NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Tempers flare, brakes explode, and a power outage
This NASCAR weekend was a little wild. It was split between Portland and St. Louis and there was a lot going on at both locations. Those Xfinity Series drivers decided to get a little feisty with one another. Even the Truck Series had drama. But Sunday is when things fell off the rails a bit.
Things got started on Saturday with the Truck Series race in St. Louis. While it was mostly a typical truck race, there was some drama here and there. When you’ve got all these young drivers, mistakes are bound to happen.
Ty Majeski not only wrecked himself but also Zane Smith out of the lead and gave the race to Grant Enfinger.
Surprisingly, the Truck Series emotions didn’t boil over quite like they did in the Xfinity Series. Oregon is a pretty laid-back place, but NASCAR came to town and brought the heat.
Everybody pick a fight with somebody
Road-course racing up in Portland, Oregon, the Xfinity Series was a fun one to watch. It brought out the emotions. We even had teammates trying to wreck one another in this race.
While John Hunter Nemechek said he was going to fight Sammy Smith after this incident, that didn’t happen. Instead, the fighting was saved for Jeb Burton and Chandler Smith. Burton got carried away by a pit crew member.
Well, Smith might not be able to drink yet, but he’s able to meme pretty hard. Don’t mess with these Gen Z kids.
Cole Custer went on to win this race after a mess of trouble on the final restart for many of the leaders. Nothing like some Xfinity Series drama to get you ready for a long Sunday of racing.
NASCAR Sunday delays and difficulties
Here is where the weekend came to a head. Sunday, Cup Series racing at World Wide Technology Raceway. Last year the race just took over 3 hours to get over and done with. This year? Well, a 1.5-hour lightning delay and a lot of cautions didn’t help at all.
To start, on Lap 2 Tyler Reddick went for a spin and Corey LaJoie hit the kill switch on the No. 9 NAPA Chevy. Caution flag. But that didn’t last long before the red flag was dropped for the weather.
Even when the race was back up and running, it felt like we saw just some of the race before the TV broadcast cut out. A power outage left the radio and TV broadcasts blacked out for a few minutes.
NASCAR wants you to know, it wasn’t their fault.
Unfortunately, during the race a pit crew member for Erik Jones went down with an injury. It was thought that Austin Dillon hit the crew member leaving the box, but it was later confirmed there was no contact between the No. 3 car and the individual.
The crew member is back at home resting and recovering from the incident.
Brake rotors blow and Austin Dillon has a bone to pick
Finally, the biggest story out of the Enjoy Illinois 30, besides Kyle Busch dominating the weekend, was the brake rotors. Turn 1 at WWT Raceway is a tough one.
Not just one, not two, not three, but FOUR drivers blew brake rotors during the race. As the race came to a close, Noah Gragson was the third driver to blow his rotor. In fact, a piece hit a fan, but no one was injured in the process. Gragson also reached out to the fan.
While all of this stuff led to a long Sunday at the race track, there was drama after the race involving two Austins. Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric got into a bit of a thing toward the end of the 300-mile race. Dillon claims that Cindric right-reared him on purpose and is looking to get the driver suspended.
So, what do we think of this?
Another calm and chill weekend in NASCAR. Surely some road course racing in Sonoma will fix all of this.