Quick takeaways from Dover: The best at the track since 2008?
Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our 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
• We’re inclined to think that was the best race at Dover since 2008. If you’re unfamiliar with that reference point, here’s a look at the finish of the race, which, coincidentally, also involved Sunday’s winner Matt Kenseth.
• We have an idea for the Sprint Cup Series: Have a crash that takes out multiple leaders with 50 laps to go at each race.
OK, we’re completely kidding, but it’s hard not to recognize the impact that the 18-car pileup (and subsequent crash of Carl Edwards) had on the finish of Sunday’s race. The incidents involved cars that led 193 of the race’s 400 laps and set up a thrilling finish involving three drivers who hadn’t won a race in 2016.
One of those drivers, Kyle Larson, was upbeat following the race. Larson finished second to Kenseth and would have been all but assured of a spot in the Chase for the first time had he gotten his first career win.
Larson did about everything he could to get past Kenseth and it didn’t work. The duel with Kenseth – and also with Chase Elliott – was yet another example of why so many people are incredibly optimistic about Larson’s future in the Cup Series.
“I was trying to do all I could do to get by [Kenseth] without getting into him,” Larson said. “I probably could have bumped him a little bit there in the middle of 1 and 2, but it was a lot of fun racing with Matt there. I was just trying to be patient. I knew I was better than he was … But it was a lot of fun. I got to lead some laps and be right up front and race people hard. All in all, it’s a good day. We would like to be in Victory Lane, but my day is coming.”
• Clean air played a role in Sunday’s race, especially when a great car got out front. It’s another reason why the race’s fantastic finish got a boost from a host of good cars getting taken out.
Plus, the crash gave us the opportunity to have a battle for the lead among characters we hadn’t seen in the mix all season. Which leads us to …
• Leading up to Sunday’s race, there was a lot of discussion – including here at From The Marbles – about driver motivation before the Chase. The discussion was sparked by comments from Brad Keselowski, who had mentioned drivers had floated ideas to NASCAR about possibly making a couple tweaks to the win-and-in-the-Chase format of the Sprint Cup Series.
Following Sunday’s great finish, NASCAR Vice President Steve O’Donnell fired off this tweet, the first tweet he’d sent since the race began.
O’Donnell’s comment completely miscategorizes the context of the week’s discussion, which centered around drivers who win early in the season. As we noted earlier, Kenseth, Larson and Chase Elliott were all looking for their first win of the season. What was brought up earlier in the week by a former Sprint Cup Series champion had nothing to do with winless drivers looking to secure a postseason berth.
Secondly, it makes NASCAR and its executives look petty and thin-skinned. The series has boasted about its great finishes throughout the first 12 races of 2016 and got a fantastic 35-lap fight to end Sunday’s race at a track that hasn’t been the most entertaining in recent memory.
And yet instead of boasting about the quality of racing, O’Donnell quickly not-so-passive-aggressively went after a media strawman while burying a compliment to the racing in a hashtag. Perplexing.
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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!
