Larson Picks Up First Win of the Season in California

Kyle Larson won the Wise Power 400 from Auto Club Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win of the season.

Larson started from the back on Sunday due to unapproved adjustments prior to the race, and he worked his way to the front as the race went on. 

Tyler Reddick was dominant in the first half of the race, but a flat tire and contact with William Byron ended his day and allowed Larson to get control.

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Larson said problems for some of the faster drivers allowed him to get to the front.

“There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes,” Larson said.  “Just kept our heads in it all day.”

Larson said he struggled with his car’s handling during practice, but that his team worked hard on making the right adjustments overnight.

“Hard work all weekend there,” Larson said.  “Didn’t feel great in practice yesterday; [Crew Chief] Cliff Daniels and everybody made some good adjustments overnight and the car handled a lot better.”

Reddick’s teammate Austin Dillon ran in the top 15 for most of the day on Sunday, but quick pit stops allowed him to get track position as multiple cautions flew late in the race.

Dillon said his team kept his car in contention.

“Those guys were amazing, they kept us in the race,” Dillon said.  “We were really struggling at the beginning; kept adjusting on it and the cleaner air we got, the better we got.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Austin Dillon

3. Erik Jones

4. Daniel Suarez

5. Joey Logano

6. Aric Almirola

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Kurt Busch

9. Daniel Hemric

10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

11. Cole Custer

12. Austin Cindric

13. Martin Truex Jr.

14. Kyle Busch

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Chase Briscoe

17. Ty Dillon

18. Ryan Blaney

19. Bubba Wallace

20. Todd Gilliland

21. Garrett Smithley

22. BJ McLeod

23. Justin Haley

24. Tyler Reddick

25. Alex Bowman

26. Chase Elliott

27. Brad Keselowski

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Ross Chastain

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Michael McDowell

32. Cody Ware

33. Harrison Burton

34. William Byron

35. Chris Buescher

36. Christopher Bell

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Rookie Austin Cindric Holds Off Bubba Wallace to Win Daytona 500

Austin Cindric won the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon from the Daytona International Speedway to pick up his first career victory.

Cindric ran up front for most of the day as part of a group of Fords that controlled the lead for a majority of the race.

The 2020 Xfinity Series Champion and Cup Series rookie won in just his eighth career start, and said he was surrounded with great people at his team who helped him get to victory lane to kick off his rookie campaign.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“I’m surrounded by great people, that’s all there is to it,” Cindric said.  “I know there’s going to be highs and lows when you’re a rookie in a field of drivers this strong.  I’m just grateful for the opportunity and excited for the climb…we’ve got ahead of us.”

Cindric was the leader before they headed to Overtime, and was able to stay at the front of the field with help from his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Headed into the trioval, Blaney tried going to the outside of Cindric following a push from Bubba Wallace, but the rookie was able to throw a block to hold off the field.

Cindric thanked his teammate following the race for the push that helped get to the lead.

“I appreciate Ryan being a great teammate,” Cindric said.  “Obviously he wants to win one.”

Wallace picked up his second runner-up finish in the Daytona 500, and said he was disappointed with this one.

“I’m going to be pissed off about this one for awhile,” Wallace said.  “I was happy on the first second place we got a couple years ago; this one just sucks when you’re that close.”

“I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off.  Just dejected; the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work…from everybody at 23XI.”

Unofficial results:

1. Austin Cindric

2. Bubba Wallace

3. Chase Briscoe

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Aric Almirola

6. Kyle Busch

7. Michael McDowell

8. David Ragan

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Chase Elliott

11. Ty Dillon

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Martin Truex Jr.

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Landon Cassill

16. Chris Buescher

17. Cody Ware

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Kurt Busch

20. Cole Custer

21. Joey Logano

22. Jacques Villeneuve

23. Justin Haley

24. Alex Bowman

25. Austin Dillon

26. Kaz Grala

27. BJ McLeod

28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

29. Erik Jones

30. Kevin Harvick

31. Noah Gragson

32. Kyle Larson

33. Todd Gilliland

34. Christopher Bell

35. Tyler Reddick

36. Greg Biffle

37. Denny Hamlin

38. William Byron

39. Harrison Burton

40. Ross Chastain

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Joey Logano Wins The Clash from the LA Coliseum

 Joey Logano won the Busch Light Clash on Sunday afternoon from the LA Coliseum.

The season-opening exhibition race was hyped up for months, as it was the debut of NASCAR’s Next Gen car.  Held at a track other than the Daytona International Speedway for the first time, the race was run on a 1/4 mile track in the LA Coliseum that was built in less than two months. 

Logano echoed many who were part of the race when he said this event was a win for NASCAR.

“This is an amazing event,” Logano said.  “Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this.  Put on an amazing race for everybody.”

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Kyle Busch was dominant throughout the weekend, and won the pole and his qualifying heat.  After leading the most laps, Busch lost the lead to Logano on a late restart and wasn’t able to get back to the front to challenge for the lead.

Logano said his team found speed overnight after struggling in practice.

“The guys working on the car did an amazing job to find our speed,” Logano said.  “This is special; to get the first Next Gen win, first win out here at the Coliseum.  It’s a special one.”

Busch said he used up his equipment trying to catch back up to Logano with the laps winding down.

“I was being perfect, doing everything I thought I needed to do to keep the tires underneath me,” Busch said.  “When I got close…just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps.”

“Disappointing…came out here, win the pole, lead laps, run up front.  The finish goes green and it’s not chaotic and we can’t win.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kyle Busch

3. Austin Dillon

4. Erik Jones

5. Kyle Larson

6. William Byron

7. Cole Custer

8. Christopher Bell

9. AJ Allmendinger

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Chase Elliott

12. Harrison Burton

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Michael McDowell

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Bubba Wallace

19. Justin Haley

20. Ryan Preece

21. Tyler Reddick

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Denny Hamlin

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Preview: Top 10 Movies of 2022

 I haven't done this feature on the blog in a few years, but recently a friend at work got me back into using Letterboxd on a regular basis.  This allowed me to move all my IMDb ratings over to the Letterboxd app, which gave me an interesting review of all 900+ movies that I've rated on the platform.

With how excited I was for Halloween Kills and Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, I figured I'd take a look ahead and see what movies I was most excited for in 2022.

And before we begin, all release dates are subject to change.

10. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11)

I'm excited for the next installment in Black Panther, but it just doesn't get me as hyped knowing that Chadwick Boseman won't be under the cowl.  It's yet to be seen whether this movie even makes it's release date, as the production continues to struggle with injuries to, and anti-vax rhetoric by, star Letitia Write.

9. Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8)

Thor hasn't always been my favorite Avenger over the years, but the most recent character arcs throughout Infinity War and Endgame were fantastic.  While Chris Hemsworth won't be the one wielding Mjilnor, it will be cool to see Natalie Portman return to the franchise.  And with Taika Waititi in the director's chair once again, I'm sure this movie will be quite enjoyable.

8. Scream (January 14)

I only watched the Scream movies for the first time a few years ago, so I'm not as attached to this franchise as I am to the other slashers.  I was only three when the first movie came out, so by the time I was old enough to watch these types of movies, Michael, Freddy and Jason were all over AMC's FearFest and Ghostface was nowhere to be found.  I'm still pretty excited to see where they take the franchise in this fifth installment.

7. Morbius (April 1)

The extended Sony Spider-Verse has been pretty good, with two fun Venom movies already released.  I've liked Jared Leto as an actor since seeing him in Fight Club, so I'm very excited to see what he can do as Dr. Michael Morbius.  All the rumors circulating that this could be part of a Venom/Morbius/Amazing Spider-Man universe only makes me more excited.

6. Lightyear (June 17)

A movie about the "actual" space cadet that inspired the toy voiced by Tim Allen in the Toy Story movies.  Enough said.

5. Uncharted (February 18)

I've only played through the first game on PS4, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will eventually get around the other games in the series.  The trailer for this looked fantastic, and it seems they may have nailed the aesthetic of the games.  Plus Tom Holland has quickly become such a bankable star, teaming him up with Mark Wahlberg seems like a good play here.

4. The Black Phone (June 24)

Everything about this movie looks awesome.  Based on a short story by Joe Hill, this brings Ethan Hawke back into a movie with some serious Sinister energy.  Add to that a mask that was sculped by Tom Savini's workshop, and this could be a low-key horror gem.  Unfortunately the movie was already bumped back nearly six months from its original January release date.

3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6)

Doctor Strange really messed things up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and this movie is going to see him trying to deal with the fallout.  This movie is rumored to tie together some of the Disney+ shows, along with some other Marvel properties now under Disney's large umbrella.  I'm looking forward to seeing this one, especially as it may have a much darker tone to it.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Part One (October 7)

The first movie in this series was a shocking hit, and with the help of a soundtrack featuring Post Malone, the movie became a global sensation.  This sequel looks to continue on that, and features a neat animation style along with giving Oscar Isaac a bigger chance to shine as Spider-Man 2099 (which is one of my favorite iterations of the character).

1. Halloween Ends (October 14)

Here's the deal, I didn't love Halloween Kills.  I enjoyed it, as I do with all the movies in the Halloween franchise (outside of Resurrection), but I just don't know what they're going for.  David Gordon Green and Danny McBride went to great lengths to humanize Michael to make him a man instead of an unstoppable killing machine in Halloween, only to turn around and make him an unstoppable killing machine in Kills.  I'm curious to see where they take the franchise, and I'll definitely be there opening night.

Larson Wins at Phoenix, Caps Off Dominant Year with Championship

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race from Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his 10th victory of the season and win his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Larson was dominant all season and ran up front for most of the race at Phoenix.  Throughout the race, Larson and his teammate Chase Elliott seemed to have the strongest short-run cars, and the race came down to a late restart with just over 20 laps to go.

Larson pitted under the final caution as the fourth of the championship drivers, but his pit crew got him off pit road first and he was able to control the final restart from the lead.

On the final restart, Larson pulled out to the lead and held off a challenge from Martin Truex Jr.  Larson was able to hold off the other championship drivers and picked up his first NASCAR championship.

Larson said his team made the difference on the final pit stop.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

“Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing here,” Larson said.  “They’re the true winners of this race; they’re the true champions.  I’m blessed to be a part of this group.”

Larson missed most of the 2020 season after uttering a racial slur during an iRacing event, and teamed up with Hendrick Motorsports for the first time this year.

Larson said during his time away from the sport last year, he wasn’t sure if he would ever drive a Cup Series car again.

“I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year and half ago, and to win a championship is crazy,” Larson said.  “Thank you so much to Rick Hendrick…and every single person at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us.”

“This event was crazy and this format’s wild.  I’m glad we were able to get it done.”

Truex challenged Larson on the restart for the win, but could not hang with Larson over the final 20 laps.

Regardless of how fast he was the run before, Truex said the clean air ultimately won out at the end of the race.

“Clean air seemed to be a good bit of an advantage there; whoever got out front was good for 20, 30, 40 laps, and then the long-run cars would start coming around,” Truex said.  “Ultimately we needed to beat him off pit road.”

“We win and lose as a team, and I’m really proud of our efforts this year.  [Larson] had a hell of a season and congratulations to them.  Second sucks; I hate it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Chase Elliott

6. Aric Almirola

7. Kyle Busch

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Christopher Bell

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Joey Logano

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Cole Custer

14. Ross Chastain

15. Austin Dillon

16. Kurt Busch

17. William Byron

18. Alex Bowman

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Ryan Preece

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Erik Jones

23. Ryan Newman

24. Michael McDowell

25. Chris Buescher

26. Justin Haley

27. BJ McLeod

28. Cody Ware

29. Joey Gase

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Corey LaJoie

33. David Starr

34. Anthony Alfredo

35. Chase Briscoe

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

37. Quin Houff

38. Timmy Hill

39. Bubba Wallace

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

NASCAR 21: Ignition Review

NASCAR 21: Ignition, the new officially-licensed game from Motorsport Games, was released last week for PlayStation, Xbox and Windows.  I unfortunately purchased it and played it, and now it's time to tear it to shreds.

This game was once again built from the ground-up using Unreal Engine, and the graphics do offer a slight upgrade over the NASCAR Heat series.  Unfortunately that's where the upside to this game ends.

No rearview mirror: another questionable choice by the developers

The car-handling is extremely rough, with the car constantly drifting to the left.  With this constant drift, you need to keep hitting the stick to the right, but any slight over-correct will send your car careening towards the wall and no amount of steering will stop your car from avoiding a collision.

The overall physics are also terrible throughout the game.  Any sort of contact between you and another driver immediately spins you out with no chance to save your car.  Those wrecks collect the rest of the field, with cars flying through the air and massive pile-ups blocking the track for multiple laps.

The car also has, what I assume, are the same brakes as a Smart Car.  Even with the racing line on, I could not figure out when to brake to avoid contact with the wall or blow through a road course corner.  Another problem is that it is so inconsistent as to when the braking will actually stop the car that it's nearly impossible to use braking points on the track.

The game was built from scratch, but it took a step back in features.  The Xfinity and Truck Series are nowhere to be found.  Split-screen was also not carried over from the Heat series, so I guess I'll keep NASCAR Heat 5 around to play with friends (and also in general because it's a passable game).

Online might be the strongest racing the game has to offer, mainly due to the fact that every race starts with a massive pile-up that strings the field out.  The races don't start with the customary "coming to green" graphic; instead it drops you from a black screen straight into a split-second after you've gained control of your car. 

The game does finally bring back an actual paint booth to customize your own ride, but even that seems half-assed.  You can only place sponsor logos on the car one side at a time, which ruins any real chance of your car being symmetrical.

I've also gone in to see if I can mess with the settings at all to make it playable, and it seems like Motorsport Games thinks that "difficulty" is the same as "assists," as the customary easy/medium/hard settings for the AI are not there.  The AI also does not understand where you race on the track, and will stick to their line regardless of how much of your car is currently there.

"Do you think if we put an iPad in the car, they'll
think this is F1?"
- Someone on the development team, probably.

Overall, the game is a laggy, buggy mess.  I'm convinced the developers watched the FOX broadcasts of iRacing to figure out what made racing games realistic and then spent none of the time required to make it work.  Someone on the development team definitely had the job of playing the F1 games to see what makes them great, and apparently only thought it was the dashboard computer you have before driving onto the track.

As someone who has been playing NASCAR games since NASCAR Thunder 2002 and has gotten the Platinum trophy on PS4 for every game in the NASCAR Heat series, I feel like I have a grasp of what makes a NASCAR game great.  This game fails at every turn, and I can say, without a doubt, this is the worst NASCAR game I've ever played.

To be honest, I'm legitimately upset I bought the more expensive "Champions Edition" of the game, and I don't think I will be playing much of it again until they fix the numerous issues plaguing the experience.  If it's anything like the Heat series, we may be waiting for awhile.

Final verdict: 3/10 

Larson Continues Dominance with Kansas Victory

Kyle Larson won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his ninth victory of the season and his third in a row.

Larson continued his dominance on the Cup Series field on Sunday, and led a race-high 130 laps after starting from the pole.

Larson had to hold off his teammates over the final stage, with Chase Elliott and William Byron threatening for the lead throughout the last half of the race.

Larson said he thought Byron and Elliott had faster cars, but that he was able to take advantage of close racing on the final restart to get to a lead no one was able to overcome.

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

“Had a couple good restarts there and it kind of worked out for me,” Larson said.  “[Kevin Harvick] got to [Elliott’s] inside at the flag stand and kind of choked that lane up and got me clear to the lead.”

The victory comes on the 17th anniversary of a plane crash that took the lives of 10 Hendrick Motorsports team members and family members, including Rick Hendrick’s son.

Larson said it’s special to get a victory on the anniversary of the accident in a paint scheme reminiscent of Ricky Hendrick.

“I want to dedicate this win to Rick and Linda [Hendrick],” Larson said.  “I didn’t ever get to meet Ricky or any of the other men and women who lost their lives that day, but I felt the importance of this race.”

Elliott had a fast car in the closing laps, and began to cut into Larson’s lead until he made contact with the wall.

Elliott had to settle for second, and said the damage to his car slowed him down.

“I didn’t really have a choice; once I hit it, it hurt it pretty bad,” Elliott said.  “Feel like we had something for Kyle there, just got the wall there off of two.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Kurt Busch

5. Denny Hamlin

6. William Byron

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Christopher Bell

9. Joey Logano

10. Austin Dillon

11. Alex Bowman

12. Chris Buescher

13. Ross Chastain

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Michael McDowell

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Cole Custer

19. Chase Briscoe

20. Parker Kligerman

21. Ryan Preece

22. Tyler Reddick

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

25. Corey LaJoie

26. Aric Almirola

27. Ryan Newman

28. Kyle Busch

29. Erik Jones

30. BJ McLeod

31. Cody Ware

32. Joey Gase

33. Josh Bilicki

34. David Starr

35. Quin Houff

36. Ryan Ellis

37. Ryan Blaney

38. Anthony Alfredo

39. Justin Haley

40. Chad Finchum

Sean Gardner/Getty Images