Pete Pistone distributes this week’s checkered and black flags following the weekend of racing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Checkered Flags
The Roval
Take a bow Marcus Smith, Speedway Motorsports Inc. and the staff at Charlotte Motor Speedway for thinking outside the box in the creation of The Roval. In an era where NASCAR needs to find ways to freshen up the schedule and in many ways reinvent itself to generate interest, the Roval checked everyone of those boxes.
Ryan Blaney
It came in unexpected and dramatic fashion but Blaney winning Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 should not go unnoticed. It was the Team Penske driver’s second career Cup victory and moved him to Round 2 of the playoffs. And yes sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good but Blaney will take it.
Jamie McMurray
The future is uncertain for the veteran McMurray who will not be back in the No. 1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing next season. That didn’t stop McMurray from racing hard to put up his best finish of the season with his second-place run on Sunday.
Alex Bowman
Not many had Bowman advancing past the opening round of the playoffs (yes that’s my hand up in the air). But he proved those predictions wrong with a top-five Roval run and with it a spot in the Round of 12 beginning next week at Dover.
Chase Briscoe
Saturday’s Xfinity Series maybe didn’t have the drama and intensity of the Cup Series main event. But it was still an interesting and entertaining race with a first-time winner in Briscoe putting his name in the record books.
Black Flags
Denny Hamlin
Once again the playoffs have proven to be a difficult proposition for Hamlin. He experienced a number of accidents over the weekend was forced to start at the rear of the field in a back-up car and ultimately ended up 12th. That wasn’t good enough to keep Hamlin’s playoff hopes alive and he was eliminated yet again.
Austin Dillon
His win in the Daytona 500 got him a playoff berth early on in the season. Dillon struggled most of the year but kicked it up enough in recent weeks that he seemed secure to stay alive for the Round of 12. But then came Sunday’s crash and Dillon very quickly those aspirations evaporated.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
He had a very trying weekend to say the least and it appeared the No. 17 car was involved in just about every incident that erupted in Sunday’s race. A disappointing day for Stenhouse Jr. with a 37th-place finish.
Bubba Wallace
He got all kinds of attention but not in a good way this weekend. Wallace’s spectacular practice crash into the backstretch chicane tire barriers generated headlines. His Sunday wasn’t much better with more accident damage and a finish of 36th.
Roval Mania
As is usually the case when something unique is successful there’s a rush to replicate it from some. Charlotte Motor Speedway should be the only Roval track on the schedule and there is no need for any other speedway to create a modified road circuit. Like dirt races, night racing and even 1.5-mile tracks at one time, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
