Tag:

Denny Hamlin

What a finish & what a day it has been at Talladega by another new non-Playoffs winner. This time it’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No.47 Chevy Camaro after he gifted JTG Daugherty Racing yet another restrictor-plate event win since his Daytona 500 moment last year. Although it would’ve been any great if this was another regular season race, but at least Ricky & JTG has something to celebrate and he’s here for more – having renewed his multi-year contract earlier this season. 

He had a brilliant start from 32nd to 2nd earlier on thanks to an early yellow. Now he may be been running mid-pack for a while, particularly during Stage 2 before that last-lap mini-drama changed everything. But as said, steering clear of yellows alongside some good adjustments were key to dominating this race & he’s done all of that to get what he and the No.47 Team wanted with the win. 

Ah, so sorry for RFK Racing’s co-boss man Brad Keselowski (in the No.6 Ford Mustang) who fell so short by 0.006 seconds to Roush’s former long-time employee in Stenhouse. Another last restart would’ve been any better when he couldn’t get much help on the inside line & Stenhouse got the upper hand on the outside. But at least, there’s some positives to take out for 2nd as this is what restrictor-plate racing was all about when it’s so unpredictable full of “The Big Ones”.

What else? It’s been a while from Erik Jones in the famous No.43 Toyota Camry for Legacy Motor Club since this year’s Daytona 500 (8th) & he came off a really good afternoon as the best Toyota placed driver today in 5th behind the two Hendrick Motorsports Chevy cars of Kyle Larson (4th) and William Byron (3rd). 

So does Justin Haley in the No.7 Chevy for Spire Motorsports who finished 7th with more to come after his second race back from Rick Ware Racing. Then there’s Austin Dillon in 8th at Richard Childress Racing. Good to see him finish off nice and clean following that Richmond win a while ago & he didn’t make the Playoffs when he wrecked Denny Hamiln at the finish line. 

Speaking of Hamlin today, he came out not bad in 10th behind his 23XI employee Bubba Wallace (9th) when he was running up and down for some time & avoiding these yellows saved the day for him. But again, he’s currently in a comfortable middle ground at 4th in Playoffs points with one Round of 12 race left this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval course. All he has to do is keep running Top 5-7 including a win in any three semi-final races if that helps and Denny is sure that a championship can finally come his way when the season finale reaches Phoenix early next month.

And if that’s not enough, how about we give a round of applause to Rick Ware Racing with both Ford cars in the Top 20 – Cody Ware in 12th for the No.15 & Corey LaJoie 18th in the No.51. Plus, don’t forget NZer Shane Van Gisbergen who finished 15th in the shared No.16 Chevy for Kaulig Racing – his current Xfinity Series home. 

Looks like SVG is so getting used to this sport ahead of his full-time Cup ride next year at Trackhouse other than his usual road course expertise where he’s getting the benefit of the doubt if he wins any of regular road course races there & a Playoffs spot immediately hands over to him. More to come also as he continues to keep on learning with merit every week.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

One word to describe Kyle Larson’s night at Bristol – tremendous. The same will say for Hendrick Motorsports too after a dominant 500 laps of racing for this multi-championship winning organisation with No.9’s Chase Elliott finishing in 2nd when Alex Bowman led the race field from pole but it was Larson who took over and went on to keep the lead with safe hands by sweeping all three stage wins in the No.5 Chevy Camaro. Love the celebration he just had with his son Owen while Owen ran around with the checkered glad when dad Kyle was interviewed by NBC Sports’s Marty Snider in front of the grandstand.

He and the No.5 Hendrick team still has unfinished business ahead for their 2nd championship hunt since his 2021 triumph with the Round of 12 now set to begin at Kansas Speedway next weekend (3pm ET Sunday afternoon/5am Monday AM here). 

Other than Kyle, looks like we will have to say goodbye unfortunately to the bottom four Playoff drivers as neither of them couldn’t get away with a must-win situation (or a Top 5 finish via luck). We begin with Ty Gibbs following an inconsistent 1st Playoffs round results down the middle of the race field (15th – No.54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), so does team-mate Martin Truex Jr. due to an untimely pit road speeding penalty from 2nd to 24th (19th Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), Brad Keselowski (26th – No.6 Ford for RFK Racing) & Harrison Burton (35th in the No.21 for Wood Brothers Racing over a steering issue).

As said, any four of them can win the remaining few races of this year (see Chris Buescher’s win last weekend at Watkins Glen in the No.17 Ford for RFK Racing despite missing the initial Top 16 cut) but doesn’t mean they can all get back into Playoffs contention now that the first Round of 16 is over. After Kansas, we will have Talladega once again on the high banks oval in Alabama before the second Round of 12 Playoffs will finish on the roval (both left/right turns) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

What else? Great to see Bubba Wallace in 3rd ahead of his boss Denny Hamlin (No.11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing) following a busy last few days like his contract extension at 23XI Racing. He too had a great night all inside the Top 10  thanks to his functioning No.23 Toyota Camry machinery From 11th to 10th in Stage 1 followed by 6th in Stage 2 & 3rd overall. Yes, he may have missed the Playoffs this year (19th) but there’s a lot more to come from Bubba at Denny & Michael Jordan’s co-owned race team.

Speaking of Denny, he’s relieved to stay alive in the Playoffs race ahead of the next round in Kansas. Sure, he may not been able to quite close in on Larson when it comes to the race lead. However, he knows what it takes to bring these fast race cars home where Denny has been there and done that before with a couple of semi-final and Championship 4 Finishes under his belt. He still really wants to finally win his first championship so bad as a driver and let’s hope he can stay upfront all day long where he’s currently 6th in Playoff Points, so he doesn’t fall short outside the semi-finals like it was over the last two years. 

Meanwhile, Christopher Bell doesn’t disappoint in 5th (No.20 Toyota for Gibbs) as he’s sitting comfortably in 2nd on drivers’ points. Plus, the No.41’s Ryan Preece posts another Top 10 finish in 8th behind team-mate Chase Briscoe in the No.14 for Stewart Haas Racing (Ford), who continues to prove his talent whenever he can possible. And even though someone may have finished well against the rest when being a lap down, Michael McDowell steered his No.34 Ford home in 11th for Front Row Motorsports following his 7th-placed run last week (in his specialist road course ringer discipline) at Watkins Glen.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

The 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 was finally over early on Monday morning due to rain that begins with a Denny Hamlin group battle between his own No.11 Joe Gibbs car and his 23XI employee of Bubba Wallace before he spun himself out off Turn 4 as the race had to be pushed back to Monday. Then we saw a William Byron & Kyle Busch Chevy dominance up front for the most part but at the end of the day, glad there’s a Toyota win to celebrate thanks to Denny’s other 23XI employee Tyler Reddick over in the No.45 team.

Huge day from 23XI once again with Reddick having a super day where he thanks these 2nd half cautions en route to his 2nd win of 2024 since the Spring Talladega race back in late April.

The tables will now turn now on Denny to hopefully get back into victory lane himself as a racer soon enough this weekend at Daytona, having caught back lots of time well to finish 9th. Meanwhile, Chevy weren’t bad with Byron 2nd (Hendrick), Kyle Busch 4th (Childress) & Daniel Suarez 8th (Trackhouse). Also good seeing two Spire cars in the Top 10 such as Zane Smith (7th) & Carson Hocevar once again from another stellar Top 10 run last week in Richmond (10th).

And shoutout to RFK Racing Ford who had an excellent day with co-owner Brad Keselowski 5th in his hometown event ahead team-mate Chris Buescher in 6th.

Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona here we come under the lights this weekend with two regular races to go before Playoffs.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

So there we have it, after a long few days out from that Richmond race finish controversy, Austin Dillon of the No.3 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing – who intentionally wrecked both Team Penske Ford’s Joey Logano and then Joey Gibbs Racing Toyota’s Denny Hamlin following the final two turns for the race win – can keep his win but his Playoffs berth though will not count as a result of this investigation by NASCAR. 

RCR on the other hand is still furious about this decision with the plans of an appeal over the next coming days – good luck with that! But what RCR and No.3 of AD needs to do now is not make up any more shortcuts in order to cleanly win races next time with only three regular rounds to go. Should he win either one of the last three regular races, he will enter the post-season Playoffs with zero Playoff points meaning he will have to also win another Round of 16 races to keep his hopes alive.

Gotta say it’s being well said at last as this should’ve been taken action immediately after the race unlike post-race inspections with race cars. You can defend AD and RCR all you like when the No.3 crew would like him to spin and win that race and he did that to make this happen but then this shouldn’t be acceptable in the world of Motorsport at all including NASCAR, so again AD needs to now learn that lesson & not upset everyone in anyway like he did to both drivers at the overtime white flag.

Another party that is worth consider appealing is Joey Logano who verbally unleashed into AD post-race for intentionally spinning him out into the wall that ultimately cost Joey his race win where he finished down in 19th rather than a front row finish as hoped for the Blue Oval. He received a fine of $50,000 USD by NASCAR for his mis-conduct and it’s not fair on him to walk away empty handed that isn’t his own fault other than being so frustrated to see someone who wrecked him celebrate in victory lane at the same time. Maybe NASCAR should take away the penalty fee off Joey and not let RCR give a free pass appeal anymore after all this chaos that took them so long. 

Enough said and we move onto the next Cup race this weekend for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway & this 3rd last regular season race is expected to be Rick Allen’s last as NBC’s NASCAR lead commentator, with Aussie Leigh Diffey to take over from next weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 night race at Daytona International Speedway.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

It may have been a dominant Toyota front row fest for the most part other than the Daniel Suarez Stage 2 win in the Trackhouse Chevy but look who’s back in victory lane? It’s Austin Dillon in the No.3 Chevy Camaro with the win for Richard Childress Racing following his race-winning bump past Turn 4 on both Team Penske’s Joey Logano & Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin towards the checkered flag on overtime when Ryan Preece spun out that led to a caution with two to go.

Now for some NASCAR fans, particularly for those who go for Logano & even Hamlin, this last lap restart on the run home was both good and bad. Well, the sport could’ve looked at this one a lot deeper other than post-race inspections but that’s stock car racing unfortunately unlike most other racing series we see on-track. First of all, good to see AD back in victory lane for the first time since the summer 2022 Daytona race with the same previous crew chief of Justin Alexander, who has been in and out of the No.3 pit box as time goes by until sometime earlier this year. Yet, he’s back for the third time now of asking to help turn his form around once again and yes it did work outwell with another lucky charm for him and Justin together like it was a few times before as AD wouldn’t be there to celebrate today or these past victories if it wasn’t for his best crew chief.

Gotta say that 2nd half performance after the first two stages within the Top 6-7 worked well in AD’s favour off the back of these important pit road adjustments beforehand that helped him make a brilliant charge on the front row. He rolled off the line from 6th aftern an excellent run in qualifying, having never looked out of place with a fast race car on his hands while he remained patient while others drop out all along to get what what he wants. RCR hasn’t been bad when it comes to submitting at least one of their cars over the last few years at Playoffs time & if Kyle Busch can at least win the last few regular season races for the other No.8 car, then no doubt they would be a decent threat up front to the other 3/4 car big teams.

Looking at the Toyotas, you gotta feel for them when these cars fired off really well with some promising signs across the first two stages. Then they had some of the problems happening when it comes to the long last stage with Martin Truex Jr. forced to pull due to mechanical issues while some lacked inconsistency on the long runs like Christopher Bell other than a good Denny day except his last lap overtime drama where he finished 2nd. Seeing four Toyota cars in the Top 6 ain’t bad though with Denny’s co-owned 23XI Racing team also having a great field day in 3rd & 4th thanks to the No.45 of Tyler Reddick & No.23 of Bubba Wallace as Toyota needs to continue making that firepower right going into the next Cup round at Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Ford cars also didn’t have a great day either when Joey Logano was unluckily spun out whilst trying to win with fellow Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney being the best driver there just outside the Top 10 in 11th & the rest of these drivers languishing towards the back end of the finish line. And last but not least, shoutout to Carson Hocevar, who finished 8th in the No.77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports. Now he might not have cracked these Top 5 finishes just yet since he went straight from Trucks but a few Top 10 finishes though ain’t bad and he’s even leading the Rookie standings by a small margin.

Three more regular rounds to go with Michigan, Daytona and Darlington to come as good to see NASCAR back following a long two-week Olympics break and we’re almost there to make up the last 16 drivers that will be competing in the 10 week Playoffs campaign for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy starting early next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail