Gateway, Portland, and Sonoma Review and Knoxville and Nashville Preview | Chasing The Cup S1:E19

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host, Little Evan, reviews races from Gateway, Portland, and Sonoma. He discusses the results, highlights incidents and standout performances, and shares his thoughts on the races. He also previews the upcoming race at Knoxville and the races at Nashville. There is news about drivers returning, suspensions, sponsorships, and TV ratings. The host gives his pick for the Knoxville race and provides some insights. Overall, it was a good weekend for racing, but there were some challenges with passing at Sonoma and some chaotic moments at the other tracks. The host is looking forward to future races and hopes for improvements and exciting moments. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I am your host, Little Evan. And I'm back after a week off to a trip to Nashville due to some medical stuff with one of my family members. But everything's fine. I had a good time, tried out some of the local places and all that. So anyway, in this episode, I'm going to be reviewing the races from Gateway, Portland, and Sonoma. I'll also go over the news. I'm going to preview this weekend's race at Knoxville and next weekend's races at Nashville because I'll be gone to the beach next week. But first, let's take a look at the results starting with the previous week's races. Joey Logano wins the first Cup event at Worldwide Technology Raceway, followed by Kyle Busch in second, Kurt Busch in third, Ryan Blaney in fourth, Eric Almarola in fifth, Martin Truix Jr. in sixth, Eric Jones in seventh, Ross Chastain in eighth, Chris Verbell in ninth, and AJ Allmendinger rounds out the top ten. And so I didn't get to see the race on TV because I was traveling to Nashville that day. But I did listen on the Series XM channel 90 and also heard the opinions from other people. And from what I've heard, it was a pretty good race. It seemed to be kind of a single groove track and flat, kind of like how Phoenix is. But as the day went on, the racing got better and better, which is good because they brought in that harder compound that they've been using for flat elbows like Phoenix, Richmond, and Martinsville, which produced some below average results for those tracks. But from what I've heard, the racing got better as the day went on. And you had a great finish between Logano and Kyle Busch. And of course, that race was well known for the incidents with Ross Chastain. He got into Hanlon first, and then Hanlon just ruined his race pretty much. Although Ross finished eighth. But then he got into Chase Elliott, and pretty much the nine and eleven teamed up together to mess with Ross Chastain. And Chastain afterwards was like, I'm the worst driver ever. I shouldn't be in this ride. I have to feel an apology. Meanwhile, his team owner, Justin Marks, was defending him, saying, you gotta be aggressive in these races. You can't take any crap from everyone. Of course, Danny Hanlon didn't take those comments very kindly. So Ross Chastain was, I guess, being a little aggressive, but he shouldn't be that hard on himself. He needs to be aggressive, but there needs to be a line where he can't step over. Because he basically ruined Danny and Chase's day. So overall, it was a pretty good race. Was it the best race ever? Probably not, but does it warrant another return to the track next year? Sure, let's try it again, but let's try a softer tire compound and maybe a different engine package. Because after that truck race, we know what that track is capable of, so we make the necessary adjustments. It should be a pretty good show. Now, the Xfinity series was not at Gateway that weekend, but instead they were across the Mississippi River, all the way in Oregon, for NASCAR's return to Portland. And AJ Allmaniger, the road course ace, gets the victory, followed by Myatt Snyder, who had a great run and almost got the win. He finished second. Austin Hill finished third. Josh Barrett finished fourth. Justin Allgaier finished fifth. Daniel Hamrick finished sixth. Ty Gibbs finished seventh. JJ Yaley finished eighth. Noah Gregson finished ninth. And Alex LeVay rounds out the top ten. And so, that race was chaotic. There was some pretty good action, but it was mostly the rain that was just making things chaotic. Especially guys that were in the rain on those slicks. It just made things really chaotic. You got guys bubbing into each other, guys getting off the course a lot. AJ Allmaniger just slid off the course before the race even started. And there were other things, like Ty Gibbs just punting Noah Gregson on purpose out of the way. And then there's also Jesse Owulji. He couldn't get stopped in time, heading to the heavy braking zone that is turn one. And he pretty much ran into the back of Ty Gibbs not too long after. Sheldon Creed and Ty Gibbs just wrecked each other after the Gregson and Gibbs incident. There were several times where dozens of cars would just wreck each other, either in the chicane or just outside of the chicane between turns three and four. And it was just very chaotic. But the racing that we had was really good. You had some great side-by-side racing. And I want to see Portland come back next year. It doesn't matter if it's the Cup Series, Xtenta Year, or Truck Series. I want to see it come back, but in a different time of the year. I don't remember when trucks ran Portland, but during those times it was usually pretty sunny and dry. But we shouldn't have these races when it's raining constantly, because it is the Pacific Northwest. So I'd like to see NASCAR try Portland again, because we didn't really see what this track is capable of with the top three series. So if we do have it again, we'll see what happens. Now let's move on to the Truck Series race at Gateway. Corey Hine from the Polo wins at Gateway, followed by Christian Ekes in second, Chandler Smith in third, Stork Friesen in fourth, Johnny Sauter in fifth, Matt DiBenedetto in sixth, Derek Cross in seventh, Ben Rhodes in eighth, Zane Smith in ninth, and Chase Purdy rounds out the top ten. And that race was really good. The Truck Series race really shows what this track is capable of with good racing. It was pretty bland at the start, but after the first stage, things got really good. Really good racing. Some timbers flaring between different drivers, and there was great side-by-side action. It was really good racing. And you had some drivers that usually don't run up front that were running up front. First off, in his first start, Raja Karuth finished 11th. He was pretty fast all day, and it really shows if you put Raja Karuth in competitive equipment, I think he gets what he can out of it. And he finished 11th. He got a top 15 in his first truck start. Haley Deegan finished 15th. And she was running really good too. She had a top ten truck all day. But I think she used up all her stuff getting up toward the front, and her truck started to fade to a top 15 truck. But she finished 15th after everything, including racing hard with Stork Friesen. Stork Friesen was kind of mad at her afterward, but Stork Friesen just brushed it off, and he said that she has a pretty good amount of talent. So that coming from Stork Friesen is pretty good. And then finishing behind Haley is Jordan Anderson, who finished 16th, and he was running top ten more than Deegan and Raja Karuth was. Jordan was doing really well, although he didn't get the finish he deserved like Haley and somewhat to a degree for Raja. He was very fast, faster than that truck usually is at tracks that are not Daytona and Talladega. Especially since he DNQ'd at Daytona. It's been a tough time for Jordan in the truck series, since that was good to see him have a great run at a track that isn't a super speedway. And finally, we need to talk about the Carson Hosavar incident. After getting the white flag, Carson Hosavar got spun out, and then in turn two he got T-boned by the five of Tyler Hill, and afterward he was in a lot of pain. He said he couldn't even move his foot. And afterward it was found that he had a broken right tibia, which is the big bone of the leg. So he technically broke his leg. And that affected him running next week, as I'll go over in a little bit, because he couldn't run the whole race. And I said on Facebook, if you haven't followed me there, go ahead and do that. I said I'd expect a Cup Series driver to fill in, and someone did that was Suarez, which I'll get into a little bit. So I hope he recovers. I know he couldn't run the whole race on Saturday, but I hope he recovers very well. So overall, a very good weekend for Gateway. I can't wait to see when Cup comes back with a few different changes. I can't wait to see what the track is capable of, because I think Gateway might be a track with a good future ahead of it with the Cup Series. Now let's go to this past weekend's races at Sonoma, starting off with the Cup Series. Daniel Suarez becomes the first Mexican-born driver to win in the NASCAR Cup Series by getting the win at Sonoma, followed by Chris Buescher in second, Michael McDowden third, Kevin Harvick in fourth, Austin Sindrick in fifth, Ryan Blaney in sixth, Ross Chastain in seventh, Chase Elliott in eighth, William Byron in ninth, and Brad Keselowski rounds out the top ten, which is his first top ten since the Daytona 500. So this race was pretty good. It's great to see Daniel Suarez get the win, and three guys that usually don't run up front finish one, two, and three, especially with how slow RFK usually is and how front row has been slow, but I think they're gathering up some speed thanks to the level of playing field that is the next-gen car. So I'm excited to see if Michael McDowden can get a win, and Chris Buescher, or any of these other drivers, because guess what? There's only four playoff spots left, and there's still plenty of drivers, week in and week out, that could win, because Ryan Blaney hasn't won, Kevin Harvick hasn't won, Austin Dillon hasn't won, Eric Jones hasn't won, Martin Shorts Jr. hasn't won, Christopher Bell hasn't won, Tyler Rettig hasn't won, and Bubba Wallace hasn't won. All these drivers I could see winning somewhere this season, so I think we're going to get to the 16 winners before the playoffs start, but it'll have to wait a week because Nashville isn't until next Sunday. But for the race itself, the racing was pretty good, but it seemed to be hard to pass. Not sure what it is, but Sonoma seems to be one of those tracks where it's very hard to pass for some reason, and the leader seems to get a good distance from second place, although it stayed green for a little bit, and that allowed Daniel Suarez to pull away. The racing was not that bad, but it was still pretty hard to pass, which knocks it down a couple tiers. Of course, you had some stuff like the nines pit stop, where he was pit crew messed up, and he was tapped for getting out of the box, and then Kyle Larson got a loose wheel, and I believe that's Hendrick Watersports' first penalty with that, so that's led to Cliff Daniels getting suspended for a few races. Not sure who'll replace him just yet, I'll look into that when we get to the news. So there were some definite storylines, but the race seemed to be underwhelming, besides the fact that Suarez won. Pretty much, Fox went out to the season with a pretty good race, but not a great race, and they went out with probably a big moment in the sport, with Suarez getting his first win, so overall, this race was pretty good, but it wasn't as good as Kota because of how hard it was to pass out there. Next, the truck race at Sonoma. Kyle Busch once again grabs another win, with a truck series in his last start of the season, followed by Zane Smith in second, Tye Majewski in third, Ross Chastain in fourth, Chandler Smith in fifth, Daniel Suarez, who swapped with Carson Josevar, finished sixth, Parker Kligerman finished seventh, John Hunter-Inmacik finished eighth, Tyler Ancrum finished ninth, and Matt DiBenedetto rounds out the top ten. And this race was probably below the cup series, because the race got pretty chaotic toward the end, but I don't think the truck series was as good as cup, because it was very hard to pass at Sonoma, and that showed itself in the truck series too, but I think the truck series kind of amplified it, in my opinion. It was very underwhelming for a truck race, especially with Kyle Busch getting the win, a lot of people didn't like that. This race was also good, but it was not as good as Kota was. That race was great, no, this race was just good, and a few of the contenders wrecked out because of the chaos. Alex Bowman was involved in an accident, Stork Friesen was involved in an accident, Elie Deegan was involved in an accident, Matt Crafton was involved in an accident, and Christian Ekis was involved in an accident. And once again, after having a good weekend at Gateway, Elie Deegan came to Sonoma and once again took a step back, which seems to be the theme for her this season. Her team seems to be taking steps forward this season, but there seem to be times where they take steps back, whether it be getting involved in accidents or other things. And then once again, after a bad weekend for her, once again people are starting to say once again that she's a bust, and I have to say it again, she is not a bust. There are tons of people that are worse than her in that series, but she finishes worse than those because they seem to stay out of trouble. Elie Deegan has top 10 speed, but she can't finish races, and I'm afraid that thing's are turning for the worse, because last week she met with members of the media and someone asked her about Xfinity, and she said that she is still looking for a sponsor for that first start, and she doesn't have an answer, which might be an early trouble sign that she might be losing funding, which I hope it isn't, but I'd say Monster probably doesn't want to sponsor her, in a one-off phrase, probably because it's not a part of her contract, as well as contracts with their other sponsors, but she can't even find a sponsor to make her first start in Xfinity already, and she is the most valuable female athlete in the world, and she can't find a sponsor for a second tier series? That's troubling, and I hope that she does eventually find a sponsor, but this could be troubling for her, I hope it doesn't end up this way, but we'll have to see, but I still think that she'll make a start in Xfinity, I think it's according to when she eventually does find that sponsor, but if this continues that she can't find a sponsor to run Xfinity in one start, then I hope that the problem isn't her current sponsors being dissatisfied, cause I'm not sure if BGR would keep her if she loses her sponsorship, but I don't think she will, but she needs to still finish races, and that should be a priority for her, she has top 10 speed, but she needs to focus on finishing races, whether if that means staying in other gear and trucks, possibly moving to another team if Ford dumps her, or moving up to Xfinity, but we just have to see, right now she needs to focus on finishing races and getting that first win, and there's still opportunities that she can win, but she needs to start finishing races in the top 10 a lot more, and getting that first win, so overall, a good weekend for Sonoma, but Sonoma seems to be not one of the best tracks when it comes to road courses, but I'd say Sonoma will stay for years to come, because of course it is owned by SMI, and so finally with all the races I missed out of the way, let's now get to the news, Todd Gilliland will be returning to the Truck Series this weekend, and will be driving for DGR, which of course is owned by his father, David Gilliland, three crew members of Kyle Larson's team have been suspended for four races, due to the loss or separation of an improperly installed tire, slash wheel from the vehicle, Cliff Daniels, the crew chief, and crew members Johnny Tassar, and Brandon Johnson have been suspended for the next four events through New Hampshire, also Cody Ware failed inspection more than three times, and that has led to the loss of 20 Cup Series team owner and driver points. Brent Moffett will be stepping in for Austin Wayne South this weekend at Knoxville. Austin Wayne South is stepping back temporarily because of the birth of his daughter, Zeppelin, last week. South is supposed to return no later than mid-Ohio, but will no longer be eligible for the playoffs. Julia Launder will be making her XFINITY Series debut for Alpha Prime Racing at New Hampshire. She is a two-time champion in another series, she is well known for finishing fifth in the NASCAR Euro Series Championship in 2020, the highest finishing American, and she hasn't raced since 2020, and she took a break in 2021 to explore and create N-Web3, which is a new version of the internet that's built on decentralized blockchain technology, and that has allowed her to connect with companies like Boss Beauties and GarageXYZ, which will be sponsoring her in her first start. Pagewood Floor Coverings will be sponsoring Sage Karam at Atlanta. The Interactive Truck Series event at Mid-Ohio will be the kickoff to the Menards Fan Fest. Next is the Sonoma TV ratings. FS1 got a 1.3 rating with 2.235 million viewers. For Fox's final telecast of the season, which is down from a 1.49 rating and 2.494 million viewers, I'd say once again, this is probably part of people getting rid of cable and moving towards streaming, something that which NASCAR hasn't really done yet, although NBC has started to show races on Peacock, and it really shows because IndyCar got an 0.69 rating and 1.087 million viewers, which was up from 807,000 viewers on NBCSN. This year's race was on NBC instead, and clearly shows that cable is dying, because even F1 went down from an 0.6 rating with 956,000 to an 0.48 to 832,000 for the Bobcoup Grand Prix, so NASCAR, stay away from cable. I have said it a bunch of times, but you really need to. Batman's Donuts will be promoting Vags of Glory with JTG URD Racing at Nashville. Andy Overlea will be running four road course races for SS Greenlight Racing. Hendrick Motorsports has reached 100,000 miles, led in the NASCAR Cup Series, the first team to ever do so. The 2023 Busch Clash will be returning to the LA Coliseum next year. And here's something interesting, cautions happen to weigh up this year, with a 72.7 increase in the number of cautions for accidents and spins in races this season compared to last year for the first 15 events, which really shows how this next-gen car is really hard to drive with the increase of cautions. Specialty NASCAR license plates are now available in California. RCR, Dow, and Team Rubicon honor US military veterans with a patriotic paint scheme at Road America. Sammy Smith will be making his Xfinity Series debut for Joe Gibbs Racing, as well as seven more races this year for the team. Tootsies will have an infield club at the Nashville Super Speedway for the NASCAR weekend. Raja Kurth will be running three more trick races with Spire this year. Next is the Gateway TV ratings, FS1 got a 1.47 rating and 2.502 million viewers for the inaugural race. Road America's deal with NASCAR will run through 2022 with nothing concrete after it. And finally, I'm going to go over the Charlotte TV ratings. Fox got a 2.2 rating with 3.869 million viewers for the Coca-Cola 600, which is down just a tick from a 2.3 rating and 4.061 million viewers from last year. That might be because of the long stretch of FS1 races, and that has led to Fox broadcast races this year. NASCAR has averaged 4.59 million viewers, which is up 10% for all Fox races. And so that's it for this week's news. Now finally, let's preview this weekend's race at Knoxville and next weekend's races at Nashville. Starting off with the Knoxville race for the trucks, we have the Clean Harbors 150. The race will be 150 laps and 75 miles. And the race will be on June 18th at 9pm Eastern Time and will be on at the same time as this erects. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Stort Friesen. Stort Friesen was probably the fastest truck at Bristol earlier this year on the dirt. And I think once again, bring that truck and he'll be fast all day. And I think this time he'll get the win at Knoxville. And one person you probably want to keep an eye out is Hailey Deegan if she doesn't wreck her primary. Because she, as well as Stort, had a fast truck on dirt because she knows how to set up her truck for dirt. But she didn't do so hot at Bristol because she had to use a backup, which was a truck tuned for asphalt. So hopefully if she doesn't wreck her primary, then she should be good to run her primary dirt truck in the race and she might have a shot at winning. But we'll have to see. So now let's fast forward to next week, which is the Nashville races. Starting off again with trucks, we have the Radcliffe Roofing 200. The race will be 150 laps and 200 miles. And the race will be on June 24th at 8pm Eastern Time. And for my pick, I'm going to go with Zane Smith. Zane Smith has been very fast and I think once again, he'll show that he's the championship favorite and he'll win at Nashville. Next we have the first NBC race, which is the Xfinity race, which is the Tennessee Lottery 250. The race will be 188 laps and 250.04 miles. And the race will be on June 25th at 3.30pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Noah Gregson. Noah Gregson has been really fast and I think Nashville will be no exception because he's won at Phoenix and he's won at Darlington, tracks that are equally in size as Nashville. And I think he'll win at Nashville. And finally for the Cup race, we have the Ally 400. The race will be 300 laps and 399 miles. And the race will be on June 26th at 5pm Eastern Time on NBC and MRN. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with William Byron. William Byron was fast at Darlington until he got punted by Joey Logano and he's been one of the fastest drivers all year and he hasn't won in a while, but I think he'll once again reassert his dominance and he'll win at Nashville. And so that's it for this week's episode and this will pretty much wrap up the first half of the first season of Chasing the Cup. If you enjoyed this show so far, please like this episode and subscribe for more episodes. And if you're going out to Knoxville this weekend or Nashville next weekend, I hope you have a good time at those races. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are. I'll be at the beach. So I'll see you in a couple of weeks.