logano. Like Logano, he found success in the lower series before jumping straight to the XFinity Series and winning young (Gibbs is now the second-youngest XFinity winner after Logano). And like Logano, it seems like he'll bring his talents to the Cup Series in Joe Gibbs equipment. It took Logano being dropped and finding a seat a Penske to find his fit, but from there he went on to be a champion. So for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to compare Ty Gibbs to Logano is high praise for the young talent.
So, apart from a three-race deal next year with Valvoline, HendrickCars.com will continue to be the livery carried on Larson's Chevy Camaro. And Larson appreciates it. “I want to be at Hendrick for the rest of my career and if I can have this sponsorship attached to me, I think that goes a long way for my brand and my fanbase." He'd even like to consider a leadership role after his career, like Jeff Gordon. And the whole organization's happy too. Speaking to the AP, Hendrick said: “My dealerships, the general managers and the employees, they didn’t want anyone else on the car."
On social media site Reddit, NASCAR driver Chase Briscoe appeared to confirm some of the suspicions from fans. When one fan asked: “Based on his tweet it sounds like if the test accidents occurred in real life they would likely be fatal? Am I getting that right?” Briscoe responded “Correct.”
Briscoe's response, which has now been deleted, must have been a bit surprising for NASCAR. Four days before he sent that, the sanctioning body sent a note to all drivers at the Road America Cup race which said that data coming in was "good" and that the test dummy had functioned "nominally" (which I'm assuming means 'normally'). In fact, the sport has since told several outlets that crash test data is similar or identical to data from cars of the outgoing generation. Ultimately, a lot of the concern comes from the fact that most of the development process for this car has been through simulations, both for the competitive aspect and for the safety aspect. Said Denny Hamlin: "Simulation, while very, very good is still not the real thing." Joey Logano added: "I think we’re all curious to see what the numbers come back at." All the drivers have asked for more direct communication from the sanctioning body throughout the development of this new car (and all decisions going forward), particularly for issues relating to safety. "It’s our butts in the car and our heads in the car," said Logano. Veteran analyst Bob Pockrass added that the concern from the fans and those within the sport was directed the right way, as safety is a paramount concern. But he also pointed out that many of the drivers referenced NASCAR's comprehensive development process that will be going until the car hits the racetrack, and will continue beyond that. Some are still apprehensive of strapping in for a test when the car has primarily been tested on simulations. Pocono, The Tricky Triangle, is one of the most daunting challenges for the entire NASCAR garage. With three very different corners, setting up the car is as much of a challenge as driving it home for a win. And this weekend, the track lived up to its promise, with good racing and tense moments in every race it put on. Plus, NASCAR was recognized for its stellar efforts getting back on track. CUP SERIES: LAST LAPS GIVE SURPRISES TO ALEX BOWMAN, KYLE BUSCH
The Cup Series saw back-to-back races at Pocono, with shorter races than usual on Saturday and Sunday. The first race, the Pocono Organics 325, came down to the last 20 laps with the Hendrick cars, as expected, running upfront. It took most of those 20 laps for Kyle Larson to set up and initiate the pass on Alex Bowman for the lead. And it took the last two corners for Larson's tire to blow, sending him hard into the wall and letting Bowman slide under him for the win. Larson would eventually limp across the line to be scored ninth in a finish for the highlight reels. Sunday had a lot to live up to, with the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 reverting to form for the track and becoming a fuel-mileage race. Larson started from the back after the crash in race one but managed to climb into contention, nearly managing to grab the win. But Kyle Busch, in a car stuck in gear, managed to save just enough fuel to cross the line and celebrate afterwards. He was "stuck in fourth gear, about out of gas, just saving, just riding, playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us," as he put it in Victory Lane. Notably, Bubba Wallace scored 23XI Racing's first top five, giving the new team fresh momentum. XFINITY SERIES: TY GIBBS NEARLY GRABS SURPRISE WIN, FINISHES SECOND Ty Gibbs nearly won in one of his first outings in the NASCAR XFinity series, wowing with competitive speed. When it came to the final laps, the Penske 22 of Cindric was in the lead with Gibbs chasing him. Said Cindric, following his eventual win: “I went from a three-second lead to a half-a-second-lead." The gap at the line was only .331 seconds. Gibbs says he was "just learning" how to race this series. If that's learning, look for him to be very strong in the future. He might have gotten some opportunities handed to him with his name, but he definitely deserves to be out there. CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: NEMECHEK HOLDS OFF TEAM-OWNER It's always tense to race your team owner, but it's a good look if you can beat him, preferably without taking him out. John Hunter Nemechek managed to do just that against his team owner Kyle Busch, who gave him the opportunity to drive his trucks after a failed venture in XFinity. Following a late restart, Nemechek got a strong push and slid up in front of Kyle, holding first position to win. “We never gave up," said Nemechek. "We weren’t very good the first stage. Without this opportunity—without Kyle and Toyota, I wouldn’t have had it. Five wins this year and beat Kyle—three for five against Kyle is pretty good odds.” ARCA MENARDS SERIES: CONTACT GIVES HEIM THE WIN Ty Gibbs was strong in multiple series this weekend, also driving the car-to-beat in the ARCA race at Pocono. In a final restart, it turned out he was in the car that would be beat, as an overly-aggressive block led to contact that let Corey Heim pass and damage that would make retaking that lead impossible. Remarking on the contact with Chandler Smith, Gibbs said “I blocked, and he ran into me. That’s part of it. We’re hard racing. He just ran into me. That’s on his part.” Also, the CEO of Pocono Raceway, also an ARCA competitor, was involved in two cautions of the day, and one a self-spin, with him having no luck around his own track. ACCLAIM: NASCAR IS "SPORTS LEAGUE OF THE YEAR" NASCAR received huge acclaim from the Sports Business Journal in its award ceremony this week. This honor, as the best sport of the year, was given to NASCAR for how it managed to safely return to competition, the first sport to restart its season and welcome back fans. The award was also given for the myriad of social justice initiatives NASCAR has undertaken, notably including banning the confederate flag from its racetracks. It's not every week that the entire NASCAR circus heads off to road courses throughout the country. And it's not every week that all national series produce good racing. But from ARCA to Cup, although Trucks had a by-week, the racing was good and competitive. The Cup Series and ARCA West visited Sonoma for the first time in two years, on an all-new layout, giving the teams a fresh challenge that was called "harder than Bristol Dirt," while the XFinity and ARCA Menards series were on safe ground at Mid-Ohio. CUP SERIES: KYLE LARSON DOMINATES
Kyle Larson came off a dominant win at Charlotte last week, where he became the first driver to lead more than a thousand laps this season, to unwelcome ground: a road course. At Sonoma specifically, he had an average finish of 17.5 going into Sunday. So while he has been consistent, few expected he would challenge his teammate Chase Elliot who had found so much success on road courses previously. Ultimately, though, he found Victory Lane, which he credited to just keeping the car on the track as the team figured out a new Sonoma layout. With a slew of cautions in the end, though, it came down to a final restart and just keeping the car straight wouldn't beat a hard-charging Chase Elliot. In the end, Larson seemed to find - and beat - Elliot's advantage in the braking zone that's been key to his success. With their fourth 1-2 finish in as many races, Hendrick is firmly establishing itself as the team to beat, and the Chevys have definitely overcome the teething issues they faced with the Camaro introduced two years ago. Unfortunately for them, it'll be an all-new car for everyone next year to figure out. That car will shake up road courses even more, borrowing techniques from the XFinity car that have helped it offer sports-car-quality races. XFINITY SERIES: AJ ALLMENDINGER CAPITALIZES The XFinity Series took on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after it had to be removed last year due to the pandemic, a track where AJ Allmendinger said "You’ve got to make your own passing zones." He would know, as he took home the victory with a wild three-wide pass with four-to-go, with the ensuing carnage sending favorite Austin Cindric's Penske 22 spinning into the grass. And that pass for the win was from 19th with 19 laps to go. The team was penalized for not taking the required 50-second minimum for 'modified pit road rules' for the series, designed to minimize the number of team members required to bring to the track. He fought his way around leader Ty Gibbs, who came off an ARCA win at the track, from third to take the win for himself. Not everyone was impressed with the move. Ty Gibbs said: “The 16 (Allmendinger) did us a little dirty there. I feel like there is a point, you know … we are racing in Xfinity cars at road courses. It’s always going to be rough, but he took it to the next level." And Cindric certainly wasn't happy to get torpedoed off the track. ARCA WEST SERIES: CHASE BRISCOE PREPARES FOR THE CUP RACE 2016 ARCA Menards Series Champion Chase Briscoe got out of his Stewart-Haas Cup ride on Saturday to enter the ARCA West Series, hoping to get some practice on an unfamiliar track to him in his first year in the series. He got quite a bit of practice, as he went on to lead every lap and win the race. Briscoe said: “I’ve never been out here. With no Cup practice or qualifying, it was kind of crucial to come run this race. I feel like I learned a lot just going out there and running 50 laps today and just learning the race track... It's a really cool place." He would get a positive impression, driving away from the field to a comfortable win. While he might have only finished 17th in the Cup Race, Chase Briscoe can deliver. Stewart-Haas is having a terrible year so far, so look for him to improve as the team does. ARCA MENARDS SERIES: TY GIBBS WINS AGAIN Ty Gibbs came to Mid-Ohio after dominant form in the ARCA Menards series up to this point, winning all but two of the races this season, including the last four in a row - leading every lap last week en route to his win. But he didn't get the pole for Friday - that went to points-leader Corey Heim. And Brandon Jones would lead the first several laps. But after that, it was lights-out for Gibbs. Heim saw the top spot on a restart, but would ultimately be issued a penalty for jumping the green, as well as a further penalty for speeding on pit road while serving his drive-through penalty, finishing seventh and handing Gibbs an easy win. Either way, it was a great drive for Ty. The grandson of Joe Gibbs has a bright future ahead of him in the sport, already driving, successfully, for his grandfather in the XFinity Series where he nearly won that race at Mid-Ohio. He's got the talent and he's got the connections to be a future superstar. ENASCAR PRO INVITATIONAL: JAMES DAVISON SURVIVES NASCAR has a great partnership going with iRacing, and the two announced a surprise project to scan some of the downtown streets of Chicago to create an imaginary street course in the middle of the city, exploring the possibility of NASCAR bringing itself to the fans rather than bringing the fans to it. That track was released to all iRacing members following the race, but unfortunately the professional NASCAR drivers didn't seem to get much practice in before that either. They were figuring out the track as they ran the televised event, with showcase driver Joey Logano managing his first top-ten just by keeping his car running. James Davison took the win in a dominant performance, clearly knowing the track and the system, and wowing from his home in Australia. If you want to explore what the future of NASCAR looks like: the official Next-Gen Car on a potential street course, or the current Gen-7 Cup Cars at every track on the schedule each week, then iRacing is the place to do it. NASCAR looks like it'll keep its partnership going, and it's been incredibly beneficial to both NASCAR and iRacing.
CHASE ELLIOT (ALAN KULWICKI) Another sponsor with a long history in the sport, the 9 Hooters car throws it back to Alan Kulwicki's bittersweet 1992 championship with Hooters on the car. Kulwicki, unfortunately, died just before the spring Bristol race the next year. This scheme does him justice, looking great from every angle with every detail in place. Hendrick might have the two best schemes of the weekend rolling off on Sunday MICHAEL MCDOWELL (BILL ELLIOTT) Michael McDowell may not have Coors sponsorship, but Fr8 Auctions was still willing to meld their logo to fit this amazing throwback to Bill Elliott. The company said: “It's an honor to celebrate the Elliot family. As a Georgia-based company, we know first-hand the excitement and joy that Bill Elliott brought everyone in the state during his historical run in 1985." Driver Michael McDowell, this year's Daytona 500 winner, called it "an unbelievable car" and said it was "a great honor" to race it. JOSH BILICKI (LENNY POND) Another smaller team getting into the spirit of things, the 52 Rick Ware Racing car features the amazing Insurance King scheme, perfectly replicating Lennie Pond's Burger King car. It's accurate in every detail, down to the slogan on the rear quarter panel, substituting "Best Darn Rates" for Burger. Insurance King was even happy to change their logo to mimic the old Burger King design. Said Bilicki: “My friends at Insurance King are always very creative with their paint schemes, so when they came to me with this idea, I was all for it. MICHAEL ANNETT (DARRELL WALTRIP) Michael Annett is dropping the Pilot Flying J colors for one race and will run these amazing throwback colors to Darrell Waltrip's successful 1979 run, when he finished second in the standings to Richard Petty. Annett is currently 14th, but he'll be hoping this amazing scheme will be the start of a resurgence to match Waltrip. RILEY HERBST (TONY STEWART) Riley Herbst was born only three days after Tony Stewart's second cup start, so it's only fitting that Herbst races the car that Stewart was driving that day in 1999, or at least an almost perfect replica on a modern XFinity Mustang. This looks almost exactly like the car Tony Stewart drove his rookie year. As Herbst said, "it's a scheme everyone remembers." And not only that, driving for Stewart-Haas racing, it's his boss's old scheme. ROSS CHASTAIN (HUT STRICKLIN) This scheme might not be much of a departure from Chastain's standard McDonald's scheme, since the company hasn't changed their brand too much in almost thirty years. In 1993, McDonald's sponsored Hut Stricklin driving for Junior Johnson. AJ ALMENDINGER (AJ ALMENDINGER) Running a throwback paint of yourself seems a bit narcissistic. But road-course veteran AJ Almendinger scored his only Cup Series win back in 2014 at the Watkins Glen circuit in a huge moment for his career. Now competing in the XFinity series, this is a great throwback that pulls off really well, looking exactly like the original. Almendinger said: That Cup win was really special at that point in my life for so many reasons... Hopefully we can do the same thing and go out there, win the race, and burn it down. SHELDON CREED (JASON LEFFLER) Sheldon Creed won the truck race in this amazing throwback to Truck Series icon Jason Leffler, and it looks great with GMS Racing team colors mirroring perfectly the colors on Leffler's 2002 Dodge Ram racing truck. JEREMY CLEMENTS (DALE JARRETT) All South Electric also changed their logo to honor Dale Jarrett's 1999 UPS scheme and the iconic brown truck livery. Owner-driver Jeremy Clements said: “I’m really stoked that Chuck from ASE came to me with this Dale Jarrett paint scheme for Darlington. Dale was definitely one of my favorite drivers growing up, and I really admired the way he raced throughout his career. There are many more amazing schemes this weekend from all three series, like Joey Logano's paint honoring Mario Andretti's first F1 win, or Josh Berry honoring Dale Jr's win of the 2001 Pepsi 400 with Michael Waltrip, or Tyler Ankrum with the obligatory Talladega Nights colors.
But the race was far from good. The mud problem was resolved quickly as the truck dried, and there were shades of great racing, especially from the start. Sure, visibility was an issue and drivers were still figuring out the track. Even I was liking it though, and I still wasn't happy with the spring Bristol date being taken away. But that didn't last. Unfortunately, as happens so often in NASCAR, as the race went on wrecks bred wrecks. Dust circling the air on the restart wasn't just a problem for the television cameras trying to capture the restart, but also for the drivers themselves. There were plenty of restarts that went right back into caution with a spin as the drivers made contact getting up to speed, unable to see each other with the dust. What should've been small wrecks became massive as drivers who couldn't see or avoid the accident plowed in, and a red flag came out quickly in the first stage. By lap 150, NASCAR eventually threw up its hands and went to single-file restarts for the remainder of the race. And single-file best describes how the race went from there, with all the battles disappearing and, while lap cars played a role for a time, Logano drove away to the win. Tony Stewart must be laughing. He's managed to run truck series races at his Eldora Speedway for seven years, but NASCAR passed him over in favor of the prestige of Bristol for their dirt race. So he refused to host the truck race. That didn't go well for NASCAR, with the truck racing being an even bigger mess than the cup race, while Stewart has run them flawlessly at Eldora each time. And NASCAR's coming back. The crowd at Bristol approved, and if the race can be made up of just the good racing from the beginning, I'll be cheering too. But I don't think NASCAR will. NASCAR hasn't tested the new cars on dirt at all, and it needs to test them before it tries to make another dirt race. The series has proven that big stock cars can make a good race on dirt. NASCAR just needs to actually test and prepare the cars and put on a better race. It might be an unfair comparison to say the race was like the 2008 Brickyard 400, when 'the tire debacle' led to competition cautions every 10 laps with a seven-lap run to the uncontested finish. This one was much the same, with cautions following cautions constantly in the worst sections of the race. If NASCAR can't figure it out for last year, it'll only get worse for them.
The new car is also largely based on the Australian V8 Supercars, something team owner Roger Penske knows well. He thinks the racing would work well with NASCAR, although of course he'd like to see the race made into an IndyCar doubleheader. The racing will be tested with the NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational series, a nationally-broadcasted event featuring the premier drivers in the sport. The Coca-Cola iRacing Series of professional esports drivers will also race on the circuit. It should also be available on the service in the future for any members to try their hand on. According to iRacing, scanning the track meant driving through at 12:30 in the morning to keep the project a secret and not disturb traffic. So the scan is a lot less detailed than a standard track for the service, meaning more of the background imagery is added in later than usual. The course involves some of the most famous and scenic streets of Chicago, with Lake Shore Drive, Columbus Avenue, and Michigan Avenue all featured, and Buckingham Fountain beautifully framing the start/finish line. Either way, NASCAR's future in Chicago is somewhat up in the air right now. The series owns Chicagoland Speedway but it isn't racing there this year. NASCAR Vice President Ben Kennedy admitted "Chicago is a critically important market to us," so they'll need a track to get all those fans. If it can't be Chicagoland Speedway, is this road course the answer? No one's said that it'll appear on the 2022 schedule, or maybe later, but no one's said it won't either. That remains to be seen. Until then, I'll just have to settle for taking a few hot laps in the sim.
The shop, the assets, and the charter were all sold to an undisclosed owner. LFR wants the new owners to make their own announcement at their prerogative. The team will continue racing the 95 car with Christopher Bell until the end of this year. What will happen with Bell is up in the air, especially considering Gibbs reportedly has its eyes on him.
|