Indianapolis Review, Michigan Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E23

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host reviews the races at Indianapolis, previews the upcoming races at Michigan, and shares some news. The races at Indianapolis had some sloppy moments, but overall the racing was good. In the Xfinity race, AJ Almendinger won, and the truck race was exciting with Grant Enfinger taking the victory. The host also mentions the playoff standings and provides updates on various news in the racing world. Finally, the host previews the Xfinity and Cup races at Michigan and makes their predictions for the winners. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I'm your host, Little England, and in this episode, I'm going to be reviewing the races from Indianapolis. I'll also go over the news, and I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Michigan. But first, let's take a look at the results from Indianapolis. Tyler Redick gets his second win with his first at Indianapolis, followed by Austin Sendrick in second, Harrison Burton in third, Todd Gilliland in fourth, Bubba Wallace in fifth, his first top five on a road course, Joey Logano in sixth, AJ Almendinger in seventh, Michael McDowell in eighth, Cole Kustra in ninth, and Chris Buescher, after that fire, rounds out the top ten. And so, this race, in my opinion, was kind of sloppy, but besides that, it was some really good racing. It was a lot better than last year, which was too sloppy toward the end, but this time it was sloppy throughout the race. There was a lot of guys just spinning around on their own, and a lot of dumb moves like Joey Logano's move when he just made a lane that wasn't there and caused one of the wrecks, and then Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon decided they wanted to take the back road to victory by taking the access road by missing the corner. Of course, they were penalized and became the last cars on the lead lap. Ross Chastain nearly won that race because of his actions, and it would have cost him the victory. And then Kyle Larson had his big wreck with Ty Dillon in turn one, where I think Kyle Larson lost his brakes temporarily and went in turn one without any brakes and caused that big accident by slamming into the 42. I don't think it was Larson's fault. I think it was the brakes temporarily because of the brake fluid getting too hot. I'm not that much of an expert, but that's what I've heard from others. And then Chris Fischer caught on fire, and he ended up rounding out the top ten somehow. So besides all of that overall, the racing was really good, thanks to the next gen car. As for the Xfinity race, AJ Almanier wins at the Indy Road Course for the first time in Xfinity, although he won last year in Cup. Alex Bowman finishes second, which is two straight top two finishes for Hendrick's Xfinity team. Justin Allgaier finishes third. Ross Chastain finishes fourth in the 92. Chase Vrskosa begin for Joe Greff Jr., finishes fifth. Riley Herbst finishes sixth. Sam Mayer finishes seventh. Ty Gibbs finishes eighth. Austin Hill finishes ninth, and Noah Gregson rounds out the top ten. And this race was pretty good too. Didn't have all the chaos of the Cup race, but still plenty of good racing. Was it the best race? No, but for an Xfinity race it wasn't that bad. Overall it's pretty good. And finally, for the truck race, Grant Enfinger returns to victory lane at IRP, followed by Ben Rhodes in second. Zane Smith in third. Stuart Friesen in fourth. Corey Ime in fifth. Tyler Enkram in sixth. Lang Riggs in his debut finishes seventh. Ty Majewski finishes eighth. Matt Crafton finishes ninth. And John Hunter Nemechek rounds out the top ten. That race was really good. He had some great battles, it was great side-by-side racing, beating and banging as well. And John Hunter Nemechek was a menace all night. He took himself out earlier in the race, and then he took out Taylor Gray in the 17 on one of the final restarts. And then Carson Hosavar just right hooked Colby Howard on the straightaway on purpose after Colby Howard got into him. That was clearly intentional, and Colby Howard had the right to be mad. He just looked his eyes up and said, why did you do that? And earlier in the race, Matt Crafton and Haley Deegan were way off. They were running below the 20s. It looks like they fixed their trucks up, and they were able to salvage top 20 finishes. Matt Crafton of course got to the top 10 in ninth, and Haley Deegan made a charge in those final restarts and ended up in 13th. So let's take a look at how the playoffs for the Truck Series stand now. After one race, Grant Impinger is now locked in. I believe Chandler Smith might be locked in as well. And looking at the cut line now, Christian Ekis is now minus seven points out, and Carson Hosavar is seven points above the cut line, with Tyna Juski in front of him by 19 points. And tying Christian Ekis in tenth is Matt Crafton. So it's still quite close at the cut line, but we'll have to see who makes it in. We've still got two races to go before the cut line, which those races are Richmond and Kansas, but Richmond is still a week away. And so overall, the racing on the Indy Road Course was great, and the racing at IRP was great as well. I hope trucks continue to go to IRP, and I'd like to see the road course stay, although many people want the oval back. And now with that out of the way, let's get to the news. Kyle Busch escapes the Mall of America shooting that happened yesterday. Of course, no one was injured during that shooting, which is good. The video was posted on Twitter that showed Busch walking away during the chaos while hauling his son, Brexton. Homestead Miami Speedway now has a new logo, and it definitely looks different. It has like a pink and green, meanwhile the other one was the Homestead blue that we come to know. But now with that pink, I'm not sure what to think, but it looks pretty good. Sure done, and Auto Parts for Less have formed a partnership with Grant & Finger at Richmond Raceway. Auto Owners Insurance has signed an extension to sponsor Martin Trucks Jr. in 2023. Former MRN announcer Eli Gold will miss the start of the Alabama Crimson Tide football season due to health issues. Chris Stewart, who was the play-by-play announcer for the basketball and other sports, will take his place in the meantime. So I hope Eli gets better. Connor Mosak joins Sam Hunt Racing for the Xfinity race at Watkins Glen. Martin Transportation Systems has returned to sponsor Michael McDowell at Michigan. Of course, North Wilkesboro came back earlier this week, and now Dale Earnhardt Jr. and SunDrop have reunited to run the late model race at North Wilkesboro on the last week in August before the asphalt is torn up. So I hope that the seats are packed for that week. The number 34 run-run motorsports team of Michael McDowell has been penalized 100 driver's points and 100 owner's points as well as $100,000 for an L2 level penalty which applies to modifying the body and the overall vehicle assembly, which of course is a single-source supplied part. They originally appealed it, but they retracted their appeal and that will start this weekend. Crew Chief Blake Harris has been fined and suspended for the next four Cup Series championship points events. Next is the Indianapolis TV ratings, NBC got a 2.05 rating and 3.373 million viewers, which is up from last year, but it's not up from 2020. But it is the top motorsport rating wise of the weekend. F1 at Hungary got a 0.63 rating and 1.249 million viewers, and just below it is IndyCar with a 0.67 rating and 1.046 million viewers. Austin Hill will make his Cup debut at Michigan driving the number 33 for RCR and will be sponsored by Bennett Transportation. Brent Moffett at our motorsports parted ways after the Indianapolis race and is currently weighing his options to see where he can go from here. Richard Childress has said Tyler Rettick will drive for RCR next season and will not let Rettick out of his contract early, unless Tyler Rettick wants to buy it out. USA Network will debut a new series called Race for the Championship, which will cover the Cup Series and the Cup Series playoffs. And so that's it for this week's news, now let's preview this weekend's races at Michigan. Starting off with Xfinity we have the New Holland 250. The race will be 125 laps and 250 miles, and the race will be on August 6th at 3.30pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick I'm going to go with Noah Gregson. Noah Gregson finished second at Auto Club, but because Cole Custer is not in the field this weekend I think this time he'll get the victory at Michigan. And finally for the Cup race we have the Fire Keepers Casino 400. The race will be 200 laps and 400 miles, and the race will be on August 7th at 3pm Eastern Time. So now let's take a look at the weather for the Cup race. On Sunday it will be sunny to partly cloudy and humid, with a high of 88 degrees, with winds southwest with an average of 9 mph and a chance of rain of 25%. So it will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy, maybe a slight chance of rain, but I don't think there's anything that should be worried about. And so for my pick I'm going to go with Austin Dillon. Austin Dillon was battling for the win at Auto Club, but Kyle Larson got the victory and was running very well last year at Michigan until he got wrecked by Brad Keselowski, but I think this time, since he's below the cut line, I think Austin Dillon will come to the clutch and he will win at Michigan. And so that's it for this week's episode. If you enjoyed it please like and subscribe for more. And if you're going out to Michigan this weekend, I hope you have a good time, and if you're not, have a good time wherever you are, and I'll see you next week.