Did You Notice? The firestorm surrounding cutting the Daytona 500 48 laps short? Personally, I think the anger should be focused on the starting time of the race more than anything else. The 3:45 ET start makes it near impossible to avoid the type of weather issues that we experienced in Sunday’s event. If anything …
Did You Notice? The giant black wrecking ball on the track Saturday night? NASCAR was looking for a new wrinkle to make the races more exciting, and… Hold on a second. That was David Stremme? Ohhhh, now it all makes sense. Seriously, it’s hard to think of a worse debut for a driver with a top-level …
Did You Notice? How this year’s offseason went extensive periods without any sort of NASCAR in the news? Yeah, it was merger central all the time with Richard Petty, Chip Ganassi, George Gillett and Teresa Earnhardt, but beyond that, there really wasn’t all that much to write about. And you know what – that was …
Did You Notice? A ray of hope in the midst of NASCAR’s testing ban? The logical assumption when the policy was announced was that every one of the sport’s big-time owners would pull out the bulldozers and start building racetracks themselves. But to everyone’s surprise, one of the power players of the “Big Four” – …
Did You Notice? That in the midst of a championship performance, the sport’s most powerful team – Hendrick Motorsports – is laying off a dozen employees? Just think about that for a second. This is a team with hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship coming from brands like Lowe’s, Pepsi-Cola, DuPont, Kellogg’s, the National …
Did You Notice? Juan Pablo Montoya’s sophomore season has officially become a nightmare? Of drivers who’ve started all 34 races in 2008, Montoya has the most DNFs with nine. Eight of those have been caused by crashes, including four in the last five races that have wrecked – literally – any supposed on-track improvements for …
Did You Notice? That under the old points system, the championship battle would be far from over? With three races left, Jimmie Johnson would lead Carl Edwards by just 98, with Kyle Busch hanging on by a thread at 203 points out. Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle would round out the top five, but neither …
Did You Notice? NASCAR’s TV ratings at Martinsville were down significantly this weekend, an overnight 2.9 as compared to a 3.3 in 2007? That low rating isn’t going to do the Virginia track any favors when it comes to whether it keeps a second date beyond the 2009 Cup season. Personally, it’s one of my …
Did You Notice? How much rainouts are unfairly affecting qualifying these days? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so much excitement from potential Sprint Cup debuts ruined by something as simple as the weather. Scott Speed, Brad Keselowski and Bryan Clauson were all coming off exceptional test sessions where they clearly showed the speed …
Did You Notice? Officials appeared to be taking debris off certain cars on the track during the first red-flag period? I wasn’t at the track this weekend, so maybe my eyes were seeing things on television. But I could have sworn that officials appeared to be removing some metal from the front grills of a …
Did You Notice? That the way Kyle Petty’s career is ending is very reminiscent of Darrell Waltrip? Before I covered this sport through TV and print, I made no secret of the fact Waltrip was my favorite driver. His fall from grace in the years leading up to retirement (save for a few races in ’98 …
Did You Notice? Jamie McMurray’s crash at Dover was not just caused by Robby Gordon’s recklessness… but by missing the playoffs? Let me explain. After the regular-season finale at Richmond, Roush Fenway Racing GM Robbie Reiser made a number of pit-crew switches to benefit the RFR teams set to contend for the championship. “There were …
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