Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our new Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• The myriad of strategies that unfolded during the final 80 laps of Saturday night’s race at Texas (won by Kyle Busch) were fascinating. Let’s take a look at them, starting with the winner.
Busch took four tires after Greg Biffle crashed to bring out the caution flag on lap 287. When Austin Dillon triggered a 13-car pileup soon after the restart following Biffle’s crash, Busch stayed out. He restarted second and took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. as he drove off to the win.
Truex was on his second restart with not-fresh tires. Truex pitted under the caution preceding Biffle’s, but stayed out when the No. 16 crash. With one more heat cycle on his tires than Busch and some cars behind him, he faded to sixth.
Dillon tried the same strategy as Truex. He restarted next to Truex after Biffle’s caution but started sliding backwards. And then he crashed, which made his strategy irrelevant. He ended up finishing 19th.
Chase Elliott took two tires during Biffle’s caution. He restarted third behind Truex and Dillon and was second when the caution flag flew for the big crash. Instead of staying out like Truex, Elliott came down to pit road where his team changed four tires. As Truex slid backwards over the final laps of the race, Elliott moved forward and finished fifth. It was probably about where he’d finished if he’d have stayed out.
Then there was Trevor Bayne. As the race had gone green for a while before a debris caution that set up the late three-caution flurry, Bayne and his team tried to make it to the end of the race on one stop instead of two, like the leaders of the race would have likely attempted.
The move meant Bayne led 12 laps as the cars ahead of him got fresher tires, and had a chance to work out had the race not had a caution the rest of the way. But Bayne ended up pitting just before the caution came out for debris and was eventually caught up in Dillon’s crash. He finished 15th, a pretty good finish given the accident. And probably where he would have finished had his team not tried the different strategy.
• Is anyone going to be surprised if Busch leaves Bristol with six-straight NASCAR wins after winning the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series races there next weeked? He has 13 wins combined in both series there.
• While Dillon has gotten a lot of deserved attention for his good runs this season, we may vote for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s team as most improved so far in 2016. Stenhouse had a top-10 run going before he was caught up in the 13-car accident. The difference in speed from 2015 (none) to 2016 has been stark. And he’s gotten his best finish in each of the past two seasons at the Bristol spring race. Watch out for him next week.
• Once again, Matt Kenseth’s race performance doesn’t reflect his finishing position. Kenseth had to come back down pit road late in the race after his team didn’t get all of the lugnuts tight on a rear wheel. He ended up finishing 11th when he could have (and probably should have) been battling for a top five.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
