Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Big NASCAR doubleheader weekend on tap in Michigan

Look out for Aric Almirola this weekend.
The wild 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season has provided 20 races for its fans so far and they give us a doubleheader this weekend at Michigan International Speedway’s wide 2-mile layout.

For the second time in modern NASCAR history, we get a points-paying race on both Saturday and Sunday. And if the first time they did it at Pocono Raceway in June is any indication, betting the same drivers to win in each race pays off.

The doubleheader at Pocono was on the original 2020 schedule as a new idea to squeeze in races and free up an extra weekend for the drivers and teams who seemingly work non-stop from February to Thanksgiving. But the coronavirus pandemic served notice that 2020 is going to have to be a little different and Michigan made it on the latest revised schedule NASCAR produced last month. The Pocono races with no practices or qualifying proved to work well, so two Michigan races on the same weekend isn’t that big of a deal.

However, for race fans it’s awesome. I wish they’d do something like this every weekend at every track. I’ve somehow gotten used to no practices or qualifying for the trade-off of having more racing with a mid-week race or what they’ve done at Pocono and Michigan. I’ve adjusted my rating system because of it but I’ve also found that my initial rating for each driver holds up well despite no seeing practice times.

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