Full time racing at Kentucky and Road America
Lots of racing last weekend with two double headers, both NASCAR Xfinity and also NTT IndyCar and with NASCAR Trucks and NASCAR Cup races made it 6 races in just 4 days, actually 7 if you where able to watch the NASCAR ARCA race at Kentucky.
First time winners
Lots of stories and much to feel happy about this weekend, like the first time winners Felix Rosenqvist in IndyCar, and Sheldon Creed in trucks along with a surprise win for Cole Custer in NASCAR Cup Series. Also, first win on an oval for Austin Cindric in the Xfinity Series, who followed it up the next day with another win. It’s the first time since 1971 that the same driver wins the race on consecutive day. We have to go back to 14 and 15 of July 1971 when Richard Petty won on two different tracks, Albany-Saratoga and Islip Speedway up in New York State!
Again, the invert of the top 15 from the first NASCAR Xfinity race made the second race more interesting to watch. Top teams trying to get back up in the field and some much needed attention for teams that normally TV coverage seems to be forgotten about! Due to a lack of media attention, race organizers, with the help of companies like The Marketing Heaven, are now acquiring skills on how to start a successful YouTube marketing campaign.
In the NASCAR Trucks Series, Sheldon Creed had strong GMS Truck and where able to lead the last 20 laps, up to the end of stage 2 when mother nature took over and drowned the track! I’m not sure who is more happy, Sheldon for the win or NASCAR, when they was able to make it to the end of stage 2 before the rain hit the track and they could declare Sheldon a winner!
Rookie wins in NASCAR Cup Series
We also had a Rookie win for Cole Custer in the NASCAR Cup Series race. When on the final restart he had a little help from behind, as Matt DiBenedetto gave him a shove and Cole managed to pass the top 3 leaders who had gotten three wide and stalled out! Congrats Cole, great driving there but however other than that, not much to say about the racing with this package and the adding of the “Coke syrup”, or PJ1 as NASCAR calls it, the racing was not that interesting at Kentucky Speedway this week and bye looking at the loop data, green flag passes was even lower than Indianapolis and less than half of what the Pocono races had to offer!
A Swede takes the win at Road America
IndyCar had a double header weekend at one of my favorite tracks Road America at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin! Chip Ganassi Racing have had a great star of the season with Scott Dixon wining the first two races and made it three in a row when he had the right strategy and a great car in place to win before Will Power and Rookie Alex Palou. The Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson had a strong run going but a spin on the last lap ruined that day while team mate Felix Rosenqvist had an engine that misfired and limped home P18 one lap down.
Going in to Sundays race, I was hoping that they got all the cars back up and running. With Patricio O’Ward on pole and Colton Herta on the outside they manage to stack the field up on the start of the race. That lead up to two cars out of the race, both taken out by Will Power who got penalized and started at the back of the field on the restart only to find him self stuck in one of the litter boxes to bring out a new caution. With Scott Dixon not on the right strategy and a car not at its best, it was Patricio O’Ward who lead most of the laps with Rosenqvist, Rossi, Herta and Santino Ferrucci near the front. But after the last rounds of pit stops, it was Felix Rosenqvist who hade the best car and was able to not only catch but also pass O’Ward to take home the fourth straight win for Chip Ganassi Racing! All in all two days of good racing at Road America makes you look forward until the 8 of August when the NACAR Xfintiy Series cars hits the track!
More racing ahead
Here’s a look at what to come this summer up until the NASCAR “Play Offs”. It’s sad that we don’t get to see the NASCAR trucks on the dirt at Eldora Speedway and in Canada, but The Daytona road course or Roval if you may, could be very interesting!
Week 29 race schedule – click here.
Wednesday, July 15 | Bristol All-Star | Cup
Friday, July 17 | Iowa Speedway race 1 | Indy Car
Saturday, July 18 | Texas Motor Speedway | Xfinity
Saturday, July 18 | Texas Motor Speedway | Trucks
Saturday, July 18 | Iowa Speedway race 2 | Indy Car
Sunday, July 19 | Texas Motor Speedway | Cup
Thursday, July 23 | Kansas Speedway | Cup
Friday, July 24 | Kansas Speedway | Trucks
Saturday, July 25 | Kansas Speedway | Trucks
Saturday, July 25 | Kansas Speedway | Xfinity
Sunday, August 2 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Cup
Friday, Aug. 7 | Michigan | Trucks
Saturday, Aug. 8 | Road America | Xfinity
Saturday, Aug. 8 | Michigan | Cup
Sunday, Aug. 9 | Mid Ohio | Indy Car
Sunday, Aug. 9 | Michigan | ARCA
Sunday, Aug. 9 | Michigan | Cup
Friday, Aug. 14 | Daytona Road Course | ARCA
Saturday, Aug. 15 | Daytona Road Course | Xfinity
Sunday, Aug. 16 | Daytona Road Course | Trucks
Sunday, Aug. 16 | Daytona Road Course | Cup
Friday, Aug. 21 | Dover | ARCA East
Friday, Aug. 21 | Dover | Trucks
Saturday, Aug. 22 | Dover | Xfinity
Saturday, Aug. 22 | Dover | Cup
Sunday, Aug. 23 | Dover | Xfinity
Sunday, Aug. 23 | Indianapolis 500 | Indy Car
Sunday, Aug. 23 | Dover | Cup
Friday, Aug. 28 | Daytona | Xfinity
Saturday, Aug. 29 | WWT Raceway Gateway | ARCA
Saturday, Aug. 29 | Daytona | Cup |
Sunday, Aug. 30 | WWT Raceway Gateway | Trucks
Sunday, Aug. 30 | WWT Raceway Gateway | Indy Car
Until the next time Stay Safe – Take Care!
Photo Credit: 367429 Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
As usual, a very nice article Bernth.
The second IndyCar race with our Swedish racing hero Felix Rosenvist was so nerve wrecking to watch in the end. Bare in mind that Felix had “bad luck” late in races before (think Indianapolis this season).
Great article, Berra! You summarized all divisions/series very well. When I read your writing, I can almost feel the excitement of each win and each description of all the races. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
Viv
Thanks for the kind words I will do my best to keep it up! AND thanks Jens for keeping the blog running!