Speedweeks 2015 - Reed And Xfinity Number One With A Bang

Sometimes clichés become clichés because they're true - it really isn't how you start, it's how you finish.

What began as a so-so Speedweeks first showed true competitive fire in the first half of the Nextera Truck 250, but then on Saturday the Late Model Sportsman series - a series that was the Busch Series seemingly forever, then had Nationwide on its side - debuted Xfinity sponsorship and it seems the debut could not have been more exciting.   It injected Speedweeks with a massive dose of fire.

Ryan Reed ended a 0-for-lifetime skid at Daytona in all stock car classes for Roush Racing and did so even as crashes so thinned the field that only about eight cars were left to fight for the win.   Aric Almirola, driving a Fred Biagi car (curiously it was reminiscent of Curb Motorsports, a nice unintended reminder of the historic link between Almirola's Cup team in Richard Petty and Curb), stormed into the fight at the end but his role in the last-lap Kyle Larson melee blew out his tire, leaving the fight to Reed gunning down a helpless Brad Keselowski. 

Larson, for his part, once again acquitted himself superbly in a fight, though his role in the nasty Daniel Suarez-Regan Smith trioval contretemps shouldn't be ignored.   Indeed, Larson was but one of many racers who showcased amazing competitive fight in this race.   The opening 40 laps were one gigantic nose-to-nose sidedraft mostly between Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, ex-Joe Gibbs Trucker turned Roush Xfinity combatant, and Ty Dillon, with Kyle Busch and Regan Smith heavily involved, the foursome merely four of over twenty cars battling for the front.

The big picture takeaway from this astonishing race is that the racers seem to finally be figuring out effective push-drafting within the tighter box NASCAR has installed.   They are ostensibly not allowed to push-draft all the way around, but in this race they made push-drafting effective again - not since the 2013 season have we seen push-drafting this effective, and it was reminiscent of both the 2012 Busch Clash that saw a heady mix of push-drafting and conventional pack racing and the Talladega Truck 250 in 2013 that likewise saw that combination, though there the push-draft was far more effective.

It is exactly what NASCAR should want for the 500 and other races down the road.  


*****


Takes on several racers in this 300 -


I was surprised Aric Almirola didn't pull off the upset, as he showed a mixture of Richard Petty strategy and aggressiveness - if he can improve that in the 500 he can pull off that upset.   Unnoticed was his quasi-teammate Dakota Armstrong, who began to show some fight and finished a reasonable 11th in Petty's Sportsman car.

The RCR Chevys were strong as always, and Ty Dillon is clearly the better of the two Dillons as a racer.

The Toyotas had nothing to be ashamed of.  Eric Jones overall acquitted himself well, and there will be discussion of Kyle Busch's bad crash into the infield road course entry area - questions about the lack of SAFER barriers will of course be asked; that it's an area over 200 feet from the racing surface where crashes simply haven't happened is why there wasn't a SAFER there; the SAFERS are supposed to be where the wrecks happen.   The real issue is these cars are not scrubbing off any speed when they slide as Busch's car did - over and over we've seen cars slide through these paved run-off areas and there was no scrub-off of speed at all.

Curiously quiet all day was Dale Earnhardt Jr, who nonetheless finished in the top ten.

Regan Smith's unexpected Speedweeks got off to a wild start with a great fight for the lead ending upside down in the trioval. 

The best sponsor of the race was on Mario Gosselin's Chevrolet - Crash Claims R Us.

I give Danica Patrick grief because she deserves it - also deserving it is John Wes Townley, who seemingly can't run any race without wrecking.


Thus did Xfinity take over the Busch Bash and thus did its debut as series sponsor produce the kind of fireworks that scare people and also amaze them, and showcase the awe that is racing at its best.

Regan Smith And NASCAR's Comeuppance

NASCAR's 2013 Aarons Talladega weekend got off to a nasty start with rain galore and delay of the Alabama 500k race - aka The Aarons 312 - by some three hours. The wait turned out to be worth it as far as mind-blowing racing goes. It was also worth it for NASCAR getting some much-deserved comeuppance. The race was cut short by seven laps because of impending darkness, and it turned into an amazing thirteen car shootout and a three-abreast finish that should have been a photo finish - except the initial ruling of Kasey Kahne as the winner was reversed by NASCAR based on freezing the field when the caution comes out instead of racing to the flag. NASCAR ruled Regan Smith was ahead of Kahne based on a scoring loop as the yellow flew, so Smith was declared the winner.

Regan Smith being involved in controversy over a win at Talladega - the irony is delicious, because this time Smith is the one benefitting from a NASCAR rule that objectively speaking has no business existing. NASCAR stopped allowing cars to race to the line after the 2003 New Hampshire 300 because of foolish driving by Michael Waltrip amid a crash involving Dale Jarret. NASCAR had had similar incidents before - such as involving Geoff Bodine at the 1989 Summer 500 at Pocono amid a crash involving Bobby Hillin Jr. - and dealt with them sensibly without changing the rule. The objective reality is the finish ought to be determined at the start-finish line, not by a scoring loop when the yellow comes out. Several races have seen the wrong winner declared because of not allowing racing to the stripe when the yellow comes out - the infamous 2004 Winston 500 won by Jeff Gordon, the 2005 Diehard 500 won by Dale Jarrett, the 2006 Diehard 500 won by Brian Vickers, and the 2008 Firecracker 400 won by Kyle Busch come immediately to mind - and then there are the races where a crash happened and the yellow DIDN'T fly, in effect allowing the field to race to the line - the 2004 Firecracker 250 won by Mike Wallace and the 2007 Daytona 500 won by Kevin Harvick come to mind.

What NASCAR thinks it is preventing by not allowing racing to the stripe, especially in situations such as listed above, does not come across as valid. Freezing the field is not preventing any crash; all it is doing is creating controversy that should not even exist. That Regan Smith is the beneficiary here is the comeuppance for NASCAR for the 2008 Diehard 500 - Regan Smith drafted past Tony Stewart to the stripe, but NASCAR disqualified the pass because Smith went below the yellow line - a rule dating to Jimmy Spencer's petulant bitch-fest at the 2001 Alabama 500k. To that point passing below the yellow line had never been an issue to the racers; suddenly NASCAR now had controversies based on giving the officiating tower more element of control over the racing - it blew up with Dale Earnhardt Jr's 2003 Talladega win where he passed on the apron of Turn Three; there have been other incidents of passing below the yellow line - some like Tony Stewart at the end of the 2003 Diehard 500 went unnoticed; others have resulted in NASCAR penalties - none bigger than Regan Smith in 2008.

The fact is NASCAR was wrong in 2008 - there is no objective legitimacy to the rule against passing below the yellow line; making it more devastating was a quote attributed to Ramsey Poston of NASCAR claiming that the yellow line rule did not apply to last-lap passes. So five years later another rule that has no place in the sport - freezing the field instead of racing to the line when the yellow flies - winds up in effect making up for the wrong rule (and ruling) of 2008.

**********


The rain and the controvery merely added to the exhilaration of another amazing Talladega Busch/Nationwide race.   Because NASCAR's rules czars have largely left the N'wide cars alone for the plate tracks, the tandem draft is extremely effective and it showed in 47 lead changes among 16 drivers, not a record for NASCAR's second-tier stock car tour (2011's 56 lead changes is the record) but darned close and an awesome number even for a 500 MILE race.    


The race showcased not only superb competition from Smith and Kahne, it also showed strong efforts by cars wiped out in the plethora of wrecks - notably Reed Sorenson and Travis Pastrana after a tag from Brian Scott while racing with the leaders. And there was also another Danica crash.

It's regrettable rain plagued the weekend this way, but when the sport produces racing this ferocious and this competitive, it's all worth it.  

It also proves that sometimes what goes around does come around.