Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Sport Clips Throwback Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 02, 2019 in Darlington, South Carolina.
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
This season has been a trying one for Erik Jones in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, while being consistent and keeping himself in playoff contention, his future has been murky at Joe Gibbs Racing due to being the only driver not having a win on the team while Christopher Bell has been very strong in the Xfinity series and has been making a case for a Cup ride. Essentially, Erik Jones needed a win to make his own case as to why he deserves his ride and at the Bojangles’ Southern 500 he got that win; beating his teammate, the strong Kyle Busch, for it.
I wish the Southern 500 was the last race. The season – even when the Let’s Make a Deal playoffs get underway – seems anticlimactic after The Track Too Tough to Tame has, in fact, been tamed. Most of the remaining tracks – notable exception: Martinsville – seem adolescent after The Granddaddy of Them All presides over the remnants of the France Dynasty.
Que sera, sera.
In South Carolina, the only downer is that Clemson has already played. It was Thursday, so by Sunday, the bold, boisterous Tiger fans should be sufficiently rested to watch a race on Sunday night. By Monday, the office doldrums will seem normal after a post-Thursday Clemson hangover of joy.
It was the first year my primary job was writing about NASCAR. I had written about occasional races since 1981. I had attended them as far back as 1965. Lest you say to yourself right now, “My God, is Dutton that old?” let the record note I was seven when Ned Jarrett won that day.
Anyway, I knew the sport and was anxious to make my fortune. It became endlessly frustrating when every time I asked Gant a question, his answer was ridiculous.
We, as NASCAR, or auto racing, or just auto enthusiasts, or citizens of this blue marble of a planet, tend to think it’s never been as good or bad as it is right now.
For what it’s worth, I have never known anyone killed in a commercial airline crash. On the other hand, I’ve had several friends whose lives were lost in private crashes. It may be a coincidence.
At this stage of my life, I don’t much care to fly. I don’t have the slightest bit of fear. With the airlines, I flew a lot of USAir, Delta, American and Continental over the years, and my main misgiving is based on ease of travel. Convenience, comfort, courtesy and timeliness went slowly down the tubes for 20 years. Every single one of them seemed worse than the year before.
Less than ten laps. That’s all Matt DiBenedetto needed to get his first career NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series win at the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway and but wouldn’t come to be as Denny Hamlin would come and the hopes for driver trying to prove he deserves a high-profile ride next year, As he is being replaced by Leavine Family Racing for 2020, and that he belongs with the best of them.
Race fans visiting Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sept. 29 will party in the fast lane prior to the second running of the historic Bank of America ROVAL™ 400. Chris Lane – PLATINUM-selling Country hitmaker and a native of Kernersville, North Carolina – will crank up the excitement for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a must-see concert at 12:30 p.m. on the speedway’s frontstretch.
After experiencing a difficult learning curve in the inaugural Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL™, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace got a head start on the speedway’s new backstretch chicane on Tuesday.
Atlanta Motor Speedway has completely transformed atlantamotorspeedway.com into a new, more fan-friendly web experience.
The redesign is the fifth improvement announced in the Speedway’s 20 in 20 initiative, focusing on improving the menu and navigation of the website. For fans this means making informed decisions as they plan their 2020 NASCAR weekend at AMS will be simpler and quicker than ever before.
It’s NASCAR’s state-fair week. The sport has its Speedweeks, its participation in the glorious racing month of May, its Bristol Night Race and its Labor Day Weekend at the Granddaddy of Them All.
Incredibly, NASCAR still has tradition left, even though, in Darlington’s case, it took it away, then gave it back.
Traditionalists have to take what they can get in this day and time.
Less than ten laps. That’s all Matt DiBenedetto needed to get his first career NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series win at the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway and but wouldn’t come to be as Denny Hamlin would come and the hopes for driver trying to prove he deserves a high-profile ride next year, As he is being replaced by Leavine Family Racing for 2020, and that he belongs with the best of them.
