Myatt Snider was just hoping to finish in his ARCA Racing Series debut Sunday at Toledo Speedway.
Snider finished, alright – and with the checkered flag, capturing the victory in the Menards 200 in the 29-driver field.
Son of NBC NASCAR announcer Marty Snider, 21-year-old Myatt Snider started the race from the third position. He drove the No. 22 Cunningham Motorsports Ford Fusion, with sponsorship from The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce, which just signed on as his sponsor for Sunday’s race this past week.
Here’s some social media posts about the younger Snider’s achievement:
Twitter:
ARCA: @MyattSnider celebrates a victory in his ARCA debut at Toledo.
Myatt Snider wins the #Menards200 on his ARCA Racing Series debut
An elated @MyattSnider in victory lane at @ToledoSpeedway #ARCA
Dalton Sargeant finished second, followed by Kyle Weatherman, Chase Briscoe, Matt Kurzejewski, Josh Williams, Gus Dean, Tom Hessert, Brian Keselowski and Bo LeMastus.
Sunday was the first of nine ARCA races Snider will take part in this season. Others coming up include both season races at Pocono Raceway, as well as Michigan International Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Lucas Oil Raceway (Brownsburg, Indiana), Chicagoland Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Kansas Speedway.
“I hope to win a race for sure,” Snider said last week. “I want to learn all I possibly can about racing the bigger and heavier cars on the bigger tracks.
“It’ll be a huge learning experience getting adapted to the radial tires. I plan on being like a big sponge in soaking up all the knowledge and experience that I possibly can.”
He apparently has learned his lessons well already.
CONCORD, N.C. – It was a wonderfully shambolic mess that turned the Sprint All-Star Race into astrophysics.
In the “theater of the absurd” (not my words but those of a network host) that transpired Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we saw:
–A Pro Bowl tight end openly wondering on national TV why teams were “punting on second down.”
–A three-time Sprint Cup champion decreeing it “the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of. … It’s the most screwed up All-Star Race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s my last one.”
–A social media meltdown that remains ongoing with flummoxed crew chiefs, drivers and spotters alternately professing disdain, empathy and exasperation about the event.
In stock-car racing’s traveling circus of silliness, Saturday represented Peak Derp (why hello, Deadspin post!).
Yet it still was captivating (however frustrating) and also featured a thrilling and unpredictable conclusion.
From start to finish, it was the most memorable All-Star Race in more than a decade.
Which is why the Sprint Cup circuit needs more of it.
No, we don’t mean the convoluted format so tricked up and impenetrable, its narrative was the NASCAR equivalent of digesting a William Faulkner novel.
Let’s dispense with the niggling codicils and unexpected consequences that had CPAs gleefully dreaming about itemized deductions from Schedule C. This race was loaded with more legal wrangling than Ferko v. NASCAR.
Focus instead on what worked: The racing.
Whether viewed as an unintended consequence or well-designed construct, the action was the overwhelming highlight on a 1.5-mile oval lately synonymous with snoozefests.
The cascading effect of a bizarre early sequence (puttitng nearly half the field a lap down) ensured there’d be no runaway as in the previous three All-Star Races (when the winner led every lap of the final segment).
While many teams admitted to racing for 12th after the second segment, and Jimmie Johnson successfully claimed that transfer spot into the lead for the final 13-lap dash, the plan to win in clean air couldn’t work because there weren’t enough buffer cars on older tires.
It took half a lap after the green for the front row of Johnson and Kyle Busch to be gobbled up on the last restart.
And once ensured the outcome wouldn’t be a track-position battle, things really got good.
With aerodynamic tweaks in place to keep drivers off throttle for longer through the turns on Charlotte’s grippy, supersonic asphalt, Kyle Larson, 23, and Joey Logano, 25, locked in a stirring battle that left fans cheering and NASCAR marketers swooning.
When Logano swiped first from Larson with two laps remaining, it marked the latest lead change in an All-Star Race in seven years – and it mostly salvaged the head-scratching and hair-pulling preceding it.
It couldn’t have happened without the rules changes, which were the result of a continuing collaboration between NASCAR, teams, drivers and manufacturers on rules that greatly reduced downforce this season.
“Man, if we were running the ’14 or ’15 package, (Larson) could have went wherever (Logano) was going and kept him about 10 car lengths behind him the whole time,” third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “He didn’t ever have to worry about it. The fact that (Logano) can drive up there right to him, we’re going down the right direction.”
The ill-begotten format merely was a byproduct of a NASCAR industry furiously trying to lurch toward something better.
Saturday showed all options must stay on the table in remaining vigilant to ensure Sprint Cup – really, all of racing – keeps striving for relevance.
It’s why the Indianapolis Motor Speedway jazzed up its qualifying format this weekend in the absence of any Bump Day drama. Purists might hate waiting until the final hour to determine the fastest qualifier among nine drivers, but it’s driven by desperation to hold interest (which it certainly did via feel-good pole-sitter James Hinchcliffe).
The same factors are at play in NASCAR.
Saturday night proved some ideas quickly should be cleaved.
Mandatory pit stops that must happen by a certain lap? Meh.
There is a fine line here between being innovative and asinine.
“Gimmicks and all that stuff is going down the wrong path,” Earnhardt said. “The way to make the racing exciting is to make the cars exciting.”
Or help put them in situations engendering excitement. How about shorter races (50 laps still is too long for an All-Star segment, by the way)? De-emphasizing aerodynamics without shunning technology? Incentivizing racing with no quarter as much as possible (which Larson sublimely has managed the past two weeks)?
Don’t stop devising ways to make the on-track product scintillating.
Keep generating creative suggestions … but aggressively eradicate those that don’t work.
Here’s what most of the 20 drivers in Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race had to say after the race (or after their night ended prematurely) at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
Joey Logano – finished 1st: “What a crazy battle for a million dollars at the end. This is the All-Star Race. It’s special just to be in the race. Forget winning it, it’s just special. It’s neat to be in victory lane. … It’s up there for sure (when asked where does this win rank in his career). It’s definitely one you want to have on your resume. You want to have the Daytona 500, but the All-Star Race is special and the Coca-Cola 600 is next and that’s a really special one to have.”
Brad Keselowski – finished 2nd: “A decent night, but not the great night we wanted with the Miller Lite Ford ending up second. I’m pretty happy for my teammate Joey Logano. He kind of did exactly what you would expect out of an All-Star Race format and made a pretty incredible pass to win the race. I’m happy for Team Penske as a whole, but of course I wish it was me in victory lane. … There was a next-to-last lap pass for the lead. There were several passes for the lead. The last four races there hasn’t been a pass for the lead in the last 20 or 30 laps. I think our fans deserve a better format than that and they got that today. I don’t know how you can get much more compelling racing than what we saw today, so they need to get unconfused and enjoy the racing.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – finished 3rd: “We still have some gains to make. We didn’t win the race but we outran a lot of guys who had been outrunning us the last few weeks. We didn’t get to practice so we worked really hard during the race changing a lot of stuff, and I hope Greg (crew chief Greg Ives) learned a lot. Next weekend we’ll actually get to practice some and make some changes to see if we can’t get our car better for the 600. I’d love to win that race before I retire.”
Carl Edwards – finished 4th: “I had fun on those restarts. That was wild. I don’t know what it looked like on television. … Just a crazy night. I wouldn’t call it confusing because I kind of understood what was going on, but it took most of my brain power to keep up. … NASCAR has done a good job with the aero package, they’re working in the right direction and the 600 should be good. I think with the long runs in the 600, you’ll see guys moving around a little more and maybe a little more racing.”
Chase Elliott – finished 6th: “I was confused the whole time. I really was. There was a lot of time I didn’t know what was happening and just a lot of things, but hey, I was really proud of our effort. It was such a long day and my guys did such a good job fixing our car; not once, but twice today. So, I’m proud of them for that. I thought we had a good car from the start of the race until we got our damage and I think that’s encouraging for next week.”
Trevor Bayne – finished 7th: “We learned a lot tonight that will help us for next weekend in the (Coca-Cola) 600. Our car was really fast all day long and I’m really happy we got to be a part of this race after winning the Showdown. In that last segment we were able to race into the top five before the aggression really ramped up but we’re happy to come home seventh with this AdvoCare Ford and I’m really proud of all of my guys for their work throughout the day.”
Denny Hamlin – finished 9th: “I think when you start to set rules on you can pit at this time, but you have to do it before this or that and then the caution comes that you don’t expect like we saw then it puts cars laps down. I don’t know. How do you keep up at home to be honest with you? I knew when it took about 10 minutes to explain the rules in the driver’s meeting that it was going to be a complicated night. All this is to give the fans a great finish and we’re trying to fabricate something for them to look at this All-Star race and say that it’s exciting. You want to create a last lap pass every race you can, but you also don’t want to get too goofy trying to create it.”
Kyle Busch – finished 10th: “I have no idea what the race looked like on TV so I can’t really comment on what it was. … I thought our strategy was perfect – poor execution on the driver.”
Kevin Harvick – finished 11th: “We just had something that went wrong. It’s unfortunate, because we had a really fast Busch Light Chevrolet. It was really, really fast, but I just got to a point where I couldn’t steer anymore in traffic or in the corner. It just made it tough.”
Kyle Larson – finished 16th: “I’m super disappointed. I hate that I keep letting my team down. They did everything right. They worked their tails off after I got all the damage in the Showdown. We had a really, really good Target Chevy and were able to get to the front pretty quick there to be in the best position possible there for the last restart. I got clear right away and thought I could cruise. … I’m really disappointed but congrats to Logano and their team. Hats off to my guys. They’ve worked their tails off. We’ve had fast cars the last few weeks where we had struggled with that recently. I’m having fun but this will be hard to get over.”
Matt Kenseth – finished 18th: “I got more than bumped from behind, I think I got drove over. I hope everybody understands this race better than I did from the cockpit, because ever since the first car pitted in that first segment, I have no idea of what’s going on.”
Tony Stewart – finished 20th: “I’m as baffled as everybody,” Stewart said on Fox Sports 1. “It’s the most screwed-up All-Star Race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s the last one (for him). I’m alright, I’m just madder than hell. I don’t understand how they’ve officiated this thing from start to finish.”
In a Friday interview with NBC Sports, Kahne said he had gotten acclimated to the speculation.
“Those rumors have been out for a while now,” he said. “It hasn’t been distracting to me. I’ve been kind of fine with it because I know where I’m at. I know I have a deal through 2018.
“So it is what it is. People can come up with different ways to have a story, I guess. I think it was a story, and it probably worked out well for Harvick to have that going on once in a while.”
Kahne missed the playoffs last season for the first time since joining Hendrick in 2012, posting 10 top 10s – his lowest total in five years.
“That’s probably why some of those rumors come out is we don’t have the results that we should have or that we want,” he said. “So we just have to keep working and hopefully, we can figure out where all the speed lies, and we can win races again.”
The most recent of Kahne’s 17 Sprint Cup victories came in August 2014 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 59-race winless drought that is the second longest of his career.
“I’d say it’s definitely been the most frustrating time since I’ve been in NASCAR,” Kahne said. “The first year at Hendrick was really good. We brought a lot to the table. So we took off strong, and I thought we were really good. We could have won a lot more races. Since that point, it’s probably been the most frustrating time since I’ve been in Cup or in racing in general.”
There have been glimmers of hope lately for his No. 5 Chevrolet, which notched fourths at Richmond International Raceway and Dover International Speedway (though a 15-point penalty for a post-race violation knocked him to 20th in the rankings). With two top fives through 12 races, Kahne nearly has matched his total (three) from each of the past two seasons.
“I just have to keep working hard and keep working at it,” he said. “Trying to put the pieces together and figure out where our struggles are and make those better. It’s myself doing a better job, it’s (crew chief) Keith (Rodden) doing a better job. It’s every person on our team and then having the support of the company.
“All that is getting better. I think if we go in those directions we’ll win races again.”
Whether it’s Friday night or Saturday afternoon, the Sprint Showdown will start with Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon on the front row.
Practice for the race that will send five drivers to the Sprint All-Star Race was canceled due to rain drenching Charlotte Motor Speedway. Practice speeds would have determined the field. The field has been set based on owner points.
The Showdown is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. ET, though rain persists in the area.
Here’s the complete starting grid for the Sprint Showdown.
“The fans were appreciative of the honesty,” Earnhardt told NBC Sports in a Friday interview. “The message there really was to understand that we see we need to improve basically to the fans. That, hey, look, we’re not going to pass this off as just another rough weekend.
“We understand that we know we need to improve, and we’re going to work hard, and we’re going to do it. And I believe in the people (on the team) because when things don’t go good, the fans are calling for names and wanting heads to roll and they want results. They want you to fix it. They’re tired of what’s happening.”
Earnhardt said he hadn’t spoken about the podcast to team members aside from crew chief Greg Ives.
“He felt like I was only saying what he was thinking,” Earnhardt said of Ives. “I think it was a clear message. The podcast certainly gives you an opportunity to be honest, and that’s quite rare today.”
The 13-time most popular driver has made the Chase for the Sprint Cup for five consecutive seasons with Hendrick Motorsports and has won seven races over the past two years. He is winless in 2016, though, and while he isn’t necessarily in danger of missing the playoffs, he has fallen from sixth to 11th in points with four straight finishes outside the top 10.
“There’s a lot of pressure to get (fans) the message that you realize that, and you’re going to fix it, and you believe in the process and all that stuff,” he said. “So I think the fans reacted well to that. What I got from them was that made them feel better. That made them believe that there’s light at the end of the tunnel and fired them up a bit.”
That partially is the objective of his podcast, which is the cornerstone of the Dirty Mo Radio programming that was spearheaded by JR Motorsports brand director of communications Mike Davis.
“The podcast is a great opportunity for me to talk on my terms and for the fans to hear straight from my mouth what I’m thinking,” he said. “And a lot of times it’s a little raw and unpolished, but it’s so far been received pretty well by the fans. And the podcast business for us at Dirty Mo Radio is continuing to grow. Mike Davis has a great vision for that.”
With non-points races come unique rules and there are many for the Sprint Showdown and the Sprint All-Star Race.
Here’s a look at those rules:
SPRINT SHOWDOWN
* The 50-lap race will be divided into three segments.
*SEGMENT 1 (20 laps)
Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race and does not continue in the Sprint Showdown
All laps (green and yellow) count
Pit road will be closed with three laps to go
After the first segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
The starting lineup for the second segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop
After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”
*SEGMENT 2 (20 laps)
Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race and does not continue in the Sprint Showdown.
All laps (green and yellow) count.
Pit road will be closed with three laps to go.
After the second segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
The starting lineup for the third segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop.
After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”
*SEGMENT 3 (10 laps)
Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race.
Only green-flag laps count in this segment.
Overtime rule is in effect.
Fan vote winners to the Sprint All-Star Race will be announced after the event.
SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE
* The 113-lap race will be divided into three segments.
*SEGMENT 1 (50 laps)
All laps (green and yellow) count.
Teams must make a mandatory green-flag pit stop with a minimum two-tire change.
After the first segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
The starting lineup for the second segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop.
After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”
*SEGMENT 2 (50 laps)
All laps (green and yellow) count.
Teams must make a mandatory green-flag pit stop with a minimum two-tire change before Lap 85 (Lap 35 of the segment).
After the second segment, there will be a random draw to decide if the top nine, 10 or 11 cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop. Pit road is closed for all other cars.
The starting lineup for the third segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop, lining up behind the cars that did not pit.
After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”
