Ross Chastain's Hail Mary Attempt Falls Short

After finishing the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the season finale at Phoenix, Ross Chastain came close to making it two wins in a row, as he was in position to win the Daytona 500 in its final stages. Despite rarely factoring in the first three-quarters of the race because he and the […]

Brad Keselowski's Fate Depends on Ford's Race Speed

Brad Keselowski is generally regarded as one of the best drafters in the NASCAR Cup Series and that has not changed since the NextGen car was introduced. He led the most laps in last year's Daytona 500, finished second to his onetime teammate Joey Logano at Atlanta, and pushed his current teammate, Chris Buescher, to […]

Kaz Grala Lacks Consistency to Seriously Contend at Daytona

After failing to post a time in qualifying due to a shifter issue, Kaz Grala had to advance to the Daytona 500 via his Duel race on Thursday night. He was rather lucky to do so because B.J. McLeod, the driver he was competing against, was faster and outran him for most of the event […]

Noah Gragson Going to Backup Car for Daytona 500

Noah Gragson makes his full-time debut as a driver for Stewart-Haas Racing in the season-opening Daytona 500, but neither he nor the SHR cars in general have shown much speed in either practice or qualifying this weekend. Gragson qualified 16th behind most other Fords and crashed in his Duel race. Gragson's return to the NASCAR […]

Austin Cindric Looks Better, But Other Fords More Likely to Win

After a wildly disappointing 2023, Austin Cindric started off 2024 with a strong 4th-place qualifying run for the Daytona Duel races and backed it up by following Christopher Bell for a second-place in the Duel race. While the previous generation of Fords dominated the drafting tracks the past couple of years, and the new Mustang […]

Kyle Busch Unlikely to End Daytona 500 Winless Drought

Kyle Busch once again seeks his first Daytona 500 win in his 19th career start and seems to be well overdue for his first win in the Great American Race. He ranks 11th all-time and first amongst non-winners with 330 laps led in the Daytona 500 specifically, only one lap led behind A.J. Foyt. In […]

Christopher Bell's Duel Win and Toyota's Speed Bodes Well for Daytona 500

Christopher Bell starts fourth in the Daytona 500 after winning the second Duel race thanks to passing his teammate, Denny Hamlin, on the last lap. Despite having never won a points-paying race on a drafting track before, Bell enters as one of the pre-race favorites. In addition to his Duel win and his resulting good […]

Realistic Expectations For Shane van Gisbergen In 2024

After Shane van Gisbergen won at the Chicago Street Course in 2023, becoming the first driver to win his NASCAR Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963, expectations were sky-high for the three-time Supercars champion. He committed to a full-time switch to NASCAR for 2024, the same switch made by two-time Supercars champion Marcos […]

Zane Smith Likely To Be Overshadowed By Other Rookies

Zane Smith will drive the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports as a NASCAR Cup Series rookie. His team is a satellite of Trackhouse Racing. It's unclear whether Smith's car will be closer to the Trackhouse cars or the other Spire cars in speed. Chevy has invested much more into Spire recently and the team […]

Noah Gragson Likely To Struggle In 2024

After Noah Gragson was fired by Legacy Motor Club and suspended by NASCAR for liking an offensive Twitter meme, Stewart-Haas Racing gave him a second chance and named him as Aric Almirola's replacement in the No. 10 Ford for 2024. Even before his firing, Gragson's 2023 was very uninspiring, as he led only two laps […]

Austin Cindric Should Benefit From Increased Ford Speed

Austin Cindric was one of NASCAR's biggest disappointments in 2023, as he followed up a Daytona 500 win and playoff bid as a rookie with only a single top-five and a dismal 24th-place points finish in a year his teammate Ryan Blaney won the title. While Cindric is average, at best, he should perform better […]

Harrison Burton's Mediocrity Will Probably Continue In 2024

Harrison Burton has had a lackluster start to his NASCAR Cup Series career thus far, but at age 23, he's still young enough that he could unexpectedly make a sudden improvement at any point, although that still seems unlikely. The driver who technically drives for the Wood Brothers but drives for what amounts to a […]

Ryan Blaney's Season Likely Hinges On New Ford Mustang's Speed

Ryan Blaney delivered Team Penske its second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship at the Phoenix championship race in 2023, but that means very little when it comes to projecting his 2024 performance. Ford is debuting its new Mustang Dark Horse for 2024 and this chassis appears to be sleeker and more aerodynamic than the previous […]

Chris Buescher Had Pit Stop Issues On Sunday

Few people seriously considered the eliminated playoff drivers as contenders for yesterday's event, but the eliminated drivers had other ideas. Not only did Ross Chastain rebuild his reputation with a dominant win outdueling the playoff contenders, but Chris Buescher significantly contended too. Buescher probably had winning speed as he passed Chastain for the lead in […]

Kyle Larson Lost The Championship Because Of Passing Inability

Although Kyle Larson went into the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix as the championship favorite, he didn't really have the speed to match eventual champion Ryan Blaney or his teammate William Byron for most of the event. All three drivers were extremely close in speed throughout the event with Byron ranking third, Blaney ranking […]

Justin Haley Too Slow At Phoenix To Seriously Contend

Justin Haley has been remarkably consistent at Phoenix in his NASCAR Cup Series career. Unfortunately, that consistency has been on a very low level as he started outside the top 25 in all five of his previous starts. In four races, he finished between 24th and 27th. The lone exception was a 17th in March […]

Kyle Larson Enters Phoenix As Championship Favorite

Oddsmakers favor Kyle Larson to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Sunday and it's not hard to see why. The driver who won the first race of the Round of 8 went on to win the championship four of the last seven years, including the last two. Larson triumphed here in 2021, so […]

Ryan Preece Might Benefit from Stewart-Haas's Added Emphasis on Phoenix

Although Ryan Preece has been average in the NASCAR Cup Series this year except on short tracks, many pundits consider Phoenix Raceway a springboard for Preece to potentially contend on Sunday. While he never led a lap at the track, Preece did get his best Phoenix finish with a 12th in the March event. Now, […]

Erik Jones Likely To Deliver Best Underdog Performance

Erik Jones suffered a good deal as Legacy Motor Club prepared to switch to Toyota from Chevrolet. Despite this, he vastly outperformed all his teammates including Noah Gragson, Carson Hocevar, and John Hunter Nemechek. All those drivers either announced or likely will have full-time NASCAR Cup rides next season. Additionally, he had a streak of […]

A.J. Allmendinger Lacks Speed In Phoenix Despite Consistency

NASCAR drivers are usually past their prime after age forty, but A.J. Allmendinger is proving to be an arguable exception to this general rule as he has generally had his most consistent NASCAR seasons in recent years. In the races that he and teammate Justin Haley have both finished, Allmendinger has a 19-9 record against […]

Michael McDowell Still May Have Issues In Phoenix

Even though Michael McDowell achieved an unexpected playoff bid and delivered at the Indy road course, Watkins Glen, and Bristol in a very short time span, don't expect him to thrive at Phoenix. Admittedly, he did achieve both his best-ever start and finish in this year's spring Phoenix event, but he has still never had […]

Ricky Stenhouse's Speed Drop Bodes Poorly For Phoenix

Although Ricky Stenhouse's season started off with a bang when he won the Daytona 500 and instantly secured a playoff bid, the figurative wheels came off in the season's second half. He posted only four top ten finishes and 18 laps led. At one point early in the season, Stenhouse was looking like he might […]

Tyler Reddick's Failure To Advance Was Probably Inevitable

Even though Tyler Reddick entered yesterday's Martinsville race ahead of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr. in points, he seemed an extreme long shot to advance to the Championship 4 from the get-go. This is because he was rarely ever better than mediocre at Martinsville or paved short tracks in general. Meanwhile, the four drivers […]

Kyle Larson Ran Extremely Well Despite Lack Of Chevy Speed

Although Kyle Larson failed to sweep the Martinsville races this year, he still had a strong run in yesterday's race considering Chevy had one of its worst races of the year. Larson's sixth-place finish was the only top ten scored by a Chevy driver in the event and no Chevy drivers ranked in the top […]

Daniel Suárez Short Track Woes Likely To Continue

Although he had strong runs several times in the Bristol dirt race, Daniel Suárez has really struggled on paved short tracks for his entire Cup Series career. Excluding the Bristol dirt races, he has never finished better than seventh and has only led a career twelve laps on short tracks. While he did qualify second […]

Alex Bowman Unlikely To Rise Up At Martinsville

Alex Bowman scored one of the most memorable wins of his career in the 2021 Martinsville event after spinning Denny Hamlin to win. Unfortunately, he has mostly struggled in the two years since as he has only scored five top ten finishes. Bowman led 58 laps since the spring short track season started and he […]

Joey Logano Not Quite As Strong At Martinsville This Season

Joey Logano is one of the most consistent Martinsville drivers in recent years. He has a current streak of eight consecutive top tens. Also, Logano scored one of his most memorable wins here in 2018 when he knocked Martin Truex, Jr. out to advance to the Championship Four. Logano is more likely to run well […]

Christopher Bell Has A Chance On Sunday At Martinsville

Christopher Bell enters Sunday's Martinsville race as one of the obvious pre-race favorites considering he won last year's event to advance to the Championship Four, is on a strong hot streak with back-to-back top two finishes in the first two races of this round. Bell seems to have the fastest cars as all four Joe […]

Ryan Preece Strong On Short Tracks Despite Mediocrity Elsewhere

Although Ryan Preece has been slower in the NASCAR Cup Series, his modified experience definitely prepared him for NASCAR's short tracks. Preece ranks 6th in short track speed among Cup Series regulars and is the fastest Ford driver, which you could definitely see while watching the races. Preece's only top five came at the summer […]

Ross Chastain Unlikely To Repeat Martinsville Miracle

Ross Chastain made himself a household name in racing circles by way of his wall ride to drive from tenth to fifth on the last lap at last year's Martinsville race, which became fourth when Brad Keselowski was disqualified after the race. While that move will continue to garner abundant media attention, short tracks have […]