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Full Throttle

A Match Made in Hell: Why NHMS Doesn’t Belong on the Schedule

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Ho hum. Boring. Another race at New Hampshire has gone by, once again, completely devoid of excitement. Once again, only a select few cars could pass, and the rest simply logged laps on a track that clearly is not suited for the NASCAR brand of racing. How much longer is NASCAR willing to put up with this?

It seems as though every time the series rolls into New Hampshire, there is a legion of fans and media members who have this inexplicable false hope that this low-banked, one-mile oval will put on a good show. And every time, those people come out disappointed. Quite honestly, I have absolutely no idea where such high hopes are coming from. In my 14 years of watching NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, I have yet to see a good Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In fact, after 14 years, I have yet to see ONE good race at this track.

Gordon’s “Great Day” Really So Great? Why Wild Cards Are Not So Wild

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Those numbers, causing a ho-hum title race in the process were enough for NASCAR to make a change. The season-long process to pick a champion, in place since 1975 was scrapped the following year with the advent of the Chase for the Cup. The title was now to be settled among the top 10 drivers in points after 26 races of the season. But in just three years, after a couple high profile drivers and a defending champion failed to make the Chase the rules were expanded to include the top 12. But the ADD nature of NASCAR fans apparently was still not enraptured by that set of changes; at least, so it seemed because after the 2010 season, the “playoffs” endured a third major change. The point system that had been used for decades was scrapped for the one point per position system, while the Wild Card entries for the Chase were added. The race for the last two spots would certainly now come down to the last race and the uncertain nature of who would make the final 12 would obviously keep every single fan on the edge of their seat.

Bristol’s Best Intentions Turned Bizarre: Did The New Track Still Deliver?

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We’ve all heard the story. The folks at Bristol Motor Speedway thought that putting in progressive banking when they had to repave the track surface in 2007 would bring a whole new level of racing to the track. When the cars took to the track they were able to run from the top to the bottom and everywhere in-between. Cars ran side-by-side for laps on end with battles throughout the field. As a result, there were fewer caution flags than almost ever before because the need to move people in order to pass them was taken out of the equation. The desired effect was achieved by the operators of the track. The undesired effect was that fans starting staying away in droves.

The Ambrose Ambush: A Test of NASCAR Man And Machine At Watkins Glen

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For starters, let me say that in my time covering the sport, I have never been a big fan of stock car racing on road courses. That said, _Holy cow!_ What a finish and what a race on Sunday at Watkins Glen. The lead changed hands at least twice and probably four times on the final lap. Some of the best road course racers in the business (Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch) wrecked on their own while the sport’s up-and-coming right-turn talent, Marcos Ambrose snookered them all. Add in the drama of the Wild Card race, the run for Chase bonus points plus the risky trend of trying to make race cars lighter and you ended up with a mixture of close competition that NASCAR fans will be talking about for weeks to come.

Has Earnhardt Jr.’s Time Finally Come?

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After the dust settled at Indianapolis, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. emerged with the point lead for the first time since 2004. That’s right; the driver once labeled “fourth-best” at Hendrick used a fourth-place finish to climb to the top of NASCAR’s championship Chase for the first time since Joey Logano was practically in diapers. Although NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver won’t be the point leader when the postseason starts, unless he goes on a phenomenal winning streak, there is no doubt that he is a legitimate threat to win the championship in 2012. While the wins have not come in large numbers, the speed and consistency are there to position Earnhardt near the top of any pre-Chase favorite lists. With the current state of the sport somewhere between its niche status of the 1980s and its boom years in the 2000s, nothing could give it a bigger shot in the arm than having the No. 88 team in the mix for the championship once the green flag flies in Homestead.