Texas Review, All Star Race & Texas Future Opinions, and Coke 600 Preview | Chasing The Cup S1:E17

The transcribed segment discusses the recent All-Star Weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The host reviews the results of the races and provides opinions on the track and the event itself. The host criticizes the one-groove racing at Texas and highlights incidents such as a big wreck and tire issues. The host also expresses concerns about the declining popularity of the All-Star Race and suggests possible solutions, including repaving Texas, moving the race to different locations, or having it at short tracks or stadiums. The host concludes by emphasizing the need for changes to improve the All-Star Race. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I'm your host Will England and in this episode I'm going to be reviewing the All-Star Weekend at Texas. I'm going to give my opinions on the current state of the All-Star Race. I'll also go over the news and I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Charlotte including the Coca-Cola 600. But first let's take a look at the results from Texas. Ryan Blaney collects his first All-Star Million Dollar Paycheck and wins the NASCAR All-Star Race, followed by Denny Hamlin in second, Austin Sendrick in third, Julie Legawa in fourth, Daniel Suarez in fifth, Alex Bowman in sixth, AJ Almendinger in seventh, Chris Buescher in eighth, Rik Islasky in ninth, and Christopher Bell rounds out the top ten. And what a god awful race that was. Man that was just terrible. First off there was only one groove on the track. You could only go on the bottom. Passing was possible, which is better, but you could only pass on the bottom, which made it a one groove track. That made the racing bad and allowed the leader to just get away in that clean air. And then you have that big wreck during stage two when Kyle Busch blew his tire. And then Ross Chastain uses Kyle Busch as a ramp, shoots over Kyle right into the back of Chase Elliott, and Chase spins around and hits the wall on his driver's side. That was a brutal hit. I'm glad everyone was okay. And then you had the tire issues, which I believe were caused by worn out tires because a bunch of the blowouts were caused by people that stayed out and who were fiddling with the tire pressures, like Kansas. And then we gotta talk about that window net gate. Coming to the checkered flag, Ryan Blaney was coming to the checkered flag when the caution came out. And NASCAR had this stupid rule change for this race. If the caution comes out before the checkered flag, we'll have an overtime restart. And Ryan Blaney thinking that it's over, he takes his window net down, which of course is illegal because that's a safety issue. And many people thought that he would have to come down the pit road because he would be black flagged if that window net was not up when the restart started. Luckily he got it back on and he ended up winning on that overtime restart because nothing happened. And it was clear that the NASCAR officials in the press box were very trigger happy with that caution button because all it was was Ricky Stenhouse slamming into the wall. They were keeping an eye on that button and at the first chance when something happened, they pressed that button. And so NASCAR gave an explanation and they said that someone hit it at the wrong time and they knew that they shouldn't have had the caution out. So I applaud NASCAR for coming out and saying that, but that shouldn't have happened at all. The caution should have not come out for Ricky and Ryan Blaney almost did not get that million dollars because he took that window net down. So all this just made a terrible race. And I'll tell you what, the attendance was just as bad. Jarrett Bumberg, who runs the Icebergs YouTube channel, calculated that there were about 20 to 30 thousand people attending. For a race with all the big all-stars with a million dollars on the line, you could only get 20 to 30 thousand people. That is just not good. Of course, they just had a bunch of people packed in one spot and you saw those empty grandstands. So it looked like it was packed, but it wasn't packed at all. It was just in that one spot. Although Eric Estep said there were like 50 to 60 thousand, he was there. I'd say that was more like 20 to 30 thousand people. And there's been less people that have gone to Texas. If you remember the fall race from last year, it looked like less than 10 thousand people there. It was a high school football game with that little amount of attendance. I'm pretty sure there was like less than 10 thousand people there during the fall race. So I'm going to go over more of that stuff in the next segment. I want to move on to the other two series that actually raced for points. Starting off with Xfinity. Tyler Reddick gets Big Machine Racing its first ever Xfinity series win, followed by William Byron in second, Sam Mayer in third, Justin Allgaier in fourth, Austin Hale in fifth, Ryan Truex in sixth, Josh Berry in seventh, Riley Hurst in eighth, AJ Almendinger ninth, and Landon Kessel rounds out the top ten. In my opinion, both points paying races were just as bad. I'm not going to go over the truck race in that much depth either. I'm just going to say that both Xfinity and trucks had the same issue. You couldn't pass on the top, you could only pass on the bottom. So it made it a one groove track, which is good for short tracks because you want that beat and bang in action on one enclosed space. But when you get to over half a mile, it starts to get boring quick. And you could just tell there was not a lot of passing in that race. And of course there was that Texas Chaos, which wasn't caused by racing, it was caused by wrecks. And it just made for a terrible race. Along with trucks, it was terrible as well. But here are the truck results. Stork Friesen gets his first win since 2019 at Phoenix, followed by Christian Ickes in second, Ryan Preece in third, Carson Husavar in fourth, Ty Majiski in fifth, John Anahinimachek in sixth, Corey Heim in seventh, Chandler Smith in eighth, Matt Crafton in ninth, and Matt DiBenedetto rounds out the top ten. And just as I said before, this race was pretty bad. There was plenty of action, but there was only that one groove on the bottom that made passing really hard. And it made an okay race. I'd say both Xfinity and trucks were okay. Cup was just a nightmare. I'd say trucks and Xfinity were okay, but one of the big moments from the truck race was Haley Deegan, who gained her best qualifying position, nearly getting a starting spot in the top five, but she hit the wall. And that led her to losing a little time, and that led her to start in sixth. So that shows that Haley Deegan does have the speed at tracks she's comfortable with, but she finished 17th after in turn two she got put into the wall by Todd Bodine, who finished 13th. She was running 14th until Todd Bodine got into her on the last lap. She was running good, running top 15, top 20 all day. So with that qualifying run, she has shown that she has the speed, but she hasn't been able to close the deal. And I'd say it's probably because of the maniacs in this series. And Todd Bodine made everyone know that he's one of the idiots, too. There are just a lot of immature idiots in the truck series, and there are a lot of drivers that want the race clean that have their days ended by these crazy immature drivers. Like Haley Deegan. And Haley Deegan was on door bump clear, and Brett Griffin said when Noah Grexson moved up to Xfinity, he said that he would run better in Xfinity because there was not a bunch of those idiots running. And that's really shown itself, because Noah Grexson right now is looking like a championship contender. You know, back in trucks he was not really like that. He won a couple of races with Kyle Busch, but he didn't really shine until he got to Xfinity and started running with J.R.M. And I'd say Haley Deegan might be the same way when she moves up to Xfinity one day. And to be honest, she could still win a race this season and have a good season because she has shown that she has that speed in her. It's just all this bad luck caused by these idiots has put her way down below in points. So Haley, if you're listening right now, I'd like to give you some advice. If these drivers in the truck series will not mature and straighten up, then you should be the one that's doing it. How a teacher straightens up her students at school, you need to show, like William Byron, as I said a couple of weeks ago, that if anyone messes with you, you need to show that you're not to be had with. So that's just a word of advice for Haley. But overall, a very solid weekend for her. She started sixth for best starting position, and she has shown that she can run top ten, maybe top five, possibly get them in this season. She said that she feels comfortable on the mile and a half because she has adapted to learn how the air works, so she knows how she can use the air to her advantage. Meanwhile, comparing to Danica Patrick, Danica couldn't really learn how to use the air, but Haley has learned really quick. That shows how good she is. She has that raw ability to know how the air works. So going to Xfinity might be good for her if she doesn't go up the top next year to replace Todd Gilland, which might be a possibility. I hope she doesn't do that because Todd Gilland might get out that 38 car and go somewhere else like the past two times. John Heather Nemechek moved to KBM after his rookie season, and then Anthony Alfredo moved to our motorsports. So it's either going to be Zane Smith that goes up to the 38 or her. I don't think Tanner Gray will move up. It's either going to be those two that go to the 38 if Todd Gilland moves on from front row, unless front row decides to bring in Riley Hurst, which probably would be a better choice for me, honestly. If I was front row and if Todd Gilland was leaving, I'd hire Riley Hurst to drive the 38 because he brings in funding by his family's business as well as Monster. So overall this weekend, it was just terrible racing. Only one groove, and there was also unnecessary chaos caused by several different factors. And so with the reviews out of the way, let's continue to talk about Texas and the All-Star Race and its future. It's been no secret that the All-Star Race's popularity has been going way down for a while because I remember the days when it was almost as popular as the Crown Jewel Race. It was as popular as the Daytona 500, the Coke 600, the Brickyard 400, the Bristol Knight Race. It was just one of those must-see events. All those drivers going for a million dollars. Now I remember how big of an event it was when I went in 2012. I was overwhelmed with all the stuff that there was to do. And of course, as I said last week, Jimmy Johnson won that race. And it was an iconic moment because Jimmy Johnson had Rick Hendrick climb into the car and take a little ride in front of the fans. And it's those moments like that that really built it up, like Earnhardt's pass in the grass or Darrell Waltrip's famous line toward Rusty Wallace, which was, I hope he chokes on that $200,000. There's also the 95 All-Star Race when Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt hit each other coming off of turn four during that 10-lap shootout, which really hurt Darrell Waltrip. And it was basically, it was the beginning of the end of his career because he had some major injuries caused from that crash. He had T-Rex in 1997. Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the All-Star Race as a rookie in 2000. That major pileup in 2001 when it started raining in turn one. And then a bunch of guys pulled out in their backups and Jeff Gordon won in his backup car after a lengthy red flag. The Bush Brothers colliding in turn one in 2007. Keep Your Foot in It in 2009. He put them in the wall in 2010. And all these big moments that really built up the All-Star Race and made it as big as it was. It really peaked in the early 2010s in popularity. But then it started slowly declining. It wasn't a large nosedive as it was with the popularity of the clash. Let's say the prestige of the All-Star Race as well as some of the gimmicks they tried to give to the float as long as it could until 2020 when the real nosedive started for the All-Star Race when they headed up Bristol. And of course Chase Elliott won that race but that race was not very good because they put too much PGA1 on the bottom. And because there weren't that many cars racing it was pretty much spread out. Plus there was also the gimmicks with the underglow and the move back numbers which were fun but this was truly the start of the big nosedive for the All-Star Race. Things started getting worse last year with Texas because you had Sam Haygar singing I Can't Drive 55 during the opening pace laps as well as that 510 package which made it close racing but it was really hard to pass because of that dirty air caused by that package and the design of the Gen 6 car. And now we've reached a new low here in 2022 because as I said earlier there was only one group passing. And although passing was possible there was plenty of passing in the field but it was only on the bottom which made a pretty boring race because the leader would just go out to the front. And although the racing was better than 2021 all the other factors really made it worse such as that huge wreck that took out probably three of the most popular drivers like Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Busch. Two of the big heavyweights were taken out real early. Also all the tire blowouts caused by the low air pressures as well as of course that controversial caution caused by Ricky Stenhouse. And that really has put the All-Star Race's popularity at rock bottom. It was slowly going down in the early to mid 2010s but when 2020 hit the nose dive began and it's really at an all-time low here thanks to Texas. And it's mostly the fault of the racetrack. Texas is just terrible in its current state. Now I'd say it's not because of the banking and the turns, it's probably because of the permanent stains caused by the PJ1 that they used to use. But they moved on to using resin but you could tell that the permanent staining caused by the PJ1 is still there and it really affected the track permanently and it's just made the track into a single file groove. I'd say if this track aged naturally it would eventually go to multi-groove racing because Auto Club is less than 20 degrees and of course that race was great. It was multi-groove racing at Auto Club and Texas used to be a good racetrack with multi-groove racing before they reconfigured it. To be honest if they let Texas age naturally it would turn into a good racetrack but since they put down that PJ1 it has made the racing bad permanently because of the stainage of the PJ1 and because Texas still uses resin it's just made the racing terrible. It really affected Phoenix earlier this year too. I'm not sure if Phoenix would be a multi-groove track because the dominant lane is the bottom lane at Phoenix. You can't really pass toward the top. You can only either pass on the apron or on the bottom at Phoenix. I'm kind of scared how asphalt Bristol will fare because of course they used PJ1 at Bristol for the night race now since they've moved the spring race to the dirt race so I'm not sure how PJ1 could affect it. Of course they tested Bristol with the next gen car back in September after the dirt was removed but I'm not sure with how this car works. I'm not sure how it will affect with the PJ1 because the PJ1 would be mostly on the bottom and the top will not come in good until later in the race. So you either use the PJ1 on the bottom or the slick track surface on the top because as the night goes on the top will eventually get ripped. I'd say if this car, if Phoenix and Texas has shown something it might be a single file race on the top which ain't bad. Look at 2012 with Tony Stewart and Matt Kenza. That was a great race. Of course I went to that, it was pretty good. So I'm kind of scared how PJ1 has affected this car and I'm not optimistic of how other tracks will deal with the PJ1 and it's clear that it's completely ruined Texas in its current form. So I'm going to go over some of the options that could help both Texas and the All-Star race regain their popularity. First for Texas you could repave the track in its current state and never put on PJ1 again and let the track age naturally and eventually turn into a good race track. Another option could be what they did to Atlanta which was make it into the mile and a half speedway which I'd say would be a good idea long term because it would allow for pack racing in a market that can't reach Talladega, Atlanta, or Daytona. It would bring pack racing to a part of the country that's never really seen it except maybe at times with IndyCar like at Auto Club but that's a lot different from NASCAR's pack racing. Finally, I'd say for the third option do a full revamp of Texas Motor Speedway. Not just the banking and stuff, just do a whole different race track basically starting from scratch like say make it into a short track or three mile super speedway. Of course everything's bigger in Texas so that could be a possibility but in its current form, Texas is just gonna suck forever unless the track ages pretty well and that could lead to better racing but save with the permanent PJ1 staining unless the staining somehow wears off over time which I highly doubt because it's clear that the PJ1 hasn't as far as I know. I have three options for the All-Star Race which is to move it to three locations. The first location on my mind is if with the standard of 20-30,000 people, just go to North Wolves for real. It's an SMI owned track and it would be a must-see event because it would be the first time that the Cup Series would go to North Wilkesboro since 96. Of course it won't be a points fan race but I'd say with that track for the All-Star Race, I'd say it'd be a good match and I'd say with that standard of 20-30,000, it would be a lot better for North Wilkesboro because the seating capacity at Wilkesboro currently is 40,000 so 20-30,000 at Wilkesboro would be a packed house. Meanwhile Texas with 20-30,000 would be just two-tenths of the current seating capacity which is 112,000. Second option, go back to Charlotte. You could bring back the old tradition, bring it back to Charlotte and have it the old-fashioned way but I really see this as a good option because a lot of people were complaining about Charlotte being constantly the All-Star Race's stop and just bringing it back would just temporarily fix the All-Star Race and people would just get tired of Charlotte again. So my final suggestion would be have it at stadiums or local short tracks. I've already said North Wilkesboro but we could have the All-Star Race as like a Field of Dreams kind of race. Have it at like short tracks or stadiums. Have it at places like Bowman Gray Stadium or other major stadiums like the LA Coliseum like it was for the Clash this year. You can have SMI lease those stadiums out instead of NASCAR as well as have it at other short tracks like Wilkesboro and other local short tracks where it would be a can't miss event at these race tracks and have it at other purpose-built race tracks. Maybe Rockingham. Rockingham was of course known for the Pickaroo Challenge. We could bring Rockingham back for the All-Star Race and it would be a good show and it would really fit the All-Star Race. Maybe try Bristol again but try the regular configuration of Bristol with the right amount of PGA 1 on the bottom instead of just a bunch on the bottom. I'd say the All-Star Race needs to stay on the East Coast. Somewhere in the 2-3 hour range of Charlotte. Most of the tracks that I mentioned are in the 2-3 hour range of Charlotte. It's clear that the teams do not want to go to Texas. Once a year where points don't even count and it's just a slugfest for a million bucks. And of course, Marcus Smith was trying to defend it saying that they sold more tickets and everyone there had a good time. And Eric Eastep and his friend said that they had a good time as casual fans. But the criticism from parkour fans really outweighs the thoughts of people going to that race because it's just that small majority of 20-30,000. And I'm not sure how many people of that 20-30,000 enjoyed themselves. And props to SMI for making it an overall big event but the racing itself wasn't good. So SMI if you're listening, get rid of Texas for the All-Star Race and in general just get rid of Texas and move its dates elsewhere or just remove one date because no one wants to watch a single file race on the bottom at Texas. NASCAR fans want to see action. They want to see passing and good racing. Texas just doesn't bring that and Texas' popularity is just going to keep going down and down and down until you finally pull the plug. So it's up to you SMI. Will you spare us or cause more suffering in the minds of NASCAR fans? Will you end the terror of Texas or will you let the terror of Texas reign over us for another decade or so? It's your choice. Anyway, I've taken too much time on this. I'd like to hear your opinions down below. Should Texas be the All-Star Race? If not, where should the All-Star Race go and should SMI keep Texas on the schedule? Leave it in the comments below. I'd like to hear it. So with that finally out of the way, let's get to the news. Trekhouse Entertainment Group announced the creation of Project 91. The program has been designed to expand its international reach by fielding a NASCAR Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. So that's quite interesting for that Project 91 ride. Who would get in that ride if it's supposed to be renowned international stars? Of course, you got guys that would be interested in NASCAR in both IndyCar and Formula One, but we'll have to see who would be interested in this ride. RTA's GigFast Internet will be supporting Zane Smith and the troops at Charlotte. Coriel Joy and Spire Motorsports have partnered with the USO and Coca-Cola for the Coca-Cola 600. Ryan Priest will be running with BJ Cloud Motorsports this weekend at Charlotte with Hut Brothers Pizza as the sponsor. M&M's will be sponsoring the Pocono Cup Race as its season-long celebration of the three-decade-long partnership with NASCAR. Joe Gibbs has provided an update on Kyle Busch's contract. Gibbs said that the team is really confident that we're going to have that car squared away sponsorship-wise. They're trying to work on a deal right now with Kyle, and he thinks that they feel good about it. Meanwhile, his plans for Ty Gibbs is to keep him in the Xfinity Series for another season. So it looks like Ty Gibbs will not move up next year to replace Kyle in the 18, and it looks like right now Kyle is going to be in the 18 because it looks like they've got one or more sponsors stepping up. So we'll keep an eye on that. It looks like things are looking good for Kyle Busch. Advanced Auto Parts has awarded $1,200 to NASCAR Short Treks after Ryan Blaney's All-Star win. This $1,200 will go to Edmonton International Raceway in Canada and South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia, which of course will be one of the tracks on the SRX calendar. Jim France will be awarded the 2022 Spirit of Le Mans trophy. It looks like TV readings haven't come out yet, so I guess I'll save those for next week. After the Truck Series race, Ross Chastain had to go to the medical center due to dehydration, which caused some cramping, but he was able to recover in time for the All-Star race. Crayon Software Experts has been named the entitlement sponsor of the Xfinity race at New Hampshire. The race will be called the Crayon 200. Fox Sports will be bringing back the drivers-only broadcast at Charlotte this weekend for the Xfinity race. Sideplay will be sponsoring Tolic Racing in eight races for its Cup Series entry. Toyota has been named the official car-slash-truck of the Xfinity race at Portland. Five-time American Music Award winner Kane Brown has been named the Grand Marshal of the Ally 400 at Nashville Super Speedway. Jogus Racing is working with JTG Geordie Racing owner Tad Gessischer, whatever that name is, to help sell a sponsorship for, I guess, Kyle Busch. Premier Chevy Dealers has returned as the presenting sponsor of the Knoxville truck race. And finally, Richard Pettyday, presented by Bomberito Automotive Group, will be kicking off the inaugural Cup Series weekend at Worldwide Technology Raceway. And so that's it for the news this week, now it's time to preview this weekend's races at Charlotte. Starting off with trucks, we have the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. The race will be 134 laps and 200 miles. And the race will be on May 27th at 8.30pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Zane Smith. Zane Smith has so far been the dominant driver in the truck series, and I think he'll continue his dominant ways and win this weekend at Charlotte. Next for the Xfinity race, we have the Osco Uniform 300. The race will be 200 laps and 300 miles, and the race will be on May 28th at 1pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Ty Gibbs. Ty Gibbs won this race last year, and although he DNFed last weekend, I think this time he'll go back to back at Charlotte and win this weekend. And finally, the biggest race of the weekend, it's the Coca-Cola 600. The Coca-Cola 600 will be 400 laps and 600 miles. The longest race of the year. And the race will be on Sunday, May 29th at 6pm Eastern Time. So now let's take a look at the weather for the Coca-Cola 600. On Sunday night, some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight, with a low of 63 degrees. Winds light and variable. Winds are predicted to be southeast at 5mph and an 8% chance of rain. So it'll start off pretty warm, it'll cool off as the night goes on, which of course will change the race over the long runs. Because your car may be good early, but it really counts toward the end, as the night goes on. So for my pick, I'm gonna go with William Byron. William Byron has so far been the dominant team besides Ross Chastain this year. And the Coca-Cola 600 is really a telltale sign of who the best team is, most of the time. So whoever wins the Coca-Cola 600 might be the champion this year. I think William Byron will be definitely a championship contender. I think he'll be the one that outlasts the temperature changes and will end up being the leader and will win the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. So that's it for this week's episode. If you enjoyed, please like and subscribe for more. And if you're going to the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend, or the other races, including the Arca race, I hope you have a good time. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are, whether you're going to the Monaco Grand Prix or the Indy 500 in Indianapolis. I hope you have a good time at those races as well. And I'll see you next week.