{"id":1986,"date":"2023-02-05T22:27:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T03:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2023-02-05T23:06:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T04:06:43","slug":"2023-nascar-cup-series-pre-season-race-one-the-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/2023-nascar-cup-series-pre-season-race-one-the-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 NASCAR Cup Series Pre-Season Race One The Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sunny day in LA for the start of the first heat race. Looks like there’s lots of room in the stands, judging by the crowd shots of children shown before the heat races begin. Less than stellar video and less than inspiring, exciting. Looks like the people of LA are no more interested in this race than I am. It’s a shame NASCAR has ruined this event.<\/p>\n

Mike Joy, Tony ‘Smoke’ Stewart, and Clint ‘DrunkDaddy’ Bowyer are in the booth today. The camera shots are focusing on a few cars, so it’s impossible to get a feel for the race. Lap 3 of 25 Harrison Burton (21) gets spun around and brings out the red flag since only green flag laps count.<\/p>\n

So far this has been as boring as watching a video game. It hasn’t looked like a live sports event, nor a live NASCAR race, so far.<\/p>\n

Aric Almirola (10) finishes first in the first heat race. Apparently the first five finishers transfer into the race.<\/p>\n

Top 5 Heat 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. \n
        \n
      1. Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10)<\/li>\n
      2. Alex Bowman (48)<\/li>\n
      3. Justin Haley (31)<\/li>\n
      4. Noah Gragson (42)<\/li>\n
      5. Joey Logano (22)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The second heat has started at 1721 eastern.
        \nMartin Truex Jr (19) wins heat two.<\/p>\n

        Top 5 Heat 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \n
            \n
          1. \n
              \n
            1. Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19)<\/li>\n
            2. Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8)<\/li>\n
            3. Austin Dillon (3)<\/li>\n
            4. Kyle Larson (5)<\/li>\n
            5. Kevin ‘KHarv\/Happy’ Harvick (4)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              KHarv said he got ran over so he figured he wouldn’t bother to try to pass anyone he’d just ‘run em all over’ and he says he got lucky and ended up in the right spot. He sounded less than thrilled. He also nailed what I saw. It’s not interesting. It doesn’t seem to take talent. Whatever.<\/p>\n

              The third heat has started at 1738 eastern.<\/p>\n

              TV and MRN are calling these events as hard as they can; selling them hard.<\/p>\n

              ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) wins heat three.<\/p>\n

              Top 5 Heat 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. \n
                  \n
                1. \n
                    \n
                  1. Denny Hamlin (11)<\/li>\n
                  2. Chase Briscoe (14)<\/li>\n
                  3. Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45)<\/li>\n
                  4. Ryan Blaney (12)<\/li>\n
                  5. Daniel Suarez (99)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    MRN says fans are coming into the stadium. They’re describing the way the cars drive into the stadium which involves the cars driving on the street outside the stadium allowing fans to get autographs. They’re attributing the lack of fans in the stands to the ‘lots of things to do’ and the cars on the streets.<\/p>\n

                    Heat four is underway at 1756 eastern time.<\/p>\n

                    Yesterday during a stint on the desk Jamie McMurray talked about how special it used to be when a driver had to win a pole to get into the Clash. He said it was different now that pretty much anyone can get in. The Clash is definitely not a prestigious event these days – just another gimmick. The old NASCAR guys like Bill France and Bruton Smith were definitely purveyor’s of gimmicks. The difference is that they created gimmicks that felt like ‘good ideas’, and ‘things you were missing, but didn’t realize you had been waiting for’.<\/p>\n

                    William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) wins heat four.<\/p>\n

                    Top 5 Heat 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. \n
                        \n
                      1. \n
                          \n
                        1. William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24)<\/li>\n
                        2. Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23)<\/li>\n
                        3. Ross Chastain (1)<\/li>\n
                        4. Ryan Preece (41)<\/li>\n
                        5. Erik ‘DaBrat’ Jones (43)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                          So now everybody else is in the LCQ.<\/p>\n

                          There’s another gimmick with getting into this deal. There’s a provisional spot for the highest 2022 points driver who hasn’t already gotten into the event.<\/p>\n

                          Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) has that spot. He’s starting the LCQ anyway. MRN says his team will let him know if he’s getting too roughed up so he can just drop to the back.<\/p>\n

                          A pair of 50 green lap LCQ races for the rest of the spots are up next. The top three from each will transfer in.<\/p>\n

                          At 1811 eastern LCQ 1 is underway.
                          \nMichael McDowell (38) wins LCQ one.<\/p>\n

                          Top 5 LCQ 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

                            \n
                          1. \n
                              \n
                            1. \n
                                \n
                              1. Michael McDowell (38)<\/li>\n
                              2. Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20)<\/li>\n
                              3. Todd Gilliland (34)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                Since CBell raced in the provisional spot goes to Chase Elliott (9) who failed to transfer in the second heat.<\/p>\n

                                LCQ two is underway at 1831 eastern<\/p>\n

                                Top 5 LCQ 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  \n
                                1. \n
                                    \n
                                  1. \n
                                      \n
                                    1. Chase Elliott (9)<\/li>\n
                                    2. Ty ‘My Grandfather Joe Gibbs Bought Me NASCAR’ Gibbs (54)<\/li>\n
                                    3. AJ Allmendinger (16)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                      Austin ‘My Daddy Is A Penske Exec So I Have A Great Ride’ Cindric (2) gets in with the provisional.<\/p>\n

                                      The event is more ‘watchable’ on radio.<\/p>\n

                                      Clouds are gathering behind Adam Alexander, Tony ‘Smoke’ Stewart, and Clint ‘DrunkDaddy’ Bowyer during the race day show. The sun is still shining over the LA Coliseum. The teams had to practice with their ‘wet weather’ gear installed yesterday.<\/p>\n

                                      Wow. Insane in the Brain. I’ve not heard that in years. So Cypress Hill is designed to attract whom to the show? The stands still look pretty empty. TV keeps showing a few white people badly dancing to Cypress Hill. It’s an amazingly tone-deaf broadcast. Oh they found a black woman to show who was waving her hands during the Cypress Hill performance. NASCAR keeps talking diversity, but showing that it’s a marketing initiative instead of a genuine effort to grow the sport.<\/p>\n

                                      After that performance if I had any ideas about watching Animal Control with Joel McHale I would be totally turned off to that idea. He was awful. A comedy show starring that decidedly unfunny fellow sounds like a losing proposition.<\/p>\n

                                      I couldn’t get into watching the event. I tried to watch at the beginning, but it just wasn’t interesting.<\/p>\n

                                      It was still on when we were ready to go to bed so I watched the last seven laps.<\/p>\n

                                      Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19) won the race.<\/p>\n

                                      Mike Joy of FOXSports noted that MTJ was considering retiring last year and decided to give it one more shot. Joy named a couple of other 19 car team members, James Smalls, crew chief, and Drew Herring, the spotter.<\/p>\n

                                      For some reason they’re giving out medals to the top three finishers.<\/p>\n

                                      Shockingly Austin Dillon (3) admitted that ‘teammate let me go try to get Truex at the end’. Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8) agreed that he let Dillon go. Kyle said Dillon was better than he was in practice. KyBu planned to push Dillon ahead of Truex if he got the chance, but they weren’t able to catch MTJ.<\/p>\n

                                      Mike Joy said there were 16 caution flags. That explains why it exceeded its broadcast window.<\/p>\n

                                      I’m looking forward to the Daytona 500. I hope the broadcasts are more enjoyable than that one. I enjoyed seeing and hearing Jimmie Johnson. I enjoyed, as usual, hearing Mike Joy. Past that, it feels like I’m still waiting for the NASCAR season to begin.<\/p>\n

                                      Motorsport News:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

                                        \n
                                      1. \n
                                          \n
                                        1. \n
                                            \n
                                          1. RSS Racing names crew chief lineup for 2023 season<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          2. NASCAR and Ally Announce Official Partnership<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          3. Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher Headline Drivers Unable to Qualify for Clash<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          4. Why Domenicali no-showed Red Bull event<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          5. Kevin Harvick to join Fox both as NASCAR analyst in 2024<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          6. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton understands we must fight anti-Blackness | Opinion<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          7. Kevin Harvick joining Fox in 2024<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          8. Jimmie Johnson to run Chicago Street Course race<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          9. Celebrity Sightings at the 2023 Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          10. This Weekend in Dirt: Thornton Takes Win, Lucas Oil Points Lead, 4-Cylinder Chaos at Screven<\/a>.<\/li>\n
                                          11. Calgary weather upheaval leads to first Nitro RX ‘Stampede’ win for Eriksson<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                            Next Race: Daytona<\/h3>\n

                                            GO 48 & 9!!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                            Sunny day in LA for the start of the first heat race. Looks like there’s lots of room in the stands, judging by the crowd shots of children shown before the heat races begin. Less than stellar video and less than inspiring, exciting. Looks like the people of LA are no more interested in this … <\/p>\n

                                            Continue reading “2023 NASCAR Cup Series Pre-Season Race One The Clash”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily","category-sports","category-things"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briari.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}