It seems as though most of the country is running hot this week, with the summer swelter of the dog days of August closing in on almost everyone. I can’t believe how fast the summer has gone; the season is more than half over, and, well, there certainly has been plenty going on lately. There …
With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series off and the Nationwide Series at Gateway for a late Saturday night special, a trip to the local track was in order. Now my local short track is one of the most famous in the land, Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, N.C., a track where the winners’ list reads …
There has been discussion lately about rushing young drivers too quickly to the top in NASCAR, because at one time in the not-too-distant past it was considered out of the ordinary for drivers younger than their mid- to late-20s to join the elite class of race drivers that is now NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. It …
We’ve all heard it: the winning driver in victory lane thanking his teammates, without whom he surely could not have prevailed. Well, OK, maybe not in those exact words, because he’d sound like a dork, but you know the drill. Thank those teammates! So, how important are those teammates, really? In a perfect world, of …
The 25 finalists for five spots in the inaugural calls in the NASCAR Hall of Fame were released this week and I don’t envy anyone who has to narrow that list down. It did start me thinking, though, about what really makes a stock car driver great. At this level, they’re all good. They wouldn’t …
LOUDON, N.H. – Each Monday in the Frontstretch newsletter, Tom Bowles brings readers the “Secret Star of the Race.” This is the driver who has a great run but gets little mention on television, not getting the credit he deserves for a strong performance. Thinking about that this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, I …
The NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit swings north this week for the first of two visits to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The quirky little 1-mile oval, dubbed the “Magic Mile” years back, is a bit of a shock to those driving up Route 106 and caught unaware. Coming from the north, as I do, you pass …
Sponsorship is always a hot topic in racing and in the current economic environment, many teams, even some top Sprint Cup teams, are worried about sponsor dollars. And in the Nationwide Series, that talk is often doubled. There has been growing concern over the last decade as more Sprint Cup drivers are entering more Nationwide …
It isn’t easy to please race fans. That becomes evident in any discussion about drivers. One guy isn’t talented enough, and if he has a family name with a racing history, well then, by gum, he’d better live up to it or else! The next is too talented, apparently, because he wins too much, whatever …
Did you hear? NASCAR wants Kyle Busch to win the championship and will do anything to make sure he does. NASCAR doesn’t want Hendrick Motorsports to win another title, either. And the reason they don’t publish the rulebook or specific punishments is so they can punish based on who they want to win and who …
Author’s Note: My advertised column on conspiracy theories and NASCAR will run next week. I felt that the Dale Earnhardt Jr. situation warranted some comment this week. But not to fear, The Roswell 500 will run next week. The announcement that much of NASCAR Nation has been waiting for with bated breath came Thursday: Earnhardt …
It used to be, not so terribly long ago, that there were three races a NASCAR driver wanted to win in his career: the Daytona 500, the World 600 and the Southern 500. Sure, it was great to win anywhere, but one of those three really defined a driver in some intangible way. From 1985 …
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