It is not Daytona, but since the track was reconfigured a few years ago, Atlanta has so much more action! This weekend expect tight side by side racing, wrecks, and tempers to flare! Sad there is basketball going on. Atlanta is really good racing, and so much fun to watch!
William Byron did it again! A late race restart sent him to victory Lane at Phoenix. No doubt Kevin Harvick thought he would win-- that was until a late race caution. After the restart, Kyle Larson was ready to win-- until another caution. Suddenly, it is overtime and Byron outdueled the rest! We've talked about it in years past. Freeze laps! As the saying goes, it's not rocket science and fans deserve a "quality' finish. Put a rule in place, at all races, laps are frozen in case of caution in the final ten laps. Even with a green-white-checker, at many tracks it takes a full lap to get up to speed. At short tracks a green-white checker barely gives those in 5th, 6th, or 7th place a chance. It may be a nightmare for race teams, but imagine what the TV ratings would be! More importantly, it brings fairness to the sport.
Louisville's Ben Rhodes is back racing this weekend at Atlanta. The Holy Cross High School alumni finished 3rd at Vegas in the NASCAR Truck Series. At Daytona he was 11th. He finished second overall in the truck series last year and won the 2021 truck title!
The Indy Car Series is off and running. They don't race again until April 2nd. Teams may need until then to repair cars and figure things out. At the season opening event in St. Petersburg , Florida it was a wreckfest and two cars went flying into the air. There was non-stop action throughout. The past couple years the Indy Car Series drivers and have been more aggressive. The racing is exciting to watch again. Marcus Ericsson won the race for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Locally, the racing season will soon begin. The Sportsdrome Speedway has what may be its best schedule in years! The small flat track just outside of Louisville off Interstate 65 has a season opening doubleheader- Friday March 24th and Saturday March 25th! The Salem Speedway, about an hour northwest of Louisville Open in mid-April. another local historic track, doesn't start action until mid-April. The Ohio Valley Dragway is set to begin its season on April 7. It is located along Dixie Highway in West Point, Kentucky... about 25 minutes from downtown Louisville.
We've told you Lucas Oil has been a longtime sponsor of Kentuckiana Motorsports, and we're thankful. As winter begins to fade, springtime kicks in. Be sure when taking spring and summer trips to put some Lucas Oil in your car! It Works! Our other sponsors include PNC Bank (Sponsor of Scott Dixon's Indy Car Series Car), Sportsdrome Speedway (Celebrating more than 75 years of Racing!), locally owned Bright Pest Control and Bright Retail in Louisville, (Offering Do-It-Yourself Professional Pest Products with a retail store), and Knox Ford in Radcliff, Kentucky) (It also has a sister dealership, Tri-County Ford in Oldham County, KY). KMS friends also include: VoiceTel Kentucky (Offering telephone service for $25.00 a line, and that includes all taxes and fees), Temco Roofing, Jim Ellis/Attorney At Law, ICA Dumpsters, Kentucky Raceway Ministries, Nimlok Kentucky, Dynamic Healthcare, Lyndon Mower Repair, and Kentucky Medicare Plans (Serving Kentucky and Southern Indiana with Health and Medicare plans). We also thank our media connections in all series, especially NASCAR and with NASCAR Media for helping us bring the sport to the fans!
For those who enjoy the outdoors, be sure to check out www.protecttheharvest.com Find out what is being done for our farmers, ranchers, and agriculture workers.
It will be interesting to see how NASCAR rules on the car hoods from Hendrick Motorsports. It is unusual for the governing body to take such bold action. It happened after practice at Phoenix. NASCAR confiscated hood louvers that reports indicate may be not in line with NASCAR guidelines. Team co-owner Jeff Gordon said it was a little concerning. It would be hard to believe that four teams from an elite owner would try to game the system. Sounds more like an internal system and/or calculation error. Either way, checks and balances should have caught it. That is "if" NASCAR finds something improper.
