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Beside the Rising Tide

Beside the Rising Tide: There’s Nothing Normal About NASCAR’s New Normal

March 16, 2021March 15, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads a pack of cars in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 2021. Photo: NKP

With little fanfare, a good deal of resentment and some limited debate on both sides of the issue, an important anniversary passed by this weekend. …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Objects in the Rear-View Mirror: Everything Old Is New Again

March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin

This week, gentle readers, I ask as I have many times before, for your kind indulgence if it sometimes seems I spend more time looking …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide

Beside the Rising Tide: Objects In the Rearview Mirror

March 9, 2021March 8, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
(Photo: Brandon Reed)

The First Law of Stuff states unequivocally that the amount of stuff you have will always be greater than the amount of room you have …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: A Few for the Road

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
Martin Truex Jr. spins on the Daytona road course February 2021 Photo: NKP

Last week, we discussed the curious phenomenon of suddenly disappearing swaths of NASCAR fans. NASCAR is apparently aware of and somewhat alarmed by this trend. …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: Hey, Where Did Everybody Go?

February 22, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
Cars speed past the grandstand in the 2021 Daytona 500 Photo: NKP

There’s an element of grim curiosity to it over the last few years, but I still search out the TV ratings for each week’s Cup …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: The Raw Emotions of Dale Earnhardt’s Death 20 Years Later

February 18, 2021February 17, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
Dale Earnhardt

Time flies. Tempus fugit. So my well-intended, if not nearly constantly intoxicated freshman Latin teacher taught me back when I attended a prep-school on Philadelphia’s …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: Has The Busch Clash Outlived Its Use?

February 8, 2021February 8, 2021 by Matt McLaughlin
The Busch Clash at Daytona 2017 Photo: Nigel Kiinrade/Nigel Kinrade Photography

Perhaps it’s related to the Chaos Theory, but left to their own devices, once simple ideas tend to become bloated, overly-complicated and less fun than …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: The Best of Everything

November 9, 2020 by Matt McLaughlin

Welcome loyal readers to the last regularly scheduled 2020 function for Club 61; to whit, my last weekly column for 2020. In honor of the …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: NASCAR’s Famous Final Scene – 2020 Edition

November 2, 2020 by Matt McLaughlin

To quote Charles Dickens; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin

Beside the Rising Tide: The Home Stretch

October 26, 2020 by Matt McLaughlin

I’ve been alive 61 years now and writing about stock car racing for the last 25 of them. I don’t know why I still get …

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Categories Beside the Rising Tide, Cup Series, Featured Content, Matt McLaughlin
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