This was a very crazy and content filled week, so I really had to delegate with the little time I have and decide what I’d like to talk about on this week’s blog. I watched ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ last weekend and it seems to be getting a lot of mixed reviews and opinions online, so I really considered that because I highly enjoyed it myself. I saw ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ this week in theaters with a group of buddies as well and really dug the retro-futuristic vibes and how different it felt from other Marvel movies and properties. I’d suggest either of those movies to anyone looking for new things to watch, and as easy as it would be to rant on about movies I feel like I’ve done a whole lot of that this month already (there were just so many new movies to talk about this month it felt like!) So, I’ve decided to try something a little different from the norm.
I enjoy talking wrestling and football on this page a lot as well as some of you may know, what you may not know is when I first started this blog, I had the small intention to cover some NASCAR on here as well. Well, covid happened and things got hectic in my life and once again that delegating came into play and I just never have talked about it for years because I kind of fell off. Well, within the past couple months I’ve really gotten back into and paid attention to Monster Jam and NASCAR and Monster Jam recently had their World Finals over 4th of July weekend (it was a lot of fun!), but NASCAR is still heating up as we are getting closer and closer to approaching the Cup Series playoffs. I’ll be the first to admit that to the major gear heads and NASCAR fans I’m going to come off as a novice here, but I think that’s okay. Full transparency, I really only watch, keep up with, and am interested in the Cup Series. I watched NASCAR for a few seasons as a child and was always a really big Tony Stewart fan when he drove the Home Depot car, but I feel like now I understand the points and number crunching aspect of the sport much more and that’s what keeps me invested. Don’t get me wrong, I still have some of the drivers I am more drawn to and root for during the races like Gibbs, Chastain, Hocevar, and Logano, but I am just invested in the races, standings, and point totals overall especially now that we’re closing in on playoffs. We are fresh off a major win from Bubba Wallace at the Brickyard 400 that pretty much seals him a slot in the playoff races and I’m extremely happy for him overcoming the controversy and hate thrown his way by backwards fans. I feel like the incident a few years back involving a suspicious item in his garage just made things worse for him with the fans, if you know what I’m talking about then you already know and if you don’t then consider yourself lucky for missing out on the drama.
I’ve seen a lot of anger and controversy online this week surrounding the NASCAR playoffs in general and I have to say, even being a bit of a novice, I kind of get it. Unless I’m missing something when it comes to some of these point totals (and I am sure I am), it feels like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson should easily be leading the pack of drivers right now. Denny has 4 race wins and Kyle with 3 and both of them have a staggering 11 Top 5 finishes, but they are still currently behind Chase Elliot and William Byron on the leaderboard who both have 1 race win and 7 Top 5 finishes under their belt. I know you get points for finishing in the Top 5 of each stage of a race as well and that seems justified, but it shouldn’t be near as many points or matter near as much as finishing in the top 5 or winning the whole damn race. For example, Shane van Gisbergen has DOMINATED the road races this year and has 3 race wins and 3 Top 5 finishes under his belt, and Zane Smith has neither a race win or a Top 5 finish this season and he is still 1 spot above Shane in the standings. Not to single out Zane either, he was just the easy example, but there are multiple drivers with 0 race wins and less Top 5 finishes than Shane that are higher in the standings. Unless I’m missing something here, and even if I am, that just doesn’t feel right when you consider the exciting season he’s had so far and how much he’s impressed down the stretch. Fans are basically saying that the league in general is more concerned with the head-to-head drama heading into the playoffs than actual driver performance throughout the entire season. NASCAR themselves has remained rather quiet on the issue and that just feels wrong to do. You have fans who are disgruntled and complaining about the current format, if you could make a statement at least addressing it and explaining why it is the way it is then maybe I could accept it and understand it better and move on, but in the current state of things I am left to just side with the fans because it makes no sense to me either how some of these drivers are placing ahead of others who have won races this season and had multiple Top 5 finishes.
One of my guys, Ty Gibbs won the inaugural ‘In-Season Challenge’ at Brickyard as well, defeating Ty Dillon in the final round of the bracket and taking home an extra million bucks! I honestly love the introduction of that challenge though because it adds something to each race day and gives you something else to pay attention to besides who’s in the lead, and it also gives drivers a little extra incentive every week. Even if you’re not in the lead that week or it feels like you won’t have the chance to win out or finish in the Top 5, you still have to focus on beating whoever your head-to-head opponent is in the bracket that week to keep your chance at an extra million bucks alive. It’s a little something extra to add excitement in for the fans and the drivers alike and I’m here for it so I hope they keep doing it every season from here on out. I’m back in though, I’ve stayed caught up this season and I’m getting pretty excited for the playoffs now that we are nearing closer. Larson, Hamlin, van Gisbergen, and Bell are the only drivers with multiple wins this season so far and Larson and Hamlin are the only ones with 10 or more Top 5 finishes, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can keep their grasp on those stats for the final few races in the regular season or if a sleeper driver will go on a run just in time for playoffs. Only time will tell, but congrats to Bubba and Ty this week for their accomplishments. Until next time!
