Tim Watts's Articles

At this point there is not much else that I can say about Max Verstappen and Team Red Bull that I have not already written. Verstappen continues to make every race a foregone conclusion. We have seen different drivers take over the role of being the “best of the rest” with Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso […]

The final race of the NASCAR regular season is upon us as the drivers take to the track under the lights Saturday night. One spot remains up for grabs in the playoffs as Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and many others challenge to punch their ticket to the playoffs with a win […]

Watkins Glen marks the penultimate race of NASCAR’s Cup series regular season. Watkins Glen and Daytona are the final two chances drivers have to win their way into the playoffs. As evidenced by yesterday’s Xfinity race, melee and carnage on late restarts can really muck up the end of the race. As far as road […]

The back end of the road course swing for the NASCAR Xfinity Series lands in Watkins Glen, New York, this weekend. This is the longest-running active road course on schedule, and many of the drivers have extensive experience on this track.   There are four NASCAR Cup Series regulars entered into this race, and they […]

Back-to-back road courses for the NASCAR Cup series begins this week at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The road course within the confines of the brickyard has replaced the crown jewel race for a few years now and looks to be the preferred track for the annual Indy visit for the time being.  As is […]

Another road course race is on tap this weekend for the Xfinity series. Per usual at an Xfinity road course race, AJ Allmendinger enters as the favorite to win. The regular season for this series is nearing a conclusion, and there are several competitive drivers who need a win to lock themselves into the playoffs.  […]

Last week, Roush Fenway Keselowski showed out at Richmond. Keselowski led more laps than he has led since his days back at Penske Racing. Right behind him in laps led was his teammate and core play, Chris Buescher. Ford’s deficiencies were masked well by Richmond’s racing style, but at the sweeping two-mile track in Michigan, […]

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Michigan Saturday for the Cabo Wabo 250. Last week at Road America, Sam Mayer earned his first career Xfinity win after taking the lead in overtime at the famed road course. Justin Allgaier dominated the large majority of the race only to find himself off course and way down […]

As far as short tracks go, Richmond doesn’t see a lot of cautions. Short tracks and cautions used to be synonymous with each other, but Richmond is a bit of an anomaly. This track rewards track position because passing isn’t as easy. Having said that, you will want to capitalize on place differential drivers to […]

The NASCAR Truck Series is the opener for NASCAR’s visit to Richmond this weekend. The Truck and Cup Series are on the short track as the battle for the playoffs nears a conclusion. This Truck race will set the 10 drivers for the series’ playoff. Richmond is a track that generally rewards track position as […]

Max Verstappen cruised to his seventh straight win last weekend in Hungary as Team Red Bull continues to dominate the season. The series travels to the longest track on the schedule this weekend in Belgium. This race last year was won by Verstappen driving through the field to collect an easy win. I do not […]

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will kick off the weekend as they are at a separate track from the Truck and Cup Series. The Xfinity Series is back on a road course this weekend sharing the track with the Indy Car series at Road America. AJ Allmendinger is the only Cup regular in this race and […]

After another Monday race that was absolutely dominated by Martin Truex Jr., the Cup Series rolls into the Poconos on a short week for a race not likely affected by nature got Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400. Monday’s races have become Martin Mondays as he has destroyed the competition on postponed racedays of late.    For the […]

Max Verstappen easily cruised to the win two weeks ago, but the story was McLaren as Norris and Pistorius finished second and fourth in the race. Norris even took the lead away from Verstappen early in the race, showing just how much improvement the upgrades on that team have made. Verstappen got back in front […]

The Xfinity series last week was thoroughly dominated by John Hunter Nemecheck. JHN collected his third win of the season and is beginning to show himself as the driver to beat for the championship.    Meanwhile, Cole Custer is trying to keep his name in the title discussion and ran some blistering laps in practice […]

The Truck series returns to action after a short break, and some Cup series regulars are entered in the field. Mother Nature has apparently agreed to play nice with a nice rain-free outlook for all three races this weekend.   This race is only 60 laps, so there aren’t many dominator points to be had, […]

Well…. Perhaps I jinxed it. Mother Nature always “rains” supreme and has certainly created a lot of delays in the recent NASCAR schedule. After a brief reprieve that allowed the Xfinity series to run full distance, the Cup series was postponed until Monday.    Historically, the Toyotas have done very well at New Hampshire, and […]

Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on races of late, but with any luck, this weekend will go off without the dreaded red flag for weather and we will see a full race for Saturday’s Ambetter Health 200 on the Xfinity Series. New Hampshire is a very fun track and historically has been a strong strategy […]

Shane Van Gisbergen!!! What a showing by the kiwi in his debut race in NASCAR. SVG conquered the streets of Chicago, showing a mastery of car control unmatched by the rest of the field. This race was also a huge boost for the Project 91 program run out of Trackhouse that was designed to bring […]

The NASCAR Xfinity Series drafts into Atlanta Saturday for the Alsco Uniforms 250 as a prequel to Sunday’s Cup Series race. After a repave, Atlanta has turned into a shorter and narrower version of Talladega and Daytona. The cars draft in packs and race like the larger restrictor plate tracks. One big difference that history […]

Max Verstappen continues to dominate Formula One after another emphatic win last week. This season, he has been the most dominant driver of all time, finishing no worse than second. The British Grand Prix is the home race for Lewis Hamilton, who has seen his own stretch of dominance here over the years. This week […]

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series hosts a standalone race this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150. This series has the closest playoff battle and the fewest remaining races until the playoffs start. With the Xfinity and Cup Series in Atlanta, there are no “ringers” in the field for Saturday’s race, […]

The Xfinity and the Cup series are undertaking a maiden voyage on a true street course race along the streets of downtown Chicago. The configuration of this course has multiple 90-degree turns that set up quite a bit of blind racing. The drivers have never been on this track prior to Saturday’s practice session. Rain […]

The Xfinity and Cup Series are undertaking a maiden voyage on a true street course race along the streets of downtown Chicago. The configuration of this course has multiple 90-degree turns that set up quite a bit of blind racing. The drivers have never been on this track prior to Saturday’s practice session. The benefit […]

The F1 Series crosses back over the pond after a stop in North America for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. And stop me if you have heard this … Max Verstappen wins on Sunday. Verstappen led every lap in his dominant romp in Canada. This week, the field goes to Austria. Despite four wins at this […]

The Cup series is racing under the lights Sunday night in Nashville. Yesterday, AJ Allmendinger scored the victory in the Xfinity series in a race that was marred with on-track incidents. The track should have a little more grip with the night race, and since passing is tough, there will be a lot of action […]

The Xfinity Series takes the spotlight on Saturday with their race in Lebanon, Tennessee. The track has been very slick this weekend for daytime track activities, and the Xfinity cars are sliding around on the track.    The practice charts on the short run lean toward Ty Gibbs and Cole Custer, but long-run speed skews […]

Max Verstappen has won three in a row in a season shaping up to be nearly as dominant as his 2022 campaign. Lost in the shuffle of Team Red Bull’s dominance is that Mercedes placed both of their drivers on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes has found a little speed that seems […]

This race has a rich June history, and tomorrow should continue along that theme. Kyle Larson had the fastest five-lap practice session followed by AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell. Toward the back end of the top 10 came Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin. It will be interesting to see if Hamlin or Reddick can get […]

The Xfinity series is making its series debut at Sonoma. There are seven Cup series regulars entered into the field on Saturday, most notably Kyle Larson. Larson was exceptionally fast in practice and tends to lead a lot of laps en route to victories in the Xfinity series. The pricing is interesting with over a […]

Last week in Charlotte, Ford finally found some speed. Ryan Blaney clearly had the fastest car in the field. Ford had been a step behind Chevrolet and Toyota on intermediate tracks all season prior to Sunday. Now the series hits the Midwest, and Ford looks to back up their first dominant performance of the season […]

Monaco was another chapter in the same old Team Red Bull story. Max Verstappen cruised to victory with very little challenge. His largest challenger this season, teammate Sergio Perez, faced many obstacles enroute to a 16th-place finish. This week Verstappen again has the pole and Perez is starting midpack. Verstappen should easily pull away and […]