Mike Neff: Since you said the contact with Denny Hamlin was a reaction, yes, that’s appropriate. The touch with Joey Logano is the way other people compete now, so there was nothing back then. From the aerial shot, he gave the impression that Dillon was walking away from Hamlin when the touch occurred. If he hadn’t said the touching was a reaction, he would have had an argument.
James Krause: No, but not in the sense that it was too hard or not hard enough. In a broader sense, NASCAR tied its hands for the long term by managing the arrival of Richmond Raceway. That didn’t completely deprive Dillon of the victory. . Then it’s okay, right? Well, no, because NASCAR said it couldn’t count toward the playoffs. So the playoff format that made NASCAR what it is (for better or worse) went from “winning is everything” to “winning is everything, unless winning means doing what Austin Dillon did. ” just done” at the end of a week. By dithering over what to do at the end of last week, the league has absolutely undermined its own playoff system. Wins have been maintained or suppressed entirely, without intermediaries.
Amy Henderson: Almost, but not quite. NASCAR deserves to have come through the win, because even if the playoff implications hurt Dillon, drivers who don’t make the playoffs or are eliminated have nothing to win those 10 races, unless they win. If they keep the trophy, why not go through?Bowling for racing cars? For Dillon, the sanction was justified. What if I had at least tried to move Logano and then resorted to a push towards the most sensitive part of the court?This is perfectly appropriate. Chasing him with the sole aim of destroying him, not so much, and hooking Hamlin was excessive. A right hook is never an appropriate decision. Point.
Samuel Stubbs: Yes, NASCAR has managed to eliminate almost every chance of winning a race without taking away the (most deserved) victory.
Phil Allaway: He deserved to have at least been disqualified and, at worst, suspended. NASCAR has a reputation globally as a sanctioning framework that can’t or won’t umpire its own races well. Sometimes it is downright unhappy. I would have stood my ground and told Dillon that he needed to take (other) vacations. There’s nothing that has contact, but you can’t deliberately destroy two other drivers to win a race.
Henderson: Yes, the vigilante’s punishment is justified. You have a guy in the car whose feelings are better because you lost your mind and won the race before the yellow flag; he is no longer in a position where rational thinking is easy. Encouraging him to do something stupid right now is a bad idea. Plus, it’s hard to say something unintentional when a team member flat out tells you to do it. The driver may still make a decision they later regret, but that’s up to them, not the observer.
Allaway: Yes, and Brandon Benesch was suspended for 3 runs, as he has been so far. This is ridiculous and will never be allowed. It was not the audio broadcast in the United States that suspended it. Believe me, even if it hadn’t been broadcast on television, NASCAR would have known.
Stubbs: Yes, context is necessary; Many team members have said so over the years, though obviously Benesch’s radio wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Krause: Yes. NASCAR has been disciplining drivers for decades because they claim they would destroy people on purpose. Ask Kevin Harvick about the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway, where he parked to say he was “going to get” Coy Gibbs. “The lesson is, ‘Don’t tell anyone you’re going to do this,'” Dr. Jerry Punch said on the ESPN show. The same rule deserves to apply to team members and owners, especially considering they are making those mistakes. calls from the comfort of the pit or pits and not, you know, a race car that can hit things at top speed.
Neff: The problem with the observer’s comment is that Hamlin is already forty-five degrees from the side above the nose of Dillon’s car. The driver is at fault for the car and everything they do with the idler is their responsibility, no matter who says what. in his ear.
Stubbs: They’re both young talents, but Connor Zilisch’s experience with sports cars will be very favorable with the way Cup cars work now. However, both can qualify for the Cup Series.
Neff: Carson Kvapil has already had an exceptional career at the CARS Tour level. He is set to have a successful career for many years to come. Zilisch also performed well at the ARCA Menards Series level. It is very possible that he will win championships in the future.
Henderson: It’s an escape, but they’re both incredibly talented young racers with a bright future. JRM will want plenty of room to demonstrate more trophies in a year or two.
Allaway: That’s a tough question if we narrow things down to NASCAR. Both drivers are talented, but Kvapil’s track record could make him more restricted. He will be successful in NASCAR no matter what, but outside of NASCAR, the possible options might be a little slimmer for him. For Zilisch, we’re talking about a driver who has won in six other series this year alone (ARCA, ARCA Menards Series East, CARS, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Trans-Am TA2, the LMP2 elegance of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship). ) in various disciplines. They may end up being pretty even in the context of NASCAR, but Zilisch has already completed more than Kvapil outside of stock cars and has a better chance of adding more material.
Krause: From what I’ve noticed in his NASCAR races, Kvapil can move into full-time racing and immediately be a competitor. In six starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he has only one worse finish than No. 12. Unsurprisingly, he excelled on short tracks, but he also had strong races at Nashville Superspeedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Zilisch is a road racer, but it will take him a little longer to be competitive on ovals like the Trucks or the Xfinity.
Allaway: To some extent, yes. This shows that drivers who race full-time lack skill or equipment, or both. However, a large part of the explanation for why this happened is that two-thirds of the races were won by part-time drivers (Zilisch and William Sawalich), who only won part-time from the time they were 17 years old at the time. start of the season. The others were plate races and races won by drivers who basically competed in the Truck Series this year. I don’t expect this to continue for much longer. In fact, Andres Perez could win at Michigan International Speedway.
Henderson: No. A one-season call in which a driver scores maximum points is valid.
Neff: Not at all. It’s wonderful when the race is so competitive that the most productive ones fight for the five most sensible ones rather than the victory.
ARCA’s attacks take away from the fact that ARCA is a developmental series, while also taking some of the shine off the championship.
Krause: Yes. Several points explain why we don’t see as many full-time ARCA drivers in the more sensible races in the series. One of its biggest consequences is that we don’t see a genuine war between the contenders for names competing on the front. The championship war will take a back seat to this week’s high hopes in the cars unveiled each week via Joe Gibbs Racing, Venturini Motorsports or Pinnacle Racing Group. In a way, ARCA has necessarily become the fashion house of Buschwhacking.
What doesn’t Mike Neff do? The writer, radio contributor and race host coordinates the site’s local policy on short tracks, broadcasting Saturday night specials across the country while following long-distance racing stars. The Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Monday), also sits down with Cup team leaders to chat about both on Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several exhibitions each year for Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. It also looks like one and both everywhere, from PRN Pit Reporters and Press Box. with Alan Smothers on SIRIUS XM Radio. He made announcements on tracks throughout the Southeast, beginning with Millbridge Speedway. It is also advertised at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. Lately he works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, adding local short track races. Outside of racing, Krause enjoys following soccer, music, anime, and video games.
Amy is a veteran NASCAR editor with 20 years of experience and has won the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Writing Award six times, in addition to first-place awards for columns and racing coverage. In addition to working as a photo editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Monday) after each and every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found running in her biweekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesday) and Only Yesterday (Wednesday). A New Hampshire location centered in North Carolina. Amy’s work credits increase from driver Kenny Wallace’s online page to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN. com’s Around the Track page.
Phil Allaway has three main roles in Frontstretch. Es the manager of the site’s FREE e-newsletter, which is published Monday through Friday and on weekends. He helps keep broadcasters fair with the weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site’s sports car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press secretary for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, New York. It covers all the action on the steep track, from regular DIRTcar Modified races to occasional visits to traveling series like the Super DIRTcar Series.