While the NTT IndyCar Series continues to experience inexplicable viewer decline, one thing is becoming certain: The premier racing series in the United States is … the NASCAR Xfinity Series?
While it may not be eclipsing the NASCAR Cup Series in ratings, it has certainly captured the attention and support of the NASCAR community as a whole this season with great racing, stunning finishes and a myriad of personalities. What was once considered the minor leagues of motorsports has become the darling of the circle track circuit.
Is the Xfinity Series putting out a better product than the Cup Series, or are there other factors at play? This week, Steve Leffew and Vito Pugliese fly the flag for their respective series.
Xfinity Is Setting the Pace for Performance
In Xfinity, there are shorter races with much more unpredictability, which creates excitement and an entertaining product.
At the end of the Dover Motor Speedway race this past weekend, I was standing up holding my breath over the last few laps. Would Sheldon Creed finally win? For a moment it looked like he was going to. Was Austin Hill going to pull out another last-minute victory? Would Justin Allgaier finally get into victory lane this season? Could Carson Kvapil score the win in his second start? Here comes Ryan Truex! All of these things were possible, moment by moment, in the late laps of that race.
That phenomenon happens almost every week in Xfinity.
It’s rare for any one driver to have a clear advantage and even when they do, they often don’t win. Ask Allgaier how Texas Motor Speedway ended up for him after he led 117 laps. Speaking of Texas, Sam Mayer beat Ryan Sieg to the line by 0.002 seconds in a remarkable photo finish. The fact that Sieg was even in that position to win on a mile and a half track, driving for his family-owned team, speaks volumes about the series. Find me a comparison in Cup … I’ll wait.
The Cup Series has found the mind-bending purgatory where the parity is strong enough that the top 30 can run within four-tenths of each other, but nobody can pass anyone because of it. The parity now extends to pit road as well, where Cup pit stops have a single lug. In Xfinity, they’re still using the five-lug wheels we’ve seen for decades. The five-lug wheel wasn’t broken and Xfinity hasn’t fixed it. The single lug on the other hand…
For years Cup had a major advantage in horsepower. Cup cars were making around 900 at…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …