The last stop for this western sweep of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is at the Auto Club Speedway in Southern California. If qualifying gives us any idea of what Sunday’s race will be like then… well… let’s just say it could be very different than the norm. I’m not saying it will be strange or weird but, it could be very different than what we as fans have come to expect from the racing at the speedway.
Just in case you missed it, the third round of qualifying basically didn’t happen. Because of the way qualifying is done these days, nobody made it around to take the green flag in time to beat the clock. Everyone waited until too late and qualifying reverted back to the way they finished in the second round giving Austin Dillon the pole. In all honesty, from this fan’s view it was much more frustrating than it was exciting and really quite a let down. (At least to this fan it was.)
It’s not that I don’t like the way qualifying takes place, it’s just that I don’t see the purpose of even having qualifying if no one wants to be the first one on the track. Their reasoning was they needed to be able to draft to get their top speed and actually go for the pole. In my opinion, they might as well go back to having single car, three hour qualifying sessions or just line up according to points position and see how that goes. Can’t be much different than it was this time.
Naturally, at this time is when I go into my minor “rant mode” and I still want to give my opinion of last week’s race at Phoenix even though my overall opinion hasn’t changed all that much yet.
To be honest, as a fan I have been relatively disappointed with the racing so far this season. I can’t really point to any one reason but I do know it has been tough to stay interested when most of the real racing happens during the starts and restarts after cautions or the end of the stages. One thing that bothers me week in and week out is how the talking heads keep saying how exciting the racing has been this season. There have been times I really don’t think they are watching the same races I am. When they were in Vegas there was talk of how exciting the restarts would be. The only problem was they only had restarts after the stages were done and that wasn’t very exciting, (at least not to me.)
Last weekend at Phoenix they had a plethora of cautions and plenty of restarts. According to some, that made the race really exciting. (Well, at least for a few laps at those times anyway.) That’s not necessarily the way I saw it and I wasn’t alone. In fact, I had a conversation with a customer/acquaintance and we basically agreed on the quality of racing this season. He said there just isn’t the same intensity as in years past. (Hey, he brought it up first, it wasn’t just me thinking out loud.) We both agreed it doesn’t have to do with the new rule changes for this season. It just seems that something is different but neither of us could put our finger on what it is exactly. Oh, and by the way, we both agreed there seems to be a lot whining going on this year.
Anyway, this weekend might be just a little different. Everyone seems to be wondering if Kyle Bush is going to win another one. Whether he ties or surpasses Richard Petty’s 200 victories this weekend isn’t all that important to me. Records are made to be broken and he is a very talented driver. I don’t really compare the two and their number of wins. They were, and are, great drivers and both have made a definite impact on the sport, they were just in different eras. The times and technology may change but talent is talent.
Probably the biggest question in my mind for this weekend is, “Will this be the weekend that the Chevys begin to actually show up at the end of a race?” This may be a new year, new season and new rules but their struggle continues. The Fords and the Toyotas seem to have picked up where they left off last season (even with the new rules changes) and I guess you could say the same thing about the Chevys. They just haven’t shown the same results as the other two makes and, as I said last season and still say this season, the Camaro just hasn’t proved to be a good choice for some reason or another. Not that they haven’t shown speed at times, but they just haven’t shown it when it counts – like when the checkered flag drops at the end of the race, declaring the Victor.
I don’t know… maybe the racing to this fan just isn’t as good as it was because the Chevys aren’t winning (or even showing they can win.)
Wait a minute! Does that sound like I’m whining…?
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 16, 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
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer – © March 16, 2019 – all rights reserved Rusty Norman is PodCastNorm