This Easter Weekend is a slow one for the Trackside team here at CV Products. While you can normally find us at multiple tracks supporting many different racing series, this Easter Weekend CV Products will be trackside for just one event — the Pro All Stars Series’ Easter Bunny 150, which you can learn about below. But before we get there, here’s a recap of what’s happened so far this race season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Much has been said and written about the seven different winners to start the Sprint Cup season, a streak broken this past weekend at Darlington Raceway when Kevin Harvick became the year’s first two-time winner. Overshadowed somewhat has been a concurrent revolving door, in the form of eight different Coors Light Pole winners to open the season, tied for the series’ longest season-opening streak of different pole winners.
Is competition better than ever? There are statistics supporting that notion:
- All three manufacturers have won races thus far, led by Chevrolet’s four victories.
- An average of 12 different leaders per race, compared to 8.6 at this point last year.
- An average of 25.6 lead changes per race, compared to 17.4 in 2013.
- Total of 29,541 green flag passes, compared to 23,178 in 2013.
- Total of 346 green flag passes for the lead, compared to 181 in 2013.
- And… an average margin of victory of 0.588 seconds, the smallest since 2008.
In addition, it’s even easier to argue that the competition has received a boost in interest because of the nuances of the new championship-deciding Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format. Race winners are virtually assured a berth in the 16-driver Chase, unless there are more than 16 different winners, whereupon the series points could be used to determine which race winners get into the “playoffs.” Number of race victories, though, will be the first “tiebreaker.” And don’t forget about this: the series points leader after 26 races – the “regular season’ champion so to speak – will get in, with or without having a race victory.
After eight races, three of the top five drivers in the series standings are winless – Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. Between them, those three drivers have won 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, but right now they’re sharing a seat that perhaps isn’t really hot just yet, but definitely is getting warm.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule resumes next Saturday night at three-quarters mile Richmond International Raceway. Richmond has been called, through the years, “the perfect track” which means there’s a good chance at an interesting season is about to become even more so.
In the meantime, here’s where to find CV Products Trackside this weekend:
Easter Bunny 150
Series: Pro All Stars Series
When: Saturday, April 19
Racetrack: Hickory Motor Speedway — Hickory, NC
Where to find us: In the pits (Pit Pass required for entry)
What you need to know: The Pro All Stars Series announced earlier this week that the Easter Bunny 150 would be televised via PASS TV powered by MotorsportsBroadcasting.com and Race22.com. The live pay-per-view broadcast from the legendary Hickory Motor Speedway will utilize MSB’s years of expertise in covering short track racing events and will also feature fan interaction through Race22’s live race updates throughout the day from Hickory. Fans can purchase the broadcast for just $25 by visiting either ProAllStarsSeries.com or Race22.com. As for the race itself, a great group of drivers have already filed pre-entries, including PASS South points leader and Hickory native, Tyler Church; PASS South points contenders Cole Timm, Jared Irvan, Trevor Noles and Tyler Dippel; and, a strong contingent of Northern drivers including Ben Rowe, Joey Doiron, Austin Theriault, Trevor Sanborn, and Ryan Moore.
What with Easter Sunday and all, it’s going to be a light schedule this weekend for those of us at CV Products who make the rounds of racetracks on a regular basis, accompanied by our tractor-trailers filled to the brim with racing gear, accessories and components.
