Sonoma Recap and Nashville Review, Chicago Street Course Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S2:E16

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host gives a recap of the Sonoma and Nashville races. Martin Truix Jr. wins at Sonoma, and Ross Chastain wins the Cup race in Nashville. There were mixed opinions on the races, with some saying Sonoma was just a difficult track to pass on. The Xfinity race in Nashville was a wreckfest, with controversy surrounding the winner, AJ Allmendinger. The truck race in Nashville was exciting, with Carson Hussovar getting his second career win. The host also discusses Haley Deegan's struggles in the truck series and suggests she may be better suited for other forms of racing. The Nashville Super Speedway received positive feedback, and there is discussion about the future of the track. The host goes over some news in NASCAR, including TV ratings, upcoming races, and driver changes. Finally, the host previews the upcoming races in Chicago and makes predictions for the winners. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I'm your host Lewis England and in this episode I'm going to be doing a quick recap of Sonoma and I'll do a full race review of Nashville. I'll also go over the news and I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Chicago. But first, let's do a quick recap of Sonoma. Martin Truix Jr. gets his second win of the season at Sonoma and Eric Almorola gets his first Xfinity Series win in a long time and possibly I think his first real course win in the Xfinity Series. And in my opinion the races were okay. Sonoma is kind of a mid track and some people were saying that the package for the cup cars isn't the best but I don't think it's really a package problem. I think it's just Sonoma being a mid track because this was actually probably the best Sonoma race so far with NAR other than last year with Suarez winning. But this race had more league changes but not as many cautions, at least legitimate ones. But overall I'd say it wasn't that bad. You could pass in two corners and that's just how Sonoma is. Sonoma is just a very tight track. You can't really pass. It affected both Xfinity and Cup. Now let's review the races from Nashville starting with Cup. Ross Chastain gets his first win of the season and he's followed by Martin Truix Jr. in second, Denny Hamlin in third, Chase Elliott in fourth, Kyle Larkson in fifth, William Byron in sixth, Christopher Bell in seventh, Eric Jones in eighth, Kyle Busch in ninth, and AJ Allmendinger rounds out top ten. And this race was very fun to watch. There was plenty of side by side racing going on, plenty of tight racing, plenty of multi groove racing. It was fun to watch and was better than last year in my opinion. So in my opinion if SMI can't get the fairgrounds, I think Nashville Super Speedway is probably the best second option. And I think it is a great option for the Nashville market unless we get the fairgrounds back. But who knows if that will happen because of the opposition. But we'll see what happens. And we gotta talk about Ryan Blaney's hit into the inside wall on the front stretch. Basically what happened was that on a restart, Brad Kieslowski did not get going. And that led to everyone checking out and that led to Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney getting spun to the inside. Busch was able to save it, but Blaney could not. And he hit the inside wall hard. And there was no safer barrier there. And he struggled to get out of that car because he got the wind knocked out of him. And afterward when he talked to the press, he said that there should be no excuse for not having the safer barrier there. And in my opinion he is very much right. Nashville really needs to install a safer barrier at that spot so nothing like that can ever happen again. Because it compromises the driver's safety. Overall, besides that, this was an excellent race to watch. And definitely the best show that this track has put on to date. Probably thanks to the resin making it a multi-roof racetrack. Next up for the Xfinity race, AJ Allmendinger gets the victory controversially and he's followed by Riley Hurst in second, Sam Mayer in third, Austin Hill in fourth, Josh Berry in fifth, John Hunter Nemechek in sixth, Zane Smith in seventh, Daniel Hemrick in eighth, Cole Kuster in ninth, and Parker Ritsloff rounds out the top ten. And this race was quite a wreck fest definitely at the beginning. There were cars spinning out of control almost every restart. It was almost like watching the Atlanta race earlier this year. And it might be because of how the cars are set up now after the rule changes that NASCAR made during the off-season. And that led to some drivers being knocked out of contention. Like Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith. As well as Carson Hussovar. Now there were two controversial parts of this race. First let's start off with the winner. AJ got caught up in one of those rips. And when the crew repaired the car, he was basically given an aero advantage. And that allowed him to go back through the pack and grab that lead easily and pull away. And so many people think that he should have been disqualified because his car did not meet the body templates. Because he had an aero advantage from the wrecking. And the other moment that happened during this race was with Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith. Sammy was getting into Sheldon Creed and Creed was starting to lose his cool. And he expressed it on his radio saying that if he did it again that he would get behind him and right hook him. And his team said don't do it. But he ended up doing it anyway. And now because of that moment he has been fined $25,000 and 25 points because of the ordeal. In my opinion what Sheldon Creed did was very stupid. And it should not be tolerated in NASCAR. And finally for the truck race. Carson Hussovar gets his second career win. But this time it's not a fluke win. And he's followed by Zane Smith in second. Nick Sanchez in third. Corey Heim in fourth. Bailey Curry in fifth. Chase Purdy in sixth. Matt Benedetto in seventh. Tyler Ingram in eighth. Ben Rhodes in ninth. And Jake Garcia rounds out the top ten. And this race was fun to watch as well. There was plenty of passing going on and plenty of good racing going on in the truck race. And it did not devolve into a wreck fest like the Xfinity race did. Of course we gotta talk about Haley Deegan. Who basically during the race got loose and got into Wallace Allen. And that led to her, Wallace, and I think another car getting involved. And she got called out by Wallace when he was talking to the media after the crash. Meanwhile Deegan was still running in finish 28th. And to be honest I'm starting to give up on Haley. She has yet to improve in the truck series. And although she's inside the top 20 points. If she continues doing what she's doing right now she will fall out of playoff contention and the top 20 in points. And is on track to getting the worst points finish of a Thor sport driver since 2008. And possibly all time if she continues to do so poorly. And to be honest I think Haley Deegan is a NASCAR truck series bust. She has done nothing in the trucks. But I do not think she is an overall NASCAR bust. She showed great promise in the Arca West series. Which was known as the Canadian West series at the time. Getting three wins and finished second in the points in 2019. Losing the teammate Derek Kraus. And she also got rookie of the year in 2020 in the Arca Menard series. By beating Drew Dollar in lesser equipment. But since her rookie year in 2021 she has not done very well at all. Her rookie campaign wasn't too bad. But she has yet to improve from that first rookie season. While her teammates have done very well since that time. Meanwhile there are guys younger than her that are outrunning her on a race to race basis. So I do not think that Haley can be competitive in a truck. Maybe in Xfinity though. She ran very well in her first start. Finishing 13th. Maybe she can do well in the Xfinity series if she could repeat what she did during that race. But it's hard to know right now. Because she's only made that one start and is currently not scheduled to do any more. She has also done well in other forms of racing like the SRX series. And she is a regular contender in the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona in January. This shows that she has the talent to race. But I don't think NASCAR, specifically the truck series is the best place for her. Maybe the Xfinity series would be better. Who knows. But I'm not sure if NASCAR is where she belongs. Maybe she belongs in sports car racing. Like running in IMSA. Or running in the World of Outlaws in a Dirk Link model. But I do not think that NASCAR is the best place for her. Because she has not done well at all in the truck series. So overall a solid weekend for the Nashville Super Speedway. Pretty good racing. For two races. One race was a wreckfest. But also it was a great experience at that race track according to those who went. Which is good to see. And I think Nashville Super Speedway is a great option if the fairgrounds proposal does not go through. If it does, then I think only one track should stay. And that would probably mean that the Super Speedway would be abandoned and eventually demolished. But we'll see what happens as things move forward with the proposals. And so with that out of the way, let's get to the news. Let's start off with the TNE ratings. NBC got a 1.83 rating and 3.211 million viewers for the Ally 400. Which is up from last year. Which had a 1.81 rating and 2.921 million viewers for the NBC portion of that race. Which had the rain delay. And of course it was booted the cable. And also it is NBC's most watched season opener in three years. It was also the most watched sporting event of the weekend. And I think this weekend will be the same. The appeals panel has upheld Eric Jones' L1 penalty. NASCAR expects 50,000 people a day at the Chicago Street Race. NASCAR's meteorite steel has been moved back to late summer and early fall. Amazon is still the frontrunner for a mid-season package. And NASCAR has moved away from the Indian for having the full Xfinity Series season exclusively on streaming. Which in my opinion is probably for the best. During Nashville weekend, Carl Edwards was questioned about returning to racing. And currently he does not have plans to return. But he said if he does, he needs to be 100% prepared. A NASCAR jet dryer is helping to reopen Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. Dale Jr., Terry Parsons, and Steve Wilson have been named second quarter NMPA Pocono Spirit Award winners. 3F is still looking to get to the track this season. Next we have the biggest news of the weekend. Josh Berry will replace Kevin Harvick in Sturthof's Free Sings number four for next season. So in Inaugural replace Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers will stay with the 4 team. But something we do not know yet is if Erika Morella will return or if he will retire. We'll still have to see about that. NASCAR has announced a new game called NASCAR Arcade Ranch which will be coming to consoles and PC later this year. Hopefully it's better than NASCAR 21 Ignition. Joe Gibbs has sold a minority stake in the team. It has been sold to Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment and Arctis Partners. Justin Marks will be competing for college racing in the Xfinity Chicago Street Horse Race. The grandstands for the championship race at Phoenix have already been sold out once again. And finally Greg Biffle is hoping to run in the Xfinity race at Portland next year if Portland indeed returns. And so that's it for this week's news. Now it's time to preview this weekend's races on the Chicago Street Horse. Starting off with the Xfinity race we have the Luke 121. The race will be 55 laps and 121 miles. And the race will be on July 1st at 5pm eastern time. And so for my pick I'm going to go with Cole Custer. Cole Custer went up Portland when A.J. Almanager was absent from that race. And I think this time he'll get the Xfinity Series first street horse victory by winning at Chicago. And finally for the cup race we have the Grand Park 220. the race will be 100 laps and 220 miles. And the race will be on July 2nd at 5.30pm eastern time. And so for my pick I'm going to go with Chase Elliott. Chase Elliott has been fast on new road courses. And although he did not get any new road courses last year he won at Kota and Road America's first races. And I think this time he'll get the first street horse victory in NASCAR Cup Series history by winning at Chicago. And so that's it for this week's episode. If you enjoyed it please like and subscribe for more. If you're going out to Chicago 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.