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Allmendinger hugs bricks, Chastain makes more enemies than friends

July 31, 2022
Emet

“It’s a team effort, a team effort!” Heading for another road win Saturday (July 30) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, AJ Allmendinger said.

Allmendinger’s wins and road course victories have become somewhat of a foregone conclusion in the final years of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and Dinger added to that fame, leading 42 of 62 laps of the Pennzoil 150. Noah Gragson and Josh Perry took stage one and two, respectively, and Alex Bowman, Justin Algayer, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five as plenty of NASCAR Cup Series drivers were looking to gain some much-needed track time before today’s race.

While Allmendinger’s performance was dominant, others had a more difficult day in the office, despite some high finishes.

The winners

I usually try to leave the race winner on this list for obvious reasons, but I couldn’t after that performance. Not because of what Allmendinger He did, though, but what opened the door for himself to do on Sundays.

Allmendinger won the Cup Series race last year at Brickyard, and now, with his third Xfinity win of the season (all of which come in laps on the road, by the way) ‘Dinger has a chance of sweeping the entire weekend of Kaulig Racing. Last year’s win was Coolig’s only Cup Series win last season, and if he can do it again, Allmendinger will be able to write himself further into the young team’s history books.

With such a dominant performance, it’s hard to find someone else who actually won the day, but there’s always a positive side somewhere, right? That silver lining was that even though they might not have finished where they wanted, JR Motorsports boys They made their presence known. Gregson and Perry came home with a pair of stage wins and all four drivers found their way into the top 15.

losers

Ross Chastain, straight from the rip. If you’ve been following the trophy streak all this season, you should know that Chastain’s antics made him enemy number one for many people in the garage. Many drivers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the way people are racing this season, and I mostly agree with them.

This, apparently, isn’t just limited to the Trophy series either. Sheldon Creed, a driver we’ve talked about a lot over the course of this season, was fourth, trying for a place in qualifying, when Chastain called him. Needless to say, the radio broadcast wasn’t exactly family friendly after the incident. Chastain continues to make friends, right?

after the race, expansionChastain’s Daniel McFadden met up with him asking him about the accident.

“I would have raced him way better than I had been racing with the others,” Chastain said. Do with this quote whatever you want.

The Lap 25 was certainly interesting, as both cars sponsored by Monster Energy decided to find a way to steer in the wrong direction just moments away. Ty Gibbs weave turn 1, and Riley Herbst He was immediately followed up in the next slalom. Both were running in the front of the can at the time of the accident, and neither gave a warning. Both ended up inside the top 10 at the end of the day, with Herbst crossing the streak in sixth and Gibbs in eighth.

week planner

Quoting great composer and musician Beyoncé, “I’ve got hot sauce in my bag, booty.”

Not only is Louisiana hot sauce delicious, but it also fits into a great color palette when it comes to designing paint schemes. Yellow and red will always make the car pop, no matter how you use it. However, when used in flames, they make it even better. Hats off to whoever made this design; He’s in my top five this season.

separator hole

Once again, absolutely nothing has changed regarding the winners with the Allmendinger adding his third of the season, and with only six races left before the stoppage, time is running out for the drivers to win. Currently joining the Allmendinger on wins are Gragson, Allgaier, Gibbs, Berry, Brandon Jones and Austin Hill. That leaves five points for grabs if the season ends today. You can keep up with the ranking of points over here.

Thought fuel

The idea has been floated a lot to bring back racing on the oval at Brickyard, and people can talk about whatever they want. However, I choose to go a different route.

You race the soon-to-be-renamed Camping World Truck Series at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and I’d be damned if it wasn’t one of the best races I’ve seen all year. Not only was the race really good, but the place was absolutely packed – a rarity in a truck series (or Xfinity for that matter), if we’re being honest.

This race made me think, “Why can’t Xfinity run there and at the Brickyard in the same year?” yes. I get that they are a stone’s throw from each other, but fans in the area eat into the sport. They’ll kill for multiple events each year, at least on the Xfinity side of things. They won’t even have to turn back with the tracks basically being a smack in the middle of the country.

You’ll have one short track race during half of the season in IRP, then another high-speed track or road track in IMS. It would be a good replacement for any of the 1.5 mile cookie cutters, that’s for sure.

Where is the next?

Next up is the New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway. The Allmendinger actually won that race last season as well, in triple overtime. Now, with the qualifying window starting to close, fans can expect the drivers they need to win to come out with guns blazing. This race begins on Saturday, August 6 at 3:30 p.m. ET and can be found on the USA Network, Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR.

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