The Wide World of Dirt

A sadly familiar sight welcomed the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend in Delaware as rain washed out qualifying and the scheduled race day on Sunday.

Mostly clear skies greeted the field today as the cars took to the Monster Mile, and for some, the Monster took back from them.

One of those drivers was Kyle Larson. The Hendrick driver advanced through the field with ease throughout Stage 1, making his way to the top-5 by lap 75.

The fun for the #5 ended when he approached 4th-place driver Ross Chastain.

Chastain plowed through another car on corner entry; Brennan Poole was the victim of the Melon Massacre this time, sliding back up the track into Larson’s path.

The wreck virtually ended the day for Larson and put Poole’s Rick Ware Racing Ford behind the wall for the day where the journeyman driver said about Chastain, “He probably needs to get his butt whooped.”

Can someone please just do it already?

I am growing increasingly annoyed by the presence and hijinks of the #1 car every single week, and it’s getting to the point where Fox is meming him.

This needs to stop.

Despite mowing down a lapped car and taking out a competitor, Chastain went unpunished and contended for the win the rest of the day.

It looked to be William Byron’s day as his Raptor Chevy rolled around the 1mi track better than anyone else for 193 laps before falling back in Stage 3.

Denny Hamlin appeared to be the only capable of keeping up with the #24, staying in his tire tracks for much of the first two stages until a bad pit stop sunk their day.

Eventually, the story became the “hometown” guy in Martin Truex Jr versus the Melon Man up at the front as they duked it out during the final stage.

The veteran Truex waited for Chastain to make a mistake during the first run of Stage 3, a mistake that would never come.

Going nowhere, Truex and crew chief James Small shortpit, allowing them to leap-frog Chastain and take the lead of the race after the green flag pit cycle.

The incessant fight with lapped traffic prevented MTJ from scooting away, but with close to 20 to go, Larson re-entered the fray and made his #5 HendrickCars.com Camaro wider than the Atlantic Ocean, blocking Chastain for over a lap.

The much-slower Larson gave a fellow Cup champion some air to breathe for a few laps, but right as Ross charged back to Truex, another champion, Joey Logano, lost a tire in turn 4 to bring out the final yellow with close to 10 laps remaining.

The yellow brought the thin crowd of lead-lap cars (all eight of them) down pit road to take fresh tires.

The key difference was Truex taking two right-side tires to keep the lead. When the restart came with 7 to go, Truex launched ahead and fought with a hungry Ryan Blaney for a couple laps before Ross worked his way around the #12.

Four fresh tires in dirty air were unable to overcome two fresh tires in clean air as Martin Truex Jr. scored his fourth Dover victory, ending a 54-winless drought.

This race was just fine. You could catch and pass the leader if you were faster. You could pass throughout the field. The track was spread out.

The late caution threatened to ruin a solid race, but luckily nothing stupid happened on the final restart.

The broadcast was lackluster, mostly due to Clint Bowyer’s expert commentary. Mike Joy did a fine job as usual while Rusty Wallace brought some savvy and expertise to the booth that has been dearly missed.

It’s really sad when a guy who hasn’t been in a car since the second Bush Administration provides better commentary than the guy that retired three years ago.

Speaking of retirement, Kevin Harvick showed strength through the first two stages, methodically working his way into the top-5 before a right rear tire issue late in Stage 2 saw the 2014 champion trapped a lap down for the rest of the race.

These mediocre finishes are starting to sting more and more as the season inches closer and closer to its end. The cars are good, great some weeks, and the #4 team fails to produce results.

The race is over in Dover, so let’s recap this week’s Friday 5:

1. Chase Elliott – 11th

The Georgia native took his average finish from the previous two races and hit it right on the money today with an 11th-place effort.

It seemed like the #9 and #48 were just a step or two off from their teammates from a competitive standpoint, never rising above the bottom half of the top-10.

2. Chris Buescher – 9th

A bit of a decline from last year’s 8th-place finish, Buescher kept his Fastenal Ford in the top-10 all race long and got a really solid result.

Teammate Brad Keselowski also rebounded from a pit road penalty for a top-10 today, so perhaps the RFK cars are For Real.

3. Martin Truex Jr – Winner

Not even a late Logano caution could take the win away from MTJ as he punches his ticket to the Playoffs with today’s victory.

This marked the second time Martin visited Dover’s victory lane this weekend as his brother Ryan scored his elusive first NASCAR win in the Xfinity Series on Saturday.

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 15th

Much like his sponsor today, Stenhouse’s day was icy then hot. A great starting position was not enough to overcome a suboptimal setup, falling off of the lead lap in Stage 2.

Stenhouse duked it out with Austin Cindric in Stage 3 (not for position) and hung onto a solid top-15 finish. Not too shabby.

5. Josh Berry – 10th

Another day, another Josh Berry replacement job. Berry came into Monday’s race hot off of a runner-up showing in the Xfinity race on Saturday.

Though the positive Xfinity result failed to lift him up to an even better run today, Josh kept the car clean and got a top-10. Hard to complain about that.

IndyCar at Barber: Scotty sneaks by Grosjean to win

Admittedly, I missed a solid portion of this race, but I watched from lap 1-25 and 20 to go until the end.

IndyCar showed up again with another great race, this time in Alabama (thankfully not at Talladega.)

The race started off with a three-way fight for the lead between pole sitter Grosjean, Alex Palou, and Pato O’Ward before Grosjean set sail.

Over the course of the day, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin surged through the pack to race with Grosjean, something that’s becoming pretty frequent!

The two hotshoes got the elbows out without going over the edge like they did at St. Pete, and after making an excruciatingly tough move going into the final turn on lap 64, Grosjean took effective P1 while pit stops were still underway.

McLaughlin refused to bow out, staying right behind Grosjean for several laps until a Grosjean error into turn 5 opened the door for the Kiwi with less than 20 to go.

With no push-to-pass left, Grosjean could only watch as McLaughlin’s #3 eased into the distance to claim his first win of 2023.

Scott McLaughlin needs to be put into a stock car at some point because that man is absolutely on another level behind the wheel.

For as much talk as Kyle Larson got in 2021 for his greatness in two different disciplines, I’ve not seen enough love for the New Zealander.

Already one of the greatest drivers in V8 Supercars history from a statistical standpoint, Scott ran modestly in IndyCar for a season before making a statement with his first win at St. Pete last year.

McLaughlin has officially arrived and poses a significant threat to other contenders as it seems he’s getting quicker and quicker every week.

Next week, NASCAR heads to Kansas while IndyCar takes a week off to begin the Month of May.