Race Weekend Central

5 Points to Ponder: Is Joey Logano This Year’s Joey Logano?

2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Toyota NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

ONE: Is Joey Logano This Year’s Joey Logano? In 2018, we spent a lot of time debating which of the “Big Three” who had dominated the regular season — Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch — would race off with the title once the playoffs got underway. As it turned out, all three …

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5 Points to Ponder: Playoff Points Payoff

2019 Darlington MENCS Kyle Busch Car NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Bonus Points Heading into the 2018 iteration of the playoffs, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick had a whopping 50 bonus points apiece while Martin Truex Jr. had a healthy 35 points in third place. Brad Keselowski was a distant fourth (19 points), with Clint Bowyer (15), Kurt Busch (14) and Joey Logano (14) further back. …

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5 Points to Ponder: A True Hero

2019 MENCS Sonoma Allyn Pierce

(Photo: Danny Peters)

A Hero, Defined To many people, race car drivers are heroes, and it’s a thought echoed in the famous old Ernest Hemingway quote: “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” And yes, on some levels, what drivers do could be considered heroic. Only a minute few …

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5 Points to Ponder: WANTED: Young Guns Victories

2019 bristol zach catanzareti cup ryan blaney

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

The Young Guns Need Some Wins After a day that started from the pole, 38 laps led and a good deal of optimism, Sunday’s Bristol race saw Chase Elliott finish 11th after some crash damage. Ryan Blaney, meanwhile, led 158 laps and finished a creditable fourth — no one, by the way, has led more …

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5 Points to Ponder: Contenders & Pretenders

#11: Denny Hamlin wins the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 driving the Toyota Camry FedEx Office for Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Strong Start for Denny Hamlin For the first time since all the way back in 2010, Denny Hamlin won at Texas Motor Speedway — his second win in seven races this season, and statistically his best start to a season in 14 years of running full-time at the Cup level. Hamlin has never started a …

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5 Points to Ponder: Same Old, Same Old

#18: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Supra iK9

Is Kyle Busch right to speak out as he did?(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Same Old, Same Old Look back at the standings after the sixth race of 2018 and you’ll see much of the same as we do today. In fact, nine of the top 11 drivers are exactly the same and just like last year, we’ve had four winners thus far, the Fords look very strong and …

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5 Points To Ponder: Martinsville Madness

2018 martinsville cup zach catanzareti ty dillon

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Martinsville Madness In the interests of full disclosure, there isn’t a track I enjoy more than the iconic Martinsville Speedway. For each of the last 12 seasons, I have had the pleasure of writing about the famed old paper clip. I like to make note of the fact that Martinsville hosted the sixth of eight …

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5 Points to Ponder: The Thief of Joy

#18: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry SKITTLES

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

One: 199 Not Out On September 4, 2005, Kyle Busch won his first ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in the Sony HD 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Coincidentally, it was first race I ever watched when I discovered NASCAR through my then day job in advertising (which is a whole other story). This …

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5 Points to Ponder: Rolling the Las Vegas Dice

las Vegas -- 2017

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade/NKP)

A Crucial Race There is an argument to be made that this Sunday’s 400-miler at Las Vegas Motor Speedway might just be one of the most important races in NASCAR’s recent history. With the 2019 package due to made its “full debut,” the drivers, teams and fans will all be itching to see just what …

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2018 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

2018 cup new hampshire zach catanzareti ricky stenhouse jr.

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

In his sixth full season at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series level, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. regressed a touch. That came after a career year in 2017 which included his first two victories at the top echelon in a stretch of just eight midseason races. His maiden win came at Talladega Superspeedway …

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