In his ‘Leap Year’ edition of Dave Mathers’ Motion Motorsport Report, Dave discusses the recent NASCAR action at Atlanta and other racing news.
Hard to believe but 50 years ago Linda and I, plus the two boys, were heading south for a ‘doubleheader’, the Gatornationals and the following weekend’s Atlanta Motor Speedway Cup and Busch (now Xfinity Series) races.
As I had never been to Atlanta before I thought I would swing by on the way to Florida. We pulled up to the back pit gate in our motorhome and I was shocked at what a mess it was. We got out to have a look and a track worker came over to talk with us after seeing our Ontario plates. I asked why it was so messy.
He said a tornado had gone through a couple of days before and they had only one week to replace all the destroyed boards in the grandstands. Got there for the Busch race the following Saturday and you would never know there had been a storm. Awesome work by the Atlanta staff.
NASCAR’s ‘damaged vehicle policy’ defies logic. After all, NASCAR is selling entertainment NOT racing and the marketing opportunities of showing teams fixing their cars/trucks to get back out there could fill in some of those BORING long runs! After all, more is always better, thus more cars would naturally make for more excitement.
Staying with NASCAR, it may be time to discuss the officiating. Most of the stick and ball sports have been experiencing serious criticism of their officials. My question is simple – when was the last time a black flag was displayed in a NASCAR race for ‘rough driving’?
Over the course of Speedweeks (Thursday to Monday at Daytona) I counted nearly 100 race vehicles getting damaged, many terminally. It appears, at least to the outsider, that today’s drivers realize that they won’t be penalized for rough driving, so they take chances that aren’t normal, if there is such a thing as ‘normal’ in auto racing!
NASCAR has raised some valid concerns about the ‘slow pace’ of the Daytona 500. The ‘fuel saving mode’ appeared to start right from about lap 2. How about offering one point to the leader on every tenth lap?
And more ‘interesting’ news from Volusia Ave. It appears that the IMSA Technical Committee and the IMSA supervisory officials have made the ‘decision’ that both Ferrari and BMW have been stripped of their manufacturer’s points from the Rolex 24 Hours race.
It seems that Ferrari’s demonstrated performance in the Daytona 24 hour race exceeded IMSA’s expectation. IMSA has expectations? Really? Wow. Overachievers in auto racing? Who knew?
And even more ‘news’ from Daytona. Apparently, Jim France was invited to the ‘franchise meeting’ with the owners/teams during Speedweeks but declined to attend. Would Bill Sr. or Bill Jr. have turned down the invitation? Hmm.
NASCAR Cup Series: ‘Front Row’ Michael McDowell, the outside polesitter at Daytona, picked up the Atlanta pole, his first, in front of Daytona polesitter Joey Logano (both in Fords) and Kyle Busch (Chev). The first Toyota, Martin Truex Jr., was 12th.
Friday, before any Cup cars hit the track, the roof air deflectors (they run along both sides of the roof) from two of the Stewart Haas Racing Fords, the No. 10 of Noah Gragson and No. 41 of Ryan Preece, were seized for ‘further evaluation.’ Stay tuned.
And, more penalties before the start – Logano was sent to the back PLUS a drive-through penalty for wearing ‘unapproved safety gloves,’ while Chase Elliott had to go to the back for replacing a sensor.
Two laps in and the top line slowed, resulting in Austin Dillon spinning after contact from behind. The incident also collected Harrison Burton, Gragson, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar and ten others. Logano was on pit road when the carnage started and drove right up to 20th for the restart. All cars were able to resume except for Josh Williams.
The restart was funny; all the accident cars had to go, in order, to the end of the longest line. Sixteen of the 37 cars were in the wreck, which meant the longest line, the outside, had 26 cars in it. A cool visual!
On Lap 26, Chris Buescher, running in the top-ten, slowly spun coming out of turn four but didn’t hit anybody or anything for a yellow flag. Lap 52, Denny Hamlin spun out of sixth place entering turn one after contact with Busch; Hamlin got refired and kept going. Denny stated that he was ‘edgy free,’ whatever that is! McDowell won Stage 1.
TOTAL stupidity broke out at the end of Stage 2. Logano must have had brain fade as he drove up and into Buescher, taking out both of them along with Hamlin. Austin Cindric won Stage 2.
On Lap 176, Busch made contact with Kaz Grala, spinning Grala down and off the track for another caution flag. On Lap 200, Ross Chastain, making another friend, bumped and spun Elliott for a yellow. With 60 to go, most cars would probably be able to make it to the end without stopping again for fuel. It was interesting to see an empty section out in the parking lot. Strange and very rare. With 50 to go, they were FOUR WIDE! On Lap 220, Kyle Larson, Corey LaJoie and Brad Keselowski got together when Brad got loose in front of the other two.
Larson’s car got a torn up right-front fender.
There was a great shot of the sun going down in the west and it seemed the fog was rolling in as well. On Lap 240, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe got together when the pack got four-wide on corner entry; yellow flag then red. I loved the stat that there were only seven cars that had not been involved in an accident! Lap 248 and another crash; Bubba Wallace got a little loose and the field stacked up behind him.
Hocevar, Elliott and Josh Berry spun, with Hocevar breaking a rear toe link.
There was a three-wide photo finish, with Daniel Suarez winning over Ryan Blaney (0.003 seconds back) and Kyle Busch (0.007 seconds back). It does NOT get any closer than that. Three and a half hours of basically full throttle excitement! Busch has the points lead by only one over the tied pair of Cindric and William Byron. Their next race is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on TSN 5 and Fox.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Jesse Love nabbed the pole at Atlanta, ahead of Daytona winner Austin Hill (both in Chevs) and John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota).
How about no cautions in Stage 1 at Atlanta? Polesitter Love won the stage. On Lap 58, Kyle Weatherman tapped J.J. Yeley, spinning him for the first caution. Love also won Stage 2.
With the lack of cautions, cars started running out of gas. Cole Custer and Stewart-Haas teammate Riley Herbst both ran out with two to go. Fellow Ford runner Ryan Sieg went a little further but ran out and stopped on track just before one to go. On the restart, they were dropping like flies, running out of fuel.
Race leader Love, Justin Allgaier, A.J. Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman all ran out. At the checkers, it was Daytona winner Austin Hill over Chandler Smith and New Zealand superstar Shane van Gisbergen. The top Ford was Herbst, way back in 15th.
Hill now dominates the points, 17 ahead of Sheldon Creed and 28 in front of Herbst – Chev, Toyota, Ford! Their next race is Las Vegas, Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on TSN 2.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Daniel Dye got the pole at Atlanta, in front of Tyler Ankrum (both in Chevs) and Ty Majeski (Ford). Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) started 16th. Sixteen laps in and Keith McGee had a solo spin for the first yellow. Christian Eckes won Stage 1.
On Lap 46, Thad Moffitt tried to squeeze up into the top line but there was no hole and he spun. Thirteen laps later and Jack Wood did the exact same move as Moffitt, with the same result. Kyle Busch won Stage 2. On Lap 79, Rajah Caruth had a right-rear tire go flat, which left some debris on track for a caution. On Lap 41, Grant Enfinger and Nick Sanchez got together and put more debris on the track. On Lap 100, it was ‘rinse and repeat’ as yet another yellow for debris on the track, also on the frontstretch.
At the flag, it was Kyle Busch over Ty Majeski and Corey Heim – Chev, Ford, Toyota! Friesen finished 23rd. In the points, Ankrum leads Majeski by 10 and Sanchez by 12. Their next race is Las Vegas, Friday at 9 p.m. ET on Fox Sports Racing.
Formula One: Their first race is Bahrain, SATURDAY on TSN 1 & 5 at 9:55 a.m. ET.
IndyCar: Their first race is St. Petersburg on Sunday, March 10.
IMSA: Their next race is St. Petersburg, March 10.
NHRA: Their first race is March 10 at Gainesville.
World Series of Pro Mod: Takes place this weekend in Bradenton, FL. This race was won a year ago by Stratford, ON superstar Spencer Hyde, getting him a $100,000 U.S. cheque.
Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo: The 9th annual Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo presented by eBay Motors takes place at Toronto’s International Centre March 8, 9 & 10. Over 350,000 square feet of building space housing almost 400 cars. And 100 of them are race cars! And don’t miss the Fast Eddie Night of Champions on the Meguiar’s Main Stage on Saturday, March 9. For show info, go to MotoramaShow.com.
NASCAR Canada Series: Their first race is at Mosport (CTMP) on Sunday, May 19.
APC Series: Their first race is at Sunset Speedway on Saturday, May 18.
Ontario Sportsman Series: Their first race is at Delaware Speedway on Friday, May 17.
Delaware Speedway: Their first race is on Friday, May 10.
Ohsweken Speedway: Their first race is on Friday, May 17.
Flamboro Speedway: Their first race is on Saturday, May 4.
Southern Ontario Motor Speedway (Buxton): Schedule TBD.
Grand Bend Speedway: Their first race is on Saturday, June 1.
Grand Bend Dragway: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
St. Thomas Dragway: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
Toronto Motorsports Park: Drag racing begins May 18-19.
Dragstrip Memories: Takes place Sunday, April 14, from 9 – 4, at Hamilton Airport.
Shannonville Drags: Their first race is the weekend of May 5.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
