1. Whats in a name
The NASCAR Xfinity Series race with no name at Auto Club Speedway got an 11th-hour sponsor, the revived Roseanne sitcom featuring comedian Roseanne Barr. The Roseanne 300 victory went to Joey Logano, who must be asking Where do I put this trophy?
2. Hes back
You dont win eight races and the championship and then disappear. Martin Truex Jr. made certain we all know the No. 78 Toyota is back in form. Truex became the first driver to win the pole and sweep all the race stages since the format started last year.
3. Streak breaker
Truex was the streak-breaker at Fontana. Kevin Harvicks three-race win streak? Over. Kyle Larsons four consecutive wins on 2-mile tracks? Toast. The tracks four consecutive overtime finishes? Not on Sunday. Truex won in regulation.
Godwin Kelly, godwin.kelly@ news-jrnl.com
QUESTIONS & ATTITUDE
Compelling questions … and maybe a few actual answers
Now can we talk spending caps?
Assuming that the pending Lowes departure got Rick Hendricks attention, lets also assume you could get some interest in bringing financial sanity to NASCAR team expenditures. Its one thing to let economic Darwinism do its thing in a relatively wide-open marketplace, but quite another to let it disfigure an industry whose credo demands a level playing field without much disparity between haves and have-nots.
In other words ?
If a seven-time champ has to start cobbling together four-race and eight-race sponsorship packages next year, and we reach a point where only a small handful of teams are fueled by Fortune 500 budgets, close competition is just a theory instead of reality. Some have advocated spending caps, similar to team salary caps in other sports. Maybe its time for the talk. Assuming, of course, theyre not already doing that behind the scenes.
Ken Willis, ken.willis @news-jrnl.com
GODWINS PICKS FOR MARTINSVILLE
WINNER: Kyle Busch REST OF TOP 5: Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch FIRST ONE OUT: William Byron DARK HORSE: Chase Elliott DONT BE SURPRISED IF: Kyle Busch has three straight top-three finishes and will climb to the top of the heap this weekend.
