Great American Speedway Review

So, now that I am finally getting some quiet time to write this entry. Lets review the race at the "Great American Speedway" Texas Motor Speedway. There was huge temperature drop to begin the weekend. Which I guess apparently the temperature drop affected the tires, and caused some possible mental mistakes with pit crews. I mean what was up with all the pit road mistakes? Lets get started with this race review!

Race weekend started off with Stewart Haas dominating qualifying. Even with the Ford camp starting off hot, the temperatures did not approve. It was in the low to mid 70's Friday when teams arrived at the track. As nice and warm as it was Friday it did not stay that way, Saturday for practice the high was around 44 degrees, and race day wasn't much better with a high of 59. The race started off with a few car dropping to the back due to multiple reasons. Kyle Larson's 42 car failed inspection three times, and his team was penalized for it. The team lost the car chief and has to go to the rear of the field. William Byron and the 24 team swapped engines due to a oil pressure issue in practice. So right off the bat we had two decently fast car's having to battle there ways up the running order. 

Stage 1 

The Stewart Haas teammates led the field to the green flag. Green flag racing didn't last that long with the first yellow coming out around lap four. The Nationwide 88 driven by Alex Bowman hit the apron on the track and collected the 21, 19 and damages the 3 car. After that first caution, racing went over all pretty smooth. We are off to a all to familiar site with the 4 car and Kevin Harvick leading. When the thirty lap mark rolled around the top ten, looked kinda familiar too with seven outta the top ten being fords. That would last for long though last years race winner Jimmie Johnson cracked the top ten around lap 31 and looked to be on a roll. The issues would start to occur though shortly for a lot of teams because the 78 car was about to split the stage. Around lap 41 Truex, came in for a green flag stop, and the field soon followed suite. With green flag stops in full swing, the 12 car recieved a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire. The penalty were not done there with the 11 team recieving one on lap sixty three. Harvick, and his team got off pit road and continued to dominate the first stage. With five to go in stage one Martin Truex blew a right front tire and hit the wall hard effectively ending his day, also ending the first stage. The 78 cars unfortunate luck with tires would not be the last of the day. Harvick went on to claim the stage one win and lead the most laps in the stage. Something that couldn't be denied is that Kyle Busch was dialing in his car to make a run.

Stage 2

Stage two started with a new leader after pit stops. The 18 team got "Rowdy" off pit road ahead of the dominant Harvick. The Camry out front, wouldn't last long with Harvick coming back and taking the lead. Around lap 41 of the stage, the four car's cruise control was set to on and he didn't look back. Unfortunately for him and Kyle Larson, Larson blew a right front tire and hit the wall hard almost identically as hard as Truex. The reason it was unfortunate for Harvick, is because his pit team had some horrible luck and he lost eight spots on pit road. Fox live race coverage showed, a lug nut jumping into the jack causing the jack to get stuck. The front row consisted of the Busch brothers battling for a lead. With older brother Kurt taking the lead for his turn out front. Kevin Harvick bad luck in stage two just continued, with reports of a loose wheel on lap 52 of the stage. Things were not all bad for the Stewart Haas team with the 41 car pulling away from second place. More wheel issues started to arise with the 12 car complaining of a loose wheel, and once again the 18 car said his vibration from earlier in the race had not went away. With 26 to go in the stage we see some speed out of the Hendricks camp with Chase Elliott running sixth, on the other end of the spectrum the 48 car was running 24th and struggling. Once again in stage two we seen, another car complaining of a vibration with Joey Logano advising his crew he has one unsure if loose tire or not. With 8 to go in the stage Kurt Busch looses some momentum due to a lap car allowing younger brother Kyle to take the lead and go onto get his second stage win of the season. The final top ten at the end of stage 2 consisted of a majority of Fords with six,one Chevrolet, and three Toyota's.   

  Final Stage!

The final stage of this race was shaping up to be another interesting one. Stage pit stops commenced and winded up with sophomore driver Eric Jones winning the race off pit road. The stage two winner Kyle Busch didn't loose much coming out second but to start the stage was extremely loose which didn't help. Around lap 179, there was a big wreck which took out some potential race contenders, including Johnson, Hamlin, and Keselowski. The carnage on the track was so bad the race was red flagged on lap 180. As the red flag came out Kyle Busch made a comment about how the 9 car caused him to get extremely loose. Along with that the 4 cars bad luck was looking to continue with a possible loose tire. Which lead to his crew chief making a comment about the NASCAR issued lug wrench system. After approximately a rough ten minute red flag period, Eric Jones and his youth movement counter part Chase Elliott would lead the pack back to green on lap 183. The 4 team has to make a pit stop, causing them to go a lap down and also add some looseness to the handling of the car. Chase Elliott was able to lead four total laps before loosing the lead back to the 20 car. Who at this point in the race looked to be chasing his first career victory. Potential race winner Kurt Busch obtained some damage to his splitter which would in indefinably hurt the handling of his car to an extent. Rookie driver's William Byron and Bubba Wallace looked to have a strong showing in this race with Byron leading a lap and "Bubba" not giving up a free pass spot easily to veteran Kevin Harvick. With 124 to go, Eric Jones and his team were out front still, and once again another team has a right front tire issue with Elliott and the nine team having to make a pit due to possible loose tire. Which after his pit stop would put him in a battle with Harvick for the free pass spot with 109 to go. Five short laps later green flag pit stops started to happen, but at 4:53 PM the 21 Ford Fusion got into the wall bringing out the caution and allowing Kevin Harvick to get back into P2. Unfortunately for his pit crew another mistake was made with too many men over the wall. This penalty could possibly ruin this teams chances. You can only recover so many times. With 94 laps to go "Rowdy" took the lead from his JGR teammate and was off. Kyle Busch would win a race off pit road after Kahne and Bane collided in a wreck and would go onto have a three second lead with 60 to go. The driver of the Busch blue Ford Fusion had brought this car back no madder what mishaps had occurred all race and with 50 to go was back in second. Twenty laps later Ryan Newman blew a surprise surprise right front tire and hit the wall hard to bring out another yellow. Eighteen short minutes later with ten laps to go the Ford of Harvick and Toyota of Busch were battling it out. Kyle Busch went on to win the race, and lead 116 laps in total. Claiming his first victory of the season after a string of consecutive top three finishes. 

Conclusion 

Texas didn't disappoint from a fan's point of view, but there were some definite headlines coming out of this race. Goodyear's right front tire had multiple issues with some serious contenders like Truex and Larson blowing tires and wrecking out of the race. Could it have been a bead issues on the wheels or was it a tire issue within itself. Good year hasn't commented on the issue from what I have heard but it's still something to think about for the fall race. Especially if the temps are much warmer than the Spring race. Another issue was the abundance of pit road penalties with Hamlin, Blaney and Harvicks teams having issues. Was it the cold weather, or maybe just a mental lapse we are a few races in at this point. The biggest headline following this race was the criticism that the NASCAR issued pit guns from the Stewart Haas, Ford team. Harvicks crew chief Rodney Childers was quoted saying on twitter "I can't explain how frustrating it is when you don't win with the best car.." Kevin Harvick himself also said himself after the race "The pit guns have been absolutely horrible all year, and our guys do a great job on pit road, and the pathetic part about it is that you get handed something that doesn't work correctly and those guys are doing everything they can to make it right." Harvick's team have not been the first team to complain about the pit guns, race winner Kyle Busch and his crew chief have made complaints known earlier this year. Busch's team owner Joe Gibb's himself even said when talking about the guns "I don't like things not in our hands." He also went onto say "To be quite truthful, I've taken a stand on that. That's something I hope we continue to reevaluate." Other teams haven't been as vocal as JGR and now the Stewart Haas teams but with the multiple loose wheel issues that arose in this race it is something that might need to be reviewed by NASCAR. So, what did you guys think? Could Texas have been more interesting? What are your opinions on the pit guns, and how can NASCAR fix it? Any who guys ITS BRISTOL BABY! Race preview for this weeks race coming tomorrow stay tuned!