NASCAR’s longest and most grueling race, the Coca-Cola 600, represents a significant milestone in the 2009 season. It’s not quite the halfway point to the Chase (that comes the following week after Dover), but once the checkers fly late Sunday evening, we’re exactly one-third of the way through the 36-race schedule. With that in mind, …
As the curtain closed on another Southern 500 Saturday night, the Lady In Black shined brightly on three of the four cars at Richard Petty Motorsports. Elliott Sadler, AJ Allmendinger and Reed Sorenson persevered to hard-fought top-20 finishes, battling back from miserable starts as they looked to turn their seasons around. As for their teammate Kasey …
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.” So reportedly said Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of Great Britain from 1874 to 1880. It’s a well-known quote that is attributed to other writers as well, including Mark Twain; but regardless of its exact point of origin, it’s a citation the drivers placed outside …
Even by Talladega’s “biggest, baddest” standards, that was quite the race weekend in Alabama, wasn’t it, dear readers? Matt Kenseth’s crash in the Nationwide race was violent and scary looking, but it pales into almost insignificance when compared to the carnage the airborne No. 99 Ford Fusion caused on the final lap – not to …
The NASCAR season is brutally long, and with 36 races across 10 months, you know that from time to time you’re going to see an absolute stinker of a race. But from the moment I clicked on the broadcast on Saturday night, I just had a feeling it was going to be a fantastic evening …
When Tony Stewart signed on the dotted line in July 2008 to assume 50% ownership in what was the struggling Haas CNC Racing outfit, there were plenty of people lining up to tell the irascible Columbus, Ind. native that he was making a colossal mistake. That it was a great deal financially speaking was the one thing that couldn’t be argued; Stewart didn’t have to pay so much as $1 for a half-stake in the two-car outfit. But all numbers aside, the real issue was that Haas CNC Racing had hardly set the racing world alight in its first six years of operating. Indeed, a driver who’d spent the last decade defined by stock car success had purchased a team seemingly destined to fail.
In the euphoria surrounding his rain-shortened victory in the Daytona 500, the self-styled perfectionist Jack Roush must have permitted himself a wry smile. Winning the biggest race of all for the very first time – after 113 previous Sprint Cup victories in 21 years of ownership – must have felt like a harbinger of what …
The label of future Sprint Cup champion is liberally dispensed – but rarely achieved. In the 60 years of NASCAR competition, only 28 drivers have attained the hallowed crown – and it’s a pretty exclusive club. 12 drivers have won a solitary championship, while another eight have won two titles. Five men – Jimmie Johnson, …
After a momentary pause for breath this past weekend, NASCAR plows right into some of the best venues listed on their schedule. In the next two months, the Sprint Cup Series visits eight terrific tracks: Bristol, Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix, Talladega, Richmond, Darlington and Lowe’s Motor Speedway – places that hope to get a fan’s mind …
21, as many of you will know, is a lucky number in Las Vegas. So, here are exactly that many questions, observations and thoughts – in no particular order – on the season so far as the series leaves Sin City to head back east: Nothing changes for Casey Mears New team, new number, new …
As you’ve likely read plenty of places over the past 48 hours, the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. is a much-maligned venue – arguably the least popular of the 22 tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. Interest is sparse, attendance is – to put it politely – “not the best,” and in general fans …
Luck can be a fickle mistress, and at the premature end of the 51st running of the Great American Race, there were plenty of drivers – from the veterans to the rookies – who could attest all too easily to that sentiment. Chief among those bemoaning their poor fortune was Elliott Sadler. The Emporia, Va. …
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