From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The NASCAR Cup teams take it to Kansas Speedway this weekend and there are a bunch of drivers that need a win or a very good finish in this race. Not so much to take away some of the stress of them trying to qualify for the playoffs but more for just getting some momentum going in this 2023 NASCAR season. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but the Chevys have been the ones to beat when it comes to race day. In fact, there are two drivers and teams that have started off the season with laps led and looking hard to beat, are the two Hendrick teams of Willian Byron and Kyle Larson. So far this season, they have led the most laps and each of them have two victories.
Now, I’m not saying they have been unbeatable (which has been very obvious lately) but they have consistently shown up with fast cars and generally results to show for it. In fact, from this fan’s view, I would say Kyle Larson could have already won four or five of the races in this early part of the season. But once again, it seems that, “If it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all,” to quote from an old song from many years ago. At least two times in the last few weeks, being in the right place at the wrong time has cost him a possible victory. Some would call that racing luck and I believe that has had something to do with it. I won’t go into a long explanation of why I think his luck has been bad, especially the last two weekends but just the same, it can turn the other way just as fast.
William Byron and the number twenty-four team on the other hand, has so far been very impressive most all season long, too. Both he and Kyle have looked strong off the truck just about every week. In fact, he could have won last week had it not been for a bad set of tires in the last long green flag run. Even if it hadn’t been for the poor performance in that part of the final stage, he might have been able to give Martin Truex Jr. a run for his money along with Ross Chastain.
Speaking of Ross, he is from Alva, FL and that is about thirty miles from where I live. His TrackHouse Chevys have been fast almost every week, too. Although he hasn’t made a lot of friends this season much like last season, I can’t argue with his success and I am sure a win is in his future but his aggressive style will likely come back to bite him along the way. Even this last weekend, he got into Brennan Poole and that contact on lap eighty-two of the four hundred took Kyle Larson out of contention for the rest of the race. Although not able to keep the pace for the rest of the race, he did manage to get in Ross’s way and possibly held him up just long enough from getting to Truex, Jr. and, from this fan’s view, kept him from a possible win over Truex Jr.
Although the Chevys look strong this weekend, from this fan’s view so do the Toyotas. After last weekend, I just can’t reasonably count out Martin Truex Jr. from making it two in a row. It looks like they have found some speed over at the JGR Toyota camp and Martin led the way last weekend. Looking at qualifying speeds, it is awfully hard to not see the Toyotas of Truex, Bell, Reddick and Hamlin as threats to win this weekend along with Bubba Wallace. Any one of the Toyotas could pull into Victory Lane when this one is over.
And then… there are the Fords. After a disastrous race last weekend, Joey Logano looked much better this weekend for the Kansas Speedway. He had speed and qualified sixth for the race today. Of course, he is right there in between the four JGR Toyotas but I don’t think that will deter him from making a run for the win. After Last week’s race, this fan thinks he and his crew chief have something to prove and it could result in a win which wouldn’t surprise me all that much, (even if I would rather see a Chevy sitting in Victory Lane.)
The race today at Kansas Speedway is going to be a hot one and possibly in more ways than one. Temperature-wise it’s going to be hot and that could be rough on both cars and drivers. It is expected that up against the wall will be the best place to run, but at this track, the racing groove is from the bottom to the top. It just depends on which one ends up working the best. If someone, or several someones, can run the bottom and the top they will likely walk away with the win.
This is another race where it is hard to pick a possible winner and I won’t even try. One thing this fan knows for sure is that only one of the thirty-six drivers can win. Which one is the real question…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© May 07, 2023 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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