2018 NASCAR Pit Road Week 13: Charlotte

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

It's taken all week, so lets get it over with. I missed the last Power Rankings so lets get back into it with results from the past two races.

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 13 (Week 11)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- I am giving Harvick a one pass slip up on the top spot. If he didn't cut a tire it would have been interesting to see him and Kyle go at it on different strategies.
2. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- This is a 1B spot, and has been all season. Kyle and Kevin are head and shoulders above the rest of the field right now.
3. Kurt Busch (LW-4)- Kurt doesn't have a win in 2018, but has four straight top tens including two top fives.
4. Denny Hamlin (LW-5)- Hamlin also doesn't have a win, but has four top tens in the last five races including back to back top fives.
5. Joey Logano (LW-3)- JoLo has slipped a bit as of late, yet is still second in overall points right behind Kyle Busch. Not bad.
6. Martin Truex Jr (LW-11)- Don't look now but the No. 78 team is getting it going. He now has back to back runner up finishes and three straight top fives.
7. Clint Bowyer (LW-4)- Boywer is still eighth in points with his win earlier this year. The more the 4 and 18 dominate, the more impressive his early season win looks. 
8. Kyle Larson (LW-10)- Larson is the top Chevy, that's something, but they're still looking for a bit more.
9. Jimmie Johnson (LW-7)-JJ slides only with others rising. His 19th at Kansas wasn't great, but he finished well at CMS on Sunday night. JJ hasn't led a lap all season.....
10. Brad Keselowski (LW-9)- BK is fourth in points, yet seems out of place to be that high.
11. Chase Elliott (LW-8)- Elliott's last three finishes are 12th, 12th, and 11th with no laps led.
12. Aric Almirola (LW-NR)- It's been a solid stretch again for Aric as he still sits 10th in the standings and only Austin Dillon has a win and is behind him in points.

Dropped Out: Daniel Suarez

2017 NASCAR Pit Road Week 30: Charlotte

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Bank of America 500

By Richard Tix

2017 NASCAR Week 30 Power Rankings after Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 30 (Week 29)

1. Martin Treux Jr (LW-2)- Just when you put Kyle ahead of him, Truex shows back up and locks himself in to the next round (as if he needed to). He came alive late on Sunday for this win and is easily the one to beat in 2017.
2. Kyle Larson (LW-3)- Larson was the victim of Kurt Busch getting loose on a late restart, but he stayed out and his left rear didn't go down (he had damage from the 41). It could have been a better day, but it could have ended much worse too.
3. Chase Elliott (LW-8)- One day he will win and not finish second. It. Will. Happen. It was cool to see the crowd get up when he charged to the lead.
4. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- What a day. Kyle went thru it all on Sunday. He hit the wall multiple times and ended the day laying next to his car. Thankfully he is fine and he will try and battle back at Dega.
5. Denny Hamlin (LW-6)- Hamlin took the pole and then followed up with a nice run. He has a twelve point cushion on the cut line.
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-5)- Kenseth rounds out the Toyota stable. After an 11th place finish he is a point out of 8th place.
7. Jamie McMurray (LW-9)- That was a great run by JMac and it leads into Talladega where we have seen him compete. A clean round at Dega could mean advancing to the round of eight.
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-7)- Nice run by JJ at CMS. The top ten Sunday makes in three in four playoff races.
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-4)- What a mediocre day for BK. Every time I looked he was sitting in 13-15th with most of the playoff field in front of him.
10. Kevin Harvick (LW-10)- Harvick shed his two poor finishes in a row to a nice bounce back on Sunday. He could be higher, but those finishes linger into this round a bit (for me). 
11. Ryan Blaney (LW-11)- Blaney actually had a really strong day, fighting thru a bad car to finishing 8th, but he will need more of that to advance.
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (LW-12)- One race into the second round and Ricky is in a ten point hole to eighth place already.

2017 NASCAR Week 30: Charlotte

Bank of America 500

Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

What to Watch For

Battle of the Toyota's

• After the first round Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch once again asserted their dominance by winning all three races. The No. 78 and 18 have been the story of the season especially during the second half and will continue to be a focal point moving forward as they set the pace. The one hitch? Homestead is a straight up race so whomever makes the final four has a small shot to take them down.

Hendrick Motorsports

• Was it a one week thing? HMS brought some quality cars to Dover all around which seems to be a first in 2017. Heck, up to this point the only real title contending Chevy was Kyle Larson (CGR). Granted it was Dover and not a 1.5 D oval that makes up most the schedule, it was good to see some life in the four HMS cars. This week at Charlotte will be a bigger proving ground on if HMS is ready to compete now that the season is coming to a close. We all know you can never count out Jimmie Johnson, so it's even scarier to think that he could finally be getting some speed as well.

Cut Line

• This is an every week thing, but it's always a must watch. Each race that goes by the line gets more intense as the playoff field narrows. Truex has an 18 point lead on second, and a 56 point lead on 12th, but even two bad races by him could get him worrying a bit. The eight spot will be heated for the next three races and getting a good start at CMS is very important.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth has back to back top fives, four top fives in his last five, and two poles in his last five Charlotte starts.
• Kevin Harvick- Since joining SHR (seven CMS starts) Harvick has a win, four top fives (three of them second place finishes), six top tens, and two poles. If he is going to get back on track, this weekend is the time.
• Jimmie Johnson- Way back when this was a lock for JJ, but lately he has been much streakier. Still, tough to argue with the guy who won this race last year.

The Middle

• Austin Dillon- AD won the first stop at CMS this year that got him into the playoffs, but his other finishes brought a 16th place average finish.

The Bad

• Joey Logano- JoLo is actually really good here, but the fact remains that he has had some poor luck and runs as of late. He is the most likely spoiler of this race and could go from this section to race winner...
• Kasey Kahne- Kahne has four career wins at CMS, but those days are long ago (so is the track surface). Since the start of 2014 (seven races), he has two top tens and an average finish of 19.86.
• Ryan Blaney- Small sample size, but Blaney has not been very good so far at CMS. He has one top 15 and two top 20;s in his first five career starts here.

About the Track: Charlotte

Track Stats

• Martin Truex Jr was the first driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win from the pole early in 2016. The last time someone won a Charlotte race from the Pole not named Jimmie Johnson was 1998, Jeff Gordon. JJ has won 2 from the Pole since then (2004 and 2009)
• JJ won 4 straight from 2004 to 2005, sweeping both times. Four straight is also a track Cup record
• In that same stretch he (JJ) won 5 of 6 from 2003-2005 dropping the only race to Tony Stewart
• The most cautions was 22 during the 2005 May Charlotte race, which JJ ended up winning.
• In Jimmie Johnson's 8 wins, he (JJ) won 3 from the Pole, including this race in 2014.
• Those 8 wins are the most by any driver in a career.
• Bobby Allison has the second most wins with 6 total in 43 attempts
• Of current drivers Ryan Newman has the most poles (9). 
• David Pearson has the most career poles at Charlotte with 14.
• Jimmie Johnson has led 1,930 of 11,089 career laps he has run at Charlotte. That is enough for second most behind Bobby Allison (2,338 total).
• Richard Petty has the most top 10's in a career with 31 in 64 attempts. He is also tied with Bobby Allison for the most top 5's (23 total).

Track Info

• Surface: Asphalt
• Length: 1.5 mile
• Banking
• Turns: 24 degrees
• Straights: 5 degrees 

2017 NASCAR Pit Road Week 12: Charlotte

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Coca-Cola 600

By Richard Tix

"We want more driver personalities and opinions." Kyle Busch say's something, questions stop, he finishes his interview once the questions stop. "Well, we don't want that!" People.....Make. Up. Your. Mind.

You don't get to pick and choose which personalities you get or who it is. Sure, you can not like Kyle Busch for whatever reason you want, but just realize it could be hypocritical if you want o get more raw emotion from NASCAR drivers. 

Guys, this is Kyle Busch the driver. He is brash and he wears his emotion on his sleeve. Maybe he does it in a way you don't like (I for one am not his biggest fan), but you need to start to realize we need guys like him around in the sport... I for one have spent more time defending some of his actions then I would like as a non Rowdy fan, but it has to be done because the hate has gotten out of hand.

Comments of "he needs to be fined" or "someone needs to put him in his place" are over the line. I for one wouldn't think I would handle the situations he is quiet like he does, but at the same time I am not in his shoes so I can't tell you if I would or wouldn't. 

On top of that, everyone is different and that is what makes life, well, life. It's what makes everyday original because you never know who you might run into and their personality. It's why you don't know what you will get after a race with high emotion and it's what most fans ask for (more emotion). Sure, Kyle may go about it different then you may think you would, but that doesn't mean we don't need his personality around and NASCAR should fine him until he shuts up. 

Kyle, I may not always agree with the way you go about things but keep being you. 

Oh, and Austin Dillon won his first career race which was pretty cool. Sure, it may have been on a fuel mileage strategy, but that is still a strategy that will always be around no matter how many "stages" we get a race.

With AD winning it brings the "cut" line up one spot when we start thinking about the playoffs. AD was a guy who we knew could win, but wasn't running that well that we thought it would happen before the playoffs (I actually predicted RCR would continue to trend up this year and win a race or two). He also beat Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney to VL after both drivers were all the talk of the early season. So, congrats Austin and RCR on a well thought out win and a good shot at the 2017 Playoffs.

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 12 (Week 11)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-2)- Truex had one of the best cars of the evening just one week after winning his second race of 2017.
2. Kevin Harvick (LW-4)- Another top ten and another week without a win. It's still strange they haven't found VL yet, but it should happen eventually.
3. Kyle Busch (LW-9)- Three straight top fives for Rowdy. Don't look now but Toyota is starting to turn it around.
4. Brad Keselowski (LW-1)- Some bad luck in front of him cost him his evening at Charlotte, but BK is still a multi winner and third in points.
5. Jamie McMurray (LW-6)- Sixth in points without a win. The last time he finished worse than 12th was race six at Martinsville.
6. Kyle Larson (LW-3)- After wrecking on Sunday Larson now finally has a finish higher then 17th on the season, his first non top 20 in 2017.
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-5)- JJ had a good car for the 600 but in the end didn't seal the deal. 
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (LW-7)- Ricky still finished in the top 15 (15th) and will look to get back to the top ten next week.
9. Denny Hamlin (LW-NR)- Every few races it looks like Denny is going to get back on track and Charlotte's top five was one of those races.
10. Joey Logano (LW-8)- It's been a rough few races for JoLo, but he should bounce back soon.
11. Clint Bowyer (LW-11)- Bowyer has swapped out top tens earlier in the year for top 15's lately but he is still keeping some consistency going while sticking in the top ten of the points.
12. Matt Kenseth (LW-NR)- Toyota's are making a comeback and Kenseth bounced back at Charlotte with a top five.

Dropped Out: Chase Elliott (LW-10) and Ryan Blaney (LW-12)

Just Missed: Kurt Busch, Daniel Suraez, and Austin Dillon

2017 NASCAR Week 12: Charlotte

Coca-Cola 600

Charlotte Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

NASCAR returns to racing for real wins and real points this weekend at the very same track that gave us a mixed bag last weekend in the All Star Race. Sure, the final stage in the "open" was tons of fun with Chase Elliott, Danial Suarez, and Erik Jones, but past that the memories of the weekend have already faded. Why is that? Well, because the ASR once again gave us more memories for the changes (softer tire option that didn't have much effect) than the actual on track racing.

People tend to remember changes that didn't go as planned and good quality racing over most thing's in this sport and unfortunately lately they changes have outweighed the racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Some changes once again are needed for the ASR, but maybe CMS shouldn't be included in them? One thing we know is that in 2018 we will still be at CMS for the "All Star" event.

But, onto the 600 this holiday weekend. This is one of those races I either catch 50% of, or almost none. Every Memorial and Labor Day weekend my immediate family, about three sets of Aunts and Uncles, about four/five sets of cousins plus kids, and a handful of friends go camping together (typically around 25-30 close family and friends). Now, I am talking more about "glamping," which is otherwise known as camping in a nice camper (fifth-wheel), at a place with water, electric, and a pool. However, we spend most of our time around the fire, playing cards or yard games, taking the kids fishing, golfing, or taking the kids to play mini golf (all including cold refreshments).

Which brings us to actually catching the race at CMS. Most years we get a large group of us on a bike ride into the small nearby town and we find a local "refreshment" establishment. The years we do make it there on race day we find the time to enjoy a few extra refreshments while watching the race. However, anyone who knows kids (I don't have any but plenty in this group do) knows that you aren't going to entertain them forever with quarters and popcorn. So, eventually we pack it in and leave.

As much as I love NASCAR, I wouldn't trade a single one of these moments with them to see any end of a 600 if I had to choose between the two.

So there you have it, I may or may not see the 600 but I should be around the ole twitter machine from time to time this weekend sharing my "whatcha drankin" or anything else we might be up to. Hopefully we get a better product for the 600 with an extra stage and hopefully everyone has a great holiday weekend. Remember to think about those who have lost their lives serving this country to allow us to watch the race, go camping, or so anything this weekend in peace and thank a veteran whenever you find a chance.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Jimmie Johnson- Most of his career stats here were racked up between 2002 - 2005 (five wins), but JJ won last fall here and has back to back top fives.
• Brad Keselowski- Four straight top tens, a win and five top tens in his last six, and a fast start to the season are all reason's BK could run well here this weekend.
• Kevin Harvick- This wasn't always his track, but lately it has been. In the last thirteen races he has eleven top tens, six top fives, and three wins.

The Middle

• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth may have a car to beat (five top tens in his last seven) or a middle of the pack car (three 14th or 15th place finishes in the five races before that). 

The Bad

• Paul Menard- One top ten since 2011, only two in his career, and worse yet only six top 15's in 20 races at CMS.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr- Only three top 10's in his last ten starts at CMS which includes finishing in the top 15 only 50% of that time as well. Will his last 600 go any better?
• Clint Bowyer- Bowyer has seven straight starts here without a top ten. In the last 13 races he has only two top tens (but one was a win).

About the Track: Charlotte

Track Stats

• Martin Truex Jr was the first driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win from the pole early in 2016. The last time someone won a Charlotte race from the Pole not named Jimmie Johnson was 1998, Jeff Gordon. JJ has won 2 from the Pole since then (2004 and 2009)
• JJ won 4 straight from 2004 to 2005, sweeping both times. Four straight is also a track Cup record
• In that same stretch he (JJ) won 5 of 6 from 2003-2005 dropping the only race to Tony Stewart
• The most cautions was 22 during the 2005 May Charlotte race, which JJ ended up winning.
• In Jimmie Johnson's 8 wins, he (JJ) won 3 from the Pole, including this race in 2014.
• Those 8 wins are the most by any driver in a career.
• Bobby Allison has the second most wins with 6 total in 43 attempts
• Of current drivers Ryan Newman has the most poles (9). 
• David Pearson has the most career poles at Charlotte with 14.
• Jimmie Johnson has led 1,895 of 10,689 career laps he has run at Charlotte. That is enough for second most behind Bobby Allison (2,338 total).
• Richard Petty has the most top 10's in a career with 31 in 64 attempts. He is also tied with Bobby Allison for the most top 5's (23 total).

Track Info

• Surface: Asphalt
• Length: 1.5 mile
• Banking
• Turns: 24 degrees
• Straights: 5 degrees 

2017 All Star Race Season Review

By Richard Tix

Eleven races in an NASCAR gets a break from points racing. Ironically they may get a break during the All-Star Race but they also unexpectedly added points to the very next race following the ASR. An extra stage was added to the Coke 600 which will give drivers another opportunity to rack up more playoff points.

Speaking of, it seems like a good time to get a season review thus far on how the season is shaping up for the playoff push including how many points drivers have for the playoffs. Eleven races in and fifteen left until the playoff spots are locked in, so who is looking good so far and who needs to get it going?

2017 Playoff Points

Driver	Playoff Points	Stage Wins	Race Wins
Martin Truex Jr.	15	5	2
Brad Keselowski	12	2	2
Jimmie Johnson	10		2
Kyle Larson	7	2	1
Kurt Busch	5		1
Ryan Newman	5		1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	5		1
Kevin Harvick	3	3
Ryan Blaney	3	3
Chase Elliott	2	2
Kyle Busch	2	2
Joey Logano*	1	1	1
Matt Kenseth	1	1
Denny Hamlin	1	1

*Logano's points for his win are "encumbered" and will not count for the playoffs.

Notes:

These playoff points, in my opinion, do not get enough of our focus. Martin Truex Jr already has 15 points towards his chase to getting to Homestead, which is 14 more then the one point Denny Hamlin has. Stage points are key to finishing high in the regular season, but these stage win points will be a talking point come the last ten races, so why not start focusing on them now?

Winning races has even more importance now since it locks you into the playoffs and gives you five playoff points (see BK and JJ). Running well all race also gets you some extra help for the last ten races (see Truex). All in all, every point matters so even those with just a point or two already have a small step ahead of anyone not on this list.

This system, again in my opinion, is going to bridge the gap of old school and new school points system. It's not a straight up points system (old school), but these stage points that translate into the playoffs (new school) will prove to make sure a driver who has had a strong season will have a head up on those guys who haven't been as fast weekly. It's early, but you can notice that the fastest driver in the early going are on top of this list..

2017 Standings After Eleven Races

Rk	Driver	Races	W	T5	T10	P	Led	AvSt	AvFn	Points	Diff	Ppts
1	Kyle Larson	11	1	5	7	1	366	10.5	6.9	475		7
2	Martin Truex, Jr.	11	2	3	7	0	536	8.9	10.5	431	-44	15
3	Brad Keselowski	11	2	7	9	1	373	6.4	8.4	408	-67	12
4	Chase Elliott	11	0	3	6	1	169	10.3	13.3	361	-114	2
5	Jamie McMurray	11	0	1	7	0	13	8.9	12.7	354	-121	0
6	Kevin Harvick	11	0	4	6	2	469	8.6	13.3	347	-128	3
7	Kyle Busch	11	0	4	5	0	521	11.3	14.8	325	-150	2
8	Jimmie Johnson	11	2	2	4	0	130	21.5	14	323	-152	10
9	Joey Logano	11	1	6	8	1	250	8.7	12.2	320	-155	1
10	Clint Bowyer	11	0	2	5	0	13	13.5	11.5	317	-158	0
11	Ryan Blaney	11	0	2	4	1	233	9.8	18.9	291	-184	3
12	Denny Hamlin	11	0	1	4	0	140	11.7	17	289	-186	1
13	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	11	1	3	5	1	14	14.2	13.8	276	-199	5
14	Trevor Bayne	11	0	0	2	0	6	17.8	15.8	250	-225	0
15	Kurt Busch	11	1	1	5	0	5	12.1	17.5	246	-229	5
16	Kasey Kahne	11	0	2	3	0	7	19.8	16.1	242	-233	0
17	Ryan Newman	11	1	1	3	0	36	13.5	19	238	-237	5
18	Matt Kenseth	11	0	2	4	1	168	11	19.4	233	-242	1
19	Erik Jones	11	0	0	1	0	2	19.8	21.1	217	-258	0
20	Daniel Suarez	11	0	0	3	0	0	16.6	17.4	217	-258	0
21	Ty Dillon	11	0	0	0	0	6	21.7	18.8	204	-271	0
22	Austin Dillon	11	0	1	1	0	7	19.3	20.7	193	-282	0
23	Aric Almirola	11	0	2	3	0	2	22.4	17.3	188	-287	0
24	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	11	0	1	1	0	10	16.2	23.8	173	-302	0
25	Paul Menard	11	0	1	2	0	3	20.7	21.6	173	-302	0
26	Chris Buescher	11	0	0	0	0	1	28.9	23.2	155	-320	0
27	David Ragan	11	0	0	1	0	0	29.8	24	144	-331	0
28	Michael McDowell	11	0	0	0	0	2	26.1	24.5	137	-338	0
29	Cole Whitt	11	0	0	0	0	3	30.6	24.8	136	-339	0
30	A.J. Allmendinger	11	0	1	2	0	2	24.2	22.7	130	-345	0
31	Landon Cassill	11	0	0	0	0	5	27	25.4	128	-347	0
32	Matt DiBenedetto	11	0	0	1	0	0	28.5	25.8	123	-352	0
33	Danica Patrick	11	0	0	0	0	0	24.1	28.1	115	-360	0
34	Corey LaJoie	11	0	0	0	0	0	32.6	30.5	77	-398	0
35	Reed Sorenson	10	0	0	0	0	1	33.3	31.8	56	-419	0
36	Gray Gaulding	10	0	0	0	0	0	33.6	32.1	51	-424	0
37	Jeffrey Earnhardt	11	0	0	0	0	0	34.5	33.5	49	-426	0
38	Michael Waltrip	1	0	0	1	0	0	30	8	29	-446	0
39	Derrike Cope	7	0	0	0	0	0	36.1	35.6	16	-459	0
40	D.J. Kennington	1	0	0	0	0	0	28	36	1	-474	0
41	Cody Ware	1	0	0	0	0	0	39	39	1	-474	0

Head of the Class

• Larson, Johnson, Truex, and Keselowski
• This group is on cruise control. Keep battling, keep picking up stage points, keep getting stage/race wins and padding your playoff lead before they even start. Even Johnson who hasn't been as consistently fast week to week is safe here and will likely win another race ro two before race 27.

Strong Middle

• Harvick, Logano, Elliott, Ky. Busch, Stenhouse Jr, and McMurray
• No one is really worried about these guys for the most part. JoLo had a win for the playoffs, then had it become "encumbered," Harvick is on the cusp, and no one will ever count Kyle out from winning a race. Stenhouse Jr. already has a win and RFR have made huge strides this year so I see no issue with him getting a spot in 2017. Meanwhile McMurray is putting up one of his best season's as a Cup driver.

Work to Do

• Hamlin, Ku. Busch, Blaney, Newman, and Bayne
• Newman has a win, but securing some more playoff points and being safely inside the top 16 if we did somehow get 16+ winners has to be a focus for a few weeks. Blaney has run well, but if he doesn't win I can see him on the last three in come race 26 which means he needs to stay sharp and keep racking up those points every race. Lastly, good for Bayne to be in this spot, but a few slip ups will really hurt since he isn't killing the top tens right now (mostly top 15's).

Panic Button?

• Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr, Kahne, A. Dillon, and Allmendinger
• Sure, we still have plenty of time left in the season to get into the playoffs, but the lack of remaining races leaves less of a chance to win or even just rack up important playoff points that the top of the pack is already doing. I'm the least worried about Kenseth in this group, but still wonder what has been going on with the whole JGR team each week they fail to make strides. Even if Allmendinger wins (think road courses) he has to worry about penalties or poor finishes and making the top 30. Each guy is capable of winning in this group so the panic button is just a rhetoric, but they better get moving.