Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

22 July 2023

Recap of Highpoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway

      After a weekend of wild finishes, the Tricky Triangle ends with another race weekend in the books. William Byron won the pole at the Tricky Triangle and led some laps in the race even though he didn’t win stage 1. Joey Logano (22 Car) and Daniel Suarez (99 car) were knocked out of the race after they both had collided with the wall in turn 1. Logano and Suarez had wrecked out of the race and will be looking forward to Richmond on July 30th. Today’s race had a controversial finish and wrecks like no other race in years past. 23XI would have a good day except for one driver.

      Denny Hamlin would collect his seventh win at Pocono Raceway in such a controversial finish. Hamlin, who was in the #11 car, made contact with Kyle Larson’s #5 car and sent him into a wall on the final 5 laps at Pocono. Ryan Preece spins out on lap 158 but the flag stays green, and the NASCAR official puts out the white flag and the yellow flag at the same time but there was no NASCAR overtime. Due to the ruling, Denny would finish the race on a caution lap in 1st to win. Kyle comes up and taps Denny on the side to let him know how he felt about the contact. Denny would win his 50th Cup series win, and he still has more races in the season to go.

      To round out the top 5 the drivers were Tyler Reddick (2nd), Martin Truex Jr (3rd), Kevin Harvick (4th) and Ty Gibbs (5th). Kevin Harvick had no comment to the finish and the ruling that was made at the end when asked about the ruling. Ty Gibbs does feel confident going into next week at Richmond and building on the momentum he has after today’s race. Ty is the youngest driver in the NASCAR Cup Series and his grandfather, Coach Joe Gibbs (Former Washington Redskins Head Football Coach), talked about how proud he is of Ty’s progress. Coach Gibbs said how very happy to have a great team with him. He expects Denny to be with him a longer time and having Ty adds to the success of Joe Gibbs Racing. Joe Gibbs Racing has 3 cars in the top 5 and will be looking forward to Richmond Motorspeedway.

      In the end of today’s race, Denny had defended his actions regarding the contact made between him and Kyle Larson saying that “if the situation was reversed, he would’ve done the same thing”. In all, today’s race was controversial with the non-caution that didn’t send the race into NASCAR overtime to contact made between drivers. Next week is Richmond and we will see what happens next week.

Your top 5 drivers in standings for the NASCAR Cup Series are:

1. Martin Truex Jr

2. William Byron

3. Christopher Bell

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kyle Busch

Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

22 July 2023

Recap of Xfinity Series Race: Pocono Mountains 225

           In the Xfinity Series, we have Josh Berry who was the pole winner for the race and will start as the first car on the track. Daniel Hemric will sit on the flag position which would means he would be second but still in the front row of the track side-by-side with Berry. There are 225 miles for these guys to drive and we have seen some fiery cautions in today’s race. This race goes into overtime and Josh Berry loses control in the final two laps and Austin Hill overtakes him and wins.

           Josh Berry had a strong race from start to finish only to ride side-by-side with Sam Mayer and would lose control and go into a wall in turn three of the Tricky Triangle (Pocono Raceway) and Austin Hill would finish first in a second wild finish to all of todays events at Pocono Raceway. Restarts after cautions are always key and Josh Berry had mild restart but eventually Hill had gained some speed coming out of turn one to take first. Once this happened, Berry decided to try take his inside of the track and but makes unnecessary contact which cost him the race. For Austin Hill, this is his fourth win this season in the Xfinity Series as he clinched today’s win to add to his total at Pocono. Berry would drop to 24th after his crash into the turn three wall.

           In today’s race, we had over eleven lead changes with eight lead changes and six cautions at Pocono. Stages 1 and 2 were won by Josh Berry but the race was won by Austin Hill. Drivers who finished in the top five are Austin Hill (first), Sam Mayer (second), Chase Elliot (third), Riley Herbst (fourth) and Daniel Hemric (fifth). The race was finished with ninety-two laps since the race cannot finish on a caution and therefore there was NASCAR overtime. Hill would finish with over fifteen top five finishes this season with over four wins.

           Austin would answer my question the contact made by Josh, and he said “I don’t believe he had egregious intent.” In what Austin meant was that the contact made by Josh was not intentional. Given what transpired in today’s race, Austin miraculously ended up in victory lane even though he was behind Josh and Sam. Josh had a lot of speed today but made a crucial mistake which cost him dearly.

           Today was races of miraculous finishes and red flags and cautions. In the end, the best driver did win and all they needed was one lap to win it all. The Xfinity race today went down to the wire as it finished in overtime. Next up is the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at Pocono.

Your top five drivers in standings for Xfinity are:

1.       John Hunter Nemechek

2.       Austin Hill

3.       Cole Custer

4.       Justin Allgaier

5.       Chandler Smith

Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

22 July 2023

Recap of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: Brakleen 150

            After a busy morning with the ARCA Race being the first race of the weekend on the same day as the Truck Series, we had a winner who had a fashionable finish. This race was a 60-lap race that Nick Sanchez was a qualifier for the pole position, but we will soon see where he places after today’s race. Each race has three different stages and can be won by any driver, but the win will only be credited to the driver who crosses the finish line 1st on the final lap pending no disqualifications for violations imposed by NASCAR officiating. To spotlight one of the drivers, Rajah Kirby Caruth is 1 of 2 African American NASCAR drivers. Only Bubba Wallace is the other African American drivers who is in the NASCAR Cup Series division. We had some caution laps throughout the race, which took place in all 3 stages of today’s race. The guy to look out for was Kyle Busch as he was looking for a win to solidify his potential retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series. We had our fair share of caution flags and one red flag for the first time this weekend.

           Stage 1 and 2 was won by Zane Smith (#38 Truck) after leading the lap before 1st stage and 2nd stage was finished. Each stage consisted of 15 laps each and the final stage consisted of the final 30 laps of the race. However, Zane would not win this race. Corey Heim (#11 Truck) leads the pack and was battling it out with the veteran, Kyle Busch (#51 Truck), who normally races in the NASCAR Cup Series. In a picture-perfect finish, Kyle Busch in turn 2 of the Tricky Triangle goes low in the turn and overtakes Corey Heim and would not give up his spot in the final lap. Kyle Busch was textbook in how he schooled the field for this amazing win. Kyle now has 6 wins overall with 2 in the Craftsman Truck Series at Pocono and 4 in the NASCAR Cup Series.

           We had our first caution in lap 5 when multiple drivers had made contact with each other. They made repairs and refueled and went back out. The second caution was on lap 17 and then there were three more cautions after that. Lap 54 was the red flag when Kaz Grala (#1 Truck) was smoking from major contact with another driver and caused an oil slick on the road. The track was then covered up with sand and dried up after 30 mins. Restarted on lap 56 and Corey Heim had taken the lead before giving it up to Kyle Busch in the last two turns of the race.

           As we have seen in this race, not everyone finishes at the top even though they started at the top. Nick Sanchez (#2 Truck) would finish 19th in today’s race. As far Rajah Kirby Caruth (#24 Truck), he would finish 16th place in today’s race and is regarded as an up-and-coming driver. Caruth is a rookie contender and has shown that he is here to stay in NASCAR as he rises to be competitive. Kyle Busch has shown why he is one of the greatest racers in NASCAR. Busch wrote his own story once he drove towards the finish line in the final two turns at Pocono. He will be looking forward now to notching another win in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at Pocono.

Your top 5 drivers in standings for the Craftsman Truck Series are:

1.       Corey Heim

2.       Zane Smith

3.       Ty Majeski

4.       Ben Rhodes

5.       Grant Enfinger

Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

22 July 2023

Recap of ARCA Race Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150

           The ARCA Race at Pocono started with a rain delay from Friday evening which postponed the race until 8:30AM, Saturday morning. There were many racers who are the sleepers of this race, and some who were expected to win. Toni Breidinger is one driver who needs to be spotlighted because she is a trailblazer as one of two women drivers in ARCA and is sponsored by Victoria’s Secret and is also a Victoria’s Secret model. This sponsorship is the first of its kind for Victoria’s Secret. Multiple cars were out of the race but overall at least twenty cars were still in it to the end.

           Jesse Love finished the race in the top spot, as he finished first. Love has nine top ten finishes out of ten starts which is highly impressive for this season of 2023. Jesse during his interview presser was asked the question about his though process after he fell behind the 18 car of Connor Mosack and the 2 car of Andres Perez De Lara and he stated, “restarts were really key in winning”. He aspires to be in Xfinity or Cup Series but is unsure of his future currently. Love has spoken about his next race which will be at Michigan International Speedway and will look forward to continuing his success this season.

Tony Breidinger would finish sixth and has notched another top ten finish as an upcoming star in the ARCA Menard Series and was one of the sleeper drivers for today’s race. She is currently sixth in standings and is the highest-ranking woman driver in ARCA. Stephanie Moyer finished fourteenth considering she had success here in the past but just didn’t have enough speed to come close to the top ten in the ARCA race on Saturday morning. The surprise driver of the day is Connor Mosack because he is eighteenth in the standings but notched a top ten finish in today’s race while finishing second behind Jesse Love. Mosack has notched his fourth top ten finish for the 2023 ARCA season.

           Other drivers who did not have good day today was the number 3 car of Alex Chubb, who lost fuel and stalled on pit road. The 63 car of Logan Misuraca spun out on lap seven and hit a wall which caused him to be out for the rest of the day.

           Next race is at Michigan International Speedway, hopefully the weather will cooperate for the racers and there will be no rain delays at Michigan which will be in the first weekend of August.

Your top five drivers in standings are:

1.       Jesse Love

2.       Frankie Muniz

3.       Andres Perez De Lara

4.       Christian Rose

5.       Jon Garrett

Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

16 July 2023

 NASCAR Preview for the High Point 400 at Pocono

           Pocono Raceway (aka The Tricky Triangle), is going to have some twist and turns for drivers to maintain high speed throughout the track. Since the introduction of the PJ1, drivers have been using it to have speed for overtaking through the track. There are a few drivers to watch in this upcoming race. Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. This is a short week considering the race this past Sunday was postponed until Monday due to inclement weather. This race will be about the past, present and future.

            The Tricky Triangle has a long history of high speed even though the track has three turns. The track itself is about two and a half miles long with the highest banking in turn at fourteen degrees. The PJ1 TrackBite is a compound used to give more grip for the driver’s cars to essentially have another place of driving on the track. Denny Hamlin said that the PJ1 is here to stay since it created another lane for him to use and helped with maintaining speed. The drivers with the most wins at this track are Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin (Currently active) with six wins a piece.

           We have five drivers that should be on everyone's radar for in this upcoming race. Those drivers are, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. As some people may know, Ross Chastain dominated this track in the Craftsman Truck Series and now seeks his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series. Ross, came off a huge win two weeks ago at Nashville and now we will see if he could notch another win here at Pocono Raceway.

           Denny Hamlin will seek to break the track record for most wins at a single track which would be seven wins in among active drivers. Hamlin has used a combination of speed and good pit strategy in order to win at Pocono Raceway and needs another win for the playoff race. Kyle Busch has been quite successful at Pocono as he has four wins on the track. One of those four wins came being stuck in fourth gear for the remainder of the race and was able to get a win with a busted gearbox. Busch will be seeking his fifth win at Pocono.

           Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson are two drivers that are sleepers for this upcoming race. Bubba has a new team, new car and a new look for 2023. He had just finished in eighth place at New Hampshire Motor speedway and will now be looking to get his first win at the Tricky Triangle. If he can maintain good speed and pit strategy, he will have an opportunity to get his first win. Bubba was close in 2021 when he finished fifth in that race. Kyle Larson is also another driver who is not on a lot of people’s radar but has an opportunity to considering he nearly beat Kyle Busch over two years ago. Larson finished that race second behind Kyle Busch in that doubleheader weekend. Kyle Larson is coming for the number one spot at Pocono.

Strange things can happen at Pocono, from busted gearboxes to wrecks in turn 1. If drivers can run a clean race and use the PJ1 while remaining competitive, this can be a race that America will want to see.

 Your top five drivers in standings are:

1. Martin Truex, Jr. (19)

2. William Byron (24)

3. Kyle Busch (8)

4. Denny Hamlin (11)

5. Kyle Larson (5)

Shane Hector | Underground Sports LLC

25 June 2023

 NASCAR Recap of Nashville Ally 400: Battle for the Playoffs

Tonight’s race was a battle for the ages because drivers needed a win to get in the playoffs. The race for Phoenix is underway and we still have more racing to go after the race in Nashville. Ten drivers are locked into the playoffs already and there are six spots remaining. Ross Chastain has arrived and is showing everyone that he belongs in the NASCAR Cup Series. There were some overachievers and miscues by some drivers.

For the win, Ross Chastain won at Nashville and has led the most laps in tonight’s race. He has earned his third career win in the NASCAR Cup Series in front of a sold-out crowd at Nashville Superspeedway. Ross had thrown a watermelon, ate some watermelon and made it to victory lane. Since Ross won the race at Nashville, he has now earned a spot in the playoffs. Ross has now locked one of sixteen spots for with now five remaining spots for the playoffs. During the race he had to battle it out with Martin Truex Jr all the way to the end. Earlier in the race, was battling it out with Alex Bowman but eventually split between two cars, which was a risky move because the two cars could’ve closed the opening but went between Aric Almirola and another driver to keep his first-place spot away from Alex Bowman. Ross had two wins in 2022 and now has won another in the 2023 season and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

These NASCAR drivers have already locked in their spots for the playoffs. The drivers are

1.       Martin Truex Jr,

2.       William Byron,

3.       Ross Chastain,

4.       Kevin Harvick,

5.       Kyle Busch,

6.       Christopher Bell,

7.       Denny Hamlin,

8.       Joey Logano,

9.       Tyler Reddick

10.     Kyle Larson

Drivers that are in the hunt are Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace, Chris Buscher and Alex Bowman. Of these drivers, there were some underachievers and drivers who had some miscues in tonight’s race.

Overachievers tonight was most certainly Chase Elliot due to the fact that he finished in the top ten at Nashville, but he still sits outside the top sixteen for the playoffs at twenty-seventh place in standings. Another driver who overachieved tonight was Austin Dillon. Dillon started in the twenty-sixth position in tonight’s race and finished thirteenth. He gained some points but not enough to inch him close to the playoffs.

There were quite a bit of miscues and one of them was Bubba Wallace. Bubba had started in ninth place but finished fifteenth. He keeps his spot in the Cup Series playoffs but would need a win or a top five finish to keep his place. Alex Bowman is behind Bubba at this point in the standings if the season were to end today. Drivers on the outside looking in are Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. Daniel Suarez is another driver who had some miscues due to the fact that tonight he did not have a top ten finish but did finish 12th. Now Suarez is on the outside looking in for the playoffs as there are only sixteen spots.

We still have more racing to go and what will happen next week in Chicago at Grant Park. The Grant Park 220 is the next race and will start at 5:30PM. A win here could help the bottom of the sixteen drivers lock their spots in the playoffs based on points.

Your top five drivers are:

1.       Martin Truex Jr. (19 car)

2.       William Byron (24 car)

3.       Ryan Blaney (12 car)

4.       Ross Chastain (1 car)

5.       Kevin Harvick (1 car