1. Should NASCAR Change How They Police Conduct?
The feud between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill continued in Sunday night’s (July 5) NASCAR Cup Series race.
Entering turn 3 on lap 48, van Gisbergen seemed to spin out Hill, leading to Hill’s team to speculate that he had gotten payback for a wreck at Naval Base Coronado a couple of weeks ago that took SVG out of the race.
Hill would later come out on track and rub fenders with van Gisbergen under caution before going back in and retiring the car.
Van Gisbergen stated in his interviews after the race that the incident was not on purpose.
However, it should be mentioned that TNT would later review telemetry data they have access to and conclude SVG was almost certainly at fault.
It’s still a debate on if van Gisbergen’s contact was intentional, however.
These two have been feuding off-and-on since van Gisbergen’s season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series back in 2024. It’s not a surprise that van Gisbergen was probably the aggressor this time, as Hill has been the one in other incidents the two have been in.
This really shows that teams and drivers have realized they can do almost anything by simply not broadcasting their intentions to everybody. Van Gisbergen will likely face no penalty from NASCAR, nor will Hill for going after SVG under caution. Because neither driver said anything either way, neither will likely be penalized for it.
Watching the World Cup the last few weeks, it’s clear that almost all red card incidents are accidents. No player is going to want to purposefully put themselves and their team at a clear disadvantage for the rest of the game and the game after.
But these players are not going to get off by signaling their lack of intent on the pitch. They’re still going to get a red flag, because the rules are the rules. There’s far too much focus for NASCAR on what the drivers say versus what they do.
2. What’s The Next New Track in NASCAR?
The jury is still out on if Chicagoland Speedway will return to NASCAR next season, as things seem to be heading towards a return to the Chicago Street course.
But one question to be answered for next season is what will be the next new track for the NASCAR Cup Series? Considering that Ben Kennedy took control of the schedule for 2021, the same season that added Circuit of the Americas, Road America and the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt configuration among others.
The 2022 season had World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway join the schedule for the first time, and in 2023 featured the Chicago Street course.
Stock car racing returned to Iowa Speedway in 2024. Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez hosted the first international Cup Series race in over 60 years in 2025.
Finally, Naval Base Coronado and Chicagoland were added and re-added respectively in 2026.
So, the trend seems to be that there will be a new facility next season. Perhaps that will be the return of Grant Park. But I don’t think they’re going to count that towards this seemingly new mandate.
An option NASCAR has would be Kentucky Motor Speedway. The track is probably in decent enough shape to host a Cup race still, just six years after their last.
My own dream would be Circuit Gilles Villenueve. Montreal put on some of the very best road course races in NOAPS history not too long ago. There would be legions of Canadian NASCAR fans who would be energized enough to come out to the MTL. Plus, it notches another big international event in NASCAR’s recent resume.
3. Is Toyota Peaking Too Early?
Toyota has seemed unstoppable recently in the Cup Series, with Chicagoland marking the first time seven Toyota drivers have finished in the top 10.
To be clear about this: competition ebbs and flows in this series. This isn’t the first time Toyota has lorded over the Cup field, and it won’t be the last when they are eventually knocked off. It’s not good or bad for the sport, this just kind of happens in racing.
It also might be a bit premature to hand them the championship.
For starters, Jimmie Johnson is the lone former champion to drive a Toyota in a Cup race this season. Yes, the playoffs are a different beast from the Chase system. But not having that championship yet in any driver’s trophy case is going to add a lot of pressure in a close title fight.
The second is that Hendrick Motorsports is quietly starting to show signs of life. Kyle Larson was running in the top five when he spun out and ruined his race on Sunday. William Byron led the most laps in the race. Chase Elliott is fifth in the standings.
What’s more is that Hendrick always plays without showing their full hand over the summer in this Chase system. It’s why Johnson won his seven championships. The fact they’re already where they are says something.
4. There’s Potential for Thunderstorms in Race to the Chase
There are now only four races remaining before the NOAPS playoffs. Justin Allgaier has all but clinched the top seed with a 195 point lead on Jesse Love, so the interesting spot to watch will be the race to get in.
Taylor Gray and Brent Crews both have cushions, Gray being up 52 points from 13th and Crews with a 44 point gap. But of the next four races, this weekend will be EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, and the regular season finale will come at Daytona International Speedway at the end of August.
Complicating matters is that William Sawalich, their JGR teammate, is the driver in 13th. So JGR is going to have to manage this situation carefully if Gray or Crews have a bad race this coming weekend.
Rajah Caruth is also scheduled to race in the No. 88 in the remaining NOAPS races with the exception of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Elliott racing there instead. Caruth is going to have the car now to challenge for this Chase spot, being only six points off Sawalich in 14th.
5. Name A Better Three =0Race Run
It’s hard to imagine a better run of three races in three weeks for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series than what they’re about to go on now.
Starting off will be Lime Rock Park. No Corey Heim or any serious road course ringers besides Colin Braun in the No. 25 Ram will be in the race, opening up the race for the win. Layne Riggs, who jokingly labeled himself Layne van Riggsbergen after winning at St. Petersburg and Naval Base Coronado earlier this season, will be the favorite here.
North Wilkesboro Speedway will be next weekend, a big event supporting the first official Cup race at the facility in 30 years.
Finally, the best short track on the schedule will conclude this run, with a race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. After that race at IRP, there will be only two more before the Chase begins. It’s going to be perhaps the most important stretch until the final five race one to close out the year.
Michael has watched NASCAR for over 25 years and has covered it on-and-off for 14.
In addition to Frontstretch he also writes sporadically for his own websites GrandPrixFocus.com and StockCarFocus.com.
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