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As good as the Cup race was, and it was pretty good.. The Xfinity race was even better.. Especially that ending.
Already I don't remember how the xfinity race played out, just that I think there was enough passing. Same with the cup race. If it wasn't for the ill-luck that hit several drivers (Harvick, Busch, Elliott, Truex), the race would have been an uneventful high speed parade until the last 15 laps.
Maybe they should just make all races 15 lap shootouts.
Can NASCAR ever be forthright about anything? Drivers are saying, especially after Daytona, that they're taking more punishment from wrecks in the new chassis. Instead of saying "We take driver concerns seriously and are looking into this," the company line is "no way bruh. You're going faster and crashing at different angles." Morons. They're not gonna be happy until someone suffers a career-ending injury in a very pedestrian-looking wreck.
You have two former champions, both in the twilight of their careers. One has lost his chance at another championship and another is in jeopardy of advancing, all due to NASCAR' lackluster response to safety changes to these cars.
Kurt should not have had that bad of a concussion the way the car hit the wall. Denny Hamlin took a severe hit to his body at Daytona and now Kevin Harvick almost gets roasted in his own car at Darlington. Kurt is out of the playoffs (and maybe forced to retire) and Kevin is in last place. Millions of dollars on the line for both team owners.
Already I don't remember how the xfinity race played out, just that I think there was enough passing. Same with the cup race. If it wasn't for the ill-luck that hit several drivers (Harvick, Busch, Elliott, Truex), the race would have been an uneventful high speed parade until the last 15 laps.
Maybe they should just make all races 15 lap shootouts.
Xfinity was pretty close to Kurt Busch / Ricky Craven revisited.
So where would Kyle Busch have the best long term success?
Going to RCR would probably give him the best chance to make playoffs outside Toyota. Ownership chances are limited.
Kaulig could offer Kyle a ownership stake similar to SHR and support his truck team. With these NextGen cars, Kaulig could jump to at least the level of Trackhouse by adding Kyle. While making next years playoffs may be more of a challenge, it wouldn't be far fetched for Kyle to win at least one race next year and build from there.
The wild card is still TRD and 23XI. There he's almost guaranteed to make the playoffs, with the support to make it to the Final 4. Zero chance of ownership with that team.
Crazy possibility: Could TRD and Kaulig hook up to lure Kyle? Not sure if Kaulig has a contract with Chevy that would prevent that? TRD is very picky who they pick to work with.
So where would Kyle Busch have the best long term success?
Going to RCR would probably give him the best chance to make playoffs outside Toyota. Ownership chances are limited.
Kaulig could offer Kyle a ownership stake similar to SHR and support his truck team. With these NextGen cars, Kaulig could jump to at least the level of Trackhouse by adding Kyle. While making next years playoffs may be more of a challenge, it wouldn't be far fetched for Kyle to win at least one race next year and build from there.
The wild card is still TRD and 23XI. There he's almost guaranteed to make the playoffs, with the support to make it to the Final 4. Zero chance of ownership with that team.
Crazy possibility: Could TRD and Kaulig hook up to lure Kyle? Not sure if Kaulig has a contract with Chevy that would prevent that? TRD is very picky who they pick to work with.
Interesting thought that last one. It popped into my head and I dismissed it a while back. But, let's explore
Kaulig has a partnership/alliance with RCR. Matt Kaulig is doing this.. As he likes to say, he's trophy hunting. Let me tell you something.. You dump RCR and affiliate with Toyota.. Especially in the Xfinity series, you're going to have some trophies!
Diversification for Toyota is needed. I mean, since the demise of Michael Waltrip Racing, they have basically been a single team. There's advantages to doing that. They're building all the engines out of TRD.. Mark Cronquist who is one of the best engine men in the business is basically the 'liason' between JGR and TRD.
Now, true, there have been more Toyota teams. There was Levine, FRR and now 23XI.. But they're just satellites of JGR. Having all your eggs in that one basket can be a problem.
The question to me becomes.. Can TRD handle another 2 cars? I think so. The thing is, Kaulig I don't believe can operate under the previous method where JGR supplies everything. And I don't know that they're at the point where they can handle that right now. Where are their cars coming from now? Are they building them, or is RCR supplying them? ECR is supplying the engines for certain.
Matt Kaulig is basically funding most of his cars out of pocket.
On the Xfinity side.. The 10 car is sponsored by Voyager Digital, which hs declared bankruptcy. The 11 car is also a patchwork of sponsors, one of the main ones being Poppy Bank, which is Hemrick's sponsor that comes and goes with him. The 16 is mainly Nutrien AG, which cut back to about half the schedule on one car vs where they were last year.. And Kaulig's LeafFilter rounds out many of the races where there is no sponsorship.
On Cup side.. The 31 is totally sponsored by LeafFilter and the 16 has about 36 different sponsors, one for every race.
So.. To some extent.. Kaulig is a bit of a house of cards. I'm not comfortable with their sponsorship situation. It's been done in the past, hell, Gene Haas does it now with the 41.. but, the only time it's worked has been on single cars. FRR made it work when they were independent. But once they linked with JGR, it became unsustainable and once they lost 5 hour energy.. The team folded.
This is a good idea, overall. I just.. Don't know that it would be built on a solid foundation. Seems like one of those situations where you have a domino effect. One small little thing could send everything crashing. BUT.. Again.. Toyota needs diversification. This would allow them to keep Busch in the fold, keep the 'feeder' system with Trucks from him, and expand it a bit by having a bigger Xfinity and Cup presence. There's a number of good drivers who started out in the Toyota system that are with other manufacturers now because Toyota just doesn't have room for them. Eric Jones, Daniel Hemrick and quite a few others.
Heard that was just a rumor that got started when the dirt aces coming up were cancelled, but then again Ive read its happening on the old asphalt which is why the dirt races was cancelled. It would be great though!
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