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Davenport
Finally, NASCAR was able to get in a race without weather being a factor. Short track races are usually my favorite races to watch throughout the season, but yesterday Richmond didn’t live up to short track racing. It seemed the drivers were being too nice to each other; in fact, I thought the truck race on Saturday was a much better race.
Denny Hamlin continued his dominance on the track only to lose it when it really counted. Clint Bowyer mentioned Alex Bowman was on the move around the middle of the final stage then on a caution with ten laps remaining Bowman made his move and took the lead on the restart. It seemed once Hamlin’s car didn’t have the clean air up front he couldn’t muster the horses needed to catch Bowman.
The win by Bowman is his first of the season and only the third of his career. The win may also relieve some of the pressure Bowman has been under as he replaced seven time champion Jimmie Johnson in the 48 car.
The truck race was everything the Cup race was not as tempers flared and drivers were using their bumpers to get to the front. John Hunter Nemechek who has found new life since moving back to the trucks and out of Cup, held off his boss and team owner Kyle Busch for the win.
Interesting tidbit on Jayski’s this week about Dale Jr. and his sister looking into starting a Cup team. Jr. who already owns racing teams in a number of series said the time may be right for his organization to look into investing in a charter, but that the cost of a charter and sponsorship would be major hurdle.
Will Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway ever see a race? It seems the residents that have moved in around the track are opposed to races being held due to noise. I think a smart person would have thought of this before they bought or built a dwelling near a race track.
The Lucas Oil Late Models were at Hagerstown on Saturday for the Red Niniger Tribute Race in what was a close race as Tim McCreadie passed Ricky Thornton Jr. on the last lap of the race. Jonathan Davenport kicked his weekend off with a third place finish.
On Sunday they moved to Port Royal. Three time series champion Jonathan Davenport picked up his first series win and became the 10th different winner in 12 races. Davenport had to hold off Shane Clanton and Brandon Sheppard who were pressuring him on every lap.
The WoO races scheduled for Richmond April 23 and Brushcreek 24 are still on as scheduled. Both tracks are relatively close to our area and you can catch local racer Darrell Lanigan in action. This will be the series first ever appearance at the Richmond track.
Tony Stewart found himself back in Victory Lane with a first place finish in the All-Star Circuit of Champions (owned by Tony Stewart) race at Virginia Motor Speedway. Justin Peck was holding in first when he suffered a blown tire just short of the finish line allowing Stewart to pass him and take the win. It is Stewart’s first win in the series this year in the 410 Sprint Cars. A good thing for Stewart that it was the last lap because after seeing pictures of his tires after the race he wasn’t far from a flat himself.
Jimmie Johnson made his first rookie start in an Indy race on Sunday. He said his goal was just to finish the race, which he did getting through a large wreck on lap one. The race came down to the last curve as Alex Palou held off Will Power and Johnson finished 19th three laps down.