Race Weekend Central

5 Points to Ponder: Brothers, Centurions and Nations

2016 Martinsville I Cup Aj Allmendinger Racing Matthew T Thacker Nkp

(Photo: Matthew T. Thacker/NKP)

ONE: The Champ gets his clock In the end, by Martinsville’s very high standards, it was a relatively pain-free first victory of the year for the 2015 champion, Kyle Busch, who swept the weekend winning the Truck race as well. Busch becomes the fifth winner of the season, joining Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and …

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Five Points to Ponder: Can Kasey Kahne Recover?

2016 Fontana Cup Kasey Kahne Helmet Brett Moist Nkp

(Photo: Brett Moist/NKP)

ONE: Martinsville, Sweet Martinsville Ah, Martinsville, let me count the ways I love you. I’ve said it before countless times and I’ll say it again this week: There’s little that ails NASCAR that can’t be fixed with a trip to the venerable and ageless Martinsville Speedway. This will be Cup race number 135 – a …

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Five Points to Ponder: Dissecting Cole’s Terrific Tweet & Busch’s Recovery

2016 Fontana Cup Pack Racing Russell Labounty Nkp

(Photo: Russell LaBounty/NKP)

ONE: Tweet of the Year I have to start out this week with a comment on what might already be the tweet of the 2016 season and given the likely volume of 140-character missives to come over the next nine months from the NASCAR community that’s quite the statement at this early stage. “I guess @joeylogano …

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Five Points to Ponder: Status Quo and Strong Starts

2016 Phoenix I Cup Jimmie Johnson Chase Elliott Pack Racing Nigel Kinrade Nkp

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade/NKP)

Dillon’s Strong Start It has been a great first four races for Austin Dillon in his third full year of top-echelon competition. To date, Dillon has secured a ninth-place finish in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, an 11th-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his first top 5 of the year (fifth place) at Las Vegas …

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2015 NASCAR Rewind: Denny Hamlin

Hamlin, Denny 2015 Bank Of America 500 Charlotte

Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch

All told, it wasn’t too shabby a year for Denny Hamlin. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota finished up the 2015 season in ninth place, the eighth time in 10 full seasons at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series level that the career Joe Gibbs Racing driver has cracked the top 10 in the …

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5 Points to Ponder: 2015 NASCAR Championship Edition

2015 Homestead Cup Kyle Busch Kurt Busch Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)­

ONE: Congrats, Champ It would be remiss of me not to start the last 5 Points to Ponder of the 2015 season without a hat tip and hearty congratulations to the new champion Kyle Busch, who won a maiden title in what were trying circumstances. A season that encompassed a terrible injury, lengthy rehab, a …

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2015 Frontstretch Cup: Staff Predictions for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead

2014 Homestead Cup Kevin Harvick Burnout Ii Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2014)­

Welcome to our eighth year of staff predictions! Each week, our experts attempt to tell you who the winner of each Cup race will be. Take a look to see who your favorite writers think will win it all (or at least score some points) this week! Think you can out-prognosticate our staff?  Leave your …

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5 Points to Ponder: And Then There Were 4

2015 Martinsville Ii Cup Jeff Gordon Trophy Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

ONE: The Retiring Legend Only NASCAR could have a six-hour rain delay in the desert. Come to California please, NASCAR; we need some rain. I am also wondering if the precipitation was anything to do with the track being renamed Jeff Gordon Raceway for the day? Either that or it was me boldly and confidently …

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5 Points to Ponder: NASCAR’s Back to Business – Quintessentially Speaking

Logano, Joey #22 2015 Aaa Texas 500 Texas

(Photo: Beth Lunkenheimer, Frontstretch)

The State of the NASCAR Nation It’s been a nice couple quiet weeks for NASCAR hasn’t it? Nothing controversial has happened… oh wait… I kid because I care, or at least I used to; I’m just not sure anymore. So, in some senses, after all the amped-up debate and severe disagreements as to the punishment …

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Context, Consistency & Dangerous Precedents

2014 Atlanta Nscs Joey Logano Danica Patrick Cars Credit Getty Images

(Photo: Getty Images)

Context can be a dangerous word but it is a word that is quintessentially appropriate to the asinine punishment meted out to Matt Kenseth by the powers that be. From all points across the NASCAR diaspora, the instantaneous reaction to Kenseth’s punishment after his wreck with Joey Logano last weekend was one of shock and …

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