Thirty-six cars line the Cup entry list for the inaugural Gateway race.ĪJ Allmendinger will have a busy weekend. Good performances in Gateway could go a long way to reset positive expectations at Team Penske. All three drivers crashed out of last week’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the next two weeks provide general unknowns at Gateway and Sonoma. The last month has marked a dismal stretch for the perennial powerhouse, which also fields entries for Ryan Blaney and rookie Austin Cindric.Ĭindric is already locked into the playoffs thanks to his upset win in the Daytona 500, and Blaney won the exhibition All-Star Race on May 22 at Texas, so the organization doesn’t need to slam the panic button yet.īut there is reason to be alarmed. Team Penske’s only top-10 finish in the past five points races is Joey Logano’s win at Darlington on May 8. The big dogs are beginning to make themselves known once again. Maybe that’s because drivers are learning more after 14 races. But experience is starting to reign supreme again despite the continued unknowns of the Next Gen car. Sure, Chastain and Kurt Busch getting respective wins for Trackhouse Racing and 23XI Racing is a big feat for the upstart teams in their second seasons. The drivers you expect to take home the checkered flag are starting to do so more regularly. The three exceptions - Byron, Chastain and Hamlin - lead the series in wins this year with two apiece. That list includes four former champions. While there is truth to that - 11 different winners in 14 races - take a look at who’s actually winning over the past seven races: Remember how parity has been a key discussion point this season? Perhaps that confidence leads one of the sport’s past Gateway winners back to victory lane Sunday (3:30 p.m. Cup teams have no prior notes to utilize, and even if they did, the notes likely would be rendered irrelevant thanks to the Next Gen car, which is in its first season.īut with laps come experience and with experience comes confidence. Whether that translates to on-track success this weekend remains to be seen. Twenty-two of the 36 drivers listed on this week’s Cup entry list have made at least one Xfinity or Truck start at Gateway. While the Cup Series has never raced at Gateway, most of its drivers have. The trucks have visited annually since 1998 - with the exception of 2011-13 as the track’s ownership changed. The Xfinity Series competed from 1997-2010. While Cup has never raced at the 1.25-mile oval, both the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series have done so. This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway for its inaugural trip to the track near St.
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