There’s a definition of humor that says distance is important, and that harmlessness is important, and that one can make up for at least a slight lack of the other.
Anyway, I think that’s why I’m guiltily feeling a little amused about NASCAR running its first ever Cup Series race in real rain and having to stop it because guys were unable to see through the spray and were absolutely clobbering each other blindly. Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt.
The Winner
Chase Elliott won after NASCAR said, “You know, let’s not try our luck on another restart.”
The Race
It was going fine. It was exciting. There was some strategery. We knew the drivers couldn’t see that well, but then the rain picked up, and, well, they started rear-ending each other. Violently. Eventually the race got red-flagged, the rain subsided, they started again, and when the rain picked up again they got the heck out of there.
Notable Names
Kyle Larson finished 2nd.
Joey Logano won the first stage and finished 3rd.
Ross Chastain and A.J. Allmendinger cracked the top five, in that order.
Chase Briscoe was 6th.
Michael McDowell was involved in one of the big wrecks but got out ok enough to drive, and finished 7th.
Alex Bowman was 8th.
Tyler Reddick won the pole and went on to finish 9th.
Kyle Busch won the second stage and finished 10th.
William Byron had some contact with Matt DiBenedetto early, but finished 11th.
Austin Dillon was 12th.
Chris Buescher was 13th.
Denny Hamlin was 14th.
Erik Jones was 16th.
Ryan Blaney was involved in some action but stayed on the track and finished 17th.
Brad Keselowski was 19th.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t wreck anyone this week that I remember (though it’s possible he did and no one saw it because no one could see anything). He finished 22nd.
DiBenedetto was 23rd.
Ryan Newman was 24th.
Austin Cindric was a factor early but wound up 25th.
Aric Almirola was 26th.
Kurt Busch was 27th.
Martin Truex Jr. was hit hard from behind by Cole Custer. He nearly flipped, and Custer’s car basically exploded. Truex finished 35th. Custer was 36th.
Kevin Harvick was hit from behind by Bubba Wallace after checking up presumably because of a spotter reporting the Blaney action ahead. He landed 37th.
Christopher Bell was the one who hit Blaney. He was 38th.
Wallace was 39th.
Standings
Twelve to go before the playoffs.
1. Truex (3 wins)
2. Bowman (2 wins)
3. Byron (1 win)
4. Larson (1 win)
5. Logano (1 win)
6. Elliott (1 win)
7. Blaney (1 win)
8. Keselowski (1 win)
9. Kyle Busch (1 win)
10. Bell (1 win)
11. McDowell (1 win)
12. Hamlin (301 points ahead of first driver out)
13. Harvick (132 points ahead of first driver out)
14. Dillon (70 points ahead of first driver out)
15. Buescher (42 points ahead of first driver out)
16. Reddick (last driver in, 38 points ahead of first driver out)
17. DiBenedetto (first driver out, 38 points behind last driver in)
18. Kurt Busch (48 points behind last driver in)
19. Stenhouse (53 points behind last driver in)
20. Chastain (58 points behind last driver in)
21. Newman (61 points behind last driver in)
22. Ryan Preece (80 points behind last driver in)
23. Wallace (84 points behind last driver in)
24. Daniel Suárez (88 points behind last driver in)
25. Briscoe (97 points behind last driver in)
26. Jones (110 points behind last driver in)
27. Custer (114 points behind last driver in)
28. Almirola (154 points behind last driver in)
Thoughts, Implications
Big breaks for Reddick, Buescher, and Dillon. Some credit to them, of course, but at the same time, there was a lot of randomness and luck out there, or so it seemed. Wildcard of a race is how it turned out, and it really shook up the standings down where they matter.
It’ll be interesting to see where NASCAR draws the line with rain the next time they get it at a road course. It was very dirt-at-Bristol-like in its chaos and its untestability and its danger. Feels like NASCAR played with fire and got away with it.
Videos
The alluring thing about Circuit of the Americas:
The Harvick/Wallace and Bell/Blaney wrecks:
The Custer/Truex wreck:
Kurt Busch doing something impressive:
