NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Joe Gibbs Racing sweeps, short track package disappoints

On International Women’s Day, Isabella Robusto made her ARCA Menards Series and Series West debut in one race. The 19-year-old driver impressed, moving up as high as third during the race and finishing a solid P6.

Rain and lightning shortened this race by 35 laps. However, Robusto put her skills on display and will soon be back in action with Venturini Motorsports at Irwindale.

William Sawalich wins shortened ARCA race

Meanwhile, the big story on Friday night in the ARCA Menards Series was a battle between William Sawalich and Gio Ruggiero. Ruggiero made his own ARCA and ARCA West debut as well.

In the end, by the time the rain showed up at the track, Sawalich was out front and looked unstoppable. He led the most laps and was the rightful winner in the end, picking up the first win of the weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Xfinity Series has the ‘big one’ at Phoenix

When you think about racing at Phoenix, big wrecks are not what you usually think of. However, the NASCAR Xfinity Series managed to do just that on Saturday and it was chaos.

John Hunter Nemechek and JGR teammate Chandler Smith got put in a three-wide situation on a restart, then all Hell broke loose. 13 cars total were involved in this wreck and it took out a few contenders as the wreck began at the front of the field.

NASCAR fans question caution flag for Hailie Deegan

Prior to the massive wreck in this race, a caution flag was thrown that caused many fans to question what NASCAR was doing. Hailie Deegan just barely hit the wall and kept her car straight, but the worry over potential debris brought out the yellow.

So, you could argue that this questionable caution led to the big wreck above. The race completely changed after this, giving way to new leaders in the Xfinity Series race at Phoenix.

Justin Allgaier blows a tire from the lead, Chandler Smith wins at Phoenix

Once all of the chaos was over and the track cleaned up, Justin Allgaier had an open door. He took the lead and was going to win by 4 seconds or more. Then with 5 laps to go, Allgaier blew a tire and his car slammed into the outside wall.

With Allgaier out of the way, Chandler Smith moved his way to the lead and didn’t give it up in overtime. Smith picked up JGR’s second win of the weekend and his first with the organization.

NASCAR Cup Series drivers complain about passing

Starting with practice on Friday, the NASCAR Cup Series garage was not happy with the handling in dirty air. Passing was once again the topic of discussion with the new short track package.

While there may have been incremental improvements, there is a lot to be desired for drivers and fans. This is going to continue to be a topic of discussion throughout the season.

Stage 3 restart after restart

Besides an incident on Lap 6 to start, this was a fairly clean race. Stage 2 was all green flag laps and it allowed the fastest cars to move up and give us a bit of a race for the stage win.

Stage 3 began with Kyle Busch spinning out by himself, followed by a multi-car wreck that took out Joey Logano and Corey LaJoie, and finally Denny Hamlin spun while fighting for the lead on the restart after that. The field flipped on pit strategy and it gave us a small wrinkle in this otherwise mundane race.

NASCAR driver beef breaks out at Phoenix

It wouldn’t be a hot, long, and frustrating day in Phoenix without a little beef. Joey Logano wanted John Hunter Nemechek to be “man enough” to admit to wrecking the 22 car.

After the race, Erik Jones called out Chase Briscoe for having a problem with him seemingly every week. However, Briscoe acted like he didn’t know what Jones was talking about, and plans to accept his phone call if and when it comes.

Christopher Bell could pass, no one else could

Twice, Christopher Bell drove up through the field and made his way to the lead. He won Stage 2 at Phoenix and then a bad pit stop and the subsequent restarts to start Stage 3 put him down.

From P20 to P1, Bell was able to pass, although it was difficult, and made moves on slower cars. Picking up a win at the NASCAR championship track, the only driver to make the Championship 4 in each year of the Next Gen era is hoping to return in the fall with a chance at the Bill France Cup on the line. Clean sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR moves on to Bristol

Now, moving on to this week, we have Bristol Motor Speedway coming up. The Food City 500 returns and no dirt will be put down on the track. Drivers and fans are excited about the opportunity to have two races on the concrete surface.

Of course, we won’t see the short track package here. The banking and the speeds this track provides means that NASCAR runs the intermediate package. Last fall, Denny Hamlin won the Bristol Night Race. Could we see Christopher Bell go back-to-back? He won the pole award at that fall race and has two career top-5 finishes on the concrete track.