NASCAR Notebook: Discovering a solution for qualifying
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—What happened during Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on March 15 at Auto Club Speedway won’t happen again.
We should learn soon, perhaps as early as Monday night, exactly how NASCAR plans to make that bold assertion a reality. NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that an announcement is imminent.
In the third round of knockout qualifying at Auto Club, none of the 12 drivers eligible for the pole made it to the start/finish line in time to make a run that counted. The starting order reverted to the second round, and Austin Dillon was awarded the pole.
Fans in the grandstands booed, and NASCAR promised a cure for the issue.
Over the last week, drivers and crew chiefs have advocated everything from heat races to leaving the rules alone. Sources say NASCAR discussed various possibilities during a competition meeting last week at the R&D Center.
Ryan Blaney indicated on Saturday the sanctioning body had already arrived at a solution.
“I think they have a plan of what to do better,” Blaney said. “Try not to make it like that deal at Fontana. I think they’ve got some things in place to make sure that doesn't happen. So, I think it will be good. They talked to teams and drivers to try and make it better—kind of a group effort of what we can do to try and improve.
“I don’t think you’ll see that deal again ever as long as we have this format that you had last week. From the drivers not wanting to have that happen anymore because they got a lot of backlash—and then NASCAR is going to make sure that’s not going to happen. I think they fixed it.”
Martin Truex Jr., believes the temptation to remain on pit road would be eliminated if NASCAR lowered the spoilers or eliminated them altogether.
“Take the spoiler off,” Truex said. “Take the Lexan (strip) off the spoiler so we can’t draft. Then put it back on for practice. That would keep the teams from rebuilding the cars on Friday night for Saturday.
“In race trim, you just do your thing. Then in qualifying, you take the Lexan off and I promise you we won’t want to draft.”
Hendrick Motorsports’ first top-five wasn’t enough for Chase Elliott
After tasting victory for the first time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last year, finishing second wasn’t enough to satisfy Chase Elliott on Sunday at Martinsville.
Yes, he scored his first top-five finish of 2019. Yes, he led his first laps of the season. Yes, he ran with the leaders and towards the front of the pack all day.
But once Keselowski grabbed the lead out of the pits with 127 laps to go, Elliott never had a shot. And his disappointment was evident.
“We needed to win this race today,” Elliott said. “This was the best chance we had to win all year. When you're in a position to do that, you need to capitalize.”
This was also the best chance for HMS to win. In six starts this season, the four drivers—Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman and William Byron—have earned just four top 10s. Elliott’s second-place finish is the only top five and his second top-10 result. Johnson posted top-10 finishes at Daytona and Phoenix under the direction of his new crew chief Kevin Meendering. He’s the only driver in the HMS stable to be running at the finish in all six races.
But here’s a stark stat: Not one of the Hendrick drivers has been running on the lead lap at the end of all six races. Byron and Johnson have failed to finish on the lead lap in half of their starts. Certainly, for Johnson to finish 24th on Sunday and two laps down is endemic of a greater problem for the seven-time champion who has enjoyed an 8.5 average finish at the half-mile track in 35-career starts.
Triple Crown not out of the question
Given Kyle Busch’s current success across NASCAR’s top three tours, he regrets not having the opportunity to race for the Gander Outdoors Truck championship as a driver.
Although Kyle Busch Motorsports has won the truck title twice, the 33-year-old Xfinity and Cup champion never had the opportunity to run the full truck schedule. In 2002, NASCAR raised the age limit to 18. Busch was 17 at the time. In 2011, NASCAR changed the eligibility rules for full-time Cup drivers.
Once Busch’s racing schedule slows down, would he consider competing for the truck championship?
“Yeah, I would,” Busch said. “I would welcome it in other facets, too. My thing is, I had thought about it years ago when they came out with this five rule and seven rule, why don’t you let us run as many races as we want to run and then once we miss one we’re done. So like, If I go all the way to Iowa in the trucks and I run 10 races—or however many races that is—then I’m done. You could race for points, you could race for whatever.
“If it ever came down like that, maybe there would be an opportunity years down the road that you could run multiple series and try to go after a championship that way…that’s probably the first time I said that. So now that it’s out there, there’s not a damn fan that’s going to let that happen.”
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