Cars in field: 39
Pole: Zane Smith (38)
Outside Pole: Kyle Busch (8)
Stages: 60-60-68
Weather: Sunny, 79°F, Feels like 87°, Feels like (shade) 77°, Wind N 5 mph, Wind Gusts 5 mph
On lap 4 of 188 there are four lines rolling around the track! When the television broadcast can stay outside the cars, the visuals are stunning. It’s so exciting. They continually break the mood, the excitement, by switching to bumper-cam and hood shots which sends me back to the movie I was watching prior to to race time.
Clouds are beginning to build in the distance. There’s a chance of weather later today.
When the television broadcast continually shows the racing from outside the cars and close enough to identify the cars it is an exhilirating sight. The rest of the time it is aggravating and completely kills my enjoyment of the event.
On lap 27 of 188 the leader has been frequently changing as they race double to four wide. MRN reports there have been 14 official leaders in 24 laps. They are discussing how the energy has been ebbing and flowing in the various lanes. It would be delightful if I could watch the racing, from outside the cars consistently. I love to watch the energy changes in superspeedway races.
On lap 31 of 188 they have settled into a double-wide format.
MRN reports the teams are preparing for green-flag pit stops on lap 37 of 188.
Green flag pit stops are underway on lap 41 of 188.
MRN reports Chase Briscoe (19) stalls the car when trying to leave his pit stall.
Caution on lap 43 of 188. Some cars were attempting to pit when suddenly Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6) goes down toward pit road, then back up onto the track into Alex Bowman (48) who clipped the 6, then Keselowski collects Kyle Busch (8) and Ryan Blaney (12) all of whom around. MRN reports Keselowski has a ball-cap on and has gotten out of his car. Kyle Busch (8) is on pit road getting repairs. They also report Blaney said on the radio he has to go to the garage he believes a tow-link is broken.
MRN reports that since this incident occurred in the midst of green flag pit stops several teams are concerned about fuel as a result of this caution.
The television broadcast showed a NASCAR official coming to the garage and getting Ryan Blaney (12) to escort him to the infield care center to be checked out since he was involved in the crash.
The field pits on lap 49 of 188.
Restarting on lap 51 of 188.
Caution on lap 51 of 188 for a crash involving the front row – Chris Buescher (17) and Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20). Looks like ‘CBell’ got a hard push from behind by teammate ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) sending him sideways into Buescher and they both slid into the inside wall. Bell hit the wall hard.
Ryan Blaney (12) said they broke too many pieces in the right rear. They thought they were going to be able to fix the damage, but there are just too many broken pieces. He lamented another DNF. He said they were just beginning to gain some momentum.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6) said he got hit from behind and didn’t really have a chance to do anything during his radio interview. On television he said he waved to say he was going to pit but they were so tight on him that he didn’t get a chance to turn left in his television interview.
CBell’s car is on the hook on lap 55 of 188.
Restarting on lap 56 of 188.
Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) said he thinks he feels good during his radio interview from the infield care center.
Kyle Larson (5) wins stage one.
Kyle Larson (5) busted for speeding.
Restarting on lap 66 of 188.
On lap 98 of 188 Kyle Busch pits for vibration and leader Anthony Alfredo pits for fuel on lap 99 of 188. MRN reports KyBu’s left tires are heavily corded due to a lingering alignment issue following the crash on lap 43 of 188.
Green flag pit stops are underway on lap 108 of 188.
Chase Elliott (9), Shane ‘SVG’ Van Gisbergen (88) and Daniel Suarez (99) have to serve pit road speeding penalties.
John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (42) spins trying to leave pit road. He gets it headed in the correct direction without bringing out a caution.
Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) wins stage two.
MRN says they’re up to 48 official lead changes so far with 67 laps to go.
MRN reports Josh Berry (21) hit the front tire carrier and right front tire for Carson Hocevar’s (77) car sending the tire flying back to the wall and threw the tire-changer partially onto the hood. The changer continued the stop.
Restarting on lap 126 of 188.
On lap 145 of 188 it appears to be time to log laps until the end.
At lap 162 of 188 let’s see if they will keep the idiotic camera shots to a minimum so I can watch the last segment of the race. I’m guessing they will begin to get back to hard racing soon.
On lap 164 of 188 a group of cars pit for green flag stops for fuel, mostly Fords and Toyotas. Stupid camera shots sends me to a movie.
Tuning back in on lap 175 of 188. Maybe they will show the race from outside the cars – nope, they’re still bored, so we’re stuck with idiot shots during a split-screen commercial break. Totally ludicrous. Checking out what else it on for a bit.
I will check in again around lap 180 of 188 to see if they can manage to show the racing.
The commercial breaks seem never-ending. I turn on lap 183 of 188 more split-screen commercials. If they had a decent camera shot during those breaks it wouldn’t be so bad, but they are totally bored and spending way too much time with gimmick shots from inside/on the cars.
The field is two-wide on lap 185 of 188. Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson, William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliot, Noah Gragson and Zane Smith in the top ten.
White flag.
Austin Cindric (2) edges Ryan Preece (60) for the win.
The first stage was much more exciting than the final stage. I think the second stage had more action. It felt like they had all run out of steam to really race at the end. I expected more after the excitement of the first stage and a good second stage. I wonder if the issue was really the television broadcast product, or if the race really got boring at the end.
Joey Logano said it wasn’t fun at the end because, he said, once they get two-wide wide open there’s nothing you can do except sit there and watch, there are no moves they can make.
Congrats to Ryan Preece (60) on his second-place finish. He managed to drag brakes verbally during his radio interview to avoid dropping an f-bomb while saying he just really wanted to ffffff win.
I was expecting three-and-four-wide racing for the win at the end of the race, like we saw in stage one. I was disappointed by the two-wide, no action finish. MRN is excited by 67 lead changes today, but since the majority of them occurred well before the end of the event that stat is not remotely indicative of the racing as the event wound down. I appreciate them racing rather than logging laps during the first two stages, but I was very disappointed by the conclusion. The first couple of stages were so exciting I wished I was at the track. The third stage was so boring I was glad I wasn’t at the track.
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