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Finally… the MENCS teams return from the West coast swing and take it to the short track at Martinsville. In this fan’s opinion, there’s no better way to come back East than to take on the half mile short track, the first short track of the 2019 season. Other than Kyle Bush taking his 200th win and looking fairly dominate so far this season, it was a relatively uneventful trip… well… at least from this fan’s view.
I know I’ve been a bit critical of the season so far, but I have to say it just hasn’t been what I expected even with the new rule changes and everything. I had at least half hoped the Chevys would make a better showing and that the Fords would struggle at least a little bit with their new body style, the Mustang. Unfortunately, not too much has changed. The Chevys are still struggling to find speed and don’t look much different than they did last year. The Toyotas have built on their advancements from last season and the Fords… well… they just seem to be picking up pretty much from where they left off. Honestly, as a fan, it just hasn’t been all that exciting to me. In fact, I would go so far as to say it hasn’t been near as exciting as the talking heads and commentators have said it has been.
That could all change since short tracks have a tendency to generate more excitement and emotion than the tracks visited so far this season. That’s not to say the other tracks don’t have the same things, it’s just that short tracks are more fun all round for everybody, fans and drivers alike. There’s bumping, beating, blocking, banging and pushing, high emotions and, because of the way short tracks are, there can be tempers flaring and paybacks that may go back several races ago. Short tracks are where everything got started and they are still fan favorites.
One thing about short track racing is that drivers can lean on their competitors, bump them out of the way or be knocked out of the way and often come in and knock out a few dents and return to the track. Interestingly enough, that can all happen and they can still be competitive enough to possibly win at the end of the day. Now that’s what I call excitement, (maybe because short tracks were what we frequented and where my friends and I did our watching and racing.
Unfortunately, it looks like this might be another weekend that the Chevys don’t shine as brightly as they once did. The Fords and the Toyotas have looked very good in the practices and that could really spell defeat for the Chevys on Sunday afternoon. There is one that may make trouble for the Fords and Toyotas and that would be the Chip Ganassi Chevy of Kurt Bush. He has won at Martinsville before (even though it has been along time for him) and he has been the highest finishing Chevy almost every week, lately. Even his teammate, Kyle Larson hasn’t performed up to expectations considering how he did last season.
It does make this fan wonder, “Did the rule changes NASCAR made for this season just set things back for the Chevys from the advancements they made during last season?” It does sound strange that it would be that way but, maybe the changes did affect the already troubled Chevy Camaros more than the others.
As an avid Chevy fan, (after all, they were what I built and drove when I was racing), I have been quite suspicious of the Camaro since they moved to it. At first, the only place they seemed to be competitive was on the Super Speedways and after Daytona it was a while before they looked competitive much at all. The Hendrick Chevys, in particular, appear to have struggled the most (at least to this fan) and they still haven’t been all that impressive over a full season later. That’s not to say they haven’t had ANY speed, it’s just that they haven’t been showing up at, or near the front when it counts (like when it’s time to take the checkered flag.)
This is one race where there will likely be a whole lot less whining about not being able to pass slower cars BUT it is likely there will be some hotter tempers and emotional displays. That is one of many things I like about short track racing, especially at Martinsville. When it comes down to it, there will actually be racing for positons instead of a lot of complaining. Will there be enough emotion for there to be some fisticuffs? Well my friends, that is something we won’t know until the race starts and progresses to the end (and that’s a great reason to be watching which is what I will be doing.) How about you…?
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 23, 2019 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and PodCastNorm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated