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Jimmie Johnson
Darlington surely played its part last weekend as all three series had more spins than passes. Especially in the Cup race drivers were constantly complaining over the scanner about how slick the track was while crew chiefs tried to come up with a way to make them tighter.
Martin Truex Jr. changed the outcome of the race when he tried to pass Chase Elliott with 15 laps to go didn’t clear him and put both of them into the wall. That costly error allowed Kevin Harvick to go from third to first. Austin Dillon put the pressure on Harvick, but could not stay close enough to get into position to make a pass. The win locked Harvick into the second round of the playoffs.
Saturday night, the race in Richmond was all green lap racing except for stage cautions. Cars set up for long runs led the pack most of the night. Denny Hamlin ran into some trouble early and never could get his car competitive. Kyle Busch is getting closer to his old form. Brad Keselowski pulled out the win continuing his solid season of wins or high finishes.
The series heads to Bristol this weekend to end the first round of playoffs and the first elimination of the bottom four drivers.
Jimmie Johnson announced he signed a deal with Chip Ganassi Racing. This deal seems to be for Johnson to run road and street courses. It was rumored earlier Johnson was going to end up with Ed Carpenter Racing, but it seems it will be with Ganassi instead.
Once again NASCAR has suspend the crew chiefs for Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch due to 2 missing lug nuts.
Veteran driver Mike Wallace, who now drives part time in Xfinity, was suspended by NASCAR and must undergo sensitivity training due to a social media post. NASCAR has not released what content it found offensive. I would be surprised if he takes the courses and just continues to run dirt tracks.
Bubba Wallace has let Petty Motorsports know that he will not be returning next season and will explore other options.Wallace seems to be wielding a lot of power for a driver that has yet to prove himself on the Cup circuit.
Xfinity raced two at Richmond and #7 Justin Allgaier swept the weekend. Hard to understand how Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric still do not have contracts for next season.
Gander Trucks had an exciting race with #98 Grant Enfinger getting the win. Kentucky native #99 Ben Rhodes finished third at Richmond.
Kyle Larson picked up the checkers and the big check for 20k on Sunday night at Huset’s Speedway.. This gives him 10 wins in the NOS Series and 18 total for his career.