Happy Hour: Winners, punches, and road racing in your neighborhood
It’s time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at [email protected] if you want to participate.
Sonoma is one of our favorite races of the year; will the pattern that Kyle Busch broke last season continue or will we see another repeat Sonoma winner on Sunday?
Busch became the first driver since 2006 to win at Sonoma for a second time. Here’s the list of winners dating back to 2007:
2015: Kyle Busch
2014: Carl Edwards
2013: Martin Truex Jr.
2012: Clint Bowyer
2011: Kurt Busch
2010: Jimmie Johnson
2009: Kasey Kahne
2008: Kyle Busch
2007: Juan Pablo Montoya
Add Tony Stewart to that list (he won at Sonoma in 2001 and 2005) and there are eight drivers in the field on Sunday who will be going for a second or third win. If we’re going to bet on a first time Sonoma winner, it’s hard to look away from Kevin Harvick. Not only is Harvick the best driver of the past three years in the Cup Series, he hasn’t been too bad at Sonoma.
Let’s get to your questions:
Is it possible we have more than 16 winners this season? If so, who else can still win races? – Will
There are 10 winners so far this season:
Denny Hamlin
Jimmie Johnson
Brad Keselowski
Kevin Harvick
Kyle Busch
Carl Edwards
Matt Kenseth
Martin Truex Jr.
Kurt Busch
Joey Logano
There are 11 races left, is it possible that they’ll be won by seven drivers?
Based off straight percentages, of course. But when you weight it based on the strength of the drivers who haven’t won, it’s an incredibly miniscule chance we’ll have 17 or more drivers.
Chase Elliott, Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman are the winless drivers in the top 15 in the points standings. Of those five, only Elliott and Junior have shown the speed to *look* like they were capable of a win this season. Dillon has in flashes, but he’s only led three laps. So has Newman. McMurray hasn’t led any.
Kasey Kahne needs to be in the discussion, and so does Ryan Blaney. And Kyle Larson, of course. But that’s about it at this point.
It’s not a coincidence that the 10 drivers who have won races are Nos. 1-10 in terms of laps led this season.
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Which NASCAR driver could take a punch the best?- Jim
This inspired a fun Twitter discussion.
If we’re going current NASCAR drivers, is there a choice outside of Tony Stewart? Dude’s broken his back and his leg over the past three years and is still driving. The physical pain of a punch would be nothing compared to those two injuries.
We also feel compelled to say that we’re hoping to not have to cover a fight this year. Rivalries are fun. Fights are dumb.
@NickBromberg Hi Nick, big fan. Question: If a road course were held on an actual road, where would you put it?
— Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) June 23, 2016
Who is this Busbee guy?
We also spent way too much time thinking about this question. Staying local, we’d love to see a road course race at the Kansas City downtown airport. The airport served as the original commercial hub for the city and is a half-mile from downtown. Racing on the runways would make a race reminiscent of the CART races at Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport.
But airport runways aren’t actual roads, so we’ll go with another CART flashback: Las Vegas. How cool would it be to see a night race on the Vegas strip?
GIve us your suggestions via Twitter.
@NickBromberg 18 can win the Xfinity owners title. Cup drivers can’t race in Homestead. Invite Sam to race it? How about a waiver for Sam?
— Brian Cullather (@Briancullather) June 23, 2016
If you weren’t paying attention to NASCAR over Father’s Day weekend, Sam Hornish Jr. won the Xfinity Series race at Iowa. Hornish was a late sub for Matt Tifft, who was sidelined by a back issue.
Tifft is scheduled to run at Homestead, so it reasons that he’ll still be in the car. A waiver for Hornish is a fun exercise, even if it’s extremely unlikely. Hornish becoming eligible for the Chase would make it more ridiculous than it already is given the lack of depth in the Xfinity Series field.
If, on the crazy 0.00001 percent chance he got a waiver and wanted to race full-time in the Xfinity Series for the rest of the season, Hornish could be a title candidate. Here’s why:
There will not be 12 winners in the Xfinity Series this year. Only three Xfinity Series drivers have won races; Hornish is the fourth. So Hornish would pretty much be guaranteed a spot.
He also has to be in the top 30 in points. He’s already 37th with one start. Yes. 37th. With one start. Didn’t we say the Xfinity Series is really shallow?
The 30th-place driver in the standings is Jeff Green. He’s competed in 12 of the 14 races in 2016 and his average finish is essentially 36th in a 40-car field. He has 66 points. Hornish has 45. Hornish could be in the top 30 if he ran the next Xfinity Series race at Daytona.
Again, it’s not happening for a variety of reasons. But if a magic potion of a NASCAR waiver, a desire to drive the rest of the season by Hornish and a good team all came together, he could be a title contender.
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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!
