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Tonight’s race at Darlington – the track too tough to tame – is another race that is going to either add to some drivers and teams dilemma for the season or possibly help them start a turn around in it. Not very many expect the latter to happen and some have already resigned themselves to dealing with the standings pretty much the way they are. I, however, am not one of those. Since we are only 10 races into the season, I am one of those that thinks the season is only 10 races old and from this week on, a team can do exactly what they haven’t been able to do – win and finish consistently in the top five or ten, (preferably in the top five.)

How can I say this you may ask?? Well, I just look at last year and what happened to Brad Keselowski before and after his accident at a practice track. Before the accident, no one thought he had a chance of even being close to the top ten in points and after the accident, he almost made the Chase on points alone. He didn’t but, he did make it with the victories he got after it happened.

Greg Biffle has been riding a wave of consistency (along with showing up to the tracks week after week with fast race cars) and sits on top of the points. Does that mean he is a definite threat to be the Cup Champion by the end of this years Chase? Not at all… in fact, the very same adversity that has been affecting others this year, could begin for him tonight and go on for the next 10 – 16 races and he could be struggling to make the Chase when the time arrives.

Carl Edwards is another good example of what I’m talking about from last year. He was number one in points for much of the season last year but that didn’t matter when it came to the Chase. He ran consistently upfront, scored points regularly and still finished second (although tied for first with Tony Stewart, a story we all know too well.)

What I am saying, is there are still 16 races left to make it into the top ten in points or score a few victories and claim a wildcard slot. Just because it looks like there is no way some can make it doesn’t mean there is no way they will. I know the competition is closer than ever in the Cup series and there is a lot to be said for momentum in this sport but, NASCAR has not always been predictable and “racing luck” can turn for the worse for anyone. No one is guaranteed to be able to continue on through the whole season with the same results they start with and carry for only ten races of 26 to qualify for the final ten races of the Chase.

Sure, I do admit for some things do look mighty bleak but I have seen more than one of them go on a tear and win several races and totally turn around their season over the final sixteen races to qualify for the Chase (and contend for the Championship.) I have also seen some go an a tear toward the negative and completely miss the Chase and not be contenders at all for the rest of the season.

It doesn’t really matter that much for tonight’s race either. Darlington is a challenge for all that sit in the driver’s seat tonight and just because someone qualified near the front doesn’t mean they won’t have problems and end up several laps down or with a DNF. Unfortunately with the way things can change, the ones finishing in the back tonight could be the ones highest in points and it just could be the beginning of a slide into oblivion for the next 15 races.

Greg Biffle still looks strong since he is starting on the pole for tonight’s race but I still look at qualifying as a very poor way of judging how a race will end. Even though he is enjoying very consistent season, tonight could be the beginning of someone else enjoying the same level of consistency and passing him in the points in the near future.

Names like Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson come to mind just as quickly as possible winners for tonight’s race. Heck, I’m not even ruling out a possible turn-around for Jeff Gordon beginning tonight but, it is going to have to be a turn-around that lasts more than one race and some others are going to have to start having his luck from this first part of the season for much to happen quickly for him (although a win would certainly help a lot in many ways.)

It seems the more people talk about the possibility of #200 happening for Rick Hendrick, the more things go wrong for all four of his teams (even when it looks like the win is inevitable.) Yeah, this could be the night and all four teams have a good chance at winning it for Hendrick MotorSports, that is at least until the green flag drops…

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© May 12, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

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When the Cup cars take to the track this afternoon at Phoenix, one thing is relatively sure… it is supposed to be a short race. The Subway Fresh Fit 500 is only scheduled to run 312 laps and hopefully it won’t turn into the endurance race Daytona did. Judging from how the Nationwide race went, I’d say the chances are very good those laps will pass quickly for the Cup teams that want to run up front and have a chance to take the checkered flag ahead of the rest.

Once again, Mark Martin proved he’s not too old to run with the young guns as he took the pole position for his new team with Michael Waltrip Racing. He just did squeak out the pole over Tony Stewart and Stewart will start outside of him on the front row. It seems no matter how many times people want to count Martin out, he always raises his game up a notch and this weekend appears to be no different.

From this fan’s view, it looks like today’s race is going to be another exciting one to add to the many others we have witnessed lately as NASCAR fans. With the way the track has been reconfigured and repaved, it is no longer a slam dunk for any one of the drivers. Even though this is the second time for the teams to visit the reconfigured track in the last six months, the character of the track is still changing and still going to be a challenge.

According to the weather people, today’s race is going to be a hot one and that means the track will be a bit slippery. That won’t bother some but it could be bad news for others. The temperature will be at least 20 degrees above what they practiced at and that should make it interesting for the crew chiefs. They will have two challenges ahead of them. First, they need to make the right decisions for starting the race and second, they have less than 312 laps to make changes to give their driver an advantage over the rest. Believe me, that just isn’t much time if the set up is off just a bit, especially at PIR.

From my view, the ones that already have a slight advantage are starting nearer to the front. The ones further back have to move forward quickly if they expect to have much of a chance at winning. The hotter, slicker track expected for today could make passing difficult and it remains to be seen how the drivers handle the restarts and the grey area just outside the racing groove which has been treacherous at best.

That in itself could spell trouble for the Hendrick teams of Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. The two of them qualified 29th and 30th. Personally, I was a bit surprised that they qualified so far back. They will have their work cut out for themselves from the drop of the green.

The two of them won’t be alone as they try to move up through the pack as Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski are in mid-pack, also starting at 24th, 25th, 26th and 28th respectively. To this fan, that says there are at least six drivers that are going to have to press hard to make up the distance through traffic and a tight racing groove. They will have to be patient while still trying to catch those starting up front as fast as they can.

In my opinion, the pit stops are going to be critical for all and some of those starting in the back will need to make up as many spots as possible in the pits as they can. That won’t allow much room for error for the pit crews and the pressure will be on them every time the teams hit pit road.

With this years addition of EFI, it remains to be seen whether or not this will become a fuel mileage race as it usually does. This fan thinks this will be more of a test of just how much fuel injection could change the strategy for fuel consumption. I, for one will be interested in seeing how that pans out throughout the afternoon.

The top ten starting spots are full of strong cars and anyone of them could end up in Victory Lane this afternoon. In fact, I would have to say the top sixteen, in particular, are very strong. That will make it even harder for those other names I mentioned to move in to contention as the race progresses and, because of that, I’m expecting to see several cautions just because patience will wear a bit thin for those faster cars that had trouble on their qualifying laps. Depending on how those fall will tell just how much of a fuel mileage race this will be and how close the racing will be throughout the 312 laps.

This is just my opinion, but I’m thinking the ones starting up front are going to move away from the rest as quickly as they can. That is… unless they totally missed the race setup…

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 4, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Not everyone was happy with the results of the 2012 Shootout at Daytona Saturday night. There were rumblings from certain areas that they were going to be tearing up a lot of racecars and it was gonna be costing everyone a lot of money. Of course you know, most of those statements were from owners of teams as they recognized that something needed to be done to stop the carnage that became evident Saturday night. But, when the drivers were asked what they thought, they said they were having a lot of fun and enjoying themselves immensely. (Of course, they didn’t quite say it like that. I guess if the truth be known, unless they were owners themselves, they weren’t too worried about the wrecked cars. Besides… this was the Shootout.)

From this fan’s view, the best word to describe the race Saturday night (which is always a little rough and a bit on the wild side) would be “wreck-fest” and I don’t think many would disagree with me on that. There were a lot of wrecked cars all during the night and there was more than one big one that happened as the drivers got used to pack racing once again. And then there was and that ever present problem (discovered, in particular, when the two car draft became the norm) of bumping and pushing on the left rear bumper at the wrong time, causing the front car problems and often sending it spinning out of control. Of course that wrong time I mention would be as they enter the turns, just in case you’re wondering.)

Even with all of the spinning and bent up metal, the overall consensus was that this was one of the best Shootouts ever. I don’t disagree with that and it just goes to show that almost everyone likes to watch good close racing and finds it exciting.

I have to agree with many that commented on the race that it was really good to get back to that thing called “pack racing” especially on the Super Speedway at Daytona. The “Two Car Tandem” racing was interesting for a while, but nothing beats the two and three wide bumper to bumper, door handle to door handle pack racing lap after lap at almost 200 miles per hour .

Kyle Bush was the winner of the event (which is not new news, but worthy of commenting on.) He showed his great car handling abilities and impressed just about everyone when he saved his car from spinning into obvious oblivion had he not done so. (He did so not once, but twice.) It wasn’t a cake walk for him to end up in Victory Lane but there was absolutely no one that could say he didn’t work for it or deserve it. Yeah, it’s true… because he did make those two fabulous saves, he was right where he needed to be for his slingshot move on Tony Stewart coming out of turn four to take the checkers slightly ahead of him at the finish line.

This fan wants to make a quick comment about NASCAR and the racing we witnessed Saturday night. Once again NASCAR has proved they are interested in what is best for the fans and the sport. The changes they made that resulted in minimizing the “two car draft” (and appears to have given us a return to “pack racing”) worked well and are sure to give all NASCAR fans a great show and good racing throughout this week’s events. I know I can’t speak for all of you, but as for me, I’m looking forward to the 54th running of the Daytona 500 even more than I was before the changes were made. I can’t wait for the Duels on Thursday or the 500 on Sunday.

After the way last season went, especially with the drama of the Chase going right down to the last lap, NASCAR had it’s work cut out to try and match the level of competition, excitement and drama from last year. If the Shootout is any example of what we have to look forward to in 2012, especially on the Super Speedways, then I’d say they’ve got a good jump on it. All I can say is, Hold on, 2012 is gonna be another great one…

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© January 21, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Well, its that time again and the Shootout at Daytona tonight should give us all a good look at how things might shape up for next weekend at the super-speedway for the Daytona 500. Of course we all know the Shootout is a bit different than the race next weekend but, as a fan, I think it will give insight as to what we can expect when it comes down to the actual racing.

NASCAR has done all it can to minimize the two car draft (or the two car tandem as some still like to say) and that means we should see a whole lot more pack racing. That means we should see two and three wide racing with a little bit of the two car draft thrown in at strategic moments for a couple of cars to hopefully blast by the rest. At least, that is the word around the Daytona Super Speedway at the moment.

Personally, I like the fact there could be more two and three wide pack racing because as a fan the two car draft is relatively boring to watch for 500 miles. Of course, if you listen to the drivers they would also rather do pack racing them the two car tandem draft. They also say it is less stressful than the two car draft. One thing I notice about the pack racing is at any moment they can have the “Big One” and that has to weigh on their minds. From this fan’s view, I have to admit that I have always liked the pack racing much better than the two car draft.

I think NASCAR made a good move when they decided to try and minimize the two-car draft during the Super Speedway races. I also am happy that they’ve eliminated communication between the drivers in case they do want to do the two-car draft. It will be good to see them get back to racing for the win themselves rather than having to depend upon a partner to get or stay up front. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to use the two-car draft to go forward or take the win but, it does mean that the two-car draft will be used as a tool rather than a strategy. It is still very obvious that when two cars look up via the two-car draft, they’re noticeably faster than a single car or a line of cars.

As expected, electronic fuel injection isn’t, and won’t be, very noticeable as far as performance on the track is concerned. However, there may be some situations that arise because of the electronic fuel injection, whether it be during pit stops or at other times, simply because some of that information won’t be gained until it’s in the heat of the battle. I’m not really looking for that to be a difficulty for the engineers for the teams because they seem to have no trouble figuring things out at any other time. I’m just glad that they’re not doing it in the middle of the season. I’m also glad that all the teams are facing the same problems at the same time.

This fan is looking forward to the race tonight and is certainly glad that the 2012 NASCAR season is starting. With all of the changes that have been made since Homestead in 2011, I think it will prove to be a very interesting season. Yes, there are still 26 races to go and then 10 in The Chase but there are also a lot of unknowns as we go forward into the year.

Will this year be as exciting as last year last year? Who’s going to win tonight? Will they have a Big One tonight? All of that remains to be seen but one thing is certain – anything can happen tonight and probably will, but, only part of what we get to watch tonight will carry over into next weekend. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get started…

By the way, just in case you’re wondering who I think is going to win tonight, I’m going to stick my neck way out and say it is going to be one of the Hendrick drivers. Dale Jr? (Yeah, could be.) Kasey Kahne? (Uh, maybe.) Jimmie Johnson? (Hm-m-m.) Jeff Gordon? (Possibly…) Of the four, probably Dale Jr is the most likely in my book followed by Jeff Gordon, but my picking the winner for the Shootout is like naming the Champion for the year before the first race is run… If it happens the way I say, it would just be dumb luck.

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© February 18, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to NASCAR Fan’s View. I do hope you all had a great Christmas and over-all great holiday time, but it is time to get back to NASCAR racing. Sure, I know the regular season stuff doesn’t start for another month, but, the NASCAR Cup teams have already started their new year with Preseason Thunder (as if they weren’t working on it before now) and all of them are working on the information they gathered from the test sessions in Daytona this last week. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the season to start.

Over the next few weeks, you will probably notice some changes around this site (and our other site, “justafansview.com”.) I thought I would take just a moment to remind our regular visitors (and explain to our new ones) what you will find here.

Just so you know if you’re new and as a reminder to some, you won’t find any interviews with drivers and you won’t find any with crew chiefs, either. There are many others that do those and have better access to all of them. We believe most of the time, they are great and at other times not-so-great, but we try to leave that to them. What we try to give here is from the perspective of “just a NASCAR fan” that has had the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat at local tracks, win some races and some championships, even though not in the NASCAR Truck, Nationwide or Cup series.

(Yes, that perspective I just mentioned happens to be mine.) Hey look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate or seek out others views, but once again, you can find them even more often than you can find the pictures and videos at those other sites. Probably the only place I know you can get my opinion and viewpoint about NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing is right here.

I have often been asked why we don’t have more pictures and videos of the NASCAR scene on this site. We just don’t do that here simply because the internet is full of them. The easy answer is because I know (and I know that you know) you can find all of that on just about every NASCAR related site. (Hey look, we’re just like you and we check those sites out, too.) But please remember this about us… this is a site that is about looking at NASCAR racing from a just a NASCAR fan’s view but we are not afraid to express our opinion about what goes on in and around the sport. Believe me when I tell you, we’ve been around racing and NASCAR a long time and do have our own opinion about what goes on, in and around this great sport.

Of course, we do our level best to express that opinion all the while remembering that it doesn’t have to be done in a course way. We intend to never use course language, because we know our kids and grandkids will be reading and listening to us. Anyone can use foul language, but we don’t and we don’t intend to allow it here, even in the comments section. We don’t apologize for that but we do understand not everyone agrees with us. We just hope it doesn’t deter you from reading or listening to our viewpoint on a week to week basis because we do think you will like what you find here…

Listen, I’ve been a stock car racing fan since I was about four or five years old. I’ve been a NASCAR fan for just about as long as I can remember, too and I have seen it grow and become what it has become over those years. I love NASCAR racing and this is “Just A Fan’s View of NASCAR Racing…”

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© January 15, 2012 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you great NASCAR fan’s out there from NASCAR Fan’s View. I appreciate every one of you and hope you enjoy the video Christmas Card too… Merry Christmas! Have a great New Year! Looking forward to the 2012 NASCAR season…

I’m wishing you the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year
Hope you enjoy the video Christmas card!!!

See ya next time… Rusty
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© December 24, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and NascarFansView.com
(All audio and video productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PCNProductions.com)

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Chase race six at Talladega turned out to be exactly what many of the twelve Chasers feared it would be… unpredictable and a race they would have rather not had to run. It was also a race that separated the ones that can win the championship from the ones that can forget about it this year and, at least from this fan’s view, the real players are coming into focus. A quick glance at the finishing order show only three of the twelve Chasers in the top ten, so, even though some of the top guns had bad days, those behind them had worse days and Carl Edwards still sits first place in points.

One good thing came out of it for Denny Hamlin, he finished eighth and that was good enough to move him up in the field. Now he is no longer twelfth in points and happily turned that spot over to Ryan Newman, at least for now. He is separated from Jeff Gordon in tenth spot by only two points and just ten points from Dale Jr in ninth. As I said before, those three are falling back faster than Denny when it comes to the points and, unless his luck changes soon, Jeff Gordon could be battling Ryan Newman for the Twelfth spot. They’re only separated by six points at the moment and neither one of them can seem to catch a break since the Chase began.

There was a lot of chatter about how some of the teams chose to ride around in the back while others chose to race out front. (Notice I purposely chose the words ‘ride’ and ‘race’…) The complaint seems to come from the journalists section in particular and they suggest the fans are being cheated by those that choose not to race until the end of the race. I do understand where they’re coming from, but I do not necessarily agree with them.

Restrictor plate racing with the COT and especially at Talladega has become a strategy race. The teams absolutely have to do what they think they have to do to be around at the end of the race or they have no chance at winning it. Yes, it has changed the way the race looks now, but until NASCAR and the teams find something that works differently, this fan thinks we need to accept what we have knowing that NASCAR will do what it thinks is necessary to improve the situation. I am confident, they will eventually find a happy medium to remedy the situation. As it is, the racing isn’t that bad anyway, at least from my view.

One noticeable thing about the racing and the choices being made along the way as strategies and partners had to change. It didn’t matter much whether teams or partners chose to run in the front or the back. Apparently it wasn’t safe anywhere and accidents that gathered more than one Chaser happened in both places and in the middle, too. From this fan’s view, it just goes to show they’re not 100% safe no matter where they choose to run in this type of racing. It didn’t happen to those running out front, but either their partner or the ones that tried to pass or run with them could have caused the front runners difficulty as well.

Another problem with the two car tandem drafting reared it’s ugly head again at the Talladega track and that was what happens to one driver’s chances when his planned running partner runs into problems or they get separated for some reason. This last weekend showed a lot of people being left without their running partner at one time or another during the race. Plans had to change on the fly and sometimes people were left out in the cold causing some disappointments for more than one.

From my view, it appeared there was a lot of tension, resulting in impatience and the usual split second mistakes in judgement that caused accidents or some other sort of problem for several. It was clear the strategy chosen by some worked out well and for others, not at all.

One thing was definitely apparent at the end of the day. With all of it’s problems and drawbacks, restrictor plated racing is still unique and this fan finds it quite entertaining and exciting. I don’t think anyone can argue with the way this Talladega Super Speedway race finished between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. It was another close one and was decided on the final part of the final lap and from this fan’s view, generally, you just can’t hardly get better than that. Well… that is unless you wanted someone else to win… )

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© October 28, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

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There’s something different about Road Racing and it wasn’t always like it is today. It is a big difference and if you haven’t been around NASCAR all that long, you probably don’t recognize it, but trust me… it is much different than it used to be.

So what is this big difference? Well, once again that is a good question and I am glad you asked it. The difference these days is that there are so many good road course racers in NASCAR that it is getting harder and harder to tell which one of them could win the Cup race this Sunday afternoon. Sure, there are some that are still better at it than the others, but the competition is so tight these days that it could be anyone of most of the field; (Yeah, I know there are some that still just don’t like road courses and simply suffer through them looking forward to next few weeks when they get back to their comfort zones of ovals (both large and small.)

Many of the teams used to bring in drivers with road racing backgrounds called “road course ringers” in the hopes of getting a better finish with the “ringer” than with their normal drivers. Some times they would do better, but there was always the problem of the driver not being able to spend enough time with the crew chief and team for them to be able to communicate well which usually translated into a less than lackluster performance for both.

These days, most of the drivers enjoy the challenge of the different types of tracks they visit during a season and that means road courses as well as ovals. Like I mentioned before, some are still much better at the road courses than others and they generally finish at, or closer to, the front by the end of the race. The others still “suffer through” these races but even they perform better than some of the substitute “ringers” used to.

I’ve heard some ask what the difference is between the track at Sonoma and the one at the Glen. Well, if you ask the driver’s, many of them will tell you that the track in Sonoma is a finesse track and Watkins Glen is much more of an “attack” track. The one is a track that leaves very little room for error and the other is one you have to press the envelope but not overstep the limits to have fast lap times and hopefully end up in Victory Lane.

It is this fan’s opinion, The Glen has a couple of areas that separates the great from the good and one of those is the “S’s” and the other is the “Bus Stop.” If you don’t carry enough speed through the S’s, you will lose ground to your competitors and missing the Bus Stop hurts lap times the rest of the way to the start finish line.

From this fan’s view (and judging from the practice and qualifying sessions) the race this weekend at The Glen could be one of the more interesting road course races. It is awfully hard to argue with the top five or six qualifiers being contenders at the end of the day. Three of those, in particular, should do well and that would be Marcos Ambrose, A J Allmendinger and Jimmie Johnson all starting out front and I guess I shouldn’t rule out Juan Montoya either. This fan’s problem with Montoya running well is that he just hasn’t had the greatest of luck this year and I’m not sure how he is going to do, even though he did practice and qualify with a fast car.
Once again, the Hendrick teams didn’t qualify that well and all of them but Jimmie Johnson will be starting outside the top ten. From my view, that could mean one of two things when the race starts. Either they will adjust to the track conditions and move up toward the front or they will be mired in the middle to back of the field for most of the day. My gut tells me they will finish much better than they qualified but I do see they’re all up against some pretty stiff competition this weekend and it depends on whether those other guys have problems how stiff that competition will be.

The same holds true for the Childress teams too. Their best qualifier was Clint Bowyer and he is starting nineteenth. As for the rest of them, it only gets worse from there. That inspires the thought that they, too, will perform better than they qualified but they do have a long way to go to get to the front, not exactly what any of them were hoping for, I’m sure.

I don’t have to tell you, running one qualifying lap is a lot different than running the whole race and the key to winning is consistency. There are a lot of good road racers in the field for tomorrow and there are a number of them that can win, but they are going to have to consistently maintain track position and fast lap times. Kyle Bush has looked the fastest for the weekend so far and, from my view, he has a great chance of taking home the trophy. I am not at all saying he has a lock on it, but he is starting from the pole and the rest are starting from behind him.

There are two, in particular, that have a very good chance at winning their first NASCAR Cup race this weekend and those are Marcos Ambrose and A J Allmendinger. Both are great road racers and of the two of them, Marcos has the better chance in my opinion.

I am looking forward to a very interesting race and a lot of competition amongst many. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether or not he weather is going to cooperate. If it doesn’t, it could be a a long weekend for everyone…

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© August 13, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

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This is the first visit for the NASCAR Cup teams to visit the Kentucky track, but really, it’s not. Many of the drivers and teams have gone there to test and they could do that up to about two years ago because it wasn’t a track that had Cup racing on it. So, it is the first time the Cup teams do go to Kentucky for a race on their schedule, but many of them are familiar with the track even though it sounds like it is brand new to them.

Even if it was the first time for some of them to be on the Kentucky track, NASCAR allowed a test session over several hours on Thursday, before they actually took to the track for practice or qualifying for the weekend on Friday and the race Saturday night. Of course, the rain out of the first test session did throw a little wrench into to works and then rain causing qualifying to not be completed has given us the starting lineup for tonight based on the second practice session, (Wow! That sure sounded confusing, didn’t it?)

So, tonight’s race becomes even more of an uncertainty (as to who might win) with the way they are lining up. Some of the faster cars didn’t even get to qualify, so lining up according to the practice session times doesn’t tell us the whole story. I do like this new way of qualifying NASCAR has been tweaking here and there this year, but it is unfortunate for those who might have actually qualified on time before the rain came. That means drivers like, Michael Waltrip don’t get to race tonight (and he would have made it in according to his qualifying time before qualifying was called). In particular, he would have really liked to have run in this inaugural Cup race at what he and his brother Darrell would call their home track. Unfortunately, because of the that last rain shower, that won’t happen this time.

There was a lot of talk during the week about how the drivers that had raced in the Nationwide series might have an advantage, but from this fan’s view, I just don’t think that will be the case. It is my opinion any advantage those drivers may have had is pretty much eliminated by that six hours of testing the teams had on Thursday. I could be wrong but there is a reason why they often call the NASCAR Cup drivers the best in the business and I think they and their teams learn very quickly. Being able to spend that much time on the track on the same weekend they race on it has to be an advantage for all concerned.

Now that I’ve said that, it is this fan’s opinion tonight’s race should be a very interesting one. Kentucky Speedway is a track that is rough and that makes it a little bit harder for these Cup cars to be set up and keep their splitters from rubbing the ground. I’m not saying that’s the only thing that will make it interesting but I am saying it will contribute to what will make it interesting.

Since they didn’t make it but about half way through the field before qualifying was rained out, (and so they would have time to get the track ready for the Nationwide race), this fan thinks this is a race that is going to be hard to pick a winner. Like any other weekend, you can’t tell a whole lot from the way they qualified, (and particularly from this weekend’s lineup being set up from the afternoon qualifying session), but there are some people that have run well here in the Nationwide series. Whether or not that will transfer over to the Cup race tonight is anybody’s guess, but from my view, it is a definite possibility and could affect the results of the race.

I expect tonight’s race could be a fuel mileage race and, as always seems to be the case these days, it will be a strategy race. The ones that can make the most of a tank of fuel and get out front and maintain track position will likely be the ones we see cross the finish line first. Pit stops will be critical and anyone that has problems in the pits will likely have a hard time keeping up with the front runners.

Kyle Bush is sure to be a threat to take the trip to Victory Lane tonight. His pole starting position and having the #1 pit stall just might mean trouble for the rest of the field. Kyle is often a threat to win and I don’t expect tonight to be that much different. Does that mean I’m ruling out all the others and declaring him as the victor? Nope, not at all. I don’t think he just going to walk away and dominate tonight, although it is possible. Personally, I think he’s going to have to work for it if he is going to win, but, he could be be first to take home the checkers from this inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Kentucky Speedway tonight.

See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© July 8, 2011 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions

Well… Richmond lived up to my expectations Saturday night except for the fact that the JGR Toyotas of Kyle Bush and Denny Hamlin finished 1-2 with the RedBull Toyota of Kasey Kahne right behind in third on the night. Was I surprised? Well, yeah… but no, not really… I just expected the Chevys to do better than they did and I expected the Hendrick teams to make a bigger statement than they did.

When the Checkered flag finally dropped, Kyle Bush in his Toyota appeared like he dominated the night, (even though he didn’t) and the first Chevy was Clint Bowyer in sixth even after being involved in an accident. I have to tell you, I expected a good race but didn’t think it was going to end anything like it did. It does appear to this fan, the JGR Toyotas have definitely found something they like, and that works, at RIR very well for them.

Too be honest, (and of course from this fan’s view), much like Phoenix earlier this year, if there hadn’t been a big wreck back in the middle of the pack, the end of the race may have been a little different. The person I’m thinking of that would have probably been in there fighting for the win at the end that wasn’t is, Jeff Gordon.

In similar fashion to Carl Edwards being taken out of contention by that wreck in Phoenix earlier this year, Gordon was put on the truck following the incident involving several cars with around one hundred laps to go. He ended up sliding driver’s side first, hard into the inside wall in the incident he had nothing to do with other than being in the wrong place at the right time. Both of them suffered setbacks in the points because of the separate incidents several races apart, but Carl Edwards has rebounded from his incident quite nicely and it still isn’t too late for Gordon to get back into the hunt, IF, he is able stay out of trouble for a while. It has been an up and down year for him, so far, though.

Even though Jimmie Johnson had a very poor start to the weekend, he did manage to salvage an eighth place finish on the night. Of all the Hendrick teams I thought would come away from Richmond with a top ten finish, he was the one I least expected. In reality, I expected Dale Jr to finish well ahead of him, but, as it turned out, Jr finished a disappointing nineteenth, barely in the top twenty and wasn’t involved in any major accidents that I remember. (He just didn’t have a good night… despite the expectations of many.)

The Roush Fords didn’t do too bad, with David Ragan and Carl Edwards finishing fourth and fifth. Greg Biffle still hasn’t shown his usual strength yet and finished a somewhat disappointing fifteenth on the night. From my view, his struggle still seems to be carrying over from last season.

Even Tony Stewart ended up with a fairly good night by finishing ninth even though his Stewart/Haas driver/teammate Ryan Newman and Juan Montoya had some on-track disagreements and both of them ended the night twentieth and twenty-ninth respectfully. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but from this fans view, they do have a negative history between them and we all know Juan’s reaction to a little bumping is generally a bump returned with a vengeance on whoever bumps him before the race is over, even if it is incidental contact, like it appeared it was with Newman earlier in the race. (In fact, from my view, it looked a whole lot more like Montoya got into him more than Newman got into Montoya… but, then, the drivers usually do see things differently from their perspective…)

As I said earlier, I really didn’t expect the Toyotas to do as well as they did and to be honest, I didn’t expect Denny Hamlin to be near the front either. Yeah, I know he won two races to start off the weekend in Richmond, but his Cup ride hasn’t been going all that well.

Two of the three Toyotas in the JGR camp have been struggling for most of this first part of the year. Although we all know one race doesn’t make a season, I can’t help but think about how the Bush brothers did last year during the month of May and, if Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have a similar month this year, it could very well be the Joe Gibbs teams will come out of May in a lot better shape than even they hope. Then again, it just may have been a good weekend at Richmond for them and nothing else may change. I reckon we’ll just have to wait and see on that one…

See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© May 3, 2011 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman and Nascarfansview.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions