2023 Round 8 Cup Results
Stent slides to victory at Bristol!
After the early 2000s boom where NASCAR chased ever bigger tracks and ever bigger money, often at the expense of its traditional roots, the inevitable contraction that followed saw the sport chasing whatever crumbs of tradition were left.
So much so in fact that they overshot a little, winding up back on dirt, something that had not been seen since the 1970s. Of course in the intervening years the cars had become more and more specialised to asphalt, leaving the Bristol dirt race as something so odd as to be scarcely believable if one had not seen it with their own eyes.
For the second time this year it was the 83 of Raymond sat on pole, with Stent lining up alongside. Scurlock and Pearson would share the second row.
Stent would jump out to an early lead over Raymond, who would quickly cede second place to Scurlock. Douglas would make big moves up high after starting back on the fourth row, taking only five laps to move into second place himself. It would be eight laps before the first caution of the night intervened, Griffiths and McKenzie making contact. Most would head to pit lane to make adjustments, save the top two and a handful of others.
At the drop of the green Stent lead away again, but it became clear the cars that had pitted now had a pace advantage. Pearson would lead by lap 20, with the likes of Foster, Phelps, Dyson and Raymond moving forward also. Indeed by lap 30, it was Pearson from Foster and Dyson with Stent coming under big pressure from Phelps.
A further caution would send many to the lane, Dyson inheriting the lead from Phelps and Raymond. The 41 would lead until lap 49 when Stent would make a move into turn one. By half distance the order was still Stent leading from Dyson, Foster third from Raymond and Pearson. As dirt races tend to be, the running was broken up by a few cautions leading to restarts which provoked further battles up and down the field, positions often determined by who started in which lane.
As the race headed toward its conclusion it had one final sting in the tail, Foster spinning out of fourth place and sending the race to a green/white/chequer. No doubt an unpopular error at Natari HQ with Stent in a comfortable lead!
Stent would hold off Pearson who himself would just fail to hold off Dyson for second, Raymond would come home fourth with Carroll-Walden popping up for fifth place.
We are back on tarmac but not off the short tracks, heading to Martinsville this week.
Incidents
Lap 33 - Garry Wellman
Lap 48 - Neil Pearson
Lap 62 - Scott Griffiths
Lap 101 - Riley Curtis
Lap 107 - Tom Neill
Lap 126 - Edward Foster
Restart Infringements
Extra leeway was given for the difficulty of putting power down on the dirt. Cars obviously suffering wheelspin were not penalised.
Lap 107 - Toby Stent - Lane Change
Lap 132 - Toby Stent - Lane Change
No Further Action
In these cases the front car got a lot of angle, losing momentum but not losing control. In turn the car behind could not have been expected to change line and avoid due to the lack of grip.
Lap 8 - Griffiths/McKenzie
Lap 15 - Dyson/Hetterscheid
Lap 42 - Griffiths/Stent
Lap 76 - Nankervis/Tomlin
Lap 82 - Phelps/Douglas/Tomlin
Post-race Tech
Tom Neill - no submission - DQ Race replay broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw_3K_1dzoM&t=15s
After the early 2000s boom where NASCAR chased ever bigger tracks and ever bigger money, often at the expense of its traditional roots, the inevitable contraction that followed saw the sport chasing whatever crumbs of tradition were left.
So much so in fact that they overshot a little, winding up back on dirt, something that had not been seen since the 1970s. Of course in the intervening years the cars had become more and more specialised to asphalt, leaving the Bristol dirt race as something so odd as to be scarcely believable if one had not seen it with their own eyes.
For the second time this year it was the 83 of Raymond sat on pole, with Stent lining up alongside. Scurlock and Pearson would share the second row.
Stent would jump out to an early lead over Raymond, who would quickly cede second place to Scurlock. Douglas would make big moves up high after starting back on the fourth row, taking only five laps to move into second place himself. It would be eight laps before the first caution of the night intervened, Griffiths and McKenzie making contact. Most would head to pit lane to make adjustments, save the top two and a handful of others.
At the drop of the green Stent lead away again, but it became clear the cars that had pitted now had a pace advantage. Pearson would lead by lap 20, with the likes of Foster, Phelps, Dyson and Raymond moving forward also. Indeed by lap 30, it was Pearson from Foster and Dyson with Stent coming under big pressure from Phelps.
A further caution would send many to the lane, Dyson inheriting the lead from Phelps and Raymond. The 41 would lead until lap 49 when Stent would make a move into turn one. By half distance the order was still Stent leading from Dyson, Foster third from Raymond and Pearson. As dirt races tend to be, the running was broken up by a few cautions leading to restarts which provoked further battles up and down the field, positions often determined by who started in which lane.
As the race headed toward its conclusion it had one final sting in the tail, Foster spinning out of fourth place and sending the race to a green/white/chequer. No doubt an unpopular error at Natari HQ with Stent in a comfortable lead!
Stent would hold off Pearson who himself would just fail to hold off Dyson for second, Raymond would come home fourth with Carroll-Walden popping up for fifth place.
We are back on tarmac but not off the short tracks, heading to Martinsville this week.
Incidents
Lap 33 - Garry Wellman
Lap 48 - Neil Pearson
Lap 62 - Scott Griffiths
Lap 101 - Riley Curtis
Lap 107 - Tom Neill
Lap 126 - Edward Foster
Restart Infringements
Extra leeway was given for the difficulty of putting power down on the dirt. Cars obviously suffering wheelspin were not penalised.
Lap 107 - Toby Stent - Lane Change
Lap 132 - Toby Stent - Lane Change
No Further Action
In these cases the front car got a lot of angle, losing momentum but not losing control. In turn the car behind could not have been expected to change line and avoid due to the lack of grip.
Lap 8 - Griffiths/McKenzie
Lap 15 - Dyson/Hetterscheid
Lap 42 - Griffiths/Stent
Lap 76 - Nankervis/Tomlin
Lap 82 - Phelps/Douglas/Tomlin
Post-race Tech
Tom Neill - no submission - DQ Race replay broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw_3K_1dzoM&t=15s
