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From a NASCAR Fan’s View

Once again, the Cup teams will line up to start the Bank of  America 400 according to the metric because practice and qualifying were canceled due to the weather. That means another race with the teams starting the race with only their notes from the previous run at the track. That could be a good thing, or maybe a bad thing for the way they will line up according to the metric, which puts Kyle Larson on the pole and Chase Briscoe next to him on the front row.

There are reasons this fan thinks starting by the metric is both good and bad for those at the top of the points. If we take a quick look back to the last Cup race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, two of the top four starters this afternoon drove to second and third place finishes. Daniel Suarez took the win for the Coca-Cola 600, with Denny Hamlin third and Tyler Reddick fourth. Today, Suarez starts fifteenth, Hamlin starts twelfth, and Reddick starts third.

Christopher Bell, who hasn’t had much luck in the Chase since taking the win in the first Chase race five races ago, finished second in the 600. Today, he starts seventeenth. I don’t know if that means much for this race, but with how things have been going for him lately and what he needs today, this fan definitely thinks he needs a win, or at the very least, he needs a really good points day.

Ryan Blaney starts fourth in today’s race. In the 600, he finished seventh. In the Chase so far, he has basically had good finishes and bad finishes. Austin Cindric starts fifth today. Checking on his finish at the 600 shows he had a tough day. He finished thirty-eighth.

William Byron starts sixth in today’s race. At the 600, he finished ninth. Joey Logano starts seventh today; in the 600, he finished eighth. Bubba Wallace starts eighth today; in the 600 he finished twenty-second. Chase Elliott finished thirty-seventh in the 600; Today he starts ninth.

I could go on with this trip down memory lane back to the Coca-Cola 600, but I think I’ve said enough. The reason is what I said earlier about the Cup teams starting today’s race without practice or qualifying, using only their notes from their previous experience at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and their best guess for how they want the setup to be off the truck. Any adjustments that might have been made in practice and qualifying will now be made during the race. In this fan’s opinion, I am sure they are hoping they were close off the trucks, because what they start with they will be stuck with until they can make adjustments on the normal pit stop or by taking one out of sequence to make those adjustments.  

Another reason I bring all this up is that it was a time when the Chevys and Fords were still playing catch-up to the Toyotas. Well, at least the JGR Toyotas. Since then, the Chevys have been constantly working to improve, and they have. I know Daniel Suarez won the 600 in a Chevy. I won’t say that was a fluke, but in a way it was. I don’t know that anyone expected Suarez to win it, but he did. And he won it in a Chevy ahead of three JGR Toyotas. Those Toyotas were Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick. On that day, Kyle Larson started eighteenth and finished fifth; Chase Briscoe finished thirty-fourth that same day. Today, Larson and Briscoe start on the front row mostly because of the way they’ve finished last week and the week before. I guess I should include that because of the NASCAR rule book and the metric used when qualifying is not able to be used.

We all have watched as Kyle Larson has taken over the points lead with his not unexpected vast improvement in finishes. Kyle had been showing improvement for the Hendrick Chevys, but was having trouble finishing races where it seemed he should. Chase had been struggling in several ways until a couple of races ago, and now he has finished in the top two in the last two Cup races. To me, that shows a vast improvement by Briscoe. He has always been in the mix, even if it was only in Chase conversations, and many wondered when he might turn things around. It appears he has, and even though he still needs to make up a lot of points, he has to be considered to be a contender now. Especially with him continuing to run up front as he has recently.

So… my question for today’s race isn’t particularly difficult, but it is important. In fact, I think I have more than one question. First, will Kyle Larson continue with his outstanding performance and increase his lead in the points standings? Is Kyle Larson due for an off week? Will the two, Briscoe and Larson, continue running up front as they have the last two weeks, or will another Chase contender take the win and close the gap on Larson and others?

As I said, these aren’t difficult questions, but they do beg an answer. One thing I do know. We will know a whole lot more about all of these questions when this race is in the books…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See you next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© October 11, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com, and PodCastNorm Dot Com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.

From Living It Daily

Ok, I tried to let this go and move on, but I just couldn’t. That’s why I’m writing this as Part 2 of my previous article. It isn’t a repeat, but it is an extension. In Part 1, I mentioned a song I wrote, “Ain’t Nobody Listening, Anyway,” but I intentionally left out the words and just talked about it. This time, I’m going to share the whole thing, because the song leaves very little to the imagination.

I want to talk about the world close to us: the conversations we have with friends, the news we watch, the entertainment we indulge in, and how all of it shapes what we believe. If I can be a little blunt, I want to talk about the negative effects we’re seeing and what we can or can’t do about them.

What am I talking about? I’m sure you can guess. It’s how captivated we’ve become by our technology: the cell phones, the tablets, and the ever-increasing 24/7 connection to the news cycle and social media. That constant stream doesn’t just keep us busy. It feeds us narratives, and it’s easy to stop questioning them.

Many people are so busy with their heads buried in their technology that they don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them. Eventually, they only listen to the people who agree with them, even when that advice is counterproductive. They’ve chosen their path and decided they know all they need to know. You can see where that path is heading, and you think you may have some good advice for them because of your age and experience. But when you try to share that hard-earned wisdom, they won’t listen.

That’s where this song came from. It took me over a year to write to what I’d call completion. It’s one of those situations where you have an idea and a few words that stick with you, but the thing just won’t come together. For the longest time, the only lines I had were the opening lines of the chorus. Some verses were written and set aside, to be considered later as options. I won’t start with the chorus, but I will give you the full song, because it says a lot more in fewer words than I can in a long explanation. Here is the song:

Ain’t Nobody Listening, Anyway

By Rusty Norman

(Verse 1)

Take a look all around, there’s a sight will astound,

The people are all looking down.

They stare at their tablets, and at their cell phones,

Never notice the troubles all ’round.

Seems they don’t understand, all the people they’re around

Are doing the same things that they are.

When the blind lead the blind, too late they will find

The Truth they should already know.

(Chorus)

Oh, if you think that you know where you’re going,

And you know that you know where you’ve been,

And you think that you have lots of good things to tell them,

I’ll tell you now, my friend,

When you go and try to tell them,

You’ll find nobody’s listening,

Anyway.

(Verse 2)

There’s a fork in the road that they’re trav’ling,

With a wrong way and right way to go.

But they choose the disguise, a pathway of lies,

Never finding the way they should know.

Not seeing what they have before them,

From the history that they never learned.

And they’ve chosen the lies in that clever disguise,

Never finding the way they should go.

(Chorus)

Because they’re so immersed in social media, people can become convinced they know enough and need no further input. This is especially true of input that seems outdated or goes against what they’ve been told, or what they’ve told themselves. They live in their own secure little bubble of insecurity and follow the crowd, even when the crowd is heading the wrong direction.

That’s where the frustration starts for me. But if I’m honest, it’s something I experienced myself. In my late teens and through most of my twenties, I thought I knew better than the older people around me. I just figured they were the ones who were old and out of touch.

It reminds me of something I heard in my late twenties during a motivational talk. It gave me something I hadn’t expected: insight.

No one knows who originally said it. It’s often attributed to Mark Twain, though it’s never been found in his writings. I’m sure you’ve heard some version of it. (Disclaimer: I’m slightly changing the wording to fit my age at the time I heard it.) It goes like this:

When I was a young man of 17, I thought my father was so out of touch and ignorant that I could hardly stand to have the old man around or listen to him. When I turned 27, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 10 years.

You know as well as I do that the one who learned so much in those ten years wasn’t the father. It was the son. Something about moving through the years makes you realize how much you need the input of those who have gone before you. People who have traveled through the ups and downs of life come out the other side wiser and have much to offer. They often prove the old adage: wisdom comes with age.

It’s not uncommon for younger people to think they know more, because they believe their thinking hasn’t been “clouded” by years of experience. They may even believe they have a fresher answer and a better grip on life’s trials than someone who has already traveled those same paths. That’s not to say they can’t have a good or even better answer. But that doesn’t mean they should ignore the input of those who have “been there and done that.”

So, why does it bother me so much when I go through the same experience with people younger than me? Why is it so easy to become frustrated when I was just like them at their age?

As I look back over my younger years, I see many problems I could have avoided “if only” I had listened to the advice of those who’d gone before me, whether I asked for it or not. Maybe that’s why it’s so frustrating when others don’t listen. Life doesn’t have to be a vicious circle of repeating the same mistakes when someone is willing to show you how to avoid them.

But I also learned something coming out the other side of this. Now that I’ve gained almost fifty years of my own life experience, I can see that what finally got through to me wasn’t what they said in the moment. As I traveled my own path and made my own way, their words seemed to come back and haunt me, because I discovered those words had proved true. They had told me the path I was on was wrong. I didn’t listen because I was young and impatient. I thought my way was better. What I didn’t have was enough life experience. They had traveled that path before me and discovered the truth on the other side of the struggles and decisions, so they spoke that truth to me whether I would listen or not.

They didn’t lecture. They didn’t preach. They simply spoke the truth to me. In doing that, they planted a seed in me for my future, and that seed would one day bear fruit. They knew that truth doesn’t need an audience to remain a truth. Maybe that’s our part in this: planting the seeds that will bear fruit somewhere in the future, and continuing to show up, even when it seems like nobody’s listening.

I say all that to say this: Life has a way of teaching us to listen to those voices of experience and heed their advice. After all, they have been there before and found the ways that work and the ways that fail. I give you Proverbs 12:15 (ESV):

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Let me ask you a question. Are there people in your life, whether family, friends, or acquaintances, whom you see going through something you could help them avoid, if only they would listen? Are they willing to listen? Or are they one of the many like in the song, where “there ain’t nobody listening, anyway”?

Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See you next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer.

© October 06, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

It’s Chase Race Five at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and things are heating up at the top of the standings. I don’t know about you, but this fan can’t believe we’re already at the midpoint of The Chase, and the intensity hasn’t let up for one minute yet.

I will say this. It’s been an interesting start to the 2026 Chase, and this fifth race will likely be just a continuation of the unexpected. After all, I don’t know many fans who thought Kyle Larson would have the results in the first four races that he did, but he did, and he has been on a good run so far. We all watched him dominate last weekend at Kansas and walk away with a 26-point lead over Denny Hamlin after taking a maximum-points day of 76.

But this is Vegas. The Toyotas took the top five qualifying spots to start the race, and Denny Hamlin took the pole. He was followed by his three JGR teammates, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe. Tyler Reddick, who has been struggling for a while now, showed up with speed this weekend and qualified fifth. I’m not sure how you feel about their show of speed during qualifying, but to this fan, it looks pretty ominous.

The top fourteen qualifiers are all Chasers. The other two Chasers, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, qualified twentieth and twenty-third. The two of them sit fourth and fifth in the points. That may not seem too bad, but I would say they both have their work cut out for themselves if they want to maintain their places or advance further up in the standings. From this fan’s view, they both need really good points days, and Blaney needs them worse. He is ninety-one points behind Larson going into today’s race and can’t afford another bad day at the races. I’m thinking he wants a win in the worst way.

I do find it interesting that the four JGR Toyotas are starting in the top four starting spots. After the way the last two weeks have gone, I guess it should be expected. After all, Denny Hamlin has won the last two races at Vegas, and with his pole starting position, he just might make it three in a row. His teammate, Ty Gibbs, also seems pretty confident about taking the win today and has spoken very positively of his chances of pulling it off. He starts second, next to Hamlin on the front row.

Even though Christopher Bell took the win at the first Chase race at Darlington, he hasn’t been able to make a big impact at follow-ups since. He hasn’t been running all that bad, but he hasn’t been running all that good either. At least, not good enough to take another victory. He runs well on the intermediate tracks, but is still looking for his first victory at Vegas.

Chase Briscoe has definitely had a rough start in the Chase, but he and his team look to have found something, with recent performances, especially last weekend, until he hit the wall several times trying to beat Larson. He finished fourth but still was showing found speed and I wonder if it will carry over to this weekend.

All four of the Hendrick Chevys are starting in the top fifteen. Of them, Kyle Larson starts sixth, and William Byron starts eighth. We all know how Kyle has been running. It just remains to be seen whether or not he continues running as strong as he has started the Chase. He runs well at Vegas, and his chances are as good as any I mentioned so far to have a great points day or take another win. I’m anxious to see how his day goes. William has been struggling a lot in recent times, but much like the rest of his Hendrick teammates, he has been showing a lot of improvement, and this fan can’t help but wonder if today might be his day to get his first win in 2026. Not saying he will, but he was the fastest in practice yesterday.

There are a couple of things to watch out for in today’s race. The biggest may be tire problems. Several drivers did experience tire problems in yesterday’s practice. Now, I’m not saying tires will play a big part in the race. In fact, they may not play a part at all, but since there were problems in practice, everyone will be a little on edge for the possibility.

It is going to be hot and slick, and from my view, it will be important to have good long-run speed to be successful and to run at or near the front at the end of the stages and the end of the race. Although there are several who are very good at managing their tires and fuel, it will be important in this one. Two of the best at it at Vegas are the top two in the points race, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. Will it make a difference in today’s race, and will these be the two battling it out in the final laps?

Yeah, that is a definite possibility, but not the only possibility. With most of the Chase competitors starting in the top fifteen, just about anything is possible. That’s not to mention the fact that someone other than one of the Chasers could win. What will that mean for the points? I don’t know, but I can guarantee it could make things even more interesting…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© October 04, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com, and PodCastNorm Dot Com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

Today’s program is the latest show from JustAFansView.com and talks about NASCAR from just a NASCAR fan’s point of view. It can also be found at  NascarFansView.com  It is another regular production of PodCastNorm dot Com.   In it, Rusty gives his opinion of the drivers, races and racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

These article/podcasts are generally weekly podcasts during the NASCAR season. Rusty is a former hometown Stock Car driver and owner and his passion and love for the sport is evident as he shares his take and opinion of the NASCAR Cup Series as the Season progresses from the season beginning at Daytona in February and ending with the Championship at Phoenix in November.

This episode is the latest from NascarFansView.com and JustAFansView.com and is a production of PodCastNorm dot Com with host Rusty Norman. It gives Rusty’s opinion of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout the 2026 Season. As with any NASCAR Cup Series Season, there are always plenty of surprises from beginning to end and there is plenty of intensity and drama expected this year also, especially with the changes made by NASCAR for this season and beyond.

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© September 27, 2026 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The Cup teams take it to the Bristol Motor Speedway for Chase Race Three. Weather canceled qualifying for the Cup teams at Bristol on Friday, so, you know what that means, don’t you? Yeah, that’s correct. The starting lineup will be according to the rulebook. That also means a few interesting things could change how the race goes.

Sometimes, things happen that make a large difference in how things might have gone. Because of the weather situation, Kyle Larson, last week’s winner, starts on the pole and, barring the unforeseen, will likely have the best pit stall. Having that pit stall could be an even greater advantage than starting on the pole.

Taking in the reality of that starting lineup and pit stall situation, especially at Bristol, could have major implications for Kyle and the rest of the field. Look, I know nothing is ever set in stone in the NASCAR Cup Series, but let’s be honest. Last weekend Kyle broke his fifty-one-race winless streak and carries the momentum into this weekend from that win. Of course, everyone knows that doesn’t mean much when it comes to the actual race, but it does mean he is taking that momentum to a place where he generally performs well.

Naturally, there are other factors involved in what the weather did, the field having to start according to the rulebook metrics, and how the rest of the field lines up. If nothing else, it should make it very interesting, depending on how things go.

One of the interesting things from my view about how the race will start is that Joey Logano starts on the front row with Larson. Logano and Larson both scored a bunch of points last weekend and led the most laps between them. They also battled each other for much of the race for the win. Last weekend, Logano started on the pole, with Larson outside him on the front row. This weekend, those roles are reversed. As a fan, I don’t know that that will have any bearing at all on how this one will go from the drop of the green flag, or when the checkered flag drops at the finish.

I almost hate to bring this up, but Denny Hamlin starts from the third position, just nine points ahead of Larson, who gained five spots in the points standings with his win last weekend. That means the drama will be heightened as this race progresses.

In fact, there are several drivers starting in the top fifteen that could end the day with a win. That wouldn’t be all that much of a surprise, since that area is full of Chasers looking for a win. Let’s not forget that a winner from outside The Chase could also happen. That makes things even more interesting, especially in a night race at Bristol on a Saturday night.

As a quick side note, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, and Alex Bowman start fourth, fifth, and sixth, and all three are quite capable of winning. Of course, Byron has had his share of difficulties in this part of the season, but he did manage a good finish last weekend, even though he once again faced difficulties during the earlier parts of the race. I can’t help but wonder if this might be his time to take his first win in 2026, much like Larson broke through last weekend. Of course his results won’t be as dramatic as Larson’s, but he could still make a pretty good leap back into contention. After all, we are only three races in.

Carson Hocevar is once again my possible dark horse winner. If he pulls off a victory, that would definitely shake things up in The Chase. The same goes for Bubba Wallace starting tenth. Should he take the win, it would be a second Toyota to win in the first three races of The Chase. That would really shake things up in this fan’s opinion.

Once again, there are so many possibilities in this Bristol night race that it is hard to get a real grip on which of the drivers might win. Christopher Bell quickly comes to mind as well as Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, and even Ryan Preece. Some Long shots for this one, at least from this fan’s view, are Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick. Sure, I know there are others, but I just didn’t want to list most of the rest of the field.

Looking at this Bristol night race, and how things often go here, I suppose it could go much like last weekend. Who knows, but that it might be another battle between Larson and Logano, with either the same or reversed result at the finish. I don’t have any idea how it will finish, but I am sure it will be intense…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© September 19, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com, and PodCastNorm Dot Com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.

From Living It Daily

I had a conversation not long ago that’s been sitting with me ever since. I won’t say who it was with, but I offered something I thought was pretty simple wisdom — the kind that comes from having lived a few decades and paid attention along the way. It didn’t land. Not even a little. And it wasn’t the first time.

I’ve been chewing on why that keeps happening, and I think I finally landed on it. It’s not that people are foolish. It’s that so many have never been handed the history that would help them see where their “new” idea actually leads — because somebody already tried it, a generation or two ago, and it didn’t end well then either. Every generation is convinced its moment is exempt from the past. History says otherwise. History always says otherwise.

That’s the real frustration underneath all of this — not the phones, not the scrolling, though that’s part of it too. It’s watching people build confidence on ideas that have never been tested against anything older than a headline from this morning.

You know the picture I’m talking about. Heads down, thumbs moving, tuned into a 24-hour news cycle that doesn’t always tell us what’s really going on — and sometimes seems more interested in convincing us of a narrative than informing us of the truth. And here’s the part that troubles me most: once people are far enough into that cycle, they stop taking in anything that doesn’t already agree with them. They’ve made up their minds. They’ve decided they know enough. They stand on a path you can see the end of — because maybe you’ve walked it, or watched someone else walk it — and when you try to hand them what you’ve learned, they wave it off like it’s outdated. Irrelevant. Something an old mind wouldn’t understand.

This is actually what led me to write a song a while back called “There Ain’t Nobody Listening.” I wrote it out of pure frustration, and it’s stuck with me ever since — maybe you’ll hear it someday.

That’s a hard thing to sit with. Watching decay get accepted, even celebrated, without anybody stopping to ask why it feels so wrong. Watching truth get outvoted by volume. I won’t pretend that doesn’t wear on me some days.

I’m 75 years old. I’ve lived long enough to have earned a little of what the old folks used to call wisdom — the kind that doesn’t come from a book or a headline, but from actually living through the consequences of things, good and bad, and paying attention along the way. There’s an old adage that says wisdom comes with age, and I believe it, because I’ve watched it prove true in my own life more times than I can count. But so much of what my generation was taught — the history, the hard lessons, the common sense that came from living through mistakes and learning from them — simply isn’t being passed on or picked up by the generations coming behind us. And that’s at the heart of my frustration, and I suspect a lot of folks my age, and some even half my age, feel exactly the same way.

There’s another old adage that fits right alongside the first one: those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. My generation has been there and done that, more than once, and we don’t want to do it again — not for ourselves, and not for the people coming after us. But it’s a sad and heavy thing to know you’ve already walked a road, to see someone else heading straight for the same drop-off, and to have them wave you off like you don’t know what you’re talking about.

So, the question I keep coming back to is this: do you keep speaking the truth from those many years of experience, trying to help others avoid repeating the failures of the past, whether they’re willing to listen or not? Or do you give up, and let them learn the hard way, the same way some of those failures were already learned once before?

And underneath that question sits a harder one. Why won’t they listen? Are they really so distracted by their tablets and their cell phones, so steeped in the heavily biased influence of social media, that truth itself no longer carries any weight? If nobody’s listening anyway, will continuing to beat the drum of truth ever break through the deaf blindness of unwillingness?

I don’t have a clean answer to that. I wish I did. But here’s where I’ve landed, and it’s the only place I know how to land: we keep speaking the truth anyway.

Not because we expect to be heard today. Not because we think this article, or one more conversation, or one more attempt at wisdom is going to turn the tide by itself. We speak it because truth planted doesn’t need an audience to still be true. Seeds can lie dormant a long time — through seasons that look like nothing is growing at all — before they finally take root. And history tells us something else too: the pressure of propaganda always cracks eventually. It always has. When it does, the people still standing on solid ground will be the ones who kept telling the truth the whole time nobody seemed to be listening.

So I’ll keep planting. And so should you… Anyway.

Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© September 08 , 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

Today’s program is the latest show from JustAFansView.com and talks about NASCAR from just a NASCAR fan’s point of view. It can also be found at  NascarFansView.com  It is another regular production of PodCastNorm dot Com.   In it, Rusty gives his opinion of the drivers, races and racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

These article/podcasts are generally weekly podcasts during the NASCAR season. Rusty is a former hometown Stock Car driver and owner and his passion and love for the sport is evident as he shares his take and opinion of the NASCAR Cup Series as the Season progresses from the season beginning at Daytona in February and ending with the Championship at Phoenix in November.

This episode is the latest from NascarFansView.com and JustAFansView.com and is a production of PodCastNorm dot Com with host Rusty Norman. It gives Rusty’s opinion of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout the 2026 Season. As with any NASCAR Cup Series Season, there are always plenty of surprises from beginning to end and there is plenty of intensity and drama expected this year also, especially with the changes made by NASCAR for this season and beyond.

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© September 06, 2026 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.

From A NASCAR Fans View

oday’s program is the latest show from JustAFansView.com and talks about NASCAR from just a NASCAR fan’s point of view. It can also be found at  NascarFansView.com  It is another regular production of PodCastNorm dot Com.   In it, Rusty gives his opinion of the drivers, races and racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

These article/podcasts are generally weekly podcasts during the NASCAR season. Rusty is a former hometown Stock Car driver and owner and his passion and love for the sport is evident as he shares his take and opinion of the NASCAR Cup Series as the Season progresses from the season beginning at Daytona in February and ending with the Championship at Phoenix in November.

This episode is the latest from NascarFansView.com and JustAFansView.com and is a production of PodCastNorm dot Com with host Rusty Norman. It gives Rusty’s opinion of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout the 2026 Season. As with any NASCAR Cup Series Season, there are always plenty of surprises from beginning to end and there is plenty of intensity and drama expected this year also, especially with the changes made by NASCAR for this season and beyond.

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© August 29, 2026 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

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From Living It Daily

We all travel the paths we know best. At least, I know I do. It seems we like to take the same route to places we like to frequent, whether it be our path to visit someone or the way we take to our places of employment. There is likely more than one way to get to those destinations, but we are much more interested in getting there in the shortest amount of time. If we take that path frequently, we eventually lose sight of our surroundings and focus only on the destination. It becomes more like a path we travel with tunnel vision. We hardly pay attention to anything but the road ahead.

I’ve often told you that my mind tends to wander off on tangents at times. This was one of those times. I could just as easily include this as another time I was looking out my window like I wrote about several articles ago. I say that because it was exactly what I was doing when what I’m going to talk about took place.

Let me paint a word picture of what started my thinking about the “Old Dirt Road” that prompted this.

I was looking out my window and thinking about many things. I was considering my plans for the day ahead for both work and some personal situations. I can’t really explain why it caught my attention the way that it did. All I know is that it did.

I began thinking about what I was seeing. Outside my window is a tree. Not the one I wrote about before, but a different one. I believe the name of this type of tree is “Carrotwood.” It is an evergreen tree. For those not familiar, it doesn’t lose its leaves and stays green year-round. Sometimes the simplest things can trigger a creative moment. On this particular morning, the sky appeared a deeper color of blue than I often remembered seeing. I think since I do a lot of writing, including poetry and songs, my mind was triggered by what I was seeing. It was also bringing up memories from my past, so I began writing down what would later become one of my songs. Mostly, I just had the first couple of lines, but they were enough to keep me thinking about the moment for an extended period of time. I want to share a little of what I wrote called “The Old Dirt Road”:

Blue skies, above evergreen trees.

An old dirt road, I don’t know where it leads.

I don’t know that I ever traveled this way before,

But I know that it leads to more.

Immediately, in my mind’s eyes, I was no longer looking out my window, but I was seeing an old dirt road from my past as a kid living in Southern Illinois.

It was not unusual for us as a family to go for drives on a Sunday afternoon. All the other days, my mom and dad were busy or working and my sister and I were likely in school. We had several small parks and large lakes within close driving distance, which left a lot for us to explore on those drives. On this day I’m thinking about, my dad pulled off the main road onto a gravel-covered dirt road. I remember looking at my sister in the back seat beside me, and then we both asked in unison, “Where are we going?” I remember my dad answering, “We’re going to see where this old dirt road leads.”

My memory of that day came back to me so vividly as I gazed out my window. I knew we hadn’t ever traveled on that old dirt road before. It was a brand-new experience, at least for my sister and me. We saw things we didn’t know existed. We were both young and could only travel close to our home on our bikes. Those Sunday drives expanded our knowledge of the area where we lived. I remember a few things about that drive, and though we didn’t know it at the time, the road my dad had taken circled around one of the several lakes in our area.

One of the first things I remember seeing was the spillway of the dam at one end of the lake. I had never seen anything like it before: the water pouring over that edge, the sound of it, the sheer size of the thing to a kid who’d only ever seen the calm, flat water of the lake itself. I remember just standing there, taking it in, not saying much of anything. To this day, I cannot tell you exactly how we got there; I just know we did, and I know it felt like we’d stumbled onto something the rest of the world didn’t know about.

Eventually, the ‘old dirt road’ led us to a place we all had seen before. It was the area at the entrance of the lake where there were boat rentals, a swimming area, as well as the camping area we had camped at before.

Had we not taken that ‘Old Dirt Road’ on that day, I would probably have never known there was a vast world around the lake that I had never seen and likely never would have.

You see, the reason I likely would have never seen that “world” is that we moved from Southern Illinois to Southwest Florida when I was eleven years old, which was about a year later. I’ve lived here for a long time, married my wife, and raised two daughters, and have five grandchildren. Even with all of that, there are many places I have never been around where I live. Some I have discovered because of where my service business has taken me, but there is so much more to see. And it’s not just the roads I mean. Some of my ‘old dirt roads’ these days aren’t made of gravel at all — they’re the conversations I’ve been putting off, the ideas I keep circling back to but haven’t followed through on, the places in my own heart I haven’t fully explored. Those call to me just as much as any road ever did. That leads me to the next part of the poem/song I’d like to share. It goes like this:

So many unknowns that are callin’ to me.

Because down that road there’s so much more to see.

And perhaps those ole skies won’t always be blue

But the old dirt road is calling me to follow it through.

I learned through that experience that following the same route day after day isn’t always the best thing. Fortunately, though much of my service area I frequent often, there is more than one way to get to those locations. Sometimes I take the long route, sometimes the shorter route, but it seems there is quite often something new to see. I don’t always have to get there in the shortest amount of time, although sometimes the shortest route is necessary. In the last thirty-six years of working my service business, there have been a lot of changes. Some of those changes I would have never seen if I had always followed the same route. Sometimes, I have discovered things simply because a service call has taken me down an ‘old dirt road’ I have never traveled before.

How about you? Do you always take the same, shortest route to wherever you travel to or want to go, or even have to go? May I make a suggestion? Take the longer route sometime. Take that ‘old dirt road’ you’ve been avoiding but has captured your attention. Maybe it’s a phone call you’ve been putting off. Maybe it’s a memory you haven’t let yourself sit with in a long while. Maybe it’s simply slowing down enough to notice the world outside your own window. See what might be down that other path. You may be surprised at what you discover and what you may have been missing all these years. Can you hear that ‘Old Dirt Road’ calling you to follow it through?

Hey, this is Russ, and I’m still Living It Daily… See ya next time…

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© August 23, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Podcastnorm Dot Com, and LivingItDaily.com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music from TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

I don’t know about you, but it is hard to believe there are only two weekends left in the 2026 regular NASCAR season. This part of the season seems to have flown by more quickly than in other years. I guess it could be because I have gotten older that the time seems to fly by, but I’m not so sure that is the reason. All I know for sure is that the Chase starts the week after Daytona next weekend, and there are a number of drivers hoping that these next two races add up to big points totals for them.

Unfortunately, there are only so many points to go around, and though some may still have a chance to make it into the Chase, there are more that will likely have to wait until at least next season to try again to make it in.

I’m not willing to crown him just yet, but Denny Hamlin probably has the best chance of being the number one seed going into the Chase. Even though he has appeared to struggle at times, he has been rock solid most of the latter part of the season, and this NASCAR fan thinks he will finish off strong. He only needs to have good, decent finishes for the next two weekends to clinch that number one seed. If he has disastrous races in the next two, he could be in trouble, but the chances of that happening are very low.

It would also depend on how those three drivers closest to him in points fare. Ryan Blaney is 115 points behind going into the race here at the Magic Mile. A couple of wins for him and real disasters for Hamlin (like finishing last both weekends) could make the final results very close. The points separation between the others in the top four right now is only 23 points. That doesn’t give a lot of breathing room for Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, and Tyler Reddick. Blaney is twelve points ahead of Gibbs and only twenty-three ahead of Reddick. Of all that is going on in the top four, the rest are needing them to all have bad luck for the next two races to even think about getting close and we all know that isn’t going to happen.

Just considering the points at the present time, the top four are pretty much going to stay the top four. They may swap positions around, but in my opinion, I don’t honestly expect anyone different to move into the top four positions. That being said, the rest of the top sixteen in points are probably not going to change either. I say that knowing that Daytona is next week and just about anything is possible. Like I said though, I don’t expect it.

Ryan Preece is fifty points behind SVG. SVG is sixteenth in points, and he really can’t afford to have a bad race either at the Magic Mile or Daytona if he wants to stay qualified for the Chase. If anyone is precariously sitting on the bubble, that would be SVG. He doesn’t have much room left for a bad finish.

The top seven have clinched a spot in the Chase. That means all four of the JGR Toyotas will be in the Chase no matter what. Taking a reality check, there are four Toyotas that could be racing for the Championship at the end of the Chase. In fact, there are six that may have the chance to be in the top four when it comes down to it. Still, there is no easy road for any of them because of the way the Chase format is set up; no one can afford to have a bad day at the races.

Now, I realize I have spent a lot of time talking about the Toyotas. That is mostly because they have been the better performers for most of this season. That doesn’t by any means suggest that there aren’t others that can be in the hunt when it comes down to crunch time. That would discount the great performances Ryan Blaney has had over these last weeks of the season so far. He has been running consistently strong, and I really expect him to continue to do so. Joey Logano and Chris Buescher are two other Fords that must be considered to be in the hunt once the chase begins.

I have to admit that the Chevys have somewhat confused me. I know they have been adapting to the new body style, but even when it looks like they are getting a grip on it, they finish badly. I mean, did anyone really expect Kyle Larson and William Byron to have no wins this season? I know I didn’t expect that to happen. I thought each of them would have at least one win apiece. Instead, they have continued to struggle to carry a good day all the way to the end of a race. I hate to admit it, but unless their fortunes change when the Chase begins, I’m not counting them out, but I am not counting them in either. I do believe they will both make the Chase, but I am not so sure they will make a good showing. They are not the only Chevys that will be contending in the Chase, and I could be in for the shock of the century if they all of a sudden find the speed and balance that propels them to the front and possible multiple wins.

The New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a very challenging track with hardly any banking, and I expect those that can turn the fastest laps on the long runs could end up at the front and even in Victory Lane. I’m not saying that will be a Chevy, but then again, it could be…

Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time.

All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer

© August 23, 2026 – all rights reserved

Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com, and PodCastNorm Dot Com

All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions

All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated

NASCARFansView.com is an independent, unofficial fan site

and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR LLC.