Truex Wins at Dover, Dillon Transfers to Round 2

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Citizen Soldier 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon, leading 187 of 400 laps in dominating fashion.

The victory was the fourth of the season for Truex, who said the win shows his team is here to win.

“We’re not messing around,” Truex said.  “We are here to get it done, and this is the best bunch of guys you could ever ask for.”

Truex has had his fair share of struggles in the past, and he said this is the best start to the Chase he could ever ask for.

Getty Images

“I can remember going home on days really frustrated.  The last month and a half has just been ridiculous; it’s been like a fairytale dream.”

The race was also the final race of the first round for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Austin Dillon was able to advance after Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson had trouble early on.  Larson was upset following the race after a pit road penalty put the race out of reach.

“A nice little Christmas present to Austin there from the Ganassi cars,” Larson said.

Dillon said his car was one of the fastest his team has had all season.  After locking himself into the next round, Dillon believes his team has what it takes to play spoiler to some of the top contenders.

“Now it’s time to knock some of these guys out,” Dillon said.  “We’ve got this opportunity, and we’re going to be the underdog in this next round.” 

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Busch

3. Chase Elliott

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Joey Logano

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Austin Dillon

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Jeff Gordon

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12. Kasey Kahne

13. Tony Stewart

14. Carl Edwards

15. Kurt Busch

16. Aric Almirola

17. Ryan Newman

18. Greg Biffle

19. AJ Allmendinger

20. Trevor Bayne

21. Brian Scott

22. Paul Menard

23. Chris Buescher

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Kyle Larson

26. Casey Mears

27. Matt DiBenedetto

28. Danica Patrick

29. Landon Cassill

30. David Ragan

31. Regan Smith

32. Ty Dillon

33. Michael Annett

34. Timmy Hill

35. Reed Sorenson

36. Jeffrey Earnhardt

37. Kevin Harvick

38. Ryan Blaney

39. Josh Wise

40. Jamie McMurray

Weekly Pull List: 9/28/2016

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on CBR.

IDW
Back to the Future #12
Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #5

Image
Saga #38

Marvel
Captain Marvel #9
Civil War II: Kingpin #3
Deadpool #19
Deadpool Annual #1
Drax #11
Extraordinary X-Men #14
Nova #11
Rocket Raccoon and Groot #10
Spider-Gwen #12
Spider-Man Deadpool #9
Spider-Woman #11
Star Wars #23
Web Warriors #11

Harvick Wins at New Hampshire

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kevin Harvick won the Bad Boy Off Road 300 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday after taking the lead on a late restart.

Harvick started deep in the field on Sunday, but he worked his way up to the front and took the lead at the end of the race.  He held off Matt Kenseth over the closing laps to pick up the victory.

 

Jonathan Ferrey (Getty Images)

“My team was pretty good on the restarts,” Harvick said.  “Once we got clean air there at the end, we wound up being pretty good out front.”

Harvick needed a good run to get into the next round of the Chase after a 20th-place finish last weekend at Chicagoland.  Harvick said his team came looking for a good run and got the victory instead.

“One of our main goals this year was to not stress ourselves out so bad, and I feel like the performance of the car and the things we’re doing are good enough to be competitive.  We just need to not make mistakes and go from here.”

Kenseth finished second after leading most of the final 100 laps.  Kenseth said his late-race battle with Martin Truex Jr. affected his chances of holding off Harvick.

“We were pretty good…we just didn’t get that last adjustment in,” Kenseth said.  “The 78 [of Truex] was a lot better than we were and we just burned the right rear off trying to hold him off.”

“Just went really late in the restart zone, and [Harvick] anticipated it just right and laid back, plus I spun the tires.  Got beat through 1 and 2 and then it was over.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Matt Kenseth

3. Kyle Busch

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Kurt Busch

6. Carl Edwards

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Kasey Kahne

10. Kyle Larson

11. Joey Logano

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Chase Elliott

14. Alex Bowman

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Austin Dillon

17. Aric Almirola

18. Danica Patrick

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Ryan Newman

21. AJ Allmendinger

22. Clint Bowyer

23. Tony Stewart

24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

25. Paul Menard

26. Michael McDowell

27. Casey Mears

28. Matt DiBenedetto

29. Landon Cassill

30. Chris Buescher

31. Brian Scott

32. David Ragan

33. Greg Biffle

34. Regan Smith

35. Cole Whitt

36. Reed Sorenson

37. Jeffrey Earnhardt

38. Trevor Bayne

39. Josh Wise

40. Michael Annett

Rainier Ehrhardt (Getty Images)

Weekly Pull List: 9/21/2016

All the comics available can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on CBR.

BOOM! Studios
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #7

Image
Chew #58

Marvel
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #9
Amazing Spider-Man #18
Astonishing Ant-Man #12
Carnage #12
Civil War II #5
Civil War II: Choosing Sides #6
Civil War II: X-Men #4
Deadpool V Gambit #5
Extraordinary X-Men Annual #1
Guardians of the Galaxy #12
Punisher #5
Uncanny X-Men #13
Venom Space Knight #12
Vision #11
Vote Loki #4

Truex Wins Chase Opener

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

 Martin Truex Jr. won the first race of the Chase on Sunday at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 from Chicagoland Speedway.

Jonathan Daniel (Getty Images)

Truex had to fight rookies Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney late in the race for the lead.  After chasing Elliott down in the closing laps, a spin brought out the caution to send the race into overtime.  After pitting, Truex started behind three cars that stayed out on old tires.  He got by Blaney on the restart, and held onto the lead over the final two laps.

Truex said this victory was exactly how his team wanted to start off the Chase.

“This is how we wanted to start it off; it feels awesome,” Truex said.  “Everybody on this team…gave us everything we need.”

Truex is now locked into the next round of the Chase because of his victory on Sunday.  He said his team will still go out and try to win the next two weeks.

“We have more races to win and we can win some.  At the end of the day, it was a total team effort, and that’s what it’s going to take to win a championship.”

Elliott finished third after leading late in the race.  He said his team just couldn’t overcome restarting fifth on the final restart.

“Feel like we did a good job controlling the things we could control today,” Elliott said.  “There’s some things you just can’t control with the amount of guys that stay out and line up on the restart.  We played the cards we were dealt and we came up short.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Joey Logano

3. Chase Elliott

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Kasey Kahne

8. Kyle Busch

9. Matt Kenseth

10. Alex Bowman

11. Jamie McMurray

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. Kurt Busch

14. Austin Dillon

15. Carl Edwards

16. Tony Stewart

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Kyle Larson

19. Ryan Newman

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Paul Menard

22. Clint Bowyer

23. Trevor Bayne

24. Danica Patrick

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. Greg Biffle

27. Ty Dillon

28. Chris Buescher

29. Landon Cassill

30. Matt DiBenedetto

31. Brian Scott

32. Aric Almirola

33. Michael Annett

34. Casey Mears

35. David Ragan

36. Cole Whitt

37. Michael McDowell

38. Josh Wise

39. Reed Sorenson

40. Joey Gase

Kena Krutsinger (Getty Images)

REVIEW: NASCAR Heat Evolution

On Tuesday, Dusenberry-Martin Racing released NASCAR Heat Evolution, the first NASCAR video game for PS4 and XBox One.  I've been on track since Tuesday, and I have to say, my reaction to the game has been what it has been all through development: meh.

When you first fire it up, NASCAR Heat Evolution gives five racing options: Race, Challenges, Championship, Career and Multiplayer.  Race is just what it sounds like, allowing you to pick a driver and jump right into on-track action.

Challenges allow the player to participate in real-world racing action, with the player getting a second chance at accomplishing something a driver wasn't able to do in real life.  The first challenge that unlocks puts you in the cockpit of Brad Keselowski's "BRAD" Ford (beer sponsors are not in the game, along with Clint Bowyer's 5 Hour Energy).  A pretty basic challenge, you start inside the top 20 and need to win in 5 laps.  I even downloaded the Toyota Challenges pack that gives the player four more options with Toyota drivers.  Same as the Keselowski challenge, I blew the competition away.

The Championship mode is just the basic season mode, where the player can take their favorite driver all the way to Homestead to fight for the Sprint Cup.

Career mode allows the player to create a driver and start them on a NASCAR journey.  You first get a pretty crappy car, and through good finishes, race winnings and sponsorship deals, you can work to improve your car's performance.  Until then, you'll get to find out how Matt DiBenedetto feels as you fight hard for a Top 25.

Multiplayer promises 40-player lobbies, creating the most authentic NASCAR experience online.  Unfortunately, I haven't found any rooms with that many players.  In fact, the one online race I did play was one-vs.-one match because only one other player stuck around for the actual race.

After playing with it for almost a week, the whole game feels like it was rushed to the shelves.  The graphics looks like they're out of a game from last generation, which is really irritating.  The handling of the cars is a little off, and this is probably due to weird physics.  Don't try to brake while turning the car, the back end will just step out on you and you'll have to correct your driving to save it.  I shouldn't be able to get around Martinsville without braking, but that's exactly what I had to do.

Get used to this view. It's the only one you're going to get.

The game also doesn't offer custom paint schemes.  In the old games, I would spend hours to make the perfect paint scheme to take to the track, and then I would take pictures of it in racing action.  But I don't even have that option in this game either.  In fact, the pause menu doesn't even give you any options other than Resume, Restart or Exit Race.  The only way you can get a screenshot is to use the Share button on the PS4 controller (I don't know what this means for XBox).

The game also lacks many simple abilities that we take for granted in racing games.  You have to flip between the HUD, so you can't see your lap times and your car's damage at the same time.  The camera is also locked into position, so you can't look around your car.

Overall, NASCAR Heat Evolution is a major misstep.  This game offers less features than NASCAR '15, but at least it costs three times as much. 

Would I buy this game again?  Yes, but not for $60.  This bare-bones racing game is not what NASCAR fans deserve after suffering through bad iterations the past few years.  I think it's time to give the license back to EA and let it go.

Final score: 5/10.

Weekly Pull List: 9/14/2016

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on Comic Book Resources.

BOOM! Studios
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Pink #3

Marvel
All-New X-Men #13
Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man #4
Civil War II: Ulysses #2
Deadpool #18
Gwenpool #6
Rocket Raccoon and Groot #9
Spider-Man #8
Spider-Man 2099 #15