1. Can Josh Berry and Austin Cindric Do More Than Just Make the Playoffs?
First, the good news for Austin Cindric and Josh Berry: Both are likely in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason via race wins earlier this season.
For any driver new or relatively new to a race team, a postseason spot does wonders in terms of making the case that being brought aboard was a good idea, and that what is in place is working.
That’s certainly good news. There have been drivers in NASCAR’s top series where a postseason spot would have at the very least potentially extended their time in their current rides. See David Ragan and Matt DiBenedetto as possible examples of that line of thinking.
Yes, it’s good for Cindric and Berry that they are in the postseason. But at some point, you need to not just be glad to be in the playoffs. A team and driver need to have some good finishes to have a belief that they can run among the frontrunners in the final 10 races of the season.
Can Berry and Cindric do that? Recent weeks have raised questions. Berry has crashed out of the past two races, and that’s not entirely on performance, as wrecks, especially on the Chicago street course and EchoPark Speedway, can easily catch other bystanders. But it goes deeper than that for the No. 21, who since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has just one top-ten finish.
Cindric? His top 10 at Pocono Raceway two races ago was his first top 10 since his Talladega Superspeedway win.
The course of a season is bound to have its ups and downs. But at some point, both Berry and Cindric need some strong finishes to show that they can be factors in the postseason.
2. Is the In-Season Tourney Lost in the Shuffle?
Anyone who tunes in every March for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, probably gets a level of enjoyment from the element of the dramatic upset, a lower seed that stuns a giant of the sport. That lower seed may not win a title, but that moment of glory in some ways feels like one.
Enter NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, a race within a race for five weeks, if you will.
That race, by the way, appears to have been lost in the shuffle. Look, you can talk it up all you want on social media and other places, but it’s hard to expect it to stand on its own two legs amid one of the biggest events of the season such as this past weekend in Chicago.
Has it been a great opportunity for the social media team at Kaulig Racing to throw some well-earned shade courtesy of Ty Dillon? Sure, and the smack talk has been fun to follow.
But you can only expect fans to focus on so much at once, and this in-season tourney is an example of a great idea that needs traction. Through two rounds, this format needs some deeper treads.
3. Cooler Heads Between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman? That’s a Good Thing
As it unfolded after Sunday’s (July 6) race, the confrontation between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman had the makings of a highlight that would be replayed across all sorts of media, and not all of that would have been good. Plenty of late-race aggression was dished out among the drivers, and one school of thought was that someone would shove or even throw a punch on the streets of Chicago.
As it turned out, it was a case of saying one’s piece and cooler heads prevailing.
That’s a very good thing for both drivers on multiple fronts. For one thing, a post-race fracas would have dominated the week for both. Instead of being asked about this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, all things post-race would have dominated things. 23XI Racing already has enough off-track buzz to manage with its litigation alongside Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR. It does not need something else added to the pot.
But there is also this. Both Bowman and Wallace are grappling for playoff spots, and you don’t need to worry about someone exacting revenge against you with a postseason spot on the line.
The perception, at least it seems, is that Bowman and Wallace have buried the hatchet. That’s good for both sides.
4. Did Kyle Busch’s Charge Light a Spark?
It seems that we were at this time a year ago, isn’t it?
Kyle Busch, a multiple-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, is aiming for a win late in the regular season to advance to the playoffs.
He fell just short last year, and as of a few weeks ago, the questions were fair in that whether or not Busch and the No. 8 team had a similar push left within them. You don’t just start contending for wins at the drop of a hat. That usually comes from solid runs to build on, and before last weekend in Chicago, Busch had gone 12 races with just one top 10.
But Busch and company may have found something in the Windy City. Not only did Busch run within the race’s top three for its first half, but he also overcame a mid-race spin to charge from 22nd to the top five in the final nine laps.
A spin during the race can cause some teams to implode, but the fact that the No. 8 car rallied says a lot — not just about the caliber of cars that Busch is capable of having under him, but also how much grit that the No. 8 team has at this point of the year.
Any playoff push needs a spark, and Sunday may have very well lit the fuse.
5. Chicago’s Visuals Were Great… But the Race’s Future Should Be on the Track
If there is such a thing as a three-year rule for a new NASCAR event, then we have seen the last lap turned on the Chicago Street Course. Remember, the Busch Light Clash ran three years at the Los Angeles Coliseum as well.
Three years is a fair window. It accounts for at least one year of having manageable weather and also for first-year hiccups to be ironed out.
Yes, the sightlines of the city in the background were amazing visuals, but events are more than photos. The Rose Bowl may be known for its phenomenal sunsets amid the San Gabriel Mountains, but I’d venture that it’s more known for iconic moments on the field.
The same needs to be true for NASCAR on the streets of Chicago. Visuals are nice, but the sanctioning body also needs to ensure that an event does not outweigh actual racing.
If not, then NASCAR’s pursuit of street courses should turn its sights elsewhere.
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.