From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The NASCAR Cup Teams take on COTA at Austin Texas and it should be a very interesting race. Even with the change to the track – which was shortened by about a mile – and the tire compound change they have to use, there should be some very interesting times of battling door handle to door handle and squeezing each other out of the groove whether it be in the many turns or the few passing zones. I can’t really say how it’s going to go but I still say it’s going to be interesting.
The surprise to this fan and others was which drivers will be starting on the front row. Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. If we only took into account the results of the practice sessions I would have never thoughT the two 23/XI Toyotas had a chance at the pole position or the front row. So much for taking practice session times and making a decision about how the drivers might qualify. Like I said, I was surprised along with many others.
Road course racing is a different animal than most other weekends in NASCAR. It used to be that some of the teams would bring in “ringers” but that isn’t the case anymore. Now the drivers for the cup teams are better at road courses than in what we call “the old days.” Of course, that doesn’t mean they all are but it does mean they all show up for race day and do the best they can. Some love it and others just deal with it.
It does appear the roles are a little reversed this weekend. There are only three Fords qualified in the top twenty. The rest are all Toyotas and Chevys. In fact, some of the Fords that have qualified well in the last two weekends are at the bottom of the list as starters. I suppose some of that could be because of the way the qualifying took place but, for the most part, it just looked like they missed the setup for COTA or just generally lacked speed or handling. I guess it could be because of both reasons. From this fan’s view, I think they will likely run better than they qualified. I think the different tire compound they are running this weekend has something to do with it and they will adapt by race time.
Though the 23/XI Toyotas did take the front row, the Toyotas as a whole just didn’t show that much one lap speed. From this fan’s view, their qualifying likely won’t dictate how they will race. Along with those two front row starters, the Toyotas generally have a history of being at or near the front when it comes down to the final laps. There are a few that come to mind pretty quickly. Although he didn’t show that much in qualifying, it is hard to ignore Christopher Bell. He and Denny Hamlin have a habit of showing up at or near the front when it comes down to those final laps and, though it may not happen in today’s race, they can’t be overlooked as possibly taking home the trophy at the end of the day.
Getting back to the Fords for a moment, there are a couple in particular that qualified poorly but generally show up near the front no matter where they start. Of course, that would be Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney. At road courses like COTA and others, they seem to show up as contenders even though they don’t necessarily have the speed when they unload off the trucks. I don’t know that that will be the case at today’s race but it is worth keeping and eye on them.
It was good to see the Chevys from different teams show up with some speed this weekend. As a Chevy fan, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a year they would be looking for speed every weekend, especially in these early races of the 2025 season.
Without making a fuss over any one particular team, RCR has shown the most speed as this season has begun while the TrackHouse and Hendrick teams seemed to be struggling. Here at COTA, they all look as though they have found some of what they’ve been missing for these first few weeks. As a person that used to race Chevys in my younger days, it has been good to see they might have something to work with this weekend.
I admit I am biased and I make no apologies and I would really like to see a Chevy win. Sure, I would like to see one from the Hendrick camp but, at this point, I will take any one of the Chevys from any one of the teams. I’m not saying I would like to see a Chevy or a bunch of them dominate today’s race but then again… I guess I am.
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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