From a NASCAR Fan’s View
Ok, I’m probably going to date myself a bit right now but, back in the late sixties they used to run commercials for a racetrack on one of the popular AM radio stations that went something like this – “Saturday night under the lights! Saturday night under the lights! Saturday night under the lights!” And then they would talk about the race that would be taking place that next Saturday night. Just so you know I’ve been around for a long time; I was in high school back then and could only dream about actually racing stock cars. Later, my dream came true and I became one of those drivers that raced on Saturday nights and loved every minute of the years I got to do that.
Well… tonight is Saturday night and there is going to be one of the biggest races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season. Yeah, that’s right. It’s Bristol baby and it’s the first cutoff race for these playoffs and, when it is over, there will only be twelve drivers left to move on to the next round.
Personally, I don’t think there is anyone that thinks this is going to be just another Saturday night under the lights. There is just too much riding on the end results of this race and there are only a few that are fairly safe bets to move on to the Round of Twelve. One of them is Joey Logano and he is locked in to move on by virtue of winning the first playoff race at Atlanta. After him, there is Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman. But then, as a fan you already know all of that but there are a bunch of drivers that cannot afford to have a bad night at Bristol. Some are in better shape than others but it remains to be seen how their fortunes go after this one is in the books.
One of the biggest surprises to this NASCAR fan is where Denny Hamlin sits in the standings. He has struggled the last several weeks of the season and, since entering the playoffs, his struggles have continued an he finds himself in a situation hardly anyone expected. He enters tonight’s race six points below the cutline and cannot afford to have another race like the last two playoff races. Fortunately, Bristol is a place he has mastered in the past and his chances of moving on or winning tonight’s race look pretty good. Well, that is unless he is still fighting bad racing luck along with bad finishes.
Another that has been running through a cold spell in these last several weeks is, Kyle Larson. Even though he is twenty-six points to the good, his last several races haven’t shown him to be a definite driver to move on to the next round. He absolutely cannot afford to have a bad race at Bristol if he wants to move on to the Round of Twelve. Fortunately, he has shown up with speed – at least in qualifying – and starts second on the outside of the front row. Maybe things will turn positive for him tonight – under the lights.
Martin Truex Jr. has had pretty much nothing but bad luck in recent times even though he made it into the playoffs on points. I guess you could say he was “lucky” to get into the playoffs if you want to look at it that way. Looking at his situation, he didn’t have a win this season but he did have a fairly consistent year up until the late in the season. That’s the real reason why he made the playoffs. He enters tonight’s race fourteen points below the cut line and needs either a very good night while others struggle or a win if he wants to move on to the next round. After all, he is starting fourth in the lineup.
Although he has been running well lately, and especially since the playoffs began, Alex Bowman kind of surprised this fan by taking the pole position for tonight’s race. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised since he has had a fairly consistent season and won Chicago. His first two races in the playoffs have been good for him and his 48 team. The way things have been going in the playoffs so far, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see Alex in the Championship Four running for the Championship. After all the questions of his future, that would definitely silence those that question his standing at Hendrick Motorsports.
All four of the Hendrick teams start in the top ten tonight and three of them start in the top three. Of course, we all know qualifying is one thing and the race is quite another. For all of you Hendrick fans out there – and I am one of them – one can only hope that they all finish at or near the front and that no disaster befalls them.
There is no reason to go on and on about how the top sixteen might fair tonight and which of them might be moving on to the Round of Twelve. You and I know how well the Toyotas ran last time at Bristol and they could dominate again tonight.
There are a lot of possibilities for the outcome of tonight’s race and there are several that might surprise all of us by taking the win. Will it be someone that needs to win to move on to the next round or will it be someone already moving on. This fan has absolutely no idea but I do know the racing will be aggressive and intense and there will likely be a few tempers surface along with a lot emotion. After all, this is, “Bristol Baby!” and there is hardly anything definite about how things will go other than to expect the unexpected…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© September 21, 2024 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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