NASCAR's 2018 season blasts into its second half and the old cliché about the more things changing the more staying the same got some confirmation in a demolition derby of a Firecracker 400 weekend, and it also may have offered answers on where the season is going.
NASCAR's ridiculous yellow-line rule cost Justin Haley the victory in the Firecracker 250 and led to an interesting question on social media by Brad Keselowski, whose question about having two or four tires below the yellow line illustrated the EIRI clause that has forever dominated the NASCAR rulebook and also illustrated that no matter how Steve O'Donnell calls it, he can't justify this rule. This helps explain why so many question the sanctioning body's credibility, because the rules put in place too often are there only to justify more control, not to address actual problems. The blunt reality remains there never should have been a yellow-line rule.
Why has Ricky Stenhouse only won twice in Winston Cup? His Gurney Ernie Irvan antics in the Firecracker 400 showed why, right down to drivers openly calling him out a la calling out Ernie Irvan back in his day. That the uncompetitive Roush Fords led as much as they did in the Firecracker was something of a surprise, and we doubt it will carry over to greater muscle down the road this season.
So what to make of this going forward? Some takes -
--- It's now manifestly clear to everyone, including the Race Stream Media that treated Chevrolet as though it were on the brink of winning again, that Chevrolet's program is fundamentally flawed. For all the hype about Hendrick Motorsports putting three cars in the top four in qualifying, the Chevrolet class was still clearly behind the Fords and Toyotas. For Hendrick Motorsports in particular - especially Jimmie Johnson - the failure in the Firecracker, despite showing some legitimate power, indicates whatever progress is being made with this racecar is weak at best, and the Chevrolet program is simply screwed up. We frankly doubt Chevrolet will win again in 2018; there simply is no reason right now to think Chevy can get this thing turned around.
Which begs the question - what exactly has gone wrong? Part of it is this Chevrolet more and more looks like a terrible racecar. The bigger part is the engineering effort clearly has no answers, and one should start questioning the competence of the engineering leadership in Chevrolet's racing program. Tied into the engineering is inter-team cooperation - Chevy teams claim their is genuine cooperation between them, but MRN's Dave Moody has noted either information isn't being properly used by Chevy teams, or someone in the Chevy camp is not giving everyone everything needed to make these cars better. I suspect the latter is the case; if it weren't the Chevy effort would be much farther along by now.
--- It's now manifestly clear to everyone, including the Race Stream Media that treated Chevrolet as though it were on the brink of winning again, that Chevrolet's program is fundamentally flawed. For all the hype about Hendrick Motorsports putting three cars in the top four in qualifying, the Chevrolet class was still clearly behind the Fords and Toyotas. For Hendrick Motorsports in particular - especially Jimmie Johnson - the failure in the Firecracker, despite showing some legitimate power, indicates whatever progress is being made with this racecar is weak at best, and the Chevrolet program is simply screwed up. We frankly doubt Chevrolet will win again in 2018; there simply is no reason right now to think Chevy can get this thing turned around.
Which begs the question - what exactly has gone wrong? Part of it is this Chevrolet more and more looks like a terrible racecar. The bigger part is the engineering effort clearly has no answers, and one should start questioning the competence of the engineering leadership in Chevrolet's racing program. Tied into the engineering is inter-team cooperation - Chevy teams claim their is genuine cooperation between them, but MRN's Dave Moody has noted either information isn't being properly used by Chevy teams, or someone in the Chevy camp is not giving everyone everything needed to make these cars better. I suspect the latter is the case; if it weren't the Chevy effort would be much farther along by now.
--- The young guns of NASCAR were hyped by the sanctioning body despite having little evidence of potential accomplishment, and even with Erik Jones' surprising Firecracker win the young guns overall have simply not shown much firepower. Jones' effort the last three races has gotten notably better with top-tens at Sears Point and Chicagoland before the Firecracker win; the same cannot be said for Chase Elliott, with just six top-tens overall, just three in the last nine races, and only nineteen laps led overall (compared to 64 by Erik Jones just at Texas earlier this season). It holds my view that Elliott is not a budding superstar but the next Mike Skinner - an overhyped hack with the greater issue that he's been shoved down the sport's throat.
There needs to be a lot more out of the young guns to justify the hype from the start of the season.
There needs to be a lot more out of the young guns to justify the hype from the start of the season.
--- The Firecracker was one of those rare good paydays for the smaller teams with top-tens by Brad Daugherty's two cars, Archie St. Hilaire's Ford, and Ron Leavine's Chevrolet. Jay Robinson, Mark Beard, and the Gaunt Brothers also had respectable days. The funniest irony is the "independents" accounted for most of the nine Chevrolets that finished in the top-ten.
So it went with the Firecracker 400 weekend.
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