Kaz Grala Best On Short Tracks But Not At Martinsville

Kaz Grala makes his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Martinsville. While the Rick Ware Racing driver had decent speed at Richmond, don't expect him to repeat that feat at Martinsville. This is because his average finish of 21.5 in the Xfinity Series and an average finish of 17.0 in the Craftsman Truck Series. Short tracks […]

Harrison Burton Starts 34th From Martinsville On Sunday

Harrison Burton starts 34th at Martinsville on Sunday, far off his three de facto Penske teammates who all qualified in the top fifteen. Like Austin Cindric, Burton has been much closer to his stronger 2022 speed than his weaker 2023 speed this year, but short tracks remain Burton's Achilles' heel. He has never finished better […]

Austin Cindric Has Issues On Short Tracks Like Martinsville

Austin Cindric qualified 14th for tomorrow's Martinsville race. Although he was generally much faster in 2022 than in 2023, he did have his best ever Martinsville finish in the 2023 fall event when he finished 9th. However, he is not particularly known for his short track prowess. Cindric had below average speed at both Bristol […]

Bubba Wallace's Late-Race Contact With Kyle Larson Ends Up Hurting Him

Bubba Wallace had a very strong run at Richmond this past weekend with an average running position of sixth, his best on a short track since the previous Richmond race last summer. He ranked fifth in driver rating at 102.6 and seventh in average speed. Wallace was running fifth before spinning out Kyle Larson in […]

Chase Elliott Not As Fast As Finish Shows At Richmond

Chase Elliott showed his fastest recent pace at times in this past weekend's Richmond race, where his second-place qualifying run was his best since the 2022 fall Martinsville race. He was very fast in the wet portion of the Toyota Owners 400, taking the lead from teammate Kyle Larson on the opening lap before Larson […]

Christopher Bell Had Right Strategy, But Penalty Took Him Out At Richmond

Christopher Bell attempted a similar strategy to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, the eventual winner of Sunday night's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, but it fell short largely because Bell sped in the pits on his penultimate pit stop. Although Bell did not have the speed of his other teammate, Martin Truex, Jr., […]

Daniel Hemric Will Likely Continue To Be Slow at Richmond

Daniel Hemric has been the slowest full-time driver of 2024 with a speed percentile of 17.51. Don't expect that to change much after today's race at Richmond as he qualified a mere 34th only ahead of the Rick Ware cars of Kaz Grala and Justin Haley. Although Hemric finished all three of starts at Richmond, […]

Justin Haley's Momentum Derailed by Effects of COTA Disqualification

Although Justin Haley delivered two of Rick Ware Racing's best-ever performances in his last two races, earning the team the best average running position in back-to-back events, his last race at Circuit of the Americas was overshadowed by a post-race disqualification when it was revealed that his car was too light. The last-place finish culminated […]

Kaz Grala's Strong Xfinity Series Richmond Record Probably Won't Help Him in Cup

Kaz Grala will be making his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond this weekend, and Richmond was actually one of Grala's most productive tracks in the Xfinity Series, as he scored top-10 finishes in his last three starts there culminating in a fourth-place finish at last year's spring event, tying for his best career […]

Ty Dillon Returns to Action, but is Subpar on Short Tracks

Ty Dillon makes his debut in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series this weekend at Richmond for Kaulig Racing, but don't expect him to do much. Similarly to Harrison Burton and Austin Cindric, Dillon has finished every race at Richmond he's started but has never led a lap or really done anything in his past races. […]

Austin Cindric Mediocre at Richmond and Poor Ford Speed Won't Help

Austin Cindric has not been particularly strong at Richmond. Although he has finished all five of his attempts, he has never finished on the lead lap, led a lap, or posted a result better than 12th. His average finish of 22.8 is below average even though the Fords were generally strong in most of those […]

Harrison Burton Not a Master of Richmond Unlike Father Jeff

Although Jeff Burton led more laps at Richmond International Raceway than any other track, his son Harrison has not been nearly as successful. Although Harrison Burton has finished all four of his Richmond starts, he has never finished better than 18th or led a lap in any of his Richmond races to date. This weekend, […]

Shane van Gisbergen Comes Down to Earth After Mediocre COTA Run

Because of his blockbuster Supercars career, his Chicago Street Course win, and his Xfinity Series near-miss on Saturday, NASCAR analysts likely had overinflated expectations for Shane van Gisbergen's race at Circuit of the Americas. He won at Chicago largely because none of the then-NASCAR Cup Series regulars had experience there and he had vastly more […]

Ross Chastain Ran Well at COTA as Usual Despite Late-Race Fade

Although Ross Chastain tends to struggle at many of the other road courses (particularly the rovals), he has consistently been a master at the Circuit of the Americas, where he now has a career average finish of 4.0 despite posting his worst-ever finish of seventh in the race on Sunday. Although Chastain faded in the […]

Christopher Bell's Furious Charge Falls Just Short at COTA

Christopher Bell used an offbeat pit strategy to his advantage and finish second at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday. While most drivers pitted immediately before the pits closed in Stages 1 and 2 so they would inherit the lead after the erstwhile leaders pitted under caution, Bell waited until Stage 2 to ensure he […]

Bubba Wallace Improving in Road Course Pace and Results

For most of Bubba Wallace's career, road courses were his Achilles heel, but he's been getting better at them. At COTA last year, Wallace ranked second in practice to his teammate Tyler Reddick for quite a while. Although he only qualified 11th and crashed in the race, his speed that weekend was the most he'd […]

Zane Smith Unlikely to Repeat Truck Series Performances at COTA

Zane Smith makes his first Circuit of the Americas start in the Cup Series this weekend. Although he qualified back in 34th for this weekend's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, he did have a great deal of success at this track in the Truck Series, where he won in both 2022 and 2023. In the 2022 […]

Carson Hocevar Benefiting from Improved Spire Speed

Carson Hocevar starts 18th for this weekend's race at Circuit of the Americas, outqualifying fellow rookies Josh Berry and Zane Smith. However, Hocevar's teammate, Corey LaJoie, was the biggest surprise in qualifying, as LaJoie's fifth-place qualifying run was easily the best of his career. Spire is clearly getting significantly more manufacturer support from Chevrolet and […]

Don't Count on Daniel Hemric Having Speed at COTA

Although the Kaulig Racing cars dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, the same did not hold true in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, as Daniel Hemric will be starting 33rd for Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. He was the slowest Chevrolet driver in the first round of qualifying. Hemric […]

Road Courses Not Harrison Burton's Strength

Although Harrison Burton did score his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series on a road course in the Indianapolis GP in 2022 with a third-place finish, that is an outlier for him in general, as he is not particularly known as a road racer. This weekend the series is at Circuit of the […]

Chase Briscoe Let Down by Ford Speed Deficit

Chase Briscoe has been a solid performer at Circuit of the Americas but it may be tough for him to run as well in this weekend's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. In the first COTA race in 2021, Briscoe finished sixth, matching his best finish in his rookie season. The following year he finished 30th, but […]

Alex Bowman's Late Charge to Fourth Masks Early Race Struggles

In an otherwise mediocre season, Alex Bowman made a surprise charge to fourth on the final stint of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol on Sunday. Bowman tends to thrive in chaotic situations, so his strong finish shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Nearly lapped in the closing stages of the race, he […]

Christopher Bell Ran Well, But His Teammates Were All Better

Christopher Bell had a solid run at Bristol this weekend, but in almost every regard he was outperformed by his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. While all four JGR drivers took turns up front and had multiple passes for the lead, Bell had the worst finish (10th), the fewest laps led (29), the lowest driver […]

John Hunter Nemechek's NextGen Inexperience Makes Him a Longshot

Despite earning a top-10 finish at Daytona, John Hunter Nemechek's return to the Cup Series has been a surprisingly disappointing one, as he has zero laps led and no other top-20 race finishes despite retaining Ben Beshore as crew chief, who he dominated the Xfinity Series with last year. Nemechek's speed percentile of 26.77 lags […]

Corey LaJoie Has Speed at Bristol If He Can Avoid Errors

Corey LaJoie has had a very topsy-turvy 2024 to date. With increased Chevrolet investment into the Spire operation, LaJoie has never had more speed; he has ranked in the top half of speed in all three races he finished. However, he was mistake-prone the last two race weekends as he crashed at Las Vegas and […]

Kaz Grala's Short Track Debut Will Probably Disappoint

Kaz Grala makes his Cup Series short track debut at Bristol this afternoon, which makes speculating about his performance something of a question mark. Grala got much hype early in his career because he had two top-10s in his first three starts, but those came on a road course and a superspeedway race. Rick Ware […]

Austin Dillon Worse on Pavement Than on Dirt at Bristol

Austin Dillon starts 31st for this weekend's Bristol race, which is the worst Bristol qualifying run in his NASCAR Cup Series career and his worst starting position on any short track since 2017. While Dillon was a revelation in last year's spring event where he qualified second, finished third, and posted the fastest average race […]

Harrison Burton's Short Track Struggles Will Likely Continue at Bristol

Harrison Burton qualified 13th for this weekend's Food City 500, giving him his best starting position on a short track in his Cup career. But while he seems to have slightly improved since 2023 (if only because the Penske cars seem to be a little faster), his short track performance has not been up to […]

Chase Briscoe an Underrated Power Play at Bristol

After an inexplicably subpar 2023, Chase Briscoe seems to have regained much of his speed in 2024 as his sixth-place qualifying run for this weekend's Bristol race gives him his fourth straight top-10 start, the longest such streak of his career. While Briscoe's speed percentile of 39.71 last year was not good, he was significantly […]

Pit Strategy Miscue Foils Martin Truex, Jr. Despite Race-Leading Speed

Martin Truex, Jr. was the fastest driver in Sunday's Shriners Children's 500 race at Phoenix, just as he was at Atlanta, making him the first NASCAR Cup driver to have the fastest average speed twice this season. Truex leads all drivers with a speed percentile of 95.71, but his chances for victory were thwarted by […]