
Articles

Christopher Bell Not Scared By Ford Cars At Daytona
Christopher Bell enjoys racing at Daytona. During a stacked Duel 1, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver nearly got past Joey Logano. Bell came up 0.018 seconds short but showed the push needed to compete at the Daytona 500. Two years ago, Bell led 32 laps before fading late and finishing 16th. The past three races […]
Chris Wassel
Martin Truex Jr. Starts Daytona From 16th Position
Martin Truex Jr. showed well enough during Duel 2 on Thursday night. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver combined that with a decent qualifying run. As a result, Truex Jr. starts the Daytona 500 16th on Sunday. His No. 19 car routinely turned in laps right around 50 seconds in practice and qualifying. Truex Jr. settled […]
Chris Wassel
Chase Elliott Seems To Sneak Up At Daytona
Chase Elliott does not qualify very fast at Daytona. He was almost a half second off Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson on Wednesday night. However, the Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver inched his way up the field in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel on Thursday night. Duel 2 was not as stacked as Duel 1. Despite that, […]
Chris Wassel
Aric Almirola Begins Fourth At Daytona Sunday
Aric Almirola almost walked away from full-time NASCAR racing at the end of the season. It's a good thing he did not. Almirola and his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led 17 laps in all which included the final two laps. The No. 10 driver held off Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott by a mere 0.122 seconds […]
Chris Wassel
Joey Logano Starts Inside Row 2 For Daytona 500
Joey Logano had quite a ride in the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel on Thursday night. The Team Penske driver led 25 laps including the one that counted. Logano held off Christopher Bell by a mere 0.018 seconds. Those Ford cars were fast all night. The No. 22 car did qualify fifth on Wednesday night. With […]
Chris Wassel
Kyle Larson Starts Next To Alex Bowman For Daytona 500
Kyle Larson qualified second on Wednesday night, locking him into the field for the Daytona 500. Larson had won the pole three previous times in a row at Daytona International Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver has an interesting history on the 2.5-mile track. Larson, since driving the No. 5 Chevy, has one top-10 result. […]
Chris Wassel
Tom Kim Up And Down Coming Into This Week
Tom Kim has had an eventful four tournaments so far this year. The South Korean golfer has a fifth and sixth which is good. Kim missed the cut though at the Sony and then finished tied for 50th last week at Phoenix. What does one make of the golfer heading to this week? Kim comes […]
Chris Wassel
Sungjae Im Steady Again Heading To Genesis
Sungjae Im did not play spectacular last week but the South Korean golfer was effective. That resulted in another top-ten at 11-under par. Im shot 67-69 on the weekend to end up tied for sixth. His metrics with scrambling and sand saves ranks in the top 25 and Im is in the top 50 in […]
Chris Wassel
Sam Burns Keeps Raising Play As Genesis Looms
Sam Burns bounced back the past two weeks in a solid way. The American golfer capped his week off in Phoenix with a final round 68 to keep him tied for sixth. It was his second consecutive top 15 result and he shot an identical 64-68 to boot. Burns putts like few golfers when his […]
Chris Wassel
Tony Finau Figures Into Genesis Mix This Week
Tony Finau keeps knocking on the door but on Sunday, no one let him in at Phoenix. His final round 71 knocked him just outside the top ten. Still a tied for 14th is not bad for the American golfer. He did lose a playoff a few years ago to Max Homa at the Genesis. […]
Chris Wassel
Can Scottie Scheffler Do It Again At The Genesis?
Scottie Scheffler was expected to contend last week, but the new world No. 1 fired off a 65 to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Scheffler fended off Nick Taylor by two strokes and Jon Rahm by five. The key for Scheffler involved a small tweak to his driving technique, which has added at least […]
Chris Wassel
Rickie Fowler Has Good History At WM Phoenix Open
Rickie Fowler has seen many ups and downs in his professional career. Is right now one of those up waves? Fowler finished tied for 11th at the Farmers Insurance Open. This 34-year-old version is not the same swashbuckling player of his younger days. However, Fowler did win the 2019 WM Phoenix Open and lost in […]
Chris Wassel
Sam Burns Looks To Keep Improving At Phoenix
Sam Burns played a lot better at the American Express compared to his 2023 calendar debut in Hawaii. Maybe, Burns just did not like the birdie-centric Hawaiian course. Whatever it was, the American golfer nearly ended up in the top-ten. With all the star power this week at Phoenix, it may be a challenge for […]
Chris Wassel
Scottie Scheffler Could Stay Near The Top At Phoenix
Scottie Scheffler has played five tournaments this season and has finished inside the top 10 three times. That includes a T7 at the Sentry and a near top-10 finish at the American Express. The golfer from the United States has all the tools to win at Phoenix. If a little less star power was in […]
Chris Wassel
Hayden Buckley Poised For Rebound At WM Phoenix Open
Hayden Buckley chalked up the second round at the Farmers Insurance Open to just having one of those bad runs. The American golfer shot an 80 to miss the cut and go home early. For as great as Buckley played at the Sony Open, he looked easily worse a mere couple of weeks later. It […]
Chris Wassel
Matthew NeSmith Still Trying To Find Fall Form
Matthew NeSmith wishes the calendar would go back to the Fall last year. Since then, the American golfer has struggled mightily. Missing three straight cuts was bad enough, but last year NeSmith did not bounce back. He ended up tied for 55th which was some progress. Too many rounds in the 70's and lack of […]
Chris Wassel
Sungjae Im Poised To Keep Rolling In Phoenix
Can Sungjae Im keep things rolling at the WM Phoenix Open? A couple of weeks ago, the South Korean golfer tied for fourth at the Farmers Insurance Open. Other than missing the cut at The Sony Open, Im has shown an ability to stay in round and contend in tournaments. With a stocked field in […]
Chris Wassel
Tom Kim Expects To Contend At Phoenix This Week
Tom Kim figures to be in the mix at the WM Phoenix Open this week. The South Korean golfer is one of the best when it comes to strokes gained overall. He ranks eighth in 16 measured rounds so far in 2023. Kim's only real glaring weakness is some erratic putting. Normally he is above […]
Chris Wassel
Joey Logano Facing Different Reality At Los Angeles
Joey Logano comes into 2023 as the defending NASCAR series champion. Also, Logano won the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum last year. After Saturday, the Team Penske driver has a little work to do. He spun out in practice and qualifying ended up a so-so 17th. Logano's No. 22 car was not very fast […]
Chris Wassel
Ross Chastain And The Clash On Sunday
Ross Chastain had the 12th fastest car in qualifying on Saturday night. The TrackHouse Racing driver brought his No. 1 car with decent practice results. That may help for the heats where the Coliseum track expects to be 10-15 degrees warmer at a minimum. It will be intriguing to see what happens on the longer […]
Chris Wassel
Ty Gibbs Has To Race Into Coliseum Main Event
If someone was looking for Ty Gibbs and his name on qualifying list, you were not going to find it. Gibbs was lightning fast in practice but then his car caught on fire literally. That resulted in enough damage to the Toyota to keep the Joe Gibbs Racing driver from qualifying. He will begin Sunday […]
Chris Wassel
Kyle Larson Bit Of A Wildcard At Los Angeles
Kyle Larson had a quick car in practice at times and finished tenth in qualifying on the 1/4 mile track at the Coliseum. Now, the question is can he keep the emotions in check? Last year, he finished a distant fifth. However, practice showed the No. 5 car to be a bit slower coming out […]
Chris Wassel
Alex Bowman Qualified Ninth At Los Angeles
Pouring through the numbers and seeing Alex Bowman qualify ninth at the Coliseum was a mild surprise. Bowman and his No. 48 car turned in a best lap of 13.624 seconds. Hendrick Motorsports have three of their cars in the top ten (Chase Elliott was 30th). It is a challenge to gauge how fast the […]
Chris Wassel
A.J. Allmendinger Has Exciting Saturday At Coliseum
A.J. Allmendinger got ready for the Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum with an eventful Saturday. He qualified eighth for Kaulig Racing with a time of 13.623 seconds. What will be talked about is his run-in with Chase Briscoe during the group practice session. Some adjustments did not work well for the No. 16 Chevy […]
Chris Wassel
Denny Hamlin Starts Second In Heat Three At Coliseum
Denny Hamlin turned in the seventh quickest time in qualifying on Saturday night. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver got his Toyota around the track in 13.621 seconds. The No. 11 car will start Sunday afternoon behind teammate Christopher Bell. Getting behind Bell may be quite the boost for Hamlin who should be able to ride […]
Chris Wassel
Austin Dillon Continues Chevy Theme In Los Angeles
Austin Dillon ended up sixth-fastest in qualifying on Saturday. His 13.605 second time was good enough to put him in a prime position. The Richard Childress Racing driver will begin Heat 2 behind new teammate Kyle Busch. That No. 3 car did get faster and faster as the laps ticked down in practice too. Last […]
Chris Wassel
Aric Almirola Rises To Fifth In Qualifying Saturday
Aric Almirola was fairly consistent in practice much like William Byron. The results were nearly similar too in qualifying. Almirola finished with a best lap of exactly 13.6 seconds. That qualified the Ford racer fifth for Sunday's heats. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver will be behind Justin Haley for Heat 1 at the Coliseum. These Busch […]
Chris Wassel
William Byron Qualifies Fourth For Sunday At Los Angeles
William Byron sneaked into the top-five in qualifying on Saturday night with a time of 13.596 seconds. That gets him to the front of Heat 4 on Sunday afternoon with a great chance to easily qualify for the main event. The top-five drivers from each of the four heats automatically advance. Byron was consistent in […]
Chris Wassel
Christopher Bell Surprises Some At Coliseum Saturday
Christopher Bell enjoys short-track racing, dirt racing, Chili Bowl racing, and simply just racing. Bell and his Joe Gibbs Racing car ended up third in qualifying on Saturday night. He will lead the racers coming out for Heat 3 on Sunday afternoon. Bell turned in a qualifying lap of 13.569 seconds and did not appear […]
Chris Wassel
Kyle Busch Loves Los Angeles Again On Saturday
Kyle Busch may have switched racing teams in the off-season, but he can still race fast around the 1/4 mile Coliseum track. Busch and his Richard Childress Racing car qualified second on Saturday at 66.41 mph (13.55 seconds). The No. 8 car stayed fast in practice but as track temperatures dropped, Busch's brakes stuck less […]
Chris Wassel