Race Weekend Central

Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings After the 2007 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega

1) Jeff Gordon (Six First-Place Votes)
Was going to either win or become a hood ornament on Tony Stewart’s Chevy in a daring last-lap pass at Talladega.

Voices from the Heartland: Hey NASCAR, Where Did The Extra $100 Million Come From?

Barely a week after I wrote about how Anheuser-Busch is severing almost all ties with the sanctioning body of NASCAR after the season – opting instead to focus on its Budweiser sponsorship of Kasey Kahne – a viable replacement has been found for the support series it’s leaving behind. NASCAR CEO Brian France announced Wednesday …

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Fanning the Flames: What a Weird Week for NASCAR It’s Been

Wow, what a week. NASCAR’s Kansas race still has fans buzzing, while 2008 plans have become just as much of a hot-button topic: why just yesterday, Kyle Busch got a new sponsor (M&M’s), Scott Riggs a new home (Haas CNC Racing), Ganassi Racing a new open-wheeled Scotsman (Dario Franchitti) and the Busch Series a new …

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Fantasy Picks ‘N’ Pans: 2007 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Edition

This is the week the Chasers dread most, as the Nextel Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the first restrictor-plate race under Car of Tomorrow conditions. The 2.66-mile high-banked oval is notorious for being a crapshoot – simply because the restricted engines keep everyone in a three-wide pack most of the day. In that …

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Mirror Driving: The Kansas Debacle, Dale Junior’s Bobble, & Was Biffle’s Wobble to the Finish Legit?

How should the race at Kansas have been completed on Sunday? Should they have called the race at 148 laps, run the race on Monday, or done something in between?

Thompson in Turn 5: NASCAR is Ripe For Scandal

The Sept. 25 publication of the Frontstretch newsletter broke a story of race “fixing” that occurred Sept. 23 at Dover International Speedway. The publication provided incontrovertible evidence that Hendrick Motorsports driver Casey Mears, along with crew chief Darian Grubb and spotter Chuck Joyce, conspired to alter the finishing order of the race to allow fellow …

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10 Points to Ponder… After the 2007 Lifelock 400 at Kansas

1. Goody’s, anyone? – Somehow, I think all the NASCAR bigwigs were ready to share a round of Goody’s headache powder by the end of today’s Lifelock 400. Officials were called upon to make numerous critical and highly controversial calls this weekend, culminating in the Cup race itself. Should the starting time have been moved …

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