From points, comparisons and defending your title,the drivers have opinions
By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Two Superspeedways are in the books and drivers now have a road course. The 1.5 mile tracks do not start until Las Vegas. Drivers like Denny Hamlin cannot wait and Kyle Larson is not the dynamo he used to be on road courses. Drivers are talking and we have them from COTA. BTW, we have two podcasts this week. Tyler Head of Echo Park Speedway and myself talk, about COTA and Echo Park in the first one. We talk Hocevar and Keelan Harvick in the other.
SVG on 2026 and the change for him
With the change to the Chase, as opposed to the “win and you’re in”, on road courses, do you anticipate any different decisions, where people are going to pit early to try to make a contention for the win late, as opposed to staying up and getting points in the stages?
“Yeah, it’ll definitely change that dynamic. And especially on this track, you have a short amount of time really that you have to be close to the leader to have that extra lap to decide if you’re going to pit or not, so hopefully you’re in the lead or close and you can decide. But it’s definitely going to change, I think, how many people flip stages. You know, the points are so important this year, and it might even change us. If we’re not the dominant car, you might sacrifice the stage to get the points. Yeah, it’s all about points accumulation for us this year.”
Carson Hocevar on Intimidator Comparisons
On the network this week, there were comparisons made to you and Dale Earnhardt. Have you watched videos of Earnhardt? I mean, because clearly you weren’t old enough to kind of live out those glory days of Dale, but what do you think about the comparisons that fans are making to you at this juncture in your career?
“Yeah, I’ve watched every documentary of every driver. I’ve watched the Dale documentaries, the Tim Richmond specials, Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki. You know, I’ve watched it all, even as a kid.“
I just go out and race and I enjoy it. I take it as a massive compliment, you know, from Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Dale Jr., all of them making comparisons. I’m appreciative of that. I would like to just have half the success any of those guys did. But I think we’re getting ready to get our cars in a really good spot to be able to be in position. I think we’ve been in position to win three of these races. I don’t know if this week we’ll show that, but I think we have really good tracks coming up that we can do that. But for me, I’m just going in the merch hauler and signing 77 diecasts. You know, that’s me. Maybe in 20-30 years, somebody’s hopefully making comparisons of myself to the next kid that was doing it and running good. “
Noah Gragson on the City of Austin
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 TrueTimber Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s great coming to COTA and Austin. I love the downtown area here. It’s a lot of fun, but then also coming out to the racetrack here, I mean, we don’t really get to compete on any other F1 track. So it’s pretty fun to come out here. The elevation changes of the track. It’s a challenge, no doubt, behind the wheel, but it’s a good time. I enjoy making laps here. I enjoy racing here. You know, your jumping curbs, you’re beating and banging, the other drivers on the racetrack. It’s a tough, challenging road course, but it’s a lot of fun when you get out there.”
Chris Buescher on closing the gap on SVG and Connor Zilisch
“It’s certainly not frustrating. You know, I think that we come to these races trying to figure out how to win each and every week, right? And regardless who’s coming, but, I would say that SVG made us step our game up as a collective whole. That the field realizes we’ve left things on the table. So we’re figuring it out, and trying to improve on it, and we’ve been able to run with them, and race with them, and get a win. So, you know, it’s just made us be a little bit more precise. He’s certainly a top tier talent, so made us step up our road course game.”
