NASCAR Analysis

      What a race. Chase Elliott gets his first win of the 2025 season and his first win since Texas in 2024. He led 41 laps today and contended up front for much of the race. I'll dive into my discussion of Chase Elliott, the top finishers, the big wrecks, and more in this review! Chase Elliott     Elliott has been really weird to gauge the last 3 seasons. He has these moments where he will finally be up front, and might snag a win here and there. That said, he's largely running 6th to 10th most weeks and the team just finds a way to get consistent top 20 finishes. Elliott has done that all season, with there only being a few tracks that he has had winning speed. I look at Kansas, Martinsville, Pocono, and the road courses as to where he has been quick at this year. He has been good, but often overshadowed by his teammates of William Byron and Kyle Larson.     Even before the big one, Elliott was running alright around 10th, but Byron had already...

      Race number 18 of the NASCAR series comes at the Echopark speedway, though I will be referring to it as Atlanta for the foreseeable future. That said, there is a lot to talk about when it comes to what is at stake in this race. Atlanta has been one of the best tracks in the Next Gen era, especially with its emphasis on handling. To an extent, it's like Daytona was before it was repaved. This means that handling is extremely important at Atlanta, and we usually will see the best teams bubble their way towards the front at Atlanta. Today, I want to dive into some storylines, favorites, sleepers, and much more to the race on Saturday night! Storylines     There are a lot of things going on this weekend at Atlanta, especially for the cup series. Firstly, there is the in-season tournament that is happening where each driver qualified in has a chance to win a million dollars. This is a 32 driver, march madness style tournament that takes place over the next...

      For the first time in NASCAR's history, NASCAR is having their own in season tournament. Similar to that of the NCAA March Madness tournament, 32 drivers will compete for a chance at winning a million dollars. The challenge spans over 5 races which includes Atlanta, Chicago, Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis. Fans are also able to participate to have a chance to win a million dollars too! Today, I want to dive into each matchup and give you all my predictions for the in-season tournament. The Round of 32     I'm not going to go super in depth into my picks for each matchup as there are a lot of matchups to get too. That said, the first round takes place at Atlanta, which is about as wild-card of a round as it gets. Atlanta, however, is not the most random  super speedway. Atlanta is more in the drivers control because of how important handling has become. It's refreshing to see Atlanta not be a random lottery as to who wins. As a result, ...

      Amazon Prime's 5 race stretch has come to an end with NASCAR and it was a breathe of fresh air to the NASCAR world. Amazon Prime can in and exceeded the high expectations that many, including myself, put on them. Today, I want to dive into what made the Amazon Prime really good and what we should expect from the other TV partners moving forward. The Booth     The Prime Booth consisted of Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Letarte, all of whom have experience calling NASCAR races before. Earnhardt Jr. and Letarte called races for NBC and Alexander currently calls races for the Xfinity Series on the CW. Though Alexander has not worked with Earnhardt JR and Letarte much in the past, the trio worked extremely well together. Adam Alexander felt fresh in the booth and knew exactly what his role was. He didn't get in the way of Earnhardt Jr. and Letarte when they needed to speak and Alexander did a great job of just letting the race brea...

      Kyle Busch was on the top of his game during the 2010s with Joe Gibbs Racing. He won two championships with JGR in 2015 and 2019, won 55 races between 2008 and 2019, and made the championship 4 all 5 years between 2015 and 2019. Busch was the all time leader in wins for Joe Gibbs Racing up until that point, surpassing drivers like Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, and outpacing Denny Hamlin during this stretch. When Busch won the title in 2019, most people expected him to continue being one on of the best drivers in the Cup Series for years to come. He still had crew chief Adam Stevens on the pit box and was driving fast Toyota's each and every week. That said, Busch's next 6 seasons were a farcry from the dominance he showed in the mid to late 2010s.  The Pandemic     Kyle Busch did not have the best start to 2020, as he blew a motor during the Daytona 500, which he ended up finishing 34th. That said, he did have a 15th place finish at...

    Chase Briscoe led 72 laps at Pocono today and captures his first victory with Joe Gibbs Racing and locks himself into the playoffs! I'll dive my thoughts into the race later because I've got stuff that I want to get off my chest about it. Furthermore, I'll dive into the most notable finishers, my thoughts on the race, and a discussion of the playoff grid with Briscoe winning. Chase Briscoe     I don't think that Briscoe had the fastest car in the field today, but they did a great job executing that final pit stop and Briscoe saved a ton. To his credit, Briscoe was able to fend off Denny Hamlin for the win and save enough fuel. This was not a normal Chase Briscoe race in my eyes, because that team worked on the car all day and never got worse. When Briscoe qualified on the pole 3 straight weeks, it just went backwards the entire race and the team never caught up on adjustments. Today, though, they played the strategy and got the win. Briscoe no...

      The NASCAR Cup Series comes roaring into the Tricky Triangle, also known as Pocono raceway, this upcoming weekend. In this blog, I want to discuss my favorites for the weekend, possible sleepers, and my fantasy picks as there are only 10 races left in the regular season. I won't dive too much into the playoff bubble as I have already talked about that this week. With that said, let's move into the preview! Previous Poconos     A lot of what goes into my predictions looks at how drivers perform at tracks of a similar type as to what they will race at. Regarding Pocono, there is no 1 track that is exactly like it on the schedule. It has 3 unique corners and it makes it tough to get a read for who is going to be the best. That said, I used the results at the last 2 Pocono results and the results at the intermediates to use for my prediction. I'll first discuss the percentage that each driver spent in the top 10 at the 2023 and 2024 Pocono ...