There is hot, and there is hot. Hot could be winning the opening race of the Chase, securing a berth in the next round, and allowing two races to tinker and prepare for Charlotte. However, after a spin on just the second lap in Chicago, the result was as much a credit to the performance of crew chief Dave Rogers as it was to the driver, Denny Hamlin.
So it begins. Sixteen drivers, each trying to avoid being one of the four eliminated from contention for the championship after each round of three races.
If history repeats itself, there will be no surprise winner at Richmond on Saturday night. Going back over the past 10 years, every single driver who has won there is currently locked into the Chase for this year. Except for one.
After a few years on tinkering around with tradition, something NASCAR seems more than eager to do until the manure hits the ventilation system, the Southern 500 is back for the Labor Day weekend.
Hot news this week is headlined by the near-demise of Michael Waltrip Racing. The team has announced that it will not run full-time entries in 2016 and that Clint Bowyer will indeed be a free agent after this season.
Still, rain at Watkins Glen means racing. Take off the slicks, replace them with rain tread, and off they go. There is a possibility of rain, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among those who would not mind using the wipers. Of course, you just got to know that come Sunday the sun shall be shining.
Back we go to Pocono, where Martin Truex Jr. won in the spring, where all of the Hendrick drivers shared in winning the previous five. A Busch has won there, twice. His name is Kurt.
I have walked the Little Bighorn Battlefield more than once, seen Devil’s Tower and visited Mount Rushmore. I have watched the Red Sox play in Seattle, and I believe the scenery in Wyoming is second to none. I’ve been there, but I do not live there.
You’ve got your Monster Mile in Dover and you’ve got your Hot Mile in Phoenix, but they are seeking to work a little magic on the mile in Loudon, New Hampshire. Kyle the Magnificent hopes he can continue pulling out of his hat the kind of results that have seen him win two of the last three events.
Summer break is over for the series under the SRO America umbrella, and Flying Lizard Motorsports has another action-packed weekend ahead at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR).
After two weeks off, Funny Car’s Alexis DeJoria is ready for a swift turnaround at this weekend’s 35th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
