NASCAR Cup Racing

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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It’s once again time for short track racing on a Saturday night and the place is Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400. That’s 400 laps and 300 miles of Saturday night, under the lights. It is all of that and more as the drivers jockey for all the points they can muster as their chances for qualifying for the Chase are down to these next three races.

It does appear to this NASCAR fan that Denny still has a pretty good grip on the points lead for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Championship, although things at the top of the standings have been shaken up in recent weeks. I honestly never expected Ty Gibbs to be in second place in the standings. Mostly because I never really expected Tyler Reddick to have the kind of luck he has had in recent weeks. He has gone from leading in points over Denny Hamlin to fourth place. Most of his drop has happened in the summer schedule of the 2026 season.

Now, I admit, only 120 points separate the top spot from the fourth spot, and only seventeen points separate second from fourth. Looking at it from the angle of second, third, and fourth in points, just about anything can happen in the next three races. I can’t say I’m expecting anything drastic to happen. I’m just saying the last several weeks have been tough for some and good for others. One other thing about the standings at this point is, all four JGR Toyotas are in the top six. I can’t say I expected that either.

Although the Chevys should have expected it, this fan is relatively surprised it has taken so long for them to get a grip on the new body style. Some weekends, it does look like they’ve improved by qualifying better, but the way they finish in the race shows they seem to be mostly lacking in speed. Now, I’m not saying they don’t have their moments, but they just don’t have it when it comes to head-to-head racing, especially with the Toyotas.

I know I’ve mentioned this often lately, but the Hendrick Chevys are the ones that are the biggest surprise, at least to this fan. I realize Chase Elliott has two wins this season, but compared to the Toyotas, he is just not nearly as competitive as the Toyotas camp in general. Still, he is ahead of his teammates in the standings.

Alex Bowman started the season with pretty consistent finishes, then ran into physical problems and dropped to twenty-ninth in the standings. After his physical challenges, that was to be expected, although he hasn’t had the best racing luck since then, either.

Although they are okay in the points standings so far, the two Hendrick drivers and teams that are the biggest surprise to this NASCAR fan are William Byron and Kyle Larson. They are both in the Chase, at least for the time being, and they are both struggling with no wins this season. Byron has struggled slightly more than Larson, but they both have three DNFs. Of these two, probably the biggest surprise is Kyle Larson. He does have eight top fives and eleven top tens, but he is currently in a bout with the worst case of racing luck – other than Tyler Reddick – I have seen in a long time. Of the Hendrick Chevys, he and his team have shown the most improvement in performance for the HMS garage. I’m not saying he is the only one that’s shown improvement, but overall, he has been showing up better than the other three HMS teams with regularity. But. To quote the words of an old song, “If it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all.” Byron did qualify fifth for today’s race and could possibly have a very good day. As for Larson, well, he definitely has his work cut out for himself. He qualified thirtieth.

Just seventy-four points separate the eleventh spot in points from the sixteenth spot. Depending on how things go in today’s race and the next two, a lot can change. All it takes is a DNF by one or more, and there could be some major changes to the top sixteen. Only twenty-one points separate seventeenth from twentieth and only fifty-one points from sixteenth to twenty-first. If that doesn’t sound like drama in the points standings over the next three races, I don’t know what does.

From past experience at Richmond, I expect long green flag runs and a possible surprise winner. Will Austin Dillon make it three in a row at Richmond by winning from sixteenth? Will it be Ryan Blaney taking the trip to Victory Lane from the pole? Will it be a Ford, or a Chevy, or the expected or unexpected Toyota? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe even better…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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There’s a difference when NASCAR takes it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is a track steeped in history and tradition. Ask just about anyone, whether it be a driver, crew chief, or crew member. They will tell you that everything just feels different at this place. Even the owners know the feeling and the history of the Brickyard, and every one of them wants to win at Indy. There is just a different air about the place. It is the oldest and most historic track around.

Even with all that history and tradition, things do change somewhat, like what happened in qualifying for the Brickyard 400. Not that it was so unexpected that Carson Hocevar won the pole position. He has shown speed at times, and to this fan, he has shown that he has had the speed more than once to take the pole position. This one was similar to another time when the last one to qualify and possibly beat him out for the pole was Denny Hamlin. However, this time Denny didn’t run fast enough to take it from him. He qualified fifth, much to Hocevar’s delight.

Probably one of the things about the qualifying results that surprises this fan the most is the way the Spire Motorsports cars qualified. I’ve already mentioned Hocevar, but Daniel Suarez qualified next to him on the front row, and Michael McDowell qualified sixth. Michael McDowell is a former winner at Indy, but admittedly, it was on the Indy Road Course in 2023.

The problem I see with the qualifying order and the Spire Teams is that the three JGR Toyotas qualified third, fourth, and fifth. In seventh, just behind McDowell, is another Toyota driven by Cory Heim, who won the Naval Base Coronado Anduril 250. That is pretty much a stacked deck of Toyotas in the top ten. Chase Briscoe is qualified eleventh, and he has been making a strong showing lately and now sits in the eighth spot in the points race to qualify for the Chase. That is a lot of Toyotas that have been showing good speed and winning a lot of races between them this season.

The first Ford doesn’t show up until the thirteenth starting spot, and that’s Ryan Blaney in his Penske number 12. When it comes to the race, I don’t really expect him to stay there. When it comes to the In-Season Challenge, he does have an obvious starting advantage over his competition for the million dollars, Todd Gilliland, who qualified thirty-sixth.

Of course, 400 miles leaves a lot of time for a lot to happen in the race within the race. Since this is Indy, I won’t say Gilliland’s chances are small, but I will say the deck might be slightly stacked against him. He only has to finish ahead of Blaney. He doesn’t have to win the race. As long as both are still running, they both have a chance for the million. An accident for one or both of them could decide things depending on where they end up in the final results. (Gee, that doesn’t sound like there’s any pressure involved on either one of them, does it?)

Alex Bowman, starting eighth, is the highest qualified Hendrick Chevy. From this fan’s view, it goes without saying, He could be a contender in this one. Since he has his contract extension with Hendrick for another year and he says 2027 will be his last year in full-time Cup racing, I’m sure he would love nothing better than to surprise everyone with a win at the Brickyard. I’m not going to rule him out even though he has struggled most of this season.

His teammates, William Byron and Chase Elliott, had to be disappointed with their qualifying times. Byron starts twenty-first and Elliott twenty-seventh. Once again, from this fan’s view, they can only hope their crew chiefs can find them more speed as the race goes on. Once again, this is Indy, and it is a long race where a lot can happen. When it comes to what I really think their chances of winning this one are, well, let’s just say it would be surprising if one of them does. I’m not saying the odds are against them, but considering their performance lately, I just don’t expect it.

That brings us to the last Hendrick driver, Kyle Larson. He qualified in the tenth starting spot and has been known to pull off some surprising finishes at times. Right now, he is in the middle of a long stretch without a win in Cup. It has been over a year since his last win. It’s not that he’s been running badly. He has had chances to run up front and even take a win this season, but something has always happened to cause him to fall back from taking a win, even when it looked like it was inevitable. He is not only in a slump from winning, but he is going through an extended period of struggling with “bad racing luck” that has affected him just about every week in some way. I am sure he would like nothing better than to win at the Brickyard and break that losing streak.

With the strength the Toyotas have been showing almost every weekend, I’m not really expecting Kyle to break the streak with a win in today’s race at Indy. But I will admit he is more than capable of pulling a win off if anyone can…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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It’s again time for short track racing under the lights. The place is North Wilkesboro Speedway. It kind of reminds me of my younger days, except that it is going to be on a Sunday night. The reason I bring that up was an advertisement I remember from one of our local radio stations a long time ago. It always started with the excited statements of “Saturday night under the lights! Saturday night under the lights!” Wow! Does that bring back some memories. Well, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it when it says “Sunday night under the lights.”

You might ask what does that have to do with this race at North Wilkesboro. To be honest, not a whole lot. It’s just a memory from the past of this old NASCAR fan, and this old track brings out that old memory. 

What is important is that this is the first points race at this place in thirty years. It couldn’t happen at a better time since, counting this race, there are six races for the drivers to make the Chase. That’s not a lot of time for some, and some feel it is too long a time, the way their season has been going. It is also the semi-finals of the In-Season Challenge, with the two finalists taking their hope for winning a million dollars to Indianapolis next week.

With the season winding down to its final weeks to make the Chase, it is pretty obvious that Denny Hamlin has a great chance of being the season champ. He is already leading by twenty-four points and looks pretty good to keep on leading until Daytona. The closest to him is his fellow Toyota teammate and his 23XI employee, Tyler Reddick. Between them, they have nine wins this season, and though Denny now leads, Reddick led for many weeks after winning five races early in the season. Both of them looked to be untouchable when it came to points and they kind of cornered the headlines for weeks on end.

Then Ryan Blaney showed that consistency pays off when it comes to accumulating points. As it stands, going into this race at North Wilkesboro, he has drawn to within sixty-five points of leader Hamlin. Because qualifying was rained out and he won last weekend’s race at EchoPark, he will be starting on the pole with a chance to move even closer to cutting more points from Hamlin’s and Reddick’s lead, depending on how things go for all of them in today’s race. It could make this points race even closer with the drama to match.

This being a short track, a lot can happen at any time that could change the look of the points race for any or all three of the ones I just mentioned. With the rule changes made to the front end of the cars, it is possible for just about anything to happen to any of them that could cost them in points dearly. All it takes is a big pileup with a lot of front-end contact. Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the weaker frontends could make the difference between having a good day and a bad one.

With thirty-eight cars on the track at once. There is also the elevated possibility of an encounter with the old nemesis, “bad racing luck,” and the difference between having a good points day and a very bad one. I realize there is no guarantee that nothing bad will happen to those at the top of the points list, but there is equally no guarantee that something bad will happen. It can all come down to that thing called racing luck.

Speaking of bad racing luck, there is something that stands out to this fan, and it concerns a former champion. Yeah, I’m sure you know I’m talking about Kyle Larson. There is something that jumps out to me concerning just how much run-ins with bad racing luck can affect a driver’s season. Looking at the stats, Kyle has led 637 laps so far this season, which is second only to leader Denny Hamlin. He has taken more stage points than leader Hamlin at 169 to Hamlin’s 151. Because of his struggles in some of the races, he only has 594 points which puts him in sixth spot in the points standings and 197 points behind the leader.

From this fan’s view, he has his work cut out for himself if he wants to catch up to the present leaders. In fact, if his run of bad luck continues, he may have trouble even making the cut for the Chase. If things had gone a little differently for him during this season, he could have been in the top four and maybe even the top two and just ahead of Reddick. If that doesn’t say something about how having some really bad race days mixed in with some really good ones can make the difference between a championship year and a mediocre one, I don’t know what does.

Look, I know the season isn’t over yet, but time is running out. Not just for some… but for everyone who has hopes of making the Chase. North Wilkesboro Speedway may make a way for someone, but it could also break bad for another. With all that’s going on, the season could turn out even worse for one or more of the front-runners. That is one of the things we won’t know for sure until this one is over…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s near the middle of July. The Cup teams are once again taking on the EchoPark Speedway. The track is notoriously slippery at this time of year. The only fortunate thing about this race is that the Cup teams are racing early evening into the night, and that will make a difference as this one progresses.

Two Fords sit on the front row, ready to lead the field to the green. In fact, there are a total of four Fords starting in the top ten and six Chevys. I know it’s very obvious, but does anything jump out at you from the lineup for this one? Yeah, that’s right; there are no Toyotas in the top ten.

Erik Jones is the first one, and he qualified eleventh. The next Toyota doesn’t show up until twentieth. That would be the JGR Toyota of Chase Briscoe. That in itself is a big change from the norm lately. I realize the Toyotas don’t always qualify well, but Denny Hamlin has often qualified pretty well, and he is starting twenty-eighth. In fact, all of the Toyotas except one are starting from the twentieth to thirty-second spots and even this fan is surprised by that.

I know what you’re thinking… Yeah, but…

I agree with that, yeah, but. The Toyotas do usually show up at or near the front when the laps are winding down to the conclusion of a race. Especially the JGR Toyotas.

Maybe that’s why this fan is so surprised by the qualifying and where they sit to start the Quaker State 400. The usual suspects for qualifying better, and mostly those Toyotas, are starting way in the back. That may not surprise many of you, but it did surprise me this weekend.

If I can get personal for a little bit, I know it is obvious, week in and week out, that I’m a Chevy fan. That doesn’t mean I only like the drivers that drive Chevys, but it does mean I am a bit partial to the ones in Chevys. I suppose that is a carryover from my days growing up and when I used to race. I owned Chevys, I ran Chevys, I won races in Chevys, I won a few championships in Chevys at my local tracks, and I used to drive only Chevys as my personal transportation. Of course, as a family, we don’t own just Chevys anymore, but I am still a Chevy fan.

So, this week, it was good to see five Chevys qualifying in the top seven and another in ninth. Of course, you know it is also hard for me not to show a definite bias towards the Hendrick Chevys. I know I shouldn’t be biased, but I have been following Hendrick racing of all types for a long time. Although I like all four of the Hendrick drivers and teams, I guess it is pretty obvious that Kyle Larson is the one I follow more closely than the others, but that doesn’t rule out the other three. Truth be told, I was following Kyle Larson even before he joined the Hendrick camp.

In fact, I think it’s great that there are other Chevy teams beginning to show up with speed other than just Hendrick. I’m a Ross Chastain fan as well and he hails from Alva, Florida, and that is close to where I live. TrackHouse Racing, Spire Motorsports, Kaulig, and RCR are all on my radar every week. I am a very happy fan when any of the Chevys qualify well and run up front, especially now that they finally seem to be adjusting to the new Camaro body style. (Gee, it’s only taken them a little over half the season to get this far.)

Yeah, I like those Penske and RFK Fords, too. I don’t usually pull for them to win over the Chevy guys, but they are much too talented to overlook. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and yes, Chris Beuscher, Ryan Preece, and Austin Cindric all need a win and could take one today.

I think this season in particular, I have diagnosed myself with Toyota overload syndrome. Not that I have anything against them, other than that they always seem to be stomping the competition at the end of races. I mean, just look at how many wins they have just between Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick. Christopher Bell is healing up and just may surprise us all when this one is over.

So, here’s how I think today is going to go, and I know I’m not alone in this assessment. No matter what the qualifying lineup looks like, when it comes to the end of the race, the Toyotas will most likely be somewhere near the front or even leading. That’s just the way things usually happen at EchoPark Speedway. As usual, running one lap at a chart-topping top speed is nothing like running 400 miles and consistently running down and passing the competition for the win. If past races from this season are used as a guide, there will likely be a Toyota or two pressing forward for the win. I could be wrong in my assessment, but that is the way I see this one going…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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It’s been seven long years since the NASCAR Cup teams have visited this place called the Chicagoland Speedway, but that’s exactly what they’re doing on this race day. In fact, there are two races taking place as they take to the track for the Eero 400, but then that isn’t news to you or me. There are eight races left for the drivers and teams to qualify for the Chase, and that isn’t news either.

So, is there really anything new about this race?

Not really. NASCAR hasn’t visited this track in seven years. The track has been largely ignored for that length of time, and its racing surface is the oldest, if not one of the oldest, on the NASCAR circuit. In other words, it is old and rough and even more of a challenge than it was seven years ago.

Even though the challenge is real, it didn’t seem to affect the two starting on the front row. One one-thousandth of a second separates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in their qualifying times. The question that comes to mind for this fan is: will it make a difference in how the race ends?

The quick answer is one I often give as a fan. Probably not. Qualifying is one thing; the race is another. I hardly ever consider how they qualify as a definite view of the race’s outcome. There are just too many variables that can take place over the planned 400 miles of this or any race.

Since that is how I usually look at a race, I have to admit this one might go against my usual thinking. There are several reasons for that and one of them has to do with the strength the Toyotas have shown over most of this 2026 season. In particular, the strength of the JGR and 23XI teams. Denny Hamlin has four wins and a bunch of poles this season. When it didn’t look like he had a chance to win when a race started, he has come from the back of the field twice to take the win. One of those times, he started on the pole, ended up in the back, and still managed to pull off the win. Honestly, he is having a banner year, and he has never looked as strong as he does this season.

There was a time, as I watched qualifying, when I thought all six JGR and 23XI Toyotas would take the top six starting positions and that they might just take the top six spots when the race was over, and it was going to be another race dominated by the Toyota teams. Instead, Kyle Larson’s Hendrick Chevy and the RFK Fords of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski qualified second, third, and fourth. However, it is worth noting that all but one of the JGR and 23XI Toyotas qualified in the top eight. Tyler Reddick was the only one of the six who didn’t make the top ten, but he did qualify thirteenth. It is also worth noting that his qualifying time was only a little over two tenths of a second slower than pole sitter Hamlin.

There are more questions that come to my mind. From this fan’s view, one has to wonder if this will finally be the day Kyle Larson ends his string of no wins stretching back to last season. I also wonder whether one of the two RFK Fords might get their first win of the season. Either way, when I consider how the Toyotas have been running this season, I have to admit that I’m not really expecting that to happen, although it might be a pleasant surprise.

The second part of this race is sort of a race amongst the drivers themselves. You and I both know it as The In-Season Challenge. In the end, one of them will win a million dollars, so it really continues during every race for four weeks. This is the second week with two to go afterward.

Today’s race will be challenging for several reasons. The track surface is old, and it will eat tires faster than normal. That will be, and has been, the norm this year and part of what the drivers wanted out of the tires provided by Goodyear. The track is rough, and that is a challenge for the Gen 7 cars. There are many reasons for that, but almost every driver, crew chief, and fan is familiar with it. The driver who does a good job controlling tire wear will give himself an advantage that could result in a surprise winner. As usual, strategy will be an important part of today’s race. A lot will be riding on the decisions made as the race progresses. Of course, a lot depends on whether there are a bunch of caution flags, especially near the end.

I know I’ve only mentioned a few I think will do well today. But there are a bunch of hungry drivers who want to pull off the win. That, amongst other reasons, is why I really haven’t been suggesting a winner in recent weeks. The Toyotas appear to have a performance advantage over the Fords and Chevys, but I’m not ruling anyone out.

Now, since this seems to be a day of questions from this fan’s view, I have to ask at least one more. Is there enough time for anyone to overtake Hamlin or Reddick for the points lead before the Chase?

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

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For the second week in a row, the NASCAR Cup teams are taking on another Road Course. Even though they are still in California, there is really no comparison between the two venues other than that they are both Road Courses. This one is shorter and possibly more challenging, even though that might be a hard sell to the drivers. Maybe I should qualify that statement a bit. The Naval base was brand new to them, and Sonoma has long been on the NASCAR circuit. At the Naval base, they had no notes to go off of and started a new book for that course. At Sonoma, they have plenty of notes, but it will still be a challenge. It has always been that way, and it is a real driver’s track.

So, am I saying that the track at the Coronado Naval Base wasn’t a real challenge other than being new? No, not at all. It was also a driver’s track and a real learning experience for the crew chiefs as well as the drivers.

So, getting back to Sonoma, a few things come to mind that might be considered obvious. Once again, SVG is a favorite to be leading the field at the end of the day. That may be true, and it is hard to argue with his abilities on the road courses, but if qualifying gives any indication for how the race might go, he just might have a few challengers in this race.

I don’t know that it is that much of a surprise that Ty Gibbs took the pole for today’s race. He has been showing a lot of speed this season and is generally much improved overall. The question is whether or not he will be there at the end of the day. Not to be critical, but he has sometimes struggled to finish at the front, even though he does often seem to be a contender as the races draw to their final laps. I’m gonna put my opinion on hold and just see how he does in this one.

Carson Hocevar has once again surprised many and qualified second. He sat at the top until Gibbs ran his fast lap. Even though he still lives up to his aggressive style, he is showing that he is maturing and making better decisions as the races progress. He’s been showing speed, but hasn’t always followed up his good qualifying sessions with good finishes.

If you want to talk about surprises, well, from this fan’s view, I would have to say that Kyle Larson not having a win since sometime last season is the biggest, at least from my view. It’s not that he hasn’t shown any speed as the season has progressed, but he has had some bad luck affect his finishes, and it still appears to me that the Toyotas still have an advantage over the Chevys so far this season. He may be starting third, and this could be the day that turns his season around as far as wins go, but even he has his work cut out for himself.

Did I mention that SVG qualified sixth? No, I didn’t, and that was another surprise as this race gets closer to starting today. I’m not going to count him out from winning because he always seems to show really good speed at Sonoma, even though he doesn’t dominate at this track as he does at some of the road courses. Unless he experiences some bad racing luck like he did last weekend, I still think he could be pressing for the lead as this one draws to a close. He really needs a good race, since he sits 17th in the points standings, and this is the last road-course race of the season. I only bring this up because he has been performing better on the road courses than the ovals. That means he needs to have a good race today and keep on improving his performance on the ovals for the rest of the season.

If you listen to the odds-makers, they still put SVG at the top of the list for today’s race. They also mention Kyle Larson as second. I don’t know that I agree with their assessment of today’s race all that much. There are nine races left for drivers to make the Chase, and you can bet that’s going to be on their minds as they face today’s race and the ones that follow. I expect things to be a bit more aggressive because of the limited time left to qualify and that could make things quite a bit more interesting in today’s race and over the next several weeks.

I’m really expecting an unexpected winner in today’s race. The way things have been going lately, that isn’t an unreasonable expectation. There are a bunch of good road course racers in this one, and several that this fan can easily see as possible winners.

Does that mean I will be right in my thinking? Well, that remains to be seen, but I will say this: don’t be surprised if I am…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

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From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The NASCAR Cup Teams take on a new venue this weekend at the Naval Base Coronado. It is a long road course with a lot of turns to the right and the left. There are many places for the drivers to mess up and there are many places that could end their day if they make the wrong choice or move.

From this fan’s view, and after watching the practices and the qualifying, this could turn into a race for second place. Once again, SVG looks to have a good grip on the new track, and he did win the pole. That isn’t a definite thing, but it is a definite possibility. Of course, that is pure speculation at this point, and there were a couple of others who turned in really good qualifying times. It looks like Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney could give him a run for his money. Hocevar starts outside SVG on the front row after qualifying second, and Blaney qualified third.

This is the first time in recent memory that none of the Toyotas qualified in the top ten. Of course, that’s not as ominous as it may sound at first. They do have the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth spots locked in at the time of this writing, but it’s not the usual ones we’ve come to expect over the last several races. Ty Gibbs qualified eleventh, Bubba Wallace twelfth, and Corey Heim thirteenth. Tyler Reddick starts seventeenth and Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin qualified twenty-second and twenty-sixth.

That just is not what this fan expected, but they have had problems on road race tracks in the past. The way Hamlin has been running over the last three races, starting further back in the lineup, hasn’t really detoured him from being there at the front when the races wind down to their final laps. After all, we can’t overlook the fact that Hamlin has won the last three races in a row. Though he admits they struggle on road courses, who’s to say he won’t make it four in a row?

Like I said, the top ten has some of the expected competitors, but there are some surprises and some that are just good road racers. Zane Smith starts fourth, Todd Gilliland qualified fifth. I have to admit, those two kind of surprised me. I wasn’t surprised all that much by the next four. Daniel Suarez has been showing some speed lately in qualifying, He just needs it to carry over to the end of the race. Ryan Preece and Connor Zilisch qualifying seventh and eighth, respectively, is kind of surprising but not totally unexpected, much like Michael McDowell, who is starting ninth.

I am surprised, although I shouldn’t be, that Austin Hill took the tenth starting spot. Since he took over the number thirty-three Chevy for RCR after the unexpected death of Kyle Bush, he has been steadily improving in the Cup car. He is talented and every race, he is improving as he adapts to the Cup Series. I don’t expect it, but could he be one of the dark horses for the race today? Well, probably not, but he just might be one of the ones to watch when it comes to the final checkered flag.

I’ve already mentioned the Toyotas and where they’re starting, but there are several drivers who just missed it when it came to qualifying. Kyle Larson finished at the top of the board in Friday’s practice sessions. I really thought he might be starting a lot nearer to the front, likely in the top five, but he just couldn’t do better than fourteenth. I won’t count him out for being in the hunt in the closing laps, but I’m just not seeing it as a reality at the moment. He may surprise us all, though.

The rest of the Hendrick Chevys qualified pretty far back in the field, also. Bowman, twentieth, Byron, twenty-seventh, and Elliott, thirtieth. I can’t say I was expecting that at all.

I could go on and on about the qualifying and how poorly some of them did, but I won’t. Let’s move on to what it might take to finish at or near the front.

First of all, this fan believes the only hope most of the field has of taking the win is for SVG to have problems. His road-racing skill has almost been unmatched over the last two years in particular. He just has an advantage over most in the field, and that’s why I said earlier, this might be a race for second place. I know this is a tough track and is going to challenge all of the drivers, but, unless SVG has problems, this fan thinks he is going to win.

I know I’ve been pretty blunt in what I’ve just said, and I could be surprised at which of the drivers might win. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of places that a driver can mess up, and SVG is no exception. And believe me, I’m not counting out the rest of the field just because he has shown himself to usually have an advantage over them on the road racing tracks. I just believe everyone has their work cut out for themselves in this one.

Tires and avoiding hitting the walls could be the biggest key to winning this one. Along with all of those challenges, just being patient and not too aggressive at the wrong spots could be the ticket to Victory Lane for any of them. Honestly, I’m expecting a lot of carnage…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… I’ll see you next time…

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From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The Cup teams are taking on the tricky triangle at Pocono once again, and things are different even though they are basically the same. One thing that didn’t change was the person sitting on the pole. Yeah, that’s right, Denny Hamlin took the pole position again this weekend, and it’s beginning to look like it’s becoming a habit for him.

Now, before you think I’m going to talk negatively about Denny, let me just say he is having a great year, just like his employee, Tyler Reddick. In fact. Hamlin and Reddick are just two of the Toyota drivers who are showing up just about every weekend as the ones to beat. Between them, they have eight wins. To this fan, that means the Toyotas have something going for them in terms of handling and speed.

In fact, the Toyotas as a whole are all showing the ability to run up front, whether they actually end up there at the end of a race or not. Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, and Christopher Bell, all of JGR, have all shown the ability to run up front often this season, even though those three haven’t always had the best luck when it comes down to the end of a race.

As an example of just how difficult it has been for them, take a look at what happened to Christopher Bell last weekend. He had a fast Toyota, was moving forward, and running outside of Chase Elliott when Elliott lost control, overcorrected, and put Bell hard into the wall. Elliott came away without any injury, but Bell came away with a broken wrist. Since I experienced a few severe wrecks when I was racing, I’m betting he was very sore all over for at least a couple of days or so. My body has never forgotten those wrecks.

I admit that, even though they have been running well, they have also encountered the “Bad Racing Luck” beast that often raises its ugly head often so far this season. It hasn’t just affected the Toyotas either. It has been quite equal amongst many of the different manufacturers and teams at one time or other during this 2026 season.

At least this weekend, the Toyotas aren’t totally dominating the top ten starting spots in the lineup. When I say not totally dominating, there are still five of them in the top fifteen but two of them are from the Legacy camp. There are seven Chevys and three Fords.

Although he didn’t sound all that confident about the overall balance and speed of his Chevy, Kyle Larson did qualify on the front row with Hamlin. He has been showing that the Hendrick Chevys may be finding the balance of their new Camaro body style and has been running well at times in the last several weeks. We all knew it was just a matter of time until the Hendrick camp began to zero in on making the new body style begin to work and show speed. Even though they have shown moments of speed, they are still behind the Toyotas, especially the JGR Toyotas and, of course, Tyler Reddick, even though he has had a few things go against him the last couple of races.

There are several surprises that have been showing up with speed and two of them right off the top are Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar. Both of them have won races and here at Pocono, they both might have qualified in the top five. As it stands for the start of the race, Suarez is starting third and showed a lot of speed in his qualifying lap. Carson had a good qualifying time going until he lost control and ended up qualifying twenty-sixth. Both he and his teammate, Suarez, could be pressing for the lead in the closing laps, and one of them could end up in Victory Lane at the end of the race.

Another surprise, at least to this fan, is Erik Jones. He has been running well and showing up at the end of the races as competitive, though he hasn’t pressed for the win yet.

There is no doubt that the Tricky Triangle is a tough track and will test the drivers in several ways. The first thing that comes to mind is the weather. Because NASCAR is trying to beat the predicted rain, they moved the race start time up two hours to 1 p.m. To this fan, who says there is still a possibility the race could be rain-shortened, and that could mean the racing could be a little more aggressive than usual. Well, that is for a big track like Pocono.

And then there is that rough area in the tunnel turn that has been known to challenge more than one driver and ruin their day. I’m not saying it will make a big difference in the outcome of the race, but I am expecting its impact to be felt more than once as the race progresses to the final checkered flag.

So, rather than drag this out like a race at Pocono, I have to wonder if Denny Hamlin is going to make it three in a row and take his eighth career victory at Pocono. Barring the unforeseen, it does appear he has the handle on the track and could complete more dominance on the rest of the field as he has over the last two weekends.

My last question is a simple one, and it needs your opinion. Will Kyle Larson finally win a race since it has been such a long time since his last Cup victory? Yeah… that’s the way I feel about it, too…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…