I went! Probably my 30th Cup race I've attended and probably my 22nd or something at RIR since I live only 20-25 mins away. Racing there has gone downhill quite a bit. Sucked also that they did away with free parking right behind the front stretch. Now you have to pay $25 for a permit to park there. Most people chose to go with free parking which was out in east Jesus in fields way behind the backstretch. Half of those fields get a tram ride to the track and half don't. Go figure yours truly did not get a tram ride. Between the tailgating atmosphere which was killed with a day race and the brutal sunburn everyone was sporting afterwards I'd say the majority of fans aren't happy with the Sunday race. For reducing the tracks capacity to around 60k permanent seats I'm saddened but not surprised it still was not a sellout. Made traffic easier.

 

As far as on track action goes it was a snoozer until the end. Very boring to watch. I've got my theories but that is too much to post. In the meantime I think they ought to consider sealing the track like they used to until the mid 2000s. The sealer really caused guys to slip and slide and really produced some great racing.

 

Hope this attachment works

 

They have to be short clips or else they won't be allowed to load on the site but a quick look at the white flag and a clip of Carl doing what he does best. His backflip.

 

 

I missed out on the race myself. I was driving somewhere in Arizona while it was running, and the trainer I'm with doesn't have SiriusXM in his truck. When I get home time, I'm grabbing the receiver out of my pickup to put in my semi when I get one.

Now that we're stopped for a day, I'll get caught up on scoring and start next week's picks thread.

 

I was in the garage listening to the race as I replaced my entire power steering system on my Monte. (steering rack, steering pump, reservoir, high & low pressure lines and cooling line).