Erik ‘Da Brat/That Jones Kid’ Jones (20) will lead the field to green. Kevin ‘Happy/KHarv’ Harvick (4) is outside pole. The stages are 80-80-107.
Joey Logano (22) takes the lead in turn four of the first lap.
Harvick takes the lead from Logano on lap 34 of 267.
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 36 of 267.
Earlier today I realized why I find the shot of the driver driving so dumb. One of the things I enjoy about NASCAR racing is watching someone do something I’d like to have the skill and opportunity to do. When watching a driver behind the wheel he appears to be doing the same thing I do on my daily commute. That’s thoroughly uninteresting and definitely not exciting. They’re professional drivers so they make it look as simple as my daily commute. While I know it is more complicated, the television shot shows a professional driver driving which looks like me (or any licensed, experienced driver) driving to work. It just doesn’t convey excitement or skill or anything of any visual interest.
Really the same holds true for the windshield shot. It looks similar to my daily commute. I can see that the ‘road’ may be a bit bumpier than my commute and sometimes the traffic appears heavier and less courteous, but it does not provide anything more exciting than the view through my windshield during my daily commute. It is not a visually stimulating shot.
The shot out the back window is like looking my rearview mirror during my daily commute; not terribly interesting typically and not informative since there’s no context. While you may see something happen, since you don’t have context the relevance of the action is missing rendering the action trivial.
Martin Truex Jr (78) takes the lead from ‘Happy’ Harvick on lap 60 of 267.
On lap 79 of 267 ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson (42) is on pit road for a flat right front tire.
Truex wins stage one.
Restarting on lap 87 of 267 with Martin Truex Jr and Alex Bowman (88) on the front rwo.
Caution on lap 89 of 267 for Ricky ‘Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse getting into the wall for a while.
Restarting on lap 93 of 267 with Martin Truex Jr and Alex Bowman on the front row.
Caution on lap 111 of 267. Ty Dillon (13) got into the outside wall. As he was headed to pit road the tire carcass came off the car.
Restarting on lap 115 of 267 with Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2) and Martin Truex Jr up front.
PRN is saying its 100 degrees currently in Vegas. The track temperature is 125 degrees.
Caution on lap 147 of 267 for an incident involving ‘Da Brat’ and ‘KHarv’. Looks like KHarv blew up – PRN is saying a tire went and went straight to the wall – then ‘Da Brat’ plowed into the back of him. His car is on fire. but he’s out of the car. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the 4 car causing me to say the 4 blew up. Possibly the air/track temperatures are causing tire issues. Truex and Logano were running first and second at the time of the caution.
Restarting on lap 15 of 267 with ‘It’ and Truex on the front row.
Stage 2 concludes with ‘It’ out front.
Restarting on lap 166 of 267 with Jamie McMurray (1) and ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson (42) on the front row after staying out on the last pit stop. The first five drivers stayed out and the sixth driver Ryan Blaney (12) only took two tires.
Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace took his 43 car to the garage during the restart.
Larson takes the lead from Jamie Mc.
Trevor Bayne (6) and Paul Menard (21) are falling back through the field after staying out on the last caution.
Bubba was again having brake issues.
On lap 178 ‘It’ takes the lead from ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson.
Caution on lap 182 of 267 for William Byron getting the 24 car into the wall.
Restarting on lap 187 of 267 with ‘It’ and ‘Kutey’ up front.
Truex takes the lead from ‘It’ on lap 202 of 267.
Jamie Mc (1) hit the wall hard and Chase Elliott (9) hit him when Jamie Mc hit the wall in front of Chase then ended up hitting the wall himself bringing out the caution on lap 212 of 267. PRN is saying Jamie Mc lost a tire.
Chase Elliott said his shoulder was bothering him as soon as he hit so his crew-chief Alan Gustaffson said they’d get a medic to him.
Restarting on lap 222 of 267 with ‘It’ and Logano on the front row.
Chase Elliott said his hand caught in the wheel and his shoulder popped really big and he started messing with it when he stopped and it popped really big again.
The field quickly strings out single file.
Caution on lap 232 of 267 for Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) spinning into the infield.
Restarting on lap 237 of 267 with ‘It’ and Martin Truex Jr leading the field to the flag.
Caution on lap 245 of 267 for a spin through the grass by Denny Hamlin (11).
Some are staying out including Larson, ‘It’, Truex, Logano, Jimmie Johnson (48), Ryan ‘Son’ Blaney (12),
Restarting on lap 250 of 267 with ‘Kutey’ and ‘It’ up front.
Caution on lap 251 of 267 for a spin by Ricky ‘Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse Jr (17).
With the tv broadcast replays we have to wait until the second replay to see what actually occurred since they are showing a split screen of the driving driving and the windshield shot for the first replay which shows nothing of value, then they show a normal replay that actually shows the racing action. Would it be possible for people who understand what a race fan wants to see to be tasked with shot selection for the television broadcast?
Restarting on lap 256 of 267 with ‘It’ and Logano on the front row.
Wendy Venturini I love you, but please, please, please stop saying storylines. I’m interested in racing, watching racing, listening to racing, reading about racing. When I want a storyline I watch a soap opera or some other scripted drama.
Jimmie hit the wall and had a tire rub on the restart lap, he made it to the pits. He’s trying to make it . Alex Bowman (88) hits the wall and hits pit road. Clint ‘Drunk Daddy’ Bowyer (14) also hit the wall in that exchange. Joey Logano (22) also hit the wall, but continued, as did Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch. The race stays green.
Caution on lap 260 of 267 for debris.
Roger Penske is in Sonoma for the finals of the Indy Car series. Video shown of him watching the NASCAR race while they are waiting for this race to end so they can start the Indy Car race.
Restarting on lap 265 of 267 with ‘It’ and Ryan Blaney up front.
The Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch (41) and the 34 of Michael McDowell wreck collecting the 38 of David Ragan, Matt DiBenedetto (32) and Ross Chastain (15).
Red flag is out
We’re watching Indy Car racing on a split screen now. So they seemed to have started and we’re watching that race while the red flag continues for NASCAR.
Brett Bodine who is driving the pace car is checking for additional debris on the track.
The caution is out .
Restarting in overtime with ‘It’ and his teammate Joey Logano out front. NASCAR has asked the drivers to drive through the speedy-dry to try to dissipate some of it.
In wonder of the voices on PRN and MRN realize that when they editorialize about the races the voices on Sirius will simply parrot their opinions and the independent thinkers who have obligations that stop them from spending all of their time on Twitter or on phone calls on the radio get drowned out by the parrots.
‘It’ crosses the line first under the checkered flag.
The green staying out on that restart with five cars hitting the wall taints this race for me. I have no issues with NASCAR throwing caution flags, but I do have an issue with NASCAR not throwing a caution when it has done so in that situation throughout the race. They affected the finish for at least five drivers.
It was a busy race, but not as exciting and entertaining as the Truck race. It all to often felt like when someone got the lead, no one could actually catch and successfully race them, unless they decided it wasn’t worth fighting at the time, which seemed to happen several times.
Motorsport News:
- Ferrari team principal explains decision to drop Raikkonen.
- Haas driver Grosjean disqualified from Italian GP.
- MotoGP rider grabs competitor’s brake at 140 mph.
- Todd races to 2nd straight win, takes NHRA Funny Car lead.
- Former F1 champion Raikkonen leaving Ferrari for Sauber.
- Jimmie Johnson, Fernando Alonso taunt racing world with secret.
- Raikkonen on leaving Ferrari: “It’s not my decision”.
- Robert Wickens vows to return to IndyCar after crash injuries.
- Alexander Rossi at home in IndyCar while chasing championship.
- Clay Millican paces Top Fuel qualifying for playoff opener at Maple Grove Raceway.
- Romain Grosjean edges closer to one-race ban.
- Ferrari claims ‘boredom’ was the real winner at Singapore Grand Prix.
- Ryan Hunter-Reay edges Scott Dixon for IndyCar pole at Sonoma Raceway.
- Ryan Newman leaving Richard Childress Racing, says he has full-time ride elsewhere.
- Ryan Newman leaving Richard Childress Racing.
- Xfinity Series winner Ross Chastain isn’t getting paid to drive the No. 42 car.
- Alon Day picks up win to tighten up NASCAR Euro Series points race.
- Loris Hezemans picks up first NASCAR Euro win at Hockenheimring.