It must suck to be one of the countless number of fans who threatened a boycott in the wake of ‘The Big Three’ running roughshod over the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this summer.
That’s because buried beneath the headlines of yet another Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch or Martin Truex victory has been some spectacular racing or memorable moments. Sure, Kentucky was a bit of a dud but the races at Chicagoland and New Hampshire may have been the best of the season.
And even Daytona, as ridiculous as it was, provided drama and a new name in victory lane.
And despite how it ultimately played out, it’s not like the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 was a ‘Big Three’ rout. In fact, there was a point during the race that it seemed like Aric Almirola was destined to buck the trend.
And you know what, that’s the cool thing about dynasties — the energy and enthusiasm when it looks like someone is going to end it.
If not for a suspect caution call with 45 laps to go, Almirola very well could have run away with it.
Anyway, appreciate excellence. In an era where NASCAR works diligently to keep teams close, it’s quite the marvel that three teams have managed to be head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field.
And for those that don’t appreciate the elimination playoff format, that’s the only things offering any hope that one of the ‘Big Three’ don’t simply march into Homestead-Miami Speedway unchallenged in November.
This has been fun, even if the Racing Reference page doesn’t immediately reflect it.
The rest of what we learned in Loudon on Sunday can be viewed below.
“How you race is how you get raced.”
That was an interesting thing for Kyle Busch to say about Kevin Harvick considering just three weeks ago, he himself used the bumper in a thrilling final lap duel with Kyle Larson at Chicagoland. Sure, Larson initiated the contact with his failed slide-job, but it was the final lap of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
Wins don’t grow on trees.
This is racing for the win in an era where winning means a great deal in terms of winning championships. There has been a lot of talk about etiquette in the aftermath of these two races. What’s fair game on the final lap?
Harvick’s move was easily the cleanest of the three in question compared to Larson’s slide job and Busch’s retaliatory spin-to-win.
To his credit, Harvick didn’t dump Busch. Harvick spent several laps tapping at the rear bumper of the Busch Toyota to let him know he was there. It was just a matter of timing the decisive move on a one-grove, one-mile race track.
If Harvick doesn’t move Busch far enough up the track, creating enough distance between them, he’s going to get it right back.
Just ask Larson.
“Well, he did that because of Chicago,” Busch said. “I think that, you know, he had a fair game. Everybody has fair game on Kyle Busch — that’s for sure when it comes to the fan base, so, you know, that’s fine…
“But, you know, it was just a bump. I mean, it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t wreck me or anything like that, so he did it early enough, but he did it way harder and pushed me out of the groove three lanes and it just takes you so long to recover here that it was just no possible way I could get back to him… I was in the way, so no harm, no foul.”
Exactly.
“Yeah, definitely your goal is to not wreck him,” Harvick said. “Your goal is to move him out of the groove, get away from him far enough because you know they’re going to be mad.”
To misquote a favorite NASCAR movie, “he didn’t dump you, he bumped you, and bumping is racing.”
After all, Busch still finished second.
Opinion: Fix the schedule, NASCAR
It seems like everyone has a fix for NASCAR these days.And that’s remarkable for an industry that routinely chastises anyone with influence who suggests that anything is wrong. After all, …
With the playoffs just six weeks away, this would be a fine time for the other top-10 teams to close the gap to the ‘Big Three.’
For those looking for relief from Busch, Harvick and Truex, there were some signs of life on Sunday.
As stated before, Almirola probably wins that race if it stays green, something he can thank Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for since he stayed out on the track with an apparent wheel failure, hoping to get a caution or nurse it to the finish.
Instead, he was the caution.
Ultimately, that led to a slower restart for the No. 10 crew and a poor restart and Almirola was relegated to a third-place finish.
“We’re going to win,” Almirola said. “I mean, you can say I said it here in the media center at Loudon, New Hampshire. We’re running too good. We’re too competitive to not win. It’s just a matter of when. When are we going to win?
I firmly believe that. I think that is the mentality that we all have on this team. That’s what has us fired up. We keep working hard every week. We don’t worry about anybody else. We’re just focused on our team, our car, doing the things we need to do to make our car go fast.
“We’re on the brink of getting there. Hopefully it happens soon. If not, I’ll take it in the first round of the Playoffs, too.”
Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports showed signs of life on Sunday too.
Chase Elliott finished fifth, Jimmie Johnson was 10th and Alex Bowman was 11th. Not spectacular but obvious improvement from where they’ve been all season. The top-10 was just the seventh for Johnson this season and ninth for Elliott. All three Hendrick cars also capitalized on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s misfortune to build a playoff cushion entering the stretch run.
You just have to think that Hendrick Motorsports has at least a little run in them this season. Maybe they won’t be the team to end the reign of the ‘Big Three,’ but recall that this is the same point of the season last year that Toyota really started to figure out their new Camry.
Perhaps Hendrick Motorsports, at last, is going to rejoin Team Penske on that second tire under Gibbs/Furniture Row and Stewart-Haas, adding some intrigue to the playoffs as a result.
Inconsistencies in race control: NASCAR says they saw debris from the Bowyer incident, but that’s an odd call considering that Stenhouse drilled the wall much harder earlier in the race but that didn’t warrant a caution.
That’s a tough job in race control, but you just hate for that to be a talking point when Almirola looked so in control in the middle of the final stage.
NBC’s all-color television booth: NBC Sports tried something different this weekend with three color analysts in the broadcast box. At first, it seemed disjoined and lacking the direction of a good play-by-play guy. However, on the other hand, the enthusiasm was infectious as hell over the final 10 laps when Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came across like three racing guys just talking about to their audience about racing.
Personally speaking, it grew on me.
Speaking of Dale, I don’t understand the vitriol about Earnhardt wearing a vintage tee-shirt and jeans in the booth if that’s what he is prone to do. When NBC hired Dale Earnhardt Jr., they wanted the real deal, Watercooler Dale if you will.
Fans don’t want ‘Boss Man Dale,’ making deals and sealing them with a firm handshake.
Earnhardt isn’t a journalist in the traditional sense and shouldn’t be held to those archaic standards. He’s a NASCAR personality and a grassroots storyteller, something that would be lost in a suit and tie.
– Matt Weaver is an associate motorsports editor at Autoweek. Before becoming a journalist, he was a dirt track racer and short track cheeseburger connoisseur.
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