Every Tuesday at 8:30 AM, we huddle up with our go-to auto racing correspondent, Trenton Berry of racingdirt.com, to unpack the wild world of motorsports. This week, we dive headfirst into NASCAR’s latest gamble on street courses, a massive breakthrough for one of the sport’s rising superstars, and the highly anticipated local racing action coming to the Springfield area for the holiday weekend.

NASCAR Stakes a Claim in San Diego

We kicked things off by breaking down the race around the Naval base out there at Coronado. While street courses look deceptively slow on television, drivers are hitting eye-popping speeds of 115 to 120 miles per hour on the straightaways. It’s clear that NASCAR is successfully ripping a page out of the F1 and IndyCar playbook. More importantly, the business numbers back up the strategy: the weekend drew 125,000 fans, and an astonishing 67% of that crowd was entirely new to the sport. Much like the promotional magic Dan handles with our local Springfield Cardinals, shifting venues is actively expanding the racing fan base.

Corey Heim Delivers and the Pipeline Explodes

The big winner of the weekend was Corey Heim, a driver we’ve had our eyes on ever since we got an up-close look at his yellow 67 car in the second row of the garage area at Kansas City. Heim recently earned a full-time seat for 2311 next year, and Trenton expects him to be a staple at the top level for the next 15 to 20 years. But Heim isn’t alone in a rich pipeline of talent. We also touched on Jesse Love taking over the Wood Brothers number 21 car, and dirt track prodigy Corey Day—a Kyle Larson protege who spent time tearing it up right down the road at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Pit Crew Blunders and Fence-Jumping Fans

It wouldn’t be The Starting Lineup without diving into the chaos. Bubba Wallace fought his way back from a two-lap penalty after an intense pit lane mishap where he lost a wheel. Trenton reminded us why NASCAR drops such heavy penalties for loose lug nuts: it’s a massive safety risk for fans if a wheel flies over the fence. Speaking of fences, we had to laugh at the absolute absurdity of the fan during Saturday’s O’Reilly series race who sprinted over two separate rows of fences just to give driver Sheldon Creed a fist bump.

Local Heat: Springfield Raceway & Lucas Oil Speedway Spectaculars

Finally, we brought the focus right back to our own backyard. This Thursday night, the Summer Nationals dirt late model races are taking over Springfield Raceway out by the airport. Trenton promises they will absolutely pack the place to the gills. And looking slightly ahead to July 2nd, Lucas Oil Speedway is hosting the Heartland Modified Tour alongside a world-class fireworks display that rivals the legendary local memories of Firefall. Make sure to support our local tracks this week!