In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report, Dave Mathers talks about the NASCAR Championship Weekend in Phoenix, as well as the loss of two well-known racing personalities.
SAD NEWS: We have lost Bob Merrifield, a long-time, popular stock car racer from Belle River, Ontario, near Windsor. Bob was very well liked by his fellow racers and officials. I first met Bob in the tech lanes at St. Thomas Dragway before he switched to circle track action. He will be missed.
MORE SAD NEWS: Coy Gibbs, 49, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, son of Joe Gibbs and father of current racer Ty Gibbs, died in his sleep on Saturday night. He has left quite a mark on the sport of NASCAR and he too will be missed. His passing came just hours after he celebrated his son’s Xfinity Series championship, in Phoenix.
NASCAR CUP SERIES: With only four drivers eligible to win the championship, tensions were high at Phoenix Raceway. Joey Logano picked up the pole over Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe, all in Fords. The second-best contender was Chase Elliott (fifth – Chev) followed by Christopher Bell (17th Toyota) and Ross Chastain (25th – Chev).
Logano won the caution-free Stage 1 ahead of Blaney and Chastain, just the way they started. The old adage that ‘cream rises to the top’ was especially true with the ‘final four’ as they were all running in the top ten in short order.
On lap 84, Landon Cassill spun coming out corner 2, hit the wall and collected Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. but neither car appeared to be hurt too badly.
Ryan Blaney won Stage 2 but appeared to run out of fuel as he came to the flag. Logano was second with Martin Truex, Jr. third.
On lap 194 Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell spun bringing out the caution flag. On lap 200 Chase Elliott got spun when he moved across the front of Ross Chastain with Chase hitting the wall on the passenger side. He was able to continue although the car was hurt.
On lap 210 points contender Bell radioed that he thought his engine was blowing up. Lap 268 saw Alex Bowman hit the wall after getting spun by McDowell coming out of the corner. On the subsequent pit stops Bell’s crew had big problems and he fell back in the field as a result. As well Brad Keselowski’s Ford had a fire under the left front behind the wheel putting him on the hook.
At the flag it was Logano and surprise, surprise, no ‘debris on the back stretch’ yellow in the closing laps!! Bravo!! Joey’s numbers were one, one, two, one, one and ONE. Pole, Stage 1 win, second in Stage 2, race win, most laps lead and the championship!! He had promised his 4-year-old son that he would win and he did not disappoint. Blaney finished second, Chastain third, Bell 10th and Elliott 28th.
So, we had Ford taking the Truck Championship, Toyota winning the Xfinity Championship and now Ford with the Cup win. Who would have suggested that at the start of the year? I wonder what the Las Vegas odds would have been on that happening?
I’d really like to be a ‘fly on the wall’ at the GM Powertrain Performance and Racing Center this week!! ‘Lucy, you got some splaining to do’!! LOL
While checking out the final points, I noticed that Jacques Villeneuve finished ahead of several other interlopers including Mike Rockenfeller, Boris Said, Conor Daly, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat. Well done!!
The Awards Banquet will be held December 1 in Nashville, Tennessee.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Martinsville ‘Bad Boy’ Ty Gibbs (Toyota) got the pole at Phoenix ahead of Sammy Smith (Toyota) and Nicholas Sanchez (Chev). The other three contenders were Noah Gragson (fourth), Josh Berry (ninth) and Justin Allgaier (11th), all three in Chevs. Last week’s ‘victim’ Brandon Jones started fifth and made it clear that Gibbs was NOT his teammate!!
The first yellow flew on lap 32 when Brandon Brown suffered a flat right front tire and slid up hard into the wall in Corner 2. Gibbs won Stage 1. On lap 60 J.J. Yeley brought out the caution when he spun but did not hit anything. Gibbs also won Stage 2.
On lap 102 Sammy Smith got into Sam Mayer and they spun collecting Stefan Parsons and Riley Herbst. Nine laps later Joey Gase spun taking Sammy Smith and Mason Massey with him.
Similar to the Truck race, the four contenders were all gathered at the front of the pack for much of the race. On lap 156 it appeared that the engine blew up in the car of Dillon Bassett bringing out another yellow. Ten laps later Jones checked up momentarily and got tapped by Gragson spinning Jones for yet another caution. Do you see a pattern here?
In the closing laps, two of the Chev’s, Gragson and Allgaier did everything they could to beat Gibbs but they were unsuccessful as Gibbs won over the two of them. So, he won both stages, the race and the championship. But sadly, the crowd sat on their hands during his post-race celebrations. Hmmm.
The Awards Banquet will be held December 1 in Nashville, Tennessee.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS: Final four points contender Zane Smith (Ford) picked up the pole for the truck final at Phoenix Friday night followed by Layne Riggs (son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs) and Corey Heim both in Toyotas.
The other three contenders with starting spot were Ben Rhodes (6th), Ty Majeski (8th) and Chandler Smith (12th), all three in Toyotas. Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) who missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins started fifth.
It’s SO cool to watch the trucks dive way down onto the apron coming down to the start finish line. I am still confused about the layout as it has changed since the last time I was there.
The starter’s stand is located just before where, if memory serves, there used to be a pit entrance. Junior Hanley told me that the ‘pucker factor’ coming off the back stretch dogleg going into 3 & 4 was intense back when he ran the Copper Classic.
I still miss watching the Outlaws at Manzanita Speedway, a track that like so many others, was closed down. I especially loved the rusty corrugated metal siding around the outside of the track.
The first yellow came out on lap 8 when Keith Magee and Armani Williams got together taking both trucks out of the race. Zane Smith won Stage 1. Christian Eckes had problems on his pit stop when it appeared that a lug nut got jammed in behind the left front wheel and it was smoking and sparking.
Zane Smith also won Stage 2. On lap 99 Eckes went into the spin cycle and spanked the wall doing a LOT of damage to his truck. The fact that they were ONLY six-wide might have had something to do with his spin!!
On lap 105 a multi-truck incident collected three drivers. Taylor Gray seemed to start things with Eckes and Rajah Caruth getting caught up as well. With 16 to go Hailie Deegan wadded her truck up badly after hitting the wall because of a flat left front tire.
In the closing laps all four contenders were running in the top four.
With two to go Majeski brought out the final yellow after bouncing off Zane Smith. This created ‘overtime’ and all bets were off!! Zane Smith elected to start behind leader Rhodes rather than outside him on the front row. The three remaining contenders were bumper to bumper on the last laps and Zane Smith picked up the win (and both stages) and the championship. Rhodes finished second with Chandler Smith third. Friesen finished where he started, fifth.
The Awards Banquet will be held December 1 in Nashville, Tennessee.
FORMULA ONE: Their next race is Brazil on Sunday at noon on TSN 5.
NHRA: Their next race, the final, is Pomona, Sunday at 4 on Fox Sports Racing.
CANADIAN DRAG RACING HALL OF FAME: Their gala inducting 17 new members will be held Saturday, November 19th in Montreal.
MY ‘VIEW’: It was definitely interesting to see the crowd’s reaction to two different drivers at Phoenix. Ross Chastain, a new crowd favourite after his kamikaze last lap at Martinsville, was welcomed with cheers. Ty Gibbs, on the other hand, based on his head scratching brain dead action also at Martinsville, was met with boos!!
Jimmie Johnson has become a part owner of Richard Petty Motorsports and he is going to be racing in the 2023 Daytona 500. I highly doubt that the team can give him a ride as competitive as what he had at Hendricks.
Having said that, ‘Seven Time’ will do much better than he did with his ill-advised foray into IndyCar where he was, basically, a ‘moving chicane’.
Until next week!!
- Dave Mathers
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