Did You Notice?

Did You Notice? … If the season ended today, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series would set a dubious playoff record. Only five owners would be eligible to capture the championship, by far the fewest in the sport’s 16-car postseason era. 2019 PLAYOFF TEAMS (IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY) Joe Gibbs …

Did You Notice? … NASCAR fans who tuned in to the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night were treated to an entertaining race, one that rewarded those who persevered and watched the whole thing with a mad scramble to the checkered flag that featured a four-wide pass for the lead with …

Did You Notice? … The 2019 Indianapolis 500 starting lineup will have little, if any, crossover with NASCAR? Just two of the 33 drivers in this year’s field have any experience driving high-level stock cars. James Davison and Conor Daly have made a combined five Xfinity Series starts, none of them …

Did You Notice? … Ross Chastain picked the wrong NASCAR series in 2019? Of course, he didn’t know it at the time after a devastating end to his tenure at Chip Ganassi Racing. Chastain was all set for a competitive full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series ride before DC Solar found itself raided …

Did You Notice?… Austin Cindric is quietly becoming a competitive and potentially playoff Xfinity driver. Racing full-time for Team Penske, he’s already finishing on average over 10 spots higher than he was at this time last year. I believe part of that is because he has a steady schedule. In …

Did You Notice?… A changing of the guard at Hendrick Motorsports in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series? Chase Elliott became the first driver for HMS to win in 2019, also breaking the season shutout for Chevrolet. His push to the win at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday (April 28) came courtesy teammate …

Did You Notice? … If the new 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series handling package is creating more passing on track? The simple answer is yes. Green-flag passes through nine races are up 15.5% over last year according to Loop Data statistics provided by NASCAR. So then why are the fans …

Did You Notice? … The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture is taking shape? It’s hard to believe but we’re already eight races into 2019. If the regular season was just one big race, stage one would be wrapping up sometime during the middle of Saturday night’s showdown at Richmond …

Did You Notice?… NASCAR’s parity problem? The new, low-horsepower handling package at intermediate tracks combined with several new 2019 rules have been designed to bring the field closer together. In many ways, the field is tighter than ever. But that parity has occurred within teams rather than the full 40-car field itself. Seven races in, …

Did You Notice? … The 2020 NASCAR schedule brings with it real, meaningful change? It’s just the tip of the iceberg for an overhaul that could be even larger come 2021. For now, the 36-race schedule kept all tracks signed under the current five-year sanctioning agreement that expires at the end …