Opinion by Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
With Darlington being the midway point of race 13 in the 26 race regular season, drivers are well under way to know who has laready qualified for the playoffs and where they fit in the points battle. Seven different drivers have won Cup events this season and that leaves nine more spots for drivers in the points battle. That brings us to “the track too tough to tame.”
We have checkered flags and much more from Darlington.
Checkered Flag
Brad Keselowski qualified second at Darlington and spent the first stage racing in the top five. BK managed his tires well and ran in the top five the first two stages including second place in S2. Darlington is easily the most consistent in 2024. He has a 110 race winless streak and two second place finishes. Fox analyst called BK his racer to watch in stage three to break the streak. The #6 used a pick to get around Tyler Reddick on lap 225. Keeping his tires fresh, his pit stop on lap 238 kept him in line with other drivers who also pitted on the same lap to have the same tire wear. His wheel to wheel racing with Reddick was exciting and after watching his teammate Buescher go by him on lap 264, he bided his time and took the lead for good with nine laps left after Reddick crumpled up Buescher’s car and got a flat himself. BK wins for the first time in just over three years .It is his 36th career victory.
Here is Keselowski from pit road after the race breaking his winless streak
“What a heck of a day. It’s Darlington, so whether it’s your first win, your last win, this is a really special track. The history of NASCAR, it’s as tough as it gets, and that battle at the end with my teammate Tyler Reddick, we just laid it all out on the line, it was freaking awesome. I thought it couldn’t get much better than Kansas. It did today. That was awesome. I’m so glad you guys got to see that. That was incredible. Thanks for being here.”
He Blew It
Tyler Reddick led the first 44 laps after being the pole winner. Reddick has three top five finishes in Darlington races dating back to 2021 and has one 2024 win (Talladega Superspeedway/ GEICO 500 ) and seven top tens this season, so he in in the playoffs and Darlington is a tough track that Reddick tends to race well on. TR won stage two, his first ever at Darlington. Reddick traded the lead with Keselowski until lap 264 when Chris Buescher did a two car crossover and went by the leaders. When Reddick tried running Buescher into the wall, he came up with a flat tire. His woes got worse when he blew a pit stop and committed a penalty. His aggressiveness might have cost him a victory when racing clean was a better option. The 45 finishes 32nd.
He said it: Reddick had this to say and he manned up.
What transpired there at the end of the race and here on pit road?
Reddick: “I completely understand where he is coming from. He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him, when I realized, I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong. Just trying to win the race, and to take myself out – that’s one thing – I can live with that, but just disappointed it played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. If I was going to go for it, I was hoping I was going to clear him. If I hit the wall, pop a tire – I take myself out, I can live with that – it’s tough to walk away knowing I used someone up, and took away their chance of winning the race, that has raced me really cleanly since he came in the Cup Series. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward.”
One Bump Finishes their day
Martin Truex Jr. races well at “tracks that are slick and the tires fall off”, according to Fox analyst Kevin Harvick . Truex is yet another driver who stayed in the top five until being caught up in the Dave Blaney caution, causing damage and sending Truex into the pits for repair. After being reshuffled to 28th place. He spent the rest of the race trying to improve and finished 25th. Truex came into the race second in points and deserves a better fate than being winless in 2024.
Ryan Blaney– like Martin Truex Jr. William Byron got loose on lap 128 and drifted into Truex Jr. who in turn got into Blaney. Blaney’s day ended in turn two. Blaney was making a move toward the front and to no fault of his own, was on the losing end of a three wide maneuver. Blaney gives his take of the accident. “One, don’t shove it three-wide at a place you can’t run three-wide. If he wants to do that, fine, but your responsibility is to leave room. You have to leave room for the top two cars. You shoved the bottom of three (wide), you have to leave space and he was off the dotted line until we were already wrecking. He faded up and sandwiched the 19 into me.” The 2023 Cup champion is sixth in points going into Darlington but would really like a trip to victory lane.
Gibbs will win very soon
Ty Gibbs– Rookies are not supposed to run up front of the race at Darlington but no one told Ty Gibbs. Despite rubbing his car on the “Darlington Stripe” multiple times in stage one, Gibbs raced top three… finished second in stage two behind Reddick and Brad Keselowski. Gibbs “He Gets Us” machine slowly faded to 8th place before he split stage two and pitted on lap 231. Gibbs was able to improve to a second place finish as Larson, Reddick and Buescher found late race mayhem. Gibbs meets with the press and talks about what he believes it takes to earn his first victory. What more did you need in the closing laps?“I feel like I need to get better at passing and driving in dirty air. That is where I feel like I lacked today. My car was really great. Still kind of fighting some numbers on balance, but I feel like we were really, really good. Thank you to He Get Us. All glory to God. Thanks to Toyota, Monster Energy, Interstate Batteries – and my family and my great mom. Happy Mother’s Day.”
Gibbs is knocking on the door and may break through for his first career victory very soon.
Logano is still looking for his mojo
Joey Logano runs well at Darlington. With one win and three top fives in his last six races, Logano lurked the first half of the race and was sixth among the leaders. Ever creeping up, Logano was second at the end of Stage two. Joey was ghosted by Darlington in Stage three. Logano faded to 17th place.
Kyle Larson – Larson slowly crept his way into the top ten and was in the mirror of both Reddick and Keselowski before Larson hits the wall hard on lap 237 while in third place. His #5 machine did not run well after pitting and he hit the wall again on lap 253. The damage finished him and Larson’s day was ended. For the day, he finishes 34th. He has two 2024 wins so his ticket is punched to the playoffs. Larson begins his Indy 500 practice on Tuesday.
RFK Racing- Brad Keselowski was all set with Penske as a driver but he had a dream. He wanted ownership of a team and when Penske was not willing to give him a stake, he packed up to Roush Fenway, struck a deal and now the team is called RFK Racing with brad being one of the Big 3. This was an outstanding race for the RFK team with Chris Buescher first helping his boss and then using the double crossover to pass both the #6 and Tyler Reddick. Reddick’s poor decision knocked Buescher out of the running for the win. Still, RFK Racing might just be a factor in the 2024 Cup championship. Keselowski went from winless in 110 races to being an automatic playoff qualifier.
32 bump CB to BK CB 264 Steals the lead
