Texas Delivered! The review

     Some argue that the races need to be more entertaining. Others argue that entertainment doesn’t equal good racing. Some argue that the cars and track should be hard to drive. Others point out the imperfections of a race track and blame it for a lackluster product. Then there’s the folks that always blame the car. These were all talking points coming out of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, so let’s take a deeper analysis.

      First things first, I am by no means calling this configuration better than the old one, or calling this the best Texas race ever but the the unique configuration has now started to show potential. This tracks current configuration is known for lackluster racing in Cup especially with the compounds put down in turn 1 for grip to keep cars from sliding everywhere, but we saw how exciting the racing was with that. Fast forward to 2024 and it’s been a few years since new compound has been applied and this track seems as slick as it’s ever been. Handling and car control matters here, and this is something that NASCAR fans have been asking for, races where handling and skill matter and yesterdays race showed just that.

      Fans in my opinion, saw the opening green flag run and how it strung out and assumed that was how the race was going to run. I looked at it as the track being as slick as ice and drivers and teams used the first run to just get in a flow without pushing hard off rip. Remember NASCAR is a marathon not a sprint. The fastest cars in this run were Kyle Larson and the Gibbs guys of Hamlin, Bell, Gibbs, and Truex and I honestly felt the race was going to come down between those guys, and then Texas happened. After pit stops drivers started coming around to how the track was going to be and started pushing harder because of how areo dependent the cars are. 

   Stage one was tame with one yellow for Jimmie Johnson but in stage 2, this stage changed the whole race. To start off Bell spun out over a high bump in turn 4 which was a big problem the whole race, and that took him out of contention while Alex bowman and John Hunter both made contact to avoid. This started a lot of different strategies as every caution led to a few drivers making their own strategy.

    A caution then came out for contact with Carson Hocevar spin aided by Kyle Busch and the big story of the race, race leader Kyle Larson who was the class of the field had a wheel come on and was then penalized two laps. The ironic part is the wheel came off well into the run and didn’t get loose and come off until the caution. The race was on from there.

      Truex and Hamlin restart on the front row and then chaos started. Shortly after we saw Josh Berry spin not once, but twice in ending his day.  Within the distance of his two spins the pit cycle got split up so much I had to check NASCAR app to see who was on what strategy. This led to Ross Chastain and Micheal McDowell restarting the race only for McDowell to loose it off turn 4 and end his race. Already the name of the game is to not be the car on the outside on turn 4 or your hands will be full. That ended his day. Ross would go on to win stage 2 before having to pit and then stage 3 was lead to the green by Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace who both stayed out on separate strategies. They would go side by side down the back straight when Harrison Burton would take it 3 wide and that led to the 23 getting loose and washing up into the 10 causing another caution. Both continued.  Harrison would then inherit the lead for a few laps until Tyler Reddick passed him and showed the most impressive showing of the day getting out to a 4+ second lead before another caution for a Ryan blaney spin (helped by the other Ryan…Ryan preece.) 

     This takes us to the last stage of the race, so far you have to really drive your stuff and have a good handling car and that’s been the case to this point as Tyler reddick was the class of the field…..and then a 23XL pit stop came which erased a 6 second lead he had built over Denny Hamlin. While at the moment he was able to recover another caution came out and while Reddick was able to restart on the inside, Chase Elliot caught Reddick sleeping and got his elbow out to take the lead into turn 1 and by that point Reddicks car and handling became compromised on top of turning into a pinball. A caution later came out for Ricky Stenhouse Jr having a spin off of two and after this, the race became a crash fest.

  Another restart with Chase and Denny on the front row and after turn 2 another caution, this time for Kyle Larson who used the yellows to get back on the lead lap. He would continue. The moment of the day happened on the next restart as with 2 to go Chase and Denny side by side for the win, Hamlin being on the outside too the high line in turns 3-4 as flat out as he could and then he too went around and that took him out of contention.

  Another restart now and now it’s Chase  Elliot and Ross Chastain  and this restart shows shades of the previous with Chase and Denny but Chase was able to clear off of 4 and take the white, where Ross saw his race actually end off of turn 2 after he washed up the track and William Byron made contact spinning Ross out. Chase would win with Brad K in second and William rounding out the podium.

      This race summed up is how Texas is now, a slick hard to drive yet aero dependent race track that forces the drivers to go all in to make up time while also forcing them to keep the car in the racing line as if it’s track limits. This type of race is what the fans have been asking for. They want the cars hard to drive well most of the spins and saves of the weekend came from bad handling cars mixed with the urge to push harder with the package. As long as no compound gets added or anything that adds grip I say keep Texas the way it is.