I understand he is Larson’s NASCAR teammate but come on… give it to someone who wouldn’t get lapped within the first 9 laps of the race.
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I understand he is Larson’s NASCAR teammate but come on… give it to someone who wouldn’t get lapped within the first 9 laps of the race.
Kyle made a smart promoter decision, making sure a fellow Nascar driver is in the show for the fans that were there to see him race. Its no big deal.
I would think the driver with typically the fast time provisional might disagree. Would that have been Matt Henderson? Wonder how many had him on their Dirt Draft Team? Bet they would have liked to have known before hand. Sort of reminded me the night Austin Dillon was given a fake provisional at the Gap years ago. Stayed in the way all night. That night he impacted the finish. Haven't pulled for him since that night. If you're not good enough to make the race, put it on the trailer. I don't think Nascar will give a dirt late model driver a break getting into one of their races. He is a great young talent on Asphalt.
Kyle's race, Kyle's rules, move on.
It was a promoter's option, not a provisional. There is a difference.
How did the fast overall qualifier not make the race through his heat or B main?
With little to no experience in a dirt late model, I'd say he held his own. I'm sure a lot of tickets were sold because of the NASCAR boys in attendance. Supposedly a record crowd. If so, Larson and Byron racing surely played into it.
So, a big name NASCAR driver spends a bunch of money to promote a dirt race that is going to bring along another NASCAR driver (who doesn't have the dirt racing skill sets of Kyle) and you're surprised the provisional got Byron into the field? That's just the way it is. Nobody should be surprised at such a thing. It is their money, it is their show, it is their call.
Back when I was young I would go to the ARTGO shows up here. One of the draws was bringing Bobby Allison in to race in some of the shows. Bobby Allison was never a slouch at driving a pavement late model but when he was running some of his own AMC Hornets he was seriously out to lunch compared to what most other short track front runners had for equipment. With those AMC cars he was never a threat but they would always see to it that he was in the feature. The promoter spent the money to get him up here to a place like WIR and many fans came to see it happen. A few seasons later Bobby was hooked up with Jerry Gunderman (G&G Trucking/Racing) out of Franklin, WI and he was in top notch equipment with a great crew chief (Jimmy Fennig) and he no longer needed special provisions (which then went to other guest NASCAR drivers).
Kyle Larson has the right skills and equipment and doesn't need special considerations. Some of the guest drivers that Kyle will likely bring in probably will again need such special provisional starts. That's the game and it is theirs to say how it is played and it certainly isn't a new one. Not a perfect world for all but be glad someone wants to spend a bunch of money and bring shows to the fans and racing opportunities to a whole bunch of drivers.
Complaining about this is just like complaining about tours taking care of the drivers who make commitments to the tours. It happens.
I think it was late 90's/2000ish, a Summer Nationals race at the old Hales Corners Speedway (WI), and Tony Stewart was allowed to tag the back of the feature (I think he was new to Late Models and didn't transfer). He was eventually black flagged because he brought out two, or even three, unassisted yellows. But it gave some of the fans what they came to see.
Kyle stated his whole idea for this race is it hopefully becomes like the prelude to the dream, where Nascar drivers show up before the main Nascar on dirt race. One shouldn't be surprised he let a Nascar drive in?
Some good points here ! That WoO tour is getting silly with the provisionals. A few are only making the event because they show up every week. It kind of reminds me of NASKY when they had to come up with a new excuse every week just to get old D.W. in every week ? ?
If these nascar guys would run more short track stuff like this, they could help tracks out tremendously. Sorry but William Byron is drawing more fans in than Matt Henderson even if he runs around in last place in every race. I've seen too many tracks close to even begin to be upset about tracks sticking a guy at the tail to try to draw in more fans.
I know some of you want to chit on NASCAR in general, but it still has influence in the industry. Check out this tweet from Jeff Gluck on the race last night, there is no denying Byron and Larson being there generated eyes on the event, both in-person and on FloRacing.
https://twitter.com/jeff_gluck/statu...8zWrWvoHT5dw1A
what made the show was bowyer in the booth