The NASCAR season has arrived. The real season. After the stock car equivalent to a department-store soft opening at the LA Coliseum on Sunday night, the next time that we see the stars and cars of the Cup Series hit the racetrack, it will be for real. When the battle for starting positions in the Daytona 500 begins this weekend, so shall the longest calendar march in professional sports, a paddock packed with championship hopefuls, seeking to stand atop the big stage at Phoenix in mid-November.
Once NASCAR’s 75th season indeed does drop the green flag, prepare yourself to be inundated with historic facts and figures to commemorate the milestone. We should also brace ourselves for what we will not see coming around the next turn, the surprise storylines that inevitably pop up like an ill-timed debris caution. See: last fall and the Next Gen safety issues (more on that coming up).
Before that happens and before the history lessons begin, though, let’s take a beat to ponder what we need to keep our eyes on as the flagman prepares to drop the green on the 2023 season.
The Next Gen car is still a work in progress
Yes, yes, I know, all race cars are a work in progress, but the Next Gen’s much-ballyhooed rollout to start 2022 was supposed to be the launch of a baseline model that met major change and alterations with the same staunch powers of resistance with which it met retaining walls. However, by the time the postseason had arrived, the new car’s lack of crash crushability was sidelining drivers with concussions and the images of Next Gens engulfed in smoke and flames were beginning to cloud our collective view of what was undoubtedly one of the most incredibly competitive seasons seen over NASCAR’s first 74 years.
After drivers started saying publicly that they had tried to warn the sanctioning body earlier in the year but it wouldn’t listen, NASCAR president Steve Phelps first confessed shock that the lines of communication between himself and the racers had become so disconnected, and he admitted that, yes, the new car had to be overhauled in the name of safety. The 2023 model features altered rear clips and bumpers, removing some metal bars and perforating others with holes so they will collapse and absorb energy away from the cockpit. The cooling vents in the hood of each car have also been enlarged.
“We started having regular meetings during the fall, like every week, and those have pretty much continued ever since, and I am thankful for that,” driver Chase Elliott said to ESPN two weeks ago. “But it’s the broken record of auto racing, right? We have to let stuff get bad before we fix it. Alex [Bowman] had to miss races. Kurt Busch had to retire. Then we start talking about changing the car? It’s up to all of us to change that. I think we are. I hope we are. But we’ll see.”
Unfortunately, the first practice day of the season was marred by a familiar sight, a fire that erupted inside the framework of a car, in this case the Toyota of Ty Gibbs. But that might have something to do with a new rule being tried out …
You need to update your rulebook
NASCAR kicked off February by sending out a stack of amended pages to its rulebook for 2023. The headliner was the elimination of the “Hail Melon,” aka the legendary wall-riding move made by Ross Chastain at last season’s penultimate event at Martinsville Speedway. That strategy landed him in the Championship Four, but it also landed him in hot water with his colleagues, who complained that the move was unsafe and expressed fears that it would spawn copycat maneuvers. Now that won’t happen because NASCAR has made it illegal, judged at the discretion of Race Control. “Altering the race” in a similar fashion will now result in a time penalty.
The reality is that it will be the other, less splashy rule changes that are most likely to have a greater and certainly much more frequent impact. Those include the elimination of stage cautions at the six road course events (they take too long on those longer tracks) and awarding stage points at predetermined laps but not slowing the race. Also, steeper penalties for loose tires on pit road, which will now result in a pass-through penalty under green, being sent to the end of the back of the field under yellow, and a two-lap penalty with a two-crew-member two-race suspension if the tire is lost on the racetrack. And rain tires will now be in play at short tracks (we’ll see if they actually get used … signed, a guy who has watched them unloaded at road courses for 25 years and used sparingly at best).
When the NASCAR playoffs arrive, now there is no longer a so-called “top-30 rule” that required any race winner to also be ranked 30th or higher in the championship standings to qualify for the postseason field of 16. However, drivers will still be required to race a full-time schedule (in other words, a road course ringer can’t win their only start of the season and run for the championship) or have an approved waiver from NASCAR (aka the injury rule).
Also, NASCAR used a new muffler at the LA Coliseum to quiet the cars a little. It plans on doing the same this summer in Chicago. The idea is to give fans a better chance to chat during races and a worse chance for people in big cities to complain about the noise. But as the post-fire investigation is beginning on the Gibbs incident, many are concerned the new muffler, located right under the most intense fire damage, might have been the culprit.
You also need to update your scorecard
What was supposed to be a relatively quiet Silly Season ended up with more action than a Marvel movie, with no fewer than eight major driver changes.
Both Busch brothers are in the mix, as Kyle Busch, who once angered Richard Childress so much that the team owner told someone to “hold my watch” as he intended to punch him out, will now drive for RCR in the No. 8 Chevy. “Rowdy” has been replaced by Ty, the aforementioned Gibbs, the No. 18 changing to 54. Meanwhile, Kurt has retired, replaced by Tyler Reddick at Team 23XI.
Another Ty, Childress’s grandson Ty Dillon, leaves RCR affiliate Petty GMS, which isn’t Petty GMS anymore, to drive the No. 77 of Spire Motorsports. AJ Allmendinger takes over the full-time gig in the No. 16 at Kaulig Racing, Josh Bilicki will drive part time for Live Fast Motorsports in the No. 78, and Stewart-Haas drew some odd looks in reaction to its decision to replace Cole Custer with Ryan Preece in the No. 41, although Preece’s strong performance at the LA Coliseum likely made those doubters lighten up a bit.
As for that Petty GMS name change, it’s actually a lot more than that. The team is now co-owned by Jimmie Johnson. Yes, that Jimmie Johnson, and has been renamed Legacy MC, as in Motor Club. Noah Gragson will now drive the No. 42, while Erik Jones remains in the legendary 43, which won’t be Petty Blue and orange but will still be those famous stylized digits. Johnson is unretiring, as the seven-time Cup champ had looked into running the No. 44 but will instead utilize 84, which is his old number (48) flipped and also the career wins number he hopes to reach in the Daytona 500 two weekends from now.
The generational shift is officially underway
Kurt Busch has retired, Johnson is still mostly retired and Kevin Harvick has already announced that 2023 will be his last season behind the wheel of Cup car before he moves to the TV booth. All three are future NASCAR Hall of Famers. So are Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski, who are still racing but also making the transition into team ownership. Martin Truex Jr., winner of Sunday’s Clash, is signed with Joe Gibbs Racing through this season.
The average age of this year’s Cup Series grid is threatening to dip below 30 for the first time in the modern era. In the 1990s, Jeff Gordon was the only driver keeping that number below 40. When Gordon’s generation retired, old-school NASCAR fans said, “Who are these new guys?!” Now they are saying the same about those guys retiring. Because as Nietzsche said, time is a flat circle. Or as Burton Smith said, it’s a roval.
“I’m 32 and now I look around and think, ‘Wait, am I one of the old guys now?” said defending Cup champ Joey Logano. He made his first start in 2008 at the age of 18. “I think race fans should really pay close attention this season. It’s a chance to see a lot of guys who will be in the Hall of Fame before it’s too late.”
North Wilkesboro is back on the schedule
Speaking of Burton Smith, when he purchased the North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1996, he took the two race dates from the track that was on NASCAR’s original Strictly Stock schedule in 1949, shipped them off to a pair of his new facilities and immediately shuttered North Wilkesboro. Years later, when asked for an update on the status of the beloved 0.625-mile lopsided oval, he replied, “I believe it’s returning to the earth.”
Now, against all racing odds, North Wilkesboro is back, thanks in large part to the efforts of Smith’s son Marcus. Now the place that was covered in rust and weeds just a few years ago will host the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 21. There are logistical mountains to scale, from local roads that didn’t handle race traffic well in ’96 to plumbing and electrical work that is being completely replaced. No matter what works or doesn’t this May, though, it will be a day that no one thought would happen.
There are already July Fourth fireworks over the new Chicago Street Course
Take the last sentence from the previous paragraph — “No matter what works or doesn’t … it will be a day that no one thought would happen” — and copy/paste that into this spot in all caps. A NASCAR street course race? Like, really in the streets, not a city park or on an airport tarmac, but on Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue and along the north side of Soldier Field? Stock cars loose on the streets is an idea that has been kicked around forever, but always in a general, “You really think this would work?” sense, usually followed immediately by, “Well, they’ll never try that anyway.”
Well, now they are, despite concerns expressed by the drivers (Elliott: “It needs to be an event. I think as long as it’s that, and it’s done well, it will be a success whether the drivers like the track or not”) and Chicagoans (the Chicago Art Institute has questions about 40 race cars rumbling past its building and its valuable contents). For now, it’s all been pretty, er, quiet … but expect the noise levels to increase again as the July 1-2 event approaches. But also give NASCAR credit for its willingness to give street racing a shot.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric celebrated his first win of the season by wearing Talladega’s Superspeedway traditional victory wreath all around the track.
A wreath like he just won the Indianapolis 500.
He thought so, too.
“Feels like I just won the Indy 500,” he said of Sunday’s NASCAR race. “I’m trying to walk on the plane with this.”
Cindric wasn’t even concerned how such a gesture might be received by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who raged on his radio after the second stage when Cindric didn’t push him and it allowed Bubba Wallace in a Toyota to win the segment and its valuable bonus points.
“Way to go Austin,” seethed Logano, who used multiple expletives in his anger over his Penske radio. “You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go … put that in the book.”
Cindric was unconcerned by the idea Logano might take issue with the wreath on the Penske plane.
“I think that would be very immature,” Cindric said. “I don’t see him doing that. We’ll see.”
It was a celebratory day for Cindric, who gave Team Penske its first NASCAR victory of the season by holding off a huge pack of challengers over the closing lap in a rare drama-free day at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Rock on, guys,” Cindric said over his radio. “Rock and roll. Let’s go!”
Ford drivers went 1-2, with Ryan Preece finishing second. But Preece and Logano were disqualified following postrace inspections because of spoiler infractions. Logano had crossed the finish line in fifth.
After the DQ’s, Kyle Larson moved up to second and William Byron third for Hendrick Motorsports. The two Chevrolet drivers pushed Cindric and Preece from the second row rather than pull out of line on the final lap and make a third lane in an attempt to win.
It was Larson’s best career finish at Talladega, where drafting and pack racing is required and neither suits his style. He said he wanted to make a move to try to take the win from Cindric but there was never any room.
“I wanted to take it but I felt like the gap was too big,” Larson said. “I was just stuck inside and just doing everything I could to advance our lane and maybe open it up to where I then could get to the outside. But we were all just pushing so equally that it kept the lanes jammed up.”
Noah Gragson ended up fourth in a Ford, while Hendrick driver Chase Elliott was fifth – two spots ahead of teammate Alex Bowman, with Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports sandwiched in between them. Wallace was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in eighth.
Cindric led five times but for only seven of the 188 laps in an unusually calm race for chaotic Talladega. The track last fall recorded the largest crash in the NASCAR history when 28 cars were collected in a demolition derby with four laps remaining.
On Sunday, there were only four cautions — two for stage breaks — totaling 22 laps. It was the fourth consecutive Talladega race with only four cautions, the two for stage breaks and the two for natural cautions.
But, Sunday featured season-highs in lead changes (67) among different drivers (23). Only five cars failed to finish from the 40-car field, and a whopping 30 drivers finished on the lead lap.
Cindric marked the 10th consecutive different winner at Talladega, extending the track record of no repeat winners. And, by the time it was over, Logano seemed to have calmed down.
“About time one of us wins these things,” Logano said of the Penske trio. “When you think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general, just haven’t been able to close. To see a couple of Fords on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me, in a selfish way. But it’s good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off.”
Larson sets NASCAR record for stage wins
When he won the first stage at Talladega, it was the 67th of Larson’s career and made him NASCAR’s all-time stage winner. He broke a tie with Martin Truex Jr. with the stage win.
Stages were introduced in 2017 as a way to ensure natural breaks during races that allowed fans to rush to the bathroom or concession stand without missing any action. Cars typically make a pit stop during a stage break.
Teammate-on-teammate collision
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, who combined to win five of the first nine races this season, had a collision on a restart that ensured Bell would not win his fourth race of the season.
It happened in the first stage of the race with Bell on the front row next to Chris Buescher on his inside, and with Hamlin behind him. As the cars revved to get up to speed at the green flag, Hamlin ran into the back of Bell, which caused him to turn into Buescher and create the second caution of the race.
Bell went to the garage, where he joined Ryan Blaney, Buescher and Brad Keselowski, all betting favorites who were done for the day before the end of the first stage.
“What in the hell? Man, apologies if that’s on me,” Hamlin radioed. “We weren’t even up to speed yet. I don’t know why that would have wrecked him. When he shot down to the bottom, I wasn’t even sure I was actually on him.”
Up Next
NASCAR races next week at Texas Motor Speedway, where Elliott scored his only win of the 2024 season last April.
However, Duran said Sunday that a fan in the front row near the Red Sox dugout in Cleveland said “something inappropriate” to him after the All-Star left fielder flied out in the seventh inning of a 13-3 victory over the Guardians.
Duran stayed on the top step of the dugout and glared at the fan as the inning played out. During the seventh-inning stretch, before the singing of “God Bless America,” Red Sox teammates and coaches kept Duran away from the area as umpires and Progressive Field security personnel gathered to handle the situation.
The fan tried to run up the aisle but was caught by security and taken out of the stadium.
“The fan just said something inappropriate. I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it and they took care of it for me,” Duran said.
After the game, the Guardians released a statement apologizing to the Red Sox and Duran. The team said it had identified the fan and was working with Major League Baseball on next steps.
Duran said it was the first time he was taunted by a fan about his suicide attempt and mental health struggles since the Netflix series “The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox” was released April 8.
“When you open yourself up like that, you also open yourself up to the enemies. But I have a good support staff around me, teammates, coaches. There were fans that were supporting me, so that was awesome,” he said.
Boston manager Alex Cora was in the opposite corner of the Red Sox dugout but lauded security for how the incident was handled.
Cora was even prouder of Duran’s restraint. Duran was suspended for two games last season when he directed an anti-gay slur at a heckling fan at Fenway Park when the fan shouted that Duran needed a tennis racket to hit.
“There’s a two-way street. That’s something I said last year. We made a mistake last year, and we learned from it. We grew up, you know, as an individual and as a group,” Cora said.
Sunday’s incident dampened what had been a solid game and series for Duran. He went 4-for-6 with an RBI and had at least three hits in consecutive games for the second time in his career.
In Saturday’s doubleheader nightcap, Duran had Boston’s first straight steal of home plate in 16 years.
Duran went 7-for-15 with three RBIs as Boston took two of three games in the weekend series. Six of his hits in the series came against lefties after Duran was just 3-for-31 against southpaws coming into the weekend.
“I’ve been getting some good swings on lefties lately, just hitting it right at guys. I’m trying to stay with my process, and it just happened to work good for me this series. So, I’m just going to keep at it,” said Duran, who has hit safely in 13 of his past 14 games and is batting .323 (20-for-62) with eight extra-base hits, including a home run, and six RBIs during that span.
Tkachuk’s hit, in the third period of his team’s 5-1 loss, received a five-minute major. According to sources, the NHL Department of Player Safety determined that was enough, considering Guentzel had recently touched the puck and Tkachuk didn’t make contact with Guentzel’s head.
The department also believed that the force in which Tkachuk hit Guentzel was far lesser than the hit Tampa’s Brandon Hagel made on Florida captain Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, which earned Hagel a one game suspension.
The plays led both coaches to trade jabs in the media. After Barkov went down in Game 2, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said: “The only players we hit are the one with pucks.”
Barkov missed the end of the third period, but played in Game 3. Game 4 is Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.
At his postgame press conference, following Tkachuk’s hit on Guentzel, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper deadpanned the exact same line as Maurice.
Tkachuk leads the series in scoring with three goals and an assist through three games. Guentzel has two goals and two assists for Tampa Bay.
The Battle of Florida is living up to the billing as one of the most contentious rivalries in hockey; either Tampa or Florida has made it to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last five seasons.
