In the world of auto racing, Sunday had storylines that included return to glory, and a bit of humor.
First, the glory. For the last three months, the two names NASCAR has seen at the top practically every week has been Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. The two have outright put on a clinic this year, and are at the top of the standings because of it.
But there’s one guy who has now been able to keep up, despite not having as much recognition.
Yet, he’s the defending champion. That’s right, Martin Truex Jr. has possibly been overlooked, despite having a strong run of success this season. But, on Sunday, thanks to some smart pit calls, and a lot of hard driving by the man at the wheel, Truex Jr. now can say he’s the third driver this season with multiple wins. It may not be at the same level as Harvick and Busch, but he’s not one to yield that easily.
He’s not the favorite thus far to win the title, but he’s back in the conversation. Look out for that No. 78 Toyota as this year progresses.
And now, for your comic relief thanks to frankly one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen in racing.
I have seen some pretty funny things in this world when it comes to this sport. Let’s see, there’s the dude that climbed to the top of a catch fence during the Richmond race a few years ago, then there’s the infamous jet dryer incident at Daytona, and then who can forget NASCAR having to wave a caution every 11 laps because the tires were blowing up like balloons if it wasn’t done.
But, this one certainly makes my top-five.
IndyCar ran a double-header weekend in Detroit. Everything on Saturday was fine, but then came Sunday. And to think, what I’m about to say happened BEFORE the green flag even remotely considered being waved.
The Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit had the Vice President of General Motors piloting the brand new Chevrolet Corvette ZL1, the most powerful Corvette that Chevrolet has made available to buy, with a very hefty price at about $120,000. In a sense, he decided to show off to show the acceleration this car has. Keep in mind, the car is also the pace car, and the one leading the cars to green.
Well, it was.
In one corner, he hammered the accelerator and the Vette cut hard to the left, and plastered the wall with the front grille and bumper.
Teams had to be stopped on the track because of the destruction. Before the cars could complete the pace laps, the caution waved. It took 30 minutes to get things cleaned up, and in order to do that, teams were led one by one back to pit road, where they could cool the engines, and even refuel because the race had not gone green, and the pace laps had not even been completed. A new pace car was deployed, although with a different driver.
It’s one of those what many can call an “EIRC” moment, which stands for “Except In Rare Circumstances.” This certainly was one of those rare circumstances and it created one of the most epic failures in motorsports.
Let’s just say this dude actually began laughing like he was listening to Larry the Cable Guy instead of watching racing. It is that hilarious. For those that haven’t seen it, it’s highly possible it will be on the news come morning, afternoon, and evening. That’s pretty much a guarantee.
STAGE 1: Martin Truex Jr.
STAGE 2: Kevin Harvick
RESULTS: 1-Truex Jr. 2-Larson 3-Kyle Busch 4-Harvick 5-Keselowski 6-Blaney 7-Almirola 8-Johnson 9-Logano 10-Elliott
NOTABLE FINISHES: 12-Dillon 18-Byron 20-Bowyer
CAUTIONS: 6 for 23 laps. Lap 52-56 (Stage 1 Conclusion); 102-106 (Stage 2 Conclusion); 126-129 (#99 spin-T3); 140-143 (debris-T1); 148-150 (#11, #88 incident-T1); 152-153 (#20, #22, #31 incident-FS).
LEAD CHANGES: 11 among 7 drivers. R. Blaney 1-11; K. Harvick 12-25; J. Johnson 26-27; B. Keselowski 28-34; K. Harvick 35-43; M. Truex Jr. 44-53; B. Keselowski 54-56; K. Harvick 57-78; D. Wallace Jr. # 79-82; K. Harvick 83-126; Kyle Busch 127-139; M. Truex Jr. 140-160.
TIME OF RACE: 2 Hrs, 52 Mins.
AVERAGE SPEED: 139.535 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 2.496 Seconds
POINTS (Earned/Behind Leader [Playoff Points]: 1. Kyle Busch, 624 [25]; 2. Harvick, -87 [25]; 3. Logano, -90 [7]; 4. Truex Jr, -137 [13]; 5. Keselowski, -150 [4]; 6. Bowyer, -171 [5]; 7. Kurt Busch, -177 [2]; 8. Hamlin, -187 [1]; 9. Larson, -199; 10. Blaney, -211 [3]; 17. Menard, -335 [1]; 18. Dillon, -355 [5].
