Congrats to Daniel Riccardo on winning the Grand Prix of Monaco F1 race. Congrats to Will Power on winning the 205th Indianapolis 500. As the pre-show begins Myers mentioned a thunderstorm in the distance. He, Jeff ‘Big Daddy’ Gordon and Darrell ‘DW’ Wallace are opening the show near the stage. The drivers will be introduced with a military guy. Sounds like they actually have 40 cars in the field for a change. I’m thrilled Alan Kulwicki is now in the Hall of Fame. Unsurprisingly Jeff Gordon was also voted in. Obviously he deserved it though I’d like to see those who made it possible for him to do what he did to get in before him – but he definitely deserves to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I’m disappointed that Buddy Baker was not inducted – again. I hope he will go in next year. We miss you Buddy Baker! R.I.P. The stages for tonight are 100-100-100-100.
It would be great to have a foundation group that gets in every year – maybe 3-5 folks from the earliest days of NASCAR until 1960. Then induct two people from 1960-1980. Then 1 person from the 1990s. Once we get to 2021, add a person to the foundation, and 1960-1980 categories and the final category becomes 1990-2010. But I think if you’ve driven in the past 10 years you can wait to get into the Hall of Fame. Of course since the trend has started with inducting people too early (for example Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon) it becomes problematic going forward to avoid the appearance of bias. Not sure how to resolve that issue though I don’t have an issue with removing them – or setting them aside into a ‘recent’ category. There’s an idea – there could be a ‘Future Hall of Famer’ inducted – a person who is eligible – and will go in, guaranteed, on their 7th ballot. A Jeff Gordon would be in that kind of group. The person chosen would be a part of the Hall of Fame ceremonies and activities and have a special exhibit, they just wouldn’t be inducted until later. So they’re still honored, but room is left for their forefathers and foremothers to be honored while those who knew them are still alive to advocate for them.
Happy 28th Birthday to Joey Logano.
Radio time since we’re now getting plagued by Michael Waltrip on television. It’s been so nice lately that the pre-race show begins with Big Daddy and DW and Myers and goes for a while without the aggravation of Michael Waltrip. I’ve been happily watching the pre-race show for the first time in years. Now if they could extend the lack of Michael Waltrip and the lack of Larry McReynolds through the full broadcast that would be a massive and welcome improvement.
It’s cloudy at race time. Mike Joy says no rain is expected tonight.
Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) will lead the field to the green flag.
They have a new camera to play with – the rail cam. The view of the cars is pretty bad from the rail cam. You can barely see the roofs of the cars and they seem pretty far away. Not as bad as that stupid blimp shot they used a couple of times during the Xfinity race yesterday. That shot left me feeling like I was standing above a child’s miniature race track looking down. Couldn’t really see anything relevant. The rail cam shot makes me a little motion sick and leaves me wanting to lean forward to get a better view.
Caution on lap 37 of 400 for Austin ‘Frankenstein’ Dillon (3) smacking the wall. Looks like he lost a right rear.
Restarting on lap 44 of 400.
Wow, we went from a normal shot, to the blimp ant view, to the rail cam distant view. Good thing nothing of real interest happened during the restart, because we as the viewing audience wouldn’t have been able to actually see it. Now we’re stuck looking out someone’s window. Seriously, the best view of a race is never going to be the driver’s view, nor the miniaturized blimp view, nor the racing rail came ahead of the field view. I can understand the search for something new and exciting for a 60 year old sport, but .
Now we’re looking at something smoking. It seems to be Austin Dillon’s car on pit road. That was weird. The car was on fire when Frankenstein brought his car in to the pits. They told him he might smell smoke because there was a piece of tire wrapped around the axle. When he decided he had to come in there were apparently flames visible. For all the view we got, we don’t seem to actually have a camera shot of the flaming car.
Caution on lap 83 of 400 for Kevin ‘Happy’ Harvick (4) banging the outside wall and riding it a while. He lost a left front tire. He’s driving the car to the garage. For some reason Austin Dillon continues to keep coming back onto the track instead of taking his wrecked, burned up car to the garage and staying there.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2) is running a gimmick, not getting tires to get track position. He held up everybody in the field causing a mess and fell back quickly.
Restarting on lap 88 of 400.
Jamie McMurray (1) heads to pit road on lap 90 of 400 due to a flat tire.
KyBu wins stage one.
Restarting on lap 108 of 400.
William Byron (24) brings out the caution on lap 115 of 400 hitting the outside wall while battling with Alex Bowman (88) and Kasey Kahne (95) for 12th or 13th position.
Restarting on lap 120 of 400.
Caution on lap 121 of 400 for a spin by Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano spun trying to avoid him. Denny Hamlin turned Jimmie by hitting his left rear quarter panel. Erik ‘Da Brat’ Jones (20) clipped Joey Logano (22) as he checked up and tagged Jimmie.
Restarting on lap 124 of 400.
William Byron hit the wall again on lap 142 of 400 but will hit pit road without bringing out the caution.
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 157 of 400.
Ryan Blaney (12) says his engine is sputtering on lap 188 of 400.
KyBu wins stage 2.
Restarting on lap 208 of 400.
Caution on lap 226 of 400 for a spin by Gray Gaulding in the 23 car.
Fuel saving will begin after these pit stops. Jimmie dropped nine spots due to a problem with the jack on the stop.
Restarting on lap 271 of 400.
Caution on lap 258 of 400 for a spin by Chris Buescher (37).
Restarting on lap 265 of 400.
Caution is out for a spin by ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson on lap 273 of 400.
Restarting on lap 277 of 400.
Ryan Blaney’s car is in flames bringing out the caution on lap 278 of 400. Ryan is safely out of the car.
Restarting on lap 285 of 400.
KyBu wins stage three.
Restarting on lap 308 of 400.
Newman is down on the apron on lap 313 of 400 and heading into the garage. The pit says its a wheel bearing. The right front wheel was on fire when he got into the garage.
Green flag pit stops are underway on lap 342 of 400.
The tv broadcast seems obsessed with watching Samantha Busch sitting in the pit box. What do they find so fascinating about her? She’s not actually in the race, and for those of us interested in the race, suddenly showing her is as interesting as showing children playing in the stands or the infield – irrelevant and distracting.
KyBu wins for the first time in a points paying race at Charlotte – the only track at which he didn’t have points paying Cup win. He led 337 of 400 laps. No real competition making the longest race of the season seem even longer.
Congrats to Jimmie Johnson on a fifth place finish.
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- Driver reaction: Monaco GP.