From a NASCAR Fan’s View
No matter how you look at it, the pressure is on the drivers and teams not qualified for making the playoffs in the Cup Series. With two races to go to make the playoffs, that pressure is multiplied by the points accumulated so far and how close the racing has been over the last several races. Add to that the race tonight takes place at Daytona and you have a perfect storm of unknowns until the race is over and the winner is declared.
Michael McDowell has already made his presence known by winning the pole position for the start of tonight’s race followed closely by his teammate, Todd Gilliland and both of them represent Front Row Motorsports. To me, that makes a statement of just how serious they are about making the playoffs and, even though the chances of either one of them winning are a little on the lean side, Michael has shown his ability to win on super speedways and Todd has been running extremely well this season. With the speed they both showed in the qualifying, one of them – and I don’t know which one – has as good a chance of winning as anyone else in the field.
That’s the thing about super speedway racing. In some ways it is the great equalizer, especially these days, and just about everyone in the field has a chance to win. So, yes, they have as good a chance of winning as anyone else, but there are a lot of others in the field that do, too. Unfortunately, there is also that sense that the cream rises to the top and there are plenty of teams that qualify for that statement also.
Add to that previous information the fact that the Fords appear to have shown up with plenty of speed for tonight’s race and there are plenty of them that could challenge for the win. Even though the Front Row Motorsports’ cars have shown to have great speed in qualifying, there are a lot of other things that often lead to a win than just running a couple of good qualifying laps.
Strategy plays a big part in super speedway racing but it isn’t the only thing. The Fords have shown in the past that they can work together when it comes to pit strategies and keeping up with the draft. During the race they have been known to pit together or reasonably so but, the Chevys and Toyotas can and do that also. When it all comes down to it, unfortunately, a thing called “racing luck” comes into play also. Although it isn’t an unusual thing, unexpected things happen and can affect a lot of cars because of the bumper to bumper, door to door racing. When that happens, it can affect a lot of cars and totally destroy someone’s – or many someones – race. More often than not, it affects many someones in some way or another. It can even change the total outcome of the race and alter the finish from someone that had a great chance of winning or, someone leading going for the checkered flag. It can all happen in just a moment and completely change the way everyone thought the race was going to end.
As everyone already knows, there is someone that has extra incentive to win tonight. Not only win but hopefully take all the available points from a race. From this fan’s view, that would be Denny Hamlin. Through an unfortunate series of events, he and his team have been docked a bunch of points, both playoff and regular along with monetary fines, and went from being a contender for the regular season champ to just about being eliminated from contending for that completely. It was unfortunate and through no fault of their own, but as they say in NASCAR, rules are rules and they were affected by someone’s mistake. This fan will be watching to see just how aggressively they will seek every possible point tonight.
The Chevys didn’t show up with good qualifying speed, although three Hendrick team cars did qualify in the top ten. Kyle Bush qualified eleventh and the only other Chevy qualified in the top twenty was Austin Dillon. Of course, from this fan’s view, qualifying doesn’t often amount to determining the winner of a super speedway race. It usually depends on strategy, when the Big Ones happen and how the breaks fall for the different strategies. In the end, it usually always comes down to which of the drivers has survived all of the chaos and crosses the line first on the final lap…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© August 24, 2024 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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