If you were looking for tight pack racing, Pocono was not it. However, if you wanted to see variations of the old Wide World of Sports “agony of defeat” scenario, that it had.
When it comes to extraordinary television, sit on the edge of your seat excitement, Dover under green will not exactly get your heart racing. In fact, Sunday’s race was more of a cautionary tale. When the yellow waved, the interest spiked.
It all began early Sunday morning along the coast of Monte Carlo and the Monaco Grand Prix. I am not a big fan of driving fast and little passing, but Monaco is a different breed. Fabulous architecture and big expensive craft that fill the marina are the background for a street race that has the competitors driving just a bit above the recommended speed limit for you and I. Simply put, they go fast on a road not built to go fast, be it alone or among 20 other speed demons.
Change. Sometimes change is good, like when you win a few million dollars. That is good. You get married to your sweetheart. Good. Your children start arriving. If you are a mature adult, and not some self-serving narcissist, that is very good. New talented drivers emerge on the scene. That is also a good thing.
One of the most memorable All-Star races occurred in 1992 when Davey Allison and Kyle Petty were contending for the win along with Dale Earnhardt who was in the lead. During the closing laps, Petty made contact with Earnhardt, who spun, setting up a battle between Allison and Petty.
Ryan Blaney scored his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award Friday at Kansas Speedway.
Blaney raced to the top of the qualifying leaderboard with a lap of 189.600 mph in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to earn his first pole in 64 Cup starts.
The world, as we know it, must be ending. Forget about all the politics and the violence and the hypocrisy and the attempts to mix cultures that just don’t mix. I am talking about something serious here. The television ratings from the race at Talladega are the worst in more than 20 years. Talladega. The worst. What in hell is going on?
But did you know that Jason Leffler won the pole for the inaugural Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in 2001? He won it in the No. 01 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing with a speed of 176.499 mph and is the only driver to capture his first career Cup Series pole at Kansas.
So, let us talk about Talladega. We had Ricky Stenhouse Jr. start on the pole. Then we had a race full of excitement with a host of “oh, my God, did you see that?” moments. That pretty much covers the highlights from the opening 168 laps. It was as thrilling as I had hoped, but this one came down to the final 30 circuits on that big track.
NASCAR is losing steam. Surprise! It is not exactly news, but this week comments made by the top brass yet again reminded us of what has been going on for about a decade now. NASCAR got its big TV contract in 2001 to bring the action nationwide. It lost one of its legends in that opening race, then his son became part of a very compelling and riveting story line, and a fad was born.
