From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The Cup Teams take on the Phoenix Raceway, and it promises to be an intriguing race for several reasons. We’ll delve into those shortly, but the differences in tire strategy could significantly impact the outcome of this race.
Christopher Bell is aiming for his third consecutive win this season, while William Byron, who is on the pole, is seeking his second victory. This is only the fourth race of the season, and Kyle Larson is striving to recover from a challenging start, despite having one top-five finish so far and two not so great finishes.
Those last two races weren’t kind to Larson. Last week at COTA was a disaster for the number five Hendrick team and whatever could go wrong probably did. As he heads into Phoenix, I’m sure he has hopes of a big turnaround. He has had good luck there in the past, but this fan thinks he must be feeling some frustration with how things have gone so far.
Meanwhile, Chase Elliott seems to have turned his luck around from the last two marginal seasons and could be a strong contender this weekend. He has been running strong so far this season and I am sure he is looking to end up in Victory Lane when this one is over. From my view, it could happen.
Joey Logano narrowly missed taking the pole position when William Byron ran the only qualifying lap in the twenty-six-second bracket. Joey and the rest of the field weren’t far behind, all qualifying on the standard tire with yellow letters. Joey was understandably disappointed but handled it well. He will be starting on the front row with Byron and could be a contender in the final laps.
For change this season all of the manufacturers are interspersed throughout the field. The Chevys do occupy several of the top ten starting positions but the Fords and Toyotas are right there in the top ten and twenty. A close look at the qualifying times shows the field is really tight speed-wise and that looks like it will make for an interesting race also.
This race should be particularly interesting due to the two types of tires being used: the standard tire (with yellow letters) and the option tire (with red letters). The standard tire was used last year at Phoenix, so teams have notes on it, but the option tire is new for this track. Despite having forty-five minutes of practice to understand the differences between the two tire types, it remains to be seen how they will affect racing and strategy.
Speaking of the tire strategy, it could be the key factor in this race. It is unknown at this point before the race begins what strategy the teams will come up with. After all, they’ve had all night to think about it and go over their notes between the two types. Since there are many fast cars mixed in throughout the field that might have messed up their qualifying lap, they might decide to use the option tires from the start or, at least, early on or maybe save them for near the end. The team that makes the right choice will likely be the one taking the final checkered flag and heading to Victory Lane.
As I said earlier, this one could be decided on pit strategy and the ones that have the least mistakes in the pits or on the track. From this fan’s view and with the speeds being so close, it is just about anyone’s race…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
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Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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