Richmond Review, Watkins Glen Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E25

In this episode of Chasing the Cut, the host reviews the races at Michigan and previews the upcoming races at Watkins Glen. Kevin Harvick won the race at Richmond, but the first half of the race was boring with little passing. The host suggests that Richmond should only have one race and make changes to improve the racing. The truck race at Richmond was also disappointing. The host discusses the playoff standings and shares some news about upcoming races and sponsorships. For the XFANITY race at Watkins Glen, the host predicts AJ Allmendinger as the winner. For the Cup race, the host predicts Christopher Bell. The weather forecast for the race is humid with a chance of rain. The host mentions that there will be a record number of foreign drivers in the race. The episode concludes with well wishes for those attending the race and a reminder to like and subscribe. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cut. I'm your host, Scott Langland, and in this episode, I'm going to be reviewing the races from Michigan. I'll also go over the news. I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Watkins Glen. But first, let's take a look at the results from Richmond. Kevin Harvick goes two in a row by winning at Richmond, followed by Christopher Bell in second after making a hard charge in the closing laps. Chris Buescher finishes third after trying to make an effort to catch Harvick in the closing laps as well. Danny Hamlin finishes fourth. Chase Elliott at one of his worst tracks finishes fifth. Joey Logano finishes sixth. Martin Trucks Jr. finishes seventh. Eric Amorola finishes eighth. Kyle Busch finishes ninth, and Ryan Blaney rounds out the top ten. And in my opinion, this race was kind of surprising for Richmond because Richmond, although it's a three-quarter of a mile flat track, it put on a pretty good of a show in the closing half of the race. But, during that first half, it was a snooze fest. You couldn't pass. It was just single file on the bottom. But people could make things work at the top, but you couldn't pass at all. But when that front moved in, which had some rain up to the north, and things got a little cloudy, things got more racy. And it really led to some surprising racing. And it led to overall being an okay race. But Richmond, in my opinion, needs to only have one date. It does not deserve the two dates that it currently has. Because the racing product, it's just not up to par compared to other short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville. And not a lot of people will come in and fill in the grandstands. So I think having one race will bring everyone to the track and fill up the grandstands. And it will allow a date for another track. And Richmond's racing during the first half was just a snooze fest before everything changed in the second half. And that's why I want to base this opinion on for the lack of racing. Because in my opinion, Richmond's a very slow race track. And that's what's made it very hard to pass and pretty boring. Back in the older days of Richmond, it seemed to be a lot more grippier. And the speeds were higher because of that sealant that they put on, which they last used in 2002. And that led to the track being very grippy, which meant higher speeds. So that way you had to brake in the corner pretty hard. But now with speeds down, you don't have to brake as hard. And it doesn't lead to the chaos that we see at Bristol and Martinsville each year. And that's what you want from short tracks. You want that action and that entertainment and good hard racing. You can't do that at Richmond. Because it's pretty much a handling race and a racing of strategy because you can't pass. So the only passing that's going on is on Pitt Road. And while old Richmond, when they used to put the sealant down, it was all about the chaos as well. Not as much as Bristol and Martinsville, but it was still a pretty chaotic race. Just look at the fights that have happened at Richmond. It looks like those times have gone. So in my opinion, to fix the racing at Richmond, let's say there's a few options. First option would be to repave the track. It probably hasn't been repaved since at least the late 90s and early 2000s. It could be time, but I'm not sure about that. But say if they do repave it, it'll lead to a grippier surface that could lead to some beating the man in short track action. Second, you could try using PJ1 or resin, which you put down on the bottom, but could allow for kind of like that single file train that we have at Bristol when the PJ1's fresh and Martinsville, which leads to the bump and run and beating the man in all that. And it could lead to a chaotic race. And finally, we go back to using the sealant, which would allow the track to get some grit, which would allow for the more chaotic racing kind of like how the PJ1 would. But the problem is that the drivers don't like using that. So I'm not sure if it would be a viable option. So overall, this race was pretty okay. First half was pretty bad because you couldn't pass at all. It was just strung out, especially that long second stage. That was just tiring. But when the clouds came out and covered up the sun and the conditions change, it got a little interesting and actually made some pretty good racing. Was the best race of the year? No, was the worst race? No, I'd say this race was okay. I'd say the worst race continues to be Texas All-Star Race, which I'll talk about more in a little bit. And finally, for the truck race, Taylor Smith picks up another win, followed by John Hunter Nemechek in second, Ty Majewski in third, Grant Enfinger in fourth, Corey Hyman in fifth, Taylor Gray in sixth, Matt Crapton in seventh, Christian Eggess in eighth, Zane Smith in ninth, and Carson Hoselvar rounds out the top ten. And probably this was the worst race of the weekend. You couldn't pass at all during the race. Not sure if it was because of the night conditions, but this race was just awful. You could not pass and it was pretty much single file on the bottom, and because of the low speeds, you couldn't create chaos. It was just boring and dull. It was probably the worst truck race of the year so far, even worse than Texas, because of those low speeds on that small track. In my opinion, the trucks do not need to go to Richmond, at least in August. Just go back to Martinsville, please, for a second date. Richmond does not deserve a truck date. And so overall, a pretty underwhelming weekend for the trucks, but a good race for a cup, and I think Richmond needs to make some changes if they want to stay long term on the NASCAR schedule and try to return as a fan favorite. So before we move on to the news, let's take a look at the playoffs coming into Watkins Glen. Ryan Blaney has put some distance on Martin Trucks Jr., now up to 26 points below the cut line. But coming into Watkins Glen, it'll be interesting because almost all of the road courses have had a new winner, besides Tyler Rettick going two in a row for the past two races. So it'll be interesting coming into Watkins Glen this weekend. And so with that out of the way, let's get to the news. Shriners Children's has partnered with Ty Gibbs for the Darlington race. They will run a special paint scheme for that race. Ottersport Games has announced the official game for the 2022 season called NASCAR Rivals, which will be available on October 14th for the Nintendo Switch. And from what I've heard, around that time, NASCAR 21 Ignition will get its 22 pack. And also there is the possibility of NASCAR Heat 5 getting a 2022 pack, although that game was made in 2020 and we've already had another game since that. So keep an eye on that. Ross Chastain will return to DGM Racing again this weekend with the New York Governor's Traffic Safety Community at Watkins Glen as a sponsor. The 1989 NASCAR Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace has been named the Grand Marshal of the Go Bowling at the Glen. JC Motor Group Limited will be sponsoring Tyler Rettick at Watkins Glen. Dottarain will be performing a pre-race concert at Texas Motor Speedway for the race on September 25th. Ryan Blaney has signed a long-term contract extension for Team Penske, but the current details of that contract are not known. John Hunter Niemicek and his father Joe Niemicek will be racing for Sam Hunt Racing at Daytona. Next is the TV ratings. USA averaged 2.432 million viewers, which is up 34% from last year's Richmond race, which was on NBCSN. So the USA effect has really helped with ratings on the NBC side this year. Go Bowling will be returning to sponsor Eric Almorala this weekend at Watkins Glen. Brad Perez will be attempting to make his XFANTY Series debut at Watkins Glen after failing to qualify at the Indy Road Course. Princess Cruises will be sponsoring Daniel Suarez at Watkins Glen and Homestead. According to Nielsen, sponsors are getting more exposure with a number shift on the cup cars. Austin Wayne Self will be attempting to make his XFANTY Series debut at Watkins Glen for Jordan Anderson Racing. Sugarland Distilling Company will be sponsoring Ricky Stenhouse Jr. this weekend at Watkins Glen. Better Than Ezra will be performing a pre-race concert at Daytona. Protowide Express has expanded its NASCAR presence and becomes the official logistics partner of NASCAR. The Truck Series Caution Clock, aka Chris Wright, will be joining Brandon Bilt Motorsports for nine races in the XFANTY Series. Bubba Wallace has signed a contract extension with 2311 Racing. And finally, some big news from Texas. It was reported on Twitter, it was alleged that Texas Motor Speedway will get reconfigured and it may lead to IndyCar not running at Texas to help improve the product for NASCAR. I've heard several options from maybe turning it into a super speedway like Atlanta, turning it into a half mile short track, or maybe even going back to the original 28 degrees. But we'll have to see what happens. To be honest, if they want to, they can go to a super speedway since that's the easiest option other than going back to the original, but with the possibility of IndyCar not coming back I'm not sure if they want to do that. And so, that's it for this week's news. Now let's preview this weekend's races at Watkins Glen. Starting off with the XFANTY Racing, you have the Sunoco Go Awards 200 at the Glen. The race will be 82 laps and 200.9 miles, and the race will be on August 20th at 3pm Eastern Time. So for my pick, I'm going to go with AJ Allmendinger. AJ's been the leading candidate for road course races. He won at Indy, he won at Portland, and Koda this year, and so I think he'll continue to assert his dominance at these road courses and win at Watkins Glen. Finally, for the Cup Race, we have the Gold Bowling at the Glen. The race will be 90 laps and 220.5 miles, and the race will be on August 21st at 3pm Eastern Time. And so now let's take a look at the weather for the Cup Race. On Sunday, there will be some sun, then increasing clouds, and not as hot but humid with thunderstorms in parts of the area. The high will be 83 degrees, winds will be south at around 7 miles per hour, and a chance of rain of 55%. So there is the chance of rain, but it'll be very humid and there may be a chance of rain, which could lead to some rain racing for the Cup Series. But we'll have to see what happens, because it could just thunderstorm and lead to a lightning delay. But there won't be any rain delays, because we're at a road course. And also for this race, we'll have seven different foreign drivers in this race, which is a record for the Cup Series. Kimi Räikkönen will be in the race for Project 91. He is from Finland. Of course, Daniel Suarez is from Mexico. Lars Heisman's in the 27 is from the Netherlands. Mike Rockenfeller is from Germany. Daniil Kevat is from Russia. And Kyle Tilley is from the UK. I'd say, from the list, Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Suarez will be the ones that'll be up towards the front, at least top 15 runs in my opinion, since they have some of the best equipment at these road courses. But I'm not going to pick any of them, but instead, I'm going to go with an American in Christopher Buescher. Of course, you saw on social media, after Dale Jr. called him Christopher Buescher at Richmond, he decided to change things up and say Christopher Buescher. He changed it on his Twitter page. He changed it on his car. And I'd say this weekend, the change could lead to something positive. And I'd say Christopher Buescher, aka Chris Buescher, will win at Watkins Glen because he's ran very well at these road courses. I think this time, with this late season charge he's had, I think he wins this weekend at Watkins Glen. And so that's it for this week's episode. If you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe for more. If you're going out to Watkins Glen this weekend, I hope you have a good time. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are. And I'll see you next week.