I’ve been rewatching the Star Wars movies, and I’m realizing that 23XI pit crews gotta be like the pit droids that one dude has in the pod race that are comic relief for how incompetent they are
I’m really wondering if bubba can ever get a normal top 10 that doesn’t involve shenanigans and then him having to comically claw his way back to where he was
Mostly cause when he finally got track position the car was quick. I'm just glad he finally got a good finish again, even though he kinda lucked into it
Yeah his car was not happy all day it seemed until it got somewhat cleaner air and he was a rocket up into the top 10. Then he kinda stalled out and lost advantage on the multiple overtimes. Very good result tho, no complaints here. Hopefully it will give him a needed confidence boost bc the last several weeks have been average at best.
First *ever* finish higher than 14th for Spire on a non-drafting oval.
Hocevar is a future superstar once he gets a competitive ride. He has been shockingly speedy for a 21-year old in mediocre-at-best equipment.
He posted on FB he got help, I wasn't sure who tapped him.
What I liked was when he got close to the next lead car, he didn't dive bomb anyone, or punt them, sometimes he got blocked, he waited, came back and got the clean pass in a lap or 2. seemed like the 2nd or 3rd attempt the lead car wasn't blocking so hard. patient, which wasn't always his plan.
Hopefully Bush remembers that later in the season and cuts him a break.
He's shown his talent since the Bristol night race last year. I'm glad he was able to get Lambert for his first full time season, seems like they have a good rapport
Plus isn't the rumor in the garage that HMS has Carson as their driver in waiting? I know Denny has mentioned before that Carson is in line to be in a HMS ride and I think Carson is their Sim driver
I don’t know how you can say “without a doubt.” Rajah has performed just as well as Carson once he got good equipment in trucks. Give him a shot in cup and who knows what he can do. He’s proven he’s a wheelman.
Rajah was pretty mid last year at GMS, now he’s better at Spire but it’s obvious Spire/BMR have the best trucks in the series.
Carson made the playoffs in his first year (2021) then came super close to multiple wins in 2022, then had a 4 win season. The most ever for Niece, and they obviously had good stuff in 2023 but he was still carrying that equipment I’d say in 2021-2022
Sometimes it’s just an eye test. Carson has “IT” and we saw it when he was wheeling Legacy cars in 2023 as well.
Caruth didn't really do anything in GMS equipment last year, while Enfinger was in the championship 4. He had just 4 top 10's, an average finish of 18.4 and a points finish of 16th. Hocevar in his first full truck season was with Niece, and it was the first year after GMS pulled their support of the team, meaning that Niece was having to build all of the chassis from the ground up. Niece has always been at least a step below the top teams like KBM, GMS and Thorsport. Despite that Hocevar had 3 top 5's, 8 top 10's, an average finish of 12.8 and a points finish of 10th. Main point is that Caruth has been in good trucks the whole time, while Hocevar wasn't.
Both are talented drivers, but Hocevar showed in trucks and is showing in Cup just how good he is even though he's in lesser equipment.
I thought him jumping straight to cup was going to be a mistake but damn is he proving me wrong, and good on him for it. More than holding his own as a rookie in midfield equipment.
Corey has been guaranteed the best stuff every year so it may change hands half through the year or next year depending if Carson has a chance for play offs. At current rate he will be on the bubble by the time we are down to the final races of regular season
That might be a lateral move though, the 21 is such an unknown. I know Burton sucks and I get that it's a fourth Penske car but I don't think it gets the same resources that the other three teams get
Bubba and Ty Gibbs. I think they were sorta written off after their set backs but the race was a grind and they got the most of it for sure. Days like these are important points days.
Pretty much the difference between early 2023 Bubba and last 25 to 30 or so races Bubba. Definitely believing in himself and just pushing to his ability
The fact Kaz Grala is actually ahead of other full time entries in points this far into the season should be a big deal, he’s finishing races and making the most out of that #15 machine.
Us Jones fan are gonna need therapy after this one. Every time we seem to have a top 10 car this year something always happens. PHX had one of the worst pit crew performances I have ever seen in the cup series, Bristol stay out and pray for a caution that never came, and basically cost a lap there, and Today pit when we never had a run over 50 laps today, and lose a lap because of it, and end up just stuck in the back.
The only thing keeping me cautiously optimistic is the fact that there’s only been 2 races so far where he hasn’t finished better than he qualified (granted… only 2021 had a worse avg start through the first 9 races, with a new team. And the 2 races are statistically his best tracks…). But he was running well in those 2 races before the issues. Even with the pit crew being ass, he has the pace to consistently run in the top 15, if they could just be fast off the truck. Which I do believe will happen once they start coming back to tracks.
Man we are SO cooked but luckily still in the hunt. Horrific weekend but good recovery for P9. Need a win or just a normal weekend. Car was decent in clean air after a while but you can’t give up anything on the short runs.
Crapshoot next week. Hard to get lucky 2 years in a row but it’s one of the only hopes with a strong plate program.
I mean sure definitely ran terribly but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do or say about that, I’ll look at any positive possible since he’s my favorite driver.
Hard to pass back in the pack with no experience with the balance (since it was a backup) and had to work on that most of the day. Like all the cars it’s better in clean air since the cars are all so similar. The aero situations on the restarts just hurt track position. It’s like you need the seas to part and get lucky in the right lane otherwise you fall back and then impossible to pass. Hoping Talladega brings some points though
Nothing, man. I'm sort of just empathizing with you. It's great he got a good result. It's also tough to see him running so poorly. With you being a KB fan, you probably grew up around this sport in the way I did, early to mid 2000s. It's tough to see the last driver of what I consider the golden age of NASCAR to be struggling.
Definitely sucks but hey all I can do is have some hope. Nothing I can do, luckily these past few months I’ve found myself sort of detaching from nascar and my favorite driver, due to the fact that he’s not doing good anymore, but in a good way if that makes sense.
Before this, my mood seemed to be latched onto my favorite sports teams and it would end up affecting my days. Now I sort of find myself going into the day a little less stressed. Whatever happens, happens you know? When you’re not totally obsessed, it helps you enjoy it a bit more since he isn’t doing as well as he used to. If it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be.
I wouldn’t say it’s horrible seeing guys like Byron, Blaney, Bell, Reddick, up there. It’s just a lot different than the age I grew up in.
They seemed like they lost the handle a bit once they fell back into traffic at Vegas though I may he misremembering. Regardless, 20 to 25 from Vegas sounds right plus the 10 he lost because the pit crew went back to their old ways at Richmond on the last stop.
* Rediscovers his RC powers and wins Watkins Glen
* Reverts back to his Xfinity days in the RO12 along with another good RC run at the Roval.
* Puts together a good race at Martinsville while on the cutline.
* Boom. Championship at Phoenix.
You know what? I could see it.
There's something to that. Blaney was nuts last year. He was the fastest car every single week for the last 6 races.
Never thought I'd see that from him. But I think after the Martinsville win, we all knew the championship was his.
Around Homestead he was +4000 to win the title. I had a spare $300 and tried to bet all of that on him winning championship in the middle of the Homestead race..had issues signing into my draftkings account. Went into customer support chat, but gave up because I was too focused on the final run of the race. They closed the chat, and I never bothered after that.
Yes..still kicking myself. 12k
Easy to say in hindsight but honestly sometimes you just get that “feeling”, and when he was fast at Homestead I said to myself, Martinsville and Phoenix? He’s winning this title. Ford clearly had it locked on short tracks. With Hamlin and Truex out of the way after Miami he seemed to be in perfect position.
Hendrick was easily the odds on favorite to most, but Blaney had them right where he wanted and I knew it. Betting only became legal last month for my state though.
Saying this makes me feel like the Lebron meme where he lies about stuff lol
I know, but I don't think this is hindsight! I think a lot of us thought Blaney would be tough to beat. He showed us all something in Martinsville that race imo.
I think what's fun about the current format is you can kind of formulate these possibilities that seem odd in theory but actually aren't that unrealistic. Blaney is a good example, I remember in 2015 too talking myself into the idea that if Gordon just survived to Martinsville he could make it to the final r and that's exactly what happened.
I mean, did you really think HMS and JGR weren't going to have a leg up when they figure the car out? 2022 was a fluke because no one had any idea how to make the car fast. Now the best teams are figuring it out and leaving the slower teams in the dust.
I think Bell and the 20 team as a whole understand the assignment - nows the time to push to see of they can get a few more wins even if it means a couple more trips to the garage. They will turn it on playoff time and I agree with you, I'd at the very least put him next in line after the 24, 5 and 11.
Briscoe with two 5th place stage finishes and a 6th place finish in a chaotic day. Solidly in the playoffs for now and good shit after being wrecked and having some slow pit stops
It’s more relief than anything, these last couple weeks finally showed something I hadn’t seen the 9 team have in a while, speed. Today was a day to capitalize on that with ballsy strategy and a good car.
How the fuck did Suarez have such a good race and still lose a spot???
Incredibly frustrating even outside of what happened with Ross, he probably goes up 2 instead of falling 2 if Byron's dirty ass didn't take him out
Nooooo he didn’t. He was running last of the pack much of stage two. I kinda hoped that he would have finished there to force a changed somewhere cause the last few races have been awful.
After looking at this again, I think 23XI is right where they should be. They're right behind 3 out of 4 Hendrick and Gibbs cars each week and then Blaney. Solidly the third best team so far this year
No finishes worse than 30th, that's a big improvement over last year.
He's also quietly showing up when it matters in races now, I could easily see him put together a string of top 10 finishes this summer
Other than yeeting Blaney, he had a good race with strategy. Chad Johnston is finally being risky other than four tires and fuel.
Maybe they both know they are job hunting after this year.
Just absolutely maddening season as a LaJoie fan. So frustrating. Through 9 races last year he had an avg finish of 18.7, with 5 top-20s. This year his avg is 24.4 with only 2 top-20s. Hocevar is outrunning him, and today he had a good race going until the last lap something must have happened, and he slid back out of the top 20. Sigh.
Hoping a rookie does not win this year. I want to see if Hocevar can keep this up or if Berry can catch him through the season. Thats something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
Both XI cars are in above a race worth of points (not including stage points) I'm just going to enjoy this moment while it lasts.
It's so weird, Bubba's in the top 10 without a single playoff point. No stage wins, but just close enough to it get a lot of stage points these past few weeks.
He and Reddick are just really consistent despite pit snafus slowing them down.
I can’t explain how good it feels to watch Chase Elliott drive the wheels off of a car again. It’s been far too long. Hopefully this lights a fire under that team moving forward. This regular season title run is about to be legendary between HMS and JGR.
I don't think that's Byron's fault. Felt like Ross got tight and lifted to not hit the wall and Byron was not expecting it and hit him at a weird angle.
Just one of those racing deals
Quit acting like Ross didn’t lift on exit. There’s zero shot Byron was that much faster on corner exit. Dude just couldn’t react that quick to Ross checking up on
I didn’t say anything about his performance in my post. He wasn’t winning races and getting political while causing Wood Brothers headaches. As soon as he was actually let go he unraveled and it was clear something had been going on with his attitude behind the scenes.
Bell is the sixth highest Toyota man I really thought after they ran well at Richmond following nearly winning COTA we were starting to see them finally hit some prolonged consistency, apparently not
I feel like this is a yearly thing but what is Ford doing? Only one car in the top 10 is sad.
Getting their butts handed to them weekly and still with no wins going into race 10.
Clearly the shift to make the Next-Gen ‘more competitive’ and ‘cost-effective’ isn’t working.
We’re only 10 races in and there’s a 40 point gap separating the actual contenders from the rest of the field. 16 playoff spots and only 18 of the 36 teams are in legitimate contention.
I really am beginning to wonder if TH only signed Zane as an obligation they had to do after they bought CGR. Because I would have 100% signed Hocevar over Zane if I was TH, even going back to last season
Probably not because I'm pretty sure most of the sponsors on the car are his sponsors, not Spire's. So unless they can find someone who brings the equivalent or more sponsor money, then he's likely sticking around. Based on his results though, it's really time for him and Spire to part ways. He's a guy who is decent at keeping a car clean and bringing home a decent finish when there's zero expectations, but now that he's got teammates in equal equipment and he's getting killed by one, the expectations have gone up and he can't meet them.
\*Subject to change as this was a last-lap caution and likely WILL change.
Reddick either being top 10 or outside the top 20 is actually peak 23XI
Peak 23xi is that 18 second pit stop in stage 3
I’ve been rewatching the Star Wars movies, and I’m realizing that 23XI pit crews gotta be like the pit droids that one dude has in the pod race that are comic relief for how incompetent they are
I’m really wondering if bubba can ever get a normal top 10 that doesn’t involve shenanigans and then him having to comically claw his way back to where he was
Hes driving much better this year overall.
Suarez finishes top 5 and loses a spot lmao this race was wild
Mostly cause when he finally got track position the car was quick. I'm just glad he finally got a good finish again, even though he kinda lucked into it
Yeah his car was not happy all day it seemed until it got somewhat cleaner air and he was a rocket up into the top 10. Then he kinda stalled out and lost advantage on the multiple overtimes. Very good result tho, no complaints here. Hopefully it will give him a needed confidence boost bc the last several weeks have been average at best.
Same and same. Good momentum for us Mexicans
+4!!! WE ARE IN!!!
Briscoe is genuinely having a good season, hoping he and team have enough speed to contend for a win eventually
YEAH BUDDY!!!
Second best Ford after Blaney, hope the momentum keeps going!
Too bad SHR was stupid with the penalties because Preece would be in the bubble area now and Gragson would be ahead of Cindric.
Don't remind me about penalties. I still haven't fully recovered from last season.
That might have legitimately been the worst penalty ever received. Getting outran in BJ McLeod's 78 shitbox at Charlotte and looses 125 points.
So it's Bowman's turn now right? Right? *Right?*
Let’s hope!
Next week is as good as ever
I'm looking more towards the week after because I'd consider Dover his best track. But he hasn't raced there in 2 years so
Unfortunately I would argue that Dover is also Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson’s best track lmao.
Chase Elliott at Dover is legitimately not fair. He ran 12th there last year right after he came back and that was one of his worst ever runs there
Carson is beasting this year bro
First *ever* finish higher than 14th for Spire on a non-drafting oval. Hocevar is a future superstar once he gets a competitive ride. He has been shockingly speedy for a 21-year old in mediocre-at-best equipment.
I watched a lot of his incar, He ran a clean race, and over came a early spin. great raw talent
So what happened with Kyle Busch there and that spin? Looked like he got yeeted by Busch after he cut him off?
He posted on FB he got help, I wasn't sure who tapped him. What I liked was when he got close to the next lead car, he didn't dive bomb anyone, or punt them, sometimes he got blocked, he waited, came back and got the clean pass in a lap or 2. seemed like the 2nd or 3rd attempt the lead car wasn't blocking so hard. patient, which wasn't always his plan. Hopefully Bush remembers that later in the season and cuts him a break.
He's shown his talent since the Bristol night race last year. I'm glad he was able to get Lambert for his first full time season, seems like they have a good rapport
I agree, now if you excuse me, I am going to start willing him to a HMS ride
I like Hocevar but I’d rather that 48 be reserved for Rajah if Bowman can’t figure it out.
I’m pretty sure Mayer would be first in line to replace bowman right now
I like Rajah more but Hocevar is without a doubt the better driver
Plus isn't the rumor in the garage that HMS has Carson as their driver in waiting? I know Denny has mentioned before that Carson is in line to be in a HMS ride and I think Carson is their Sim driver
I don’t know how you can say “without a doubt.” Rajah has performed just as well as Carson once he got good equipment in trucks. Give him a shot in cup and who knows what he can do. He’s proven he’s a wheelman.
Rajah was pretty mid last year at GMS, now he’s better at Spire but it’s obvious Spire/BMR have the best trucks in the series. Carson made the playoffs in his first year (2021) then came super close to multiple wins in 2022, then had a 4 win season. The most ever for Niece, and they obviously had good stuff in 2023 but he was still carrying that equipment I’d say in 2021-2022 Sometimes it’s just an eye test. Carson has “IT” and we saw it when he was wheeling Legacy cars in 2023 as well.
Caruth didn't really do anything in GMS equipment last year, while Enfinger was in the championship 4. He had just 4 top 10's, an average finish of 18.4 and a points finish of 16th. Hocevar in his first full truck season was with Niece, and it was the first year after GMS pulled their support of the team, meaning that Niece was having to build all of the chassis from the ground up. Niece has always been at least a step below the top teams like KBM, GMS and Thorsport. Despite that Hocevar had 3 top 5's, 8 top 10's, an average finish of 12.8 and a points finish of 10th. Main point is that Caruth has been in good trucks the whole time, while Hocevar wasn't. Both are talented drivers, but Hocevar showed in trucks and is showing in Cup just how good he is even though he's in lesser equipment.
I thought him jumping straight to cup was going to be a mistake but damn is he proving me wrong, and good on him for it. More than holding his own as a rookie in midfield equipment.
I’m excepting him to get Number 1 car spot on spire next year since he’s on a two yr contract
next year? seems like he's already got that spot now
Corey has been guaranteed the best stuff every year so it may change hands half through the year or next year depending if Carson has a chance for play offs. At current rate he will be on the bubble by the time we are down to the final races of regular season
Lajoies days are numbered
The one thing working in Lajoie’s favor is that Zane Smith has also not been running well despite presumably getting funding from Trackhouse
He needs to be in the 21. He's already shown more than Burton ever has.
That might be a lateral move though, the 21 is such an unknown. I know Burton sucks and I get that it's a fourth Penske car but I don't think it gets the same resources that the other three teams get
he deserves the Trackhouse contract instead of Zane although Zane is still very good
Truex finishing 14th is crazy. He was two laps down not long before the race should have ended.
He said I might as well park the car we’re gonna finish 35th too lol
Fox: well….. what the fuck are we gonna talk about now?
Brad
Almost ten positions in 3 weeks. Absolutely awesome job by the 23 to rally back from the crap stretch between Atlanta and cota.
Bubba moving up in the points despite the roller coaster of a race he had today is a nice sight to see.
Pretty much everyone had a roller coaster of a race haha
Elliott probably won by virtue of being the only car who consistently ran up front all 3 stages
Literally from p26 to p8 in the last 15 laps or so.
Best restarter in the game showed up big time those last 10 laps
Data supports it too
Bubba and Ty Gibbs. I think they were sorta written off after their set backs but the race was a grind and they got the most of it for sure. Days like these are important points days.
So proud of Bubba fighting so hard today. Moving up 3 spots in one day is pretty impressive.
Bubba "Salvage King" Wallace with the P8 Toyota pit crews are unfathomably awful
the fact he got back to the top 10 is a good sign. He's still got fight
Pretty much the difference between early 2023 Bubba and last 25 to 30 or so races Bubba. Definitely believing in himself and just pushing to his ability
After he retires, Scott Dixon should go into motivational speaking. There has been a noticeable change in Bubba since they spoke.
Bubba's Crew Chief*
The fact Kaz Grala is actually ahead of other full time entries in points this far into the season should be a big deal, he’s finishing races and making the most out of that #15 machine.
Put him in the 21.
Whatever car he goes too I want him to keep the gold rims
Harrison led some laps today
and then what happened
Austin Hill shouldnt have a point
Us Jones fan are gonna need therapy after this one. Every time we seem to have a top 10 car this year something always happens. PHX had one of the worst pit crew performances I have ever seen in the cup series, Bristol stay out and pray for a caution that never came, and basically cost a lap there, and Today pit when we never had a run over 50 laps today, and lose a lap because of it, and end up just stuck in the back.
The only thing keeping me cautiously optimistic is the fact that there’s only been 2 races so far where he hasn’t finished better than he qualified (granted… only 2021 had a worse avg start through the first 9 races, with a new team. And the 2 races are statistically his best tracks…). But he was running well in those 2 races before the issues. Even with the pit crew being ass, he has the pace to consistently run in the top 15, if they could just be fast off the truck. Which I do believe will happen once they start coming back to tracks.
Man we are SO cooked but luckily still in the hunt. Horrific weekend but good recovery for P9. Need a win or just a normal weekend. Car was decent in clean air after a while but you can’t give up anything on the short runs. Crapshoot next week. Hard to get lucky 2 years in a row but it’s one of the only hopes with a strong plate program.
It's tough to see. Took advantage of the track position. Doesn't hide how awful he ran.
I mean sure definitely ran terribly but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do or say about that, I’ll look at any positive possible since he’s my favorite driver. Hard to pass back in the pack with no experience with the balance (since it was a backup) and had to work on that most of the day. Like all the cars it’s better in clean air since the cars are all so similar. The aero situations on the restarts just hurt track position. It’s like you need the seas to part and get lucky in the right lane otherwise you fall back and then impossible to pass. Hoping Talladega brings some points though
Nothing, man. I'm sort of just empathizing with you. It's great he got a good result. It's also tough to see him running so poorly. With you being a KB fan, you probably grew up around this sport in the way I did, early to mid 2000s. It's tough to see the last driver of what I consider the golden age of NASCAR to be struggling.
Definitely sucks but hey all I can do is have some hope. Nothing I can do, luckily these past few months I’ve found myself sort of detaching from nascar and my favorite driver, due to the fact that he’s not doing good anymore, but in a good way if that makes sense. Before this, my mood seemed to be latched onto my favorite sports teams and it would end up affecting my days. Now I sort of find myself going into the day a little less stressed. Whatever happens, happens you know? When you’re not totally obsessed, it helps you enjoy it a bit more since he isn’t doing as well as he used to. If it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible seeing guys like Byron, Blaney, Bell, Reddick, up there. It’s just a lot different than the age I grew up in.
8th and 9th for 23XI, can only imagine where they would be if they had normal pit crews
2nd and 3rd behind Byron with his 0.9 average finish.
Bubba had at least 25 points left on the table at Vegas. Top 12-15 car, probably even top 10
They seemed like they lost the handle a bit once they fell back into traffic at Vegas though I may he misremembering. Regardless, 20 to 25 from Vegas sounds right plus the 10 he lost because the pit crew went back to their old ways at Richmond on the last stop.
This season is just pure HMS vs JGR. Already getting annoying.
Just wait for some Penske car to catch fire with 8 races go to, sneak into the C4 as the only non HMS or JGR car, and end up winning the whole thing.
Watch it be Cindric too lmao
* Rediscovers his RC powers and wins Watkins Glen * Reverts back to his Xfinity days in the RO12 along with another good RC run at the Roval. * Puts together a good race at Martinsville while on the cutline. * Boom. Championship at Phoenix. You know what? I could see it.
>Boom. [Confetti.](https://i.redd.it/zvyemepykshc1.gif)
Honestly I wouldn't be too mad
So essentially they are just reusing the same script for the last 2 years?
There's something to that. Blaney was nuts last year. He was the fastest car every single week for the last 6 races. Never thought I'd see that from him. But I think after the Martinsville win, we all knew the championship was his. Around Homestead he was +4000 to win the title. I had a spare $300 and tried to bet all of that on him winning championship in the middle of the Homestead race..had issues signing into my draftkings account. Went into customer support chat, but gave up because I was too focused on the final run of the race. They closed the chat, and I never bothered after that. Yes..still kicking myself. 12k
Easy to say in hindsight but honestly sometimes you just get that “feeling”, and when he was fast at Homestead I said to myself, Martinsville and Phoenix? He’s winning this title. Ford clearly had it locked on short tracks. With Hamlin and Truex out of the way after Miami he seemed to be in perfect position. Hendrick was easily the odds on favorite to most, but Blaney had them right where he wanted and I knew it. Betting only became legal last month for my state though. Saying this makes me feel like the Lebron meme where he lies about stuff lol
I know, but I don't think this is hindsight! I think a lot of us thought Blaney would be tough to beat. He showed us all something in Martinsville that race imo.
Oh, I feel that. I kept telling my coworker Logano was winning the ‘22 title back in like July. Sometimes, you just see something.
I think what's fun about the current format is you can kind of formulate these possibilities that seem odd in theory but actually aren't that unrealistic. Blaney is a good example, I remember in 2015 too talking myself into the idea that if Gordon just survived to Martinsville he could make it to the final r and that's exactly what happened.
*Finally* someone's catching on to the plot device.
Sounds like fiction that could never happen /s
I mean, did you really think HMS and JGR weren't going to have a leg up when they figure the car out? 2022 was a fluke because no one had any idea how to make the car fast. Now the best teams are figuring it out and leaving the slower teams in the dust.
It’s basically Hamlin vs Byron AND Larson so far. Basically tells you who’s got the next gen figured out.
Bell would be up there too if he just stops shooting himself in the foot. He wrecked early and still finished 16th with a beat up car.
I think Bell and the 20 team as a whole understand the assignment - nows the time to push to see of they can get a few more wins even if it means a couple more trips to the garage. They will turn it on playoff time and I agree with you, I'd at the very least put him next in line after the 24, 5 and 11.
Briscoe with two 5th place stage finishes and a 6th place finish in a chaotic day. Solidly in the playoffs for now and good shit after being wrecked and having some slow pit stops
 Lajoie 30th in points only 2 ahead of Hemric and only ahead of Haley because of the DQ at COTA
He hasn't driven through someone in any of the last three races, which is nice. Coincidentally, he doesn't run as well when that happens.
It’s more relief than anything, these last couple weeks finally showed something I hadn’t seen the 9 team have in a while, speed. Today was a day to capitalize on that with ballsy strategy and a good car.
WIN AND TOP 5 IN POINTS, WOOP
Finally Gustafson remembered he was supposed to be a top crew chief lol
Good to see the 9 team being back, missed them tbh
Both Chases going up in points
Look at the #23 in the top 10! Lets go!
Last week I thought Chase could win again soon but I didn't expect it to be the following race Also rare Austin Dillon top 10
That’s what happens when you get rid of the worst crew chief in the series.
Surely things cannot get worse at Talladega....
Bowman flipping 6 times incoming.
If Larson didn't have his issue, he'd have a near 50 point lead, and that would be a wrap lol
Brad didn't get much kickback for that finish, huh
How the fuck did Suarez have such a good race and still lose a spot??? Incredibly frustrating even outside of what happened with Ross, he probably goes up 2 instead of falling 2 if Byron's dirty ass didn't take him out
Must've been stage points. I didn't see him in the top 20 on the pylon until that last run.
He was non existent till he hit on a gamble of strategy. He got 0 stage points and the people around him got them.
Fair 'nuff He had a quality race though, I don't think it was as flukey as that
He was running like late 20s most of the race, he even admitted himself he didn’t deserve the finish.
Nooooo he didn’t. He was running last of the pack much of stage two. I kinda hoped that he would have finished there to force a changed somewhere cause the last few races have been awful.
After looking at this again, I think 23XI is right where they should be. They're right behind 3 out of 4 Hendrick and Gibbs cars each week and then Blaney. Solidly the third best team so far this year
Toyota with 6 cars in the top 11 and the other two in the top 20
Preece would be sitting 20th in points without the penalty. Quietly having a better season than last year.
Gragson would be 22nd ahead of Cindric too. SHR definitely turned it around so far.
No finishes worse than 30th, that's a big improvement over last year. He's also quietly showing up when it matters in races now, I could easily see him put together a string of top 10 finishes this summer
Other than yeeting Blaney, he had a good race with strategy. Chad Johnston is finally being risky other than four tires and fuel. Maybe they both know they are job hunting after this year.
I am straight up depressed.
Strong tracks ahead.
Are you guys going back in the bathtub?
Yep. I’m already there. Being at the track today and watching what his car could do…hurt like hell when he smacked the wall.
It was frustrating. Top five car got junked.
I am not Go HMS
Just absolutely maddening season as a LaJoie fan. So frustrating. Through 9 races last year he had an avg finish of 18.7, with 5 top-20s. This year his avg is 24.4 with only 2 top-20s. Hocevar is outrunning him, and today he had a good race going until the last lap something must have happened, and he slid back out of the top 20. Sigh.
The fact that Garala is ahead of Zane Smith is very shocking.
Zane had alot of bad luck this year. I think Daytona was his only race he was not impacted out of his control.
I mean forgetting where the brake pedal was at Bristol did him no favors
Suarez, gets a top 5 finish still loses a spot in the standings fuck
Hill shouldn’t have any points since he’s racing for Xfinity points
Joey Logano. 5 straight races so far with a worse finish of 11th. That aint bad tbh.
Hoping a rookie does not win this year. I want to see if Hocevar can keep this up or if Berry can catch him through the season. Thats something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
Both XI cars are in above a race worth of points (not including stage points) I'm just going to enjoy this moment while it lasts. It's so weird, Bubba's in the top 10 without a single playoff point. No stage wins, but just close enough to it get a lot of stage points these past few weeks. He and Reddick are just really consistent despite pit snafus slowing them down.
It’s also crazy that Preece has yet to finish outside the top 30. But only finished top 20 4 times. He’s consistent at least.
Down to 14th in points :(
HMS just straight flexing at this point.
Last year is going to be an anomaly. They should and will get 4 cars in pretty much every year.
Well now, two drivers that made the Playoffs in 2022 and didn't in 2023 are in. Means two are going to be out.
Busch and the 4 car will be out.
KB out of the playoffs is pretty crazy. He’s not been running well enough to be getting many stage points and it shows.
I can’t explain how good it feels to watch Chase Elliott drive the wheels off of a car again. It’s been far too long. Hopefully this lights a fire under that team moving forward. This regular season title run is about to be legendary between HMS and JGR.
8 positions higher than LaJoie let's goooo
33 points back let's go
Stage win and drops in points. Fuck Byron
I don't think that's Byron's fault. Felt like Ross got tight and lifted to not hit the wall and Byron was not expecting it and hit him at a weird angle. Just one of those racing deals
Ross had to lift and Byron had a massive run and couldn't react in time (no human can), stop whining about a racing deal
Quit acting like Ross didn’t lift on exit. There’s zero shot Byron was that much faster on corner exit. Dude just couldn’t react that quick to Ross checking up on
Pretty much a carbon copy of bubba vs Larson at Richmond
Exactly. Reddit’s just mad because Ross is the lord and savior and HMS bad. Ross checked up. Plain as day
Keep crying about it. Was a racing deal.
Ikkkk so sad :(((
Harrison Burton in 34th…..
Meanwhile the sub was so done with Matty D because he got wrecked multiple times from 1st.
Wood Brothers going from Matty D to Burton is continuing to be one of the worst driver changes in the modern era.
It was absolutely the right call to move on from Matty D the way he was acting but replacing him with Burton was a bad call.
How Matty D was a borderline playoff driver every year? Even compared to Menard he was much more consistent.
I didn’t say anything about his performance in my post. He wasn’t winning races and getting political while causing Wood Brothers headaches. As soon as he was actually let go he unraveled and it was clear something had been going on with his attitude behind the scenes.
Bell is the sixth highest Toyota man I really thought after they ran well at Richmond following nearly winning COTA we were starting to see them finally hit some prolonged consistency, apparently not
No stage points bit Joey, but the car was good otherwise
It's interesting that the top 3 remained unchanged.
Bubba was moved to P7
Damn, Ross going from 2nd to 32nd in half a lap is tough
Chase can absolutely get the regular season title!
OOOOOOOO ME LIKEYYYY
I feel like this is a yearly thing but what is Ford doing? Only one car in the top 10 is sad. Getting their butts handed to them weekly and still with no wins going into race 10.
god we’re so back
did you make this?
I did
Alright Hendrick, Elliott finally got a win, now can we please put some more effort into getting one for Bowman? Pretty Please?
I can’t believe it’s been since Phoenix since someone else besides Hamlin/Byron have won.
Clearly the shift to make the Next-Gen ‘more competitive’ and ‘cost-effective’ isn’t working. We’re only 10 races in and there’s a 40 point gap separating the actual contenders from the rest of the field. 16 playoff spots and only 18 of the 36 teams are in legitimate contention.
Blaney continues to fall. Losing faith in that team to put together another multi win season.
I thought Austin Hill would be ineligible to accumulate points
Chase Briscoe up in 12th caught me off guard, surprisingly solid season so far given the expectations coming in
Jimmie 1, le mans champion 0
🤌🏻🤌🏻
Larson increased his points lead over Truex and Hamlin. I love it!
Does Lajoie risk losing his ride next year?
Carson is showing what those Spire cars are capable of. There's no reason to keep LaJoie, imo.
I agree - keep Carson and bring up Eckes, sell the 71 charter to TH for Zane to move in house (TH also buys the 16 charter for SVG).
I really am beginning to wonder if TH only signed Zane as an obligation they had to do after they bought CGR. Because I would have 100% signed Hocevar over Zane if I was TH, even going back to last season
I agree - Carson can be rough around the edges but he learns fast and gets what the car should give
Probably not because I'm pretty sure most of the sponsors on the car are his sponsors, not Spire's. So unless they can find someone who brings the equivalent or more sponsor money, then he's likely sticking around. Based on his results though, it's really time for him and Spire to part ways. He's a guy who is decent at keeping a car clean and bringing home a decent finish when there's zero expectations, but now that he's got teammates in equal equipment and he's getting killed by one, the expectations have gone up and he can't meet them.
WHAT DID YOU DO BYRON?
Kaz garala is ahead of Haley….
LMAO at Ross fans with the with the "would have" and "should have." You all sound like us Larson fans! 😆
[удалено]
Nobody with any common sense sees what actually happened and thinks that was anything more than a racing incident.