podcast

Cup Teams Short Tracking Martinsville             

by

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The Cup Teams take on their first short track of the 2025 season and what better place to do that than Martinsville. Martinsville never disappoints when it come to drama and it really is short track racing at its finest.

Christopher Bell sits on the pole but is followed by three of the Hendrick Chevys. In fact, the Hendrick camp did qualify all four teams in the top ten. Along with Bell, Denny Hamlin, also from the JGR camp, qualified fifth and two Fords that have been showing speed almost every weekend so far. Of course, that would be the Fords of Buescher and Logano. Once again, Bubba Wallace is showing up with good speed and determination and was the best in practice but only qualified eighth. He is followed by 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick.

Now I’ve just spent a little time talking about the top ten qualifiers but there is something I find even more interesting for the race today. Only one tenth of a second separates the top thirteen qualifiers from the pole sitter. It isn’t unusual for the qualifying times to be very close, especially at a short track like Martinsville, but it should make for interesting racing. Of course, short tracking at Martinsville always shows the importance of race and pit strategy and it is often the thing that makes the biggest difference when it comes down to the final laps.

According to his own words, Christopher Bell was surprised by his qualifying speed since he was concerned with his handling and speed in practice. From this fan’s view, I think his pole win may not be the thing that propels him to the win. Now, I’m not saying he won’t win but I am saying qualifying with the fastest one lap speed doesn’t always mean taking home the trophy. I will say this though. With the way he has started the season, this could be his fourth victory in this still early, 2025 NASCAR Cup season. I do find it interesting that, though he has those three wins, he sits fifth in the points so far this season. Of course, I realize that DNF is the biggest reason for that.

The biggest surprise to this NASCAR fan are the Hendrick teams. With their overall record at Martinsville and where they qualified for this race, there is a good chance one of the four of them could end up in Victory Lane. Alex Bowman has been showing a lot of strength so far and he could be the one that walks away with this one.

Chase Elliott may have something to say about that though. He has been running well but has been plagued by bad luck in the 2025 season so far. He has three top tens this season but has only led two laps and sits sixth in points for the season so far. He would be my most recent candidate for the song, “If it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all.” Sure, I realize it’s not as bad as I just made that sound but he needs a good finish and nothing would help that team’s moral more than a win. (Hey, just saying, and that could be the understatement of the year.

Joey Logano is another that just can’t seem to catch a break. He has had speed but he hasn’t had consistently good finishes. Between him and Ryan Blaney, I don’t know which one wants to at least have a good finish and, yes, I know both of them would relish a win more than anything else. Whether or not their luck will change at Martinsville, I don’t know. What is very evident is that they both need to not have trouble and they both need to finish in the top ten.

I think the biggest surprise to this fan this season is Bubba Wallace. Judging from his reactions he thinks he is choking at the end of a race but I don’t see it that way. He is probably going to post a win much sooner than later and then, look out. There could be more than just win for him this season.

Okay, the race at Martinsville will happen one way or another and this fan thinks it just might be a race between the dirt track racers. I’m not ruling anyone out but I do think this one could come down to a close finish between Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick.

Of course, I could be wrong and it wouldn’t be the first time. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Somebody totally unexpected end up in Victory Lane? Yeah, this is Martinsville and it is short track racing and that could totally be the way it ends…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 30, 2025 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

Bowman Gray Kicks Off The 2025 NASCAR Season             

by

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

Well, hello again from the ‘Old Guy’ hosting the NASCAR Fan’s View blogcast for another NASCAR Cup Season. To coin a phrase that my dentist uses to get me to make an appointment, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen your smile.” Look, I know I can’t see your smiles but I do know I’m back for another season of NASCAR Cup racing and I can’t wait to see how this season pans out from here. (And I still don’t know what that has to do with seeing your smiles… )

For the last couple of years or so, I haven’t been all that interested in the first race of the year and, I have to be honest, I’m not all that thrilled with the way the season starts these days. If I can be bold and honestly state my opinion, this first race on the short track at Bowman Gray and the ones at the Coliseum in California, just aren’t my favorites. I know nobody cares what I think of these races but, to me they are more a race for the drivers than anyone. I realize short track racing appeals to a lot of fans, but to me, these aren’t all that exciting and the real appeal for the fans is the close racing and the bumping and banging, pushing and shoving. That just doesn’t do it for me. I mean, I raced short tracks and there was plenty of that kind of stuff going on in our class and the street racers.

So why do I even bring any and all of this up? Well, because it is going to be racing like a Saturday night under the lights and, even though it’s on a Sunday night, it does hold a certain draw on my attention and I am usually glad I took the time to watch. I can only hope that it is somewhat more than I expect.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe it will be much different if the practices and qualifying were anything like the race will be tonight. I still believe it is a race more for the drivers than anyone else. Since it is short track racing at a track where it is hard to pass, it will be a race that sees what I mentioned earlier. Most of the passing will be done by moving someone out of the way. Oh sure, there will be a little bit of normal passing but most of it will be by what some call the usual method, the “old bump and run.”

Judging from what I witnessed in the heats, some of it could get a little out of hand. I realize a part of short track racing is just what happened in the heats but I also noticed that once things settled down a bit, it was pretty much follow the leader and hardly any passing took place. I admit during the heat races there were fewer cars on the track at once and I know there will be more on the track during the race tonight. What concerns me is that the race will become mostly follow the leader and the only hope someone has of moving forward will be to use their bumpers.

Once again, that’s what many consider to be normal short track racing but, in my biased opinion, the race can become a bit boring. I’m a fan and I like good hard racing but I hope things go a little different than what I witnessed last night.

So, what do I expect to see? Well, that’s a good question. I think the ones that start out front will move ahead until they catch up with the slower cars. That may be the only time things might get interesting. Those in the lead during the heats seemed to stay there because there were only so many cars on the track at once and the heat races were short. In the race tonight things will be decidedly different if for no other reason there will be more cars and more laps.

In this fan’s opinion, that could be the thing that might keep this race interesting. Then again, it may be just the fact that the emotions will begin to mount up and the frustrations from being beat on and bumped continuously will add up to temper displays that could change the whole outcome of the race and, in particular, for those that looked like they might win.

I guess you can tell I’m still not thrilled with The Clash but I will still be watching and hoping to be completely surprised by the outcome…

Ok! Now that I’ve vented about my feelings for this first race of the season, I guess it’s time to move on to what this is really all about… the 2025 NASCAR Cup season. Can’t wait for Daytona!

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© February 02, 2025 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated