Three races into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Ryan Blaney rolls into Phoenix International Raceway in sixth place overall, seemingly on the cusp of victory.
Blaney was an ounce or so of American Ethanol shy of victory at Daytona last month and finished second. He was strong again, but snake-bitten, at Atlanta winding up in 18th. Then he spent all of last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the top 10, including the seventh-place finish.
Phoenix, the second leg of NASCAR’s three-race West Coast Swing, is a track that suits Blaney’s driving style. In his first two visits to PIR as a rookie last season, Blaney finished 10thin the spring and eighth in the fall.
Add those impressive results to his three consecutive Phoenix top 10s (2012-2014) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and he’s never finished a race there outside of the top 10.
Race details
Race Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 312 miles (312 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 75),
Stage 2 (Ends on lap 150), Final Stage (Ends on lap 312)
A vehicle’s tech features are just as important these days are its engine’s performance, design and the comfort level of the driver. Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives, including inside the car, so there’s no surprise automakers want to do it right to keep customers interested.
Today I’m going to be focusing on one particular system and let you know how it compares to the rest of the automotive world in terms of tech … specifically, I’m talking about Kia’s UVO eServices telematics system, which I recently put to the test in a 2017 Kia Sportage.
While Kia isn’t the first name you think of when it comes to in-car tech, I was pleasantly surprised with how far they’ve come over the years, and how well the system performed overall.
If there’s one major talking point to come out of this wreck-filled Daytona weekend, it’s all about the race stages … and what people think of them.
As is often the case, anything new is instantly dismissed by a large group of NASCAR fans. Let’s go back to the 1972 rules, many of the don’t-change brigade will say.
Hello NASCAR fans, and welcome to the new world.
You’re about to enter a season where everything is different – from the title sponsor to a host of new rules. About the only thing not different is we’ll have the same cast of characters battling it out on track.
Most notably, the basic format of the races we watch is changing, with the goal of more competitive racing through the entire duration of the race.
Before I let you know my thoughts on all this, let’s break down what the format changes are:
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