Dover Recap and Kansas Review, Darlington Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S2:E12

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host recaps the races at Dover and Kansas. Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Truex had wins at Dover, while the Kansas race was dramatic with Denny Hamlin winning after a collision with Kyle Larson. There was also a physical altercation between Ross Chastain and Noah Gregson. The truck race saw Brad Engfinger's first win of the season. The host also discusses news, including TV ratings, sponsorships, and silly season rumors. Finally, the host previews the upcoming races at Darlington and makes predictions for the winners. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I'm your host Wyling London and in this episode, I'm going to be recapping the races from Dover as well as reviewing the races from Kansas. I'll also go over the news and I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Darlington. But first, let's do a quick recap of Dover. It was a Truex sweep at Dover with Martin Truex Jr. getting his first win since Richmond in 2021 and his younger brother, Ryan Truex, getting his first career win in the Xfinity race. And both races were pretty good with some comers and goers, although Ryan Truex dominated in the Xfinity race and although there wasn't that much passing going on because of how Dover is designed, there was still plenty of action going on, such as with Chastain, Larson, and Brendan Poole getting together and we'll talk more about Chastain in a little bit and there was also some interesting pitch strategy to go along with it. So it was definitely not the worst race of the year, but I'd say it was behind Bristol Dirt and the next race that I'm about to talk about. But overall, it was a solid weekend for Dover standards. And so now, let's review the Kansas weekend starting off with Cubs. Danny Hamlin wins in dramatic fashion after getting into Kyle Larson, but Kyle Larson was able to come home in second after saving his car. William Byron finishes third, Bubba Wallace finishes fourth, Ross Chastain finishes fifth, Joey Logano finishes sixth, Chase Elliott finishes seventh, Martin Truex Jr. finishes eighth, Tyler Reddick finishes ninth, and Austin Dillon rounds out the top ten. And in my opinion, this was the best race of the year so far. That race was awesome. This was the first banger of the year. There was plenty of multi-group racing going on, there was plenty of action, a lot of passing going on, and this race actually broke a record of most lead changes in a single Kansas race. Of course, that finished. Both Kyle Larson and Danny Hamlin were battling each other hard, and it all accumulated in the last lap when Kyle Larson and Danny Hamlin were one-two. Kyle Larson was up high and Danny was a lane lower. Danny was able to get side-by-side with him in turns one and two, but it looked like Larson was about to go by him, but Danny Hamlin made contact with the five and the five went into the wall. Larson was able to save it and come home second, but Danny Hamlin ended up getting the win, and of course, he got booed by the fans. And now, we gotta talk about Chastain versus Noah Gregson. So basically, Chastain was in the inside of Gregson, Gregson was up top, and Gregson was having a little bit of a good day. He was in the top 20, and Chastain was trying to make his way through the field after, I believe, a bad pit stop, or he got caught speeding, and he got into Noah, and then Noah repaid the favor by going back down and making contact, and Noah Gregson blew a tire and got spun around. Kind of like the same deal that Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson had at Auto Club last year, but this got more physical. After the race, Noah Gregson confronts Ross Chastain, and they start talking, and then Noah Gregson starts shoving, and then Ross Chastain, man, he got the punch, and he went to, he punched him, and then Noah Gregson tried to get another punch in, but this big guy stopped him from doing so, probably Chastain's PR guy that stopped him, or a security guard, but in a nutshell, Poole said last week that Chastain needs a butt whoopin', and Noah Gregson basically said, hold my biggie bag, and that's what happened there, but man, what a race that was. Tempers, on and off the track, great racing, and a great finish that will go down in NASCAR history as one of the best. And finally, for the truck race, Brad Engfinger gets his first win of the season, and he's followed by Corey Heim in second, Zane Smith in third, Stuart Friesen in fourth, Ross Chastain in fifth, Nick Sanchez in sixth, Kyle Busch in seventh, Jake Garcia in eighth, Taylor Gray in ninth, and Tyler Ingram rounds out the top ten, and Tawny Bradinger, in her truck series debut, finishes 15th. That race was pretty good, too, not as good as the cup race, but there was some action going on as well, plenty of multi-group passing, in my opinion, it was probably the best mile and a half truck race of the year so far. And of course, we gotta talk about the Raja Kuruz and Ty Majeski incident, it looked like Raja Kuruz made a bad block on Majeski coming out of turn four, and that sent the 24 into the wall. And Kuruz and Majeski confronted each other after the race, on pit road, and talked, no fighting there like the cup race. In my opinion, it looked like Raja made kind of a bad mistake there, he wasn't clear, but he decided to move up just a bad block, kind of like the bubble one at Talladega, it's just one of those racing deals, but Raja Kuruz was very fast, faster than he has been the whole year, which should give his fans some hope that he can make his way into the playoffs if he can keep his truck clean and stay out of trouble. And so overall, an excellent weekend for Kansas, they had their best race ever with cup, and the truck series also had a great race as well. It was just a great weekend, and in my opinion, Kansas is probably one of the best racetracks on the schedule right now, thanks to the track's design, with the multiple groups, and the tight racing, thanks to the next-gen car. And so with that out of the way, let's get to the news. First off, we have the Kansas TV ratings, which came out earlier today since I'm recording this on Tuesday, FS1 earned a 1.35 rating and 2.352 million viewers for this race, which although it has a lower rating, slightly more people actually tuned in, with last year having a better rating with 1.3, but there was less viewership last year with 2.337 million viewers instead of 2.352 for this year, which means that viewership was up 1%. The Daily Downforce will be sponsoring BJ McLeod at Burlington this weekend, and this is Eric Aesop's first sponsorship for the Cup Series, as well as other content creators being represented on the car, such as Jarrett Lumberg from The Iceberg, Gary Ann Gilliam from Black Flags Matter, and Daniel Baldwin from Danny B. Talks, as well as the guys from the Garage Guys podcast, as well as the Scene Vault podcast. TD Bank will be sponsoring Corolla Joy for the Coca-Cola 600. Coca-Cola Racing Family Legends have been named the Grand Marshals for the Coke 600. They include Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, and Kyle Petty. Ryan Newen is making his NASCAR Cup Series return this weekend at Darlington, and he'll also make some other select starts this year for Rick Ware Racing. Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time 4Eva1 World Champion, says he would like to try NASCAR sometime. I'd say probably he'll want to try for Project 91, if he is interested. Bubba Wallace will be driving the Tricon Garage No. 1 at both Darlington and North Wilkesboro. Bomberito Automotive Group will be partnering with Ben Rhodes for multiple races this year. And we have some silly season rumors going on. Josh Berry is currently close to signing a contract with Kevin Harvick's sports management company KHI, and that has stirred the rumors of Josh Berry being moved up the Cup. It was announced twice during NASCAR broadcast recently that Josh Berry will be moving up this year to a competitive ride, and currently, thanks to this announcement, he might be replacing Kevin Harvick. So, it'll be interesting what happens as we move forward with silly season later this year. Skip Barber Racing School will be partnering with Frost Chest Stain and DGM Racing for two races. Those races are Sonoma and the Indy Road Course. And if you're Michael Marutz, you're probably devastated over this one. Legacy Motor Club will be switching to Toyota starting in 2024. RCR has lost its appeal for the Martinsville penalties. Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, and Jeff Hammond have been named as the Tyson 250 Dignitaries at North Wilkesboro. NASCAR and SiriusXM have agreed to a multi-year extension of their current broadcast agreement. Alex Bowman will be missing three to four weeks of racing after a Sprint car crash, and Josh Berry has been summing in. Kyle Larson will be driving for Colic Racing in the number 10 this weekend at Darlington. The next driver that could be running for Project 91 could be supercar champion Shane Van Gitsburg. And the likely tracks would be either Sonoma or the Chicago Street Course because they do not clash with the supercar events. And finally, we have the Caledonia TV ratings. Fox earned a 2.58 rating with 4.554 million viewers for the Geico 500, which is nearly identical to last year's. And it was the best rating for NASCAR since the Daytona 500. And the race peaked at 5,847,000 viewers between 6.45 and 7.00, which was around the end of the race. And according to Nielsen, the viewership was up a take from 4.366 million viewers last year. And so that's it for this week's news. Now it's time to preview this weekend's races at Darlington. Starting with the truck race, we have the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. The race will be 147 laps and 200.8 miles. And the race will be on May 12th at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with William Byron. KBM is looking for their 100th win all time. And I think Byron, with how fast he's been and because of how fast the 51 has been, I think William Byron will score the 100th victory for KBM before Kyle Busch wins it by winning at Darlington. Next up for the Xfinity race, we have the Shriners Children's 200. The race will be 147 laps and 200.1 miles. And the race will be on May 13th at 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Kyle Larson. Kyle Larson will be driving in the Colic number 10. And it's been fast this year with AJ Allmendinger getting the win at Dakota and Derek Krause being fast in his starts. And I think Kyle Larson will win this weekend at Darlington. And finally for the Cup race, we have the Goodyear 400. The race will be 293 laps and 400.2 miles. And the race will be on May 14th at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with William Byron. William Byron was so close to winning this race last year, but Joey Logano moved him out of the way and put him in the wall. So I think this time, William Byron will avenge that loss last year by winning at Darlington. And so that's it for this week's episode, and if you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe for more. If you're going out to Darlington this weekend, I hope you have a good time. If you're not, have a good time wherever you are, and I'll see you next week.