NASCAR on TV this week

Beyond The Cockpit: Engine Guru Doug Yates On NASCAR Past, Present & Future

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_Doug Yates has been around racing his entire life. He’s the son of a legendary engine builder and has made a career out of making horsepower. He now heads up the operations at Roush Yates, a collaborative effort established in 2004 between two former engine building rivals who decided to team up and share their expertise._

_The result was an instant success, as Kurt Busch claimed the Cup Series title in the first year of the collaboration. The company has been expanding their reach beyond the upper levels of NASCAR and is now serving a broad variety of racing endeavors around the globe. Frontstretch sat down with Yates before the ADVOCARE 500 in Atlanta to talk about growing up in the sport, learning about business from a legendary father, and hopes for the future._

Truckin’ Thursdays: 11 Winners Down, Who’s Next?

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Ty Dillon’s victory in last Friday night’s Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway marked the 11th different–and sixth first-time–winner in the Camping World Truck Series this year. The current record for most wins in a single season sits at 14–set in 1998 and 2005–and with eight races left on the schedule, it’s a mark that could be broken.

But the question that remains: who might break through and add their name to the list of victors?

At Talladega anyone could make a trip to victory lane in that race – assuming all 36 trucks aren’t wiped out in a massive wreck. After all, remember what happened at the last superspeedway race the Truck Series had in Daytona this February. John King executed an ill-timed bump on Johnny Sauter, sending him spinning and ended up snagging the victory. But that wild card aside, there are plenty of drivers that have yet to win this year and could easily do so before season’s end.

Professor Of Speed: The Last Lap Of A Long Season

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Labor Day is always a melancholy holiday for me. It’s not because the weekend marks a symbolic end to summer, nor is it because it marks the beginning of a new school year (the moans of children are often difficult to hear over the cheers of their parents). What makes Labor Day so depressing to me is the fact that this was the time of year when Virginia Howell – my mother and one of the most dedicated NASCAR fans I ever knew – died from lung cancer at the age of 69.

I’ve written at length over the years about the role both of my parents played in my life-long relationship with NASCAR, but it was my mother who taught me about the meaningful (and sometimes quite complicated) nature of the driver/sponsor/fan triumvirate. Her loyalties were legendary within my family, and the example she set went on to inspire others once they discovered this thing called stock car racing.

Potts’ Shots: Rainy Days in ASA, Kenny’s Cussing, and Butch’s Bad Break

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With a phone call this week, somebody wanted to know what was the longest distance I ever drove only to be rained out.

That would have to be one of the ASA races we ran in Atlanta. Woke up Sunday morning with the pouring rain like it was coming out of a bucket, and it stayed that way until we pulled out at 3:00 p.m. Rex Robbins asked if I was giving up on it clearing up. I said I wasn’t so much worried about that as the track filling up with water. This was back when Atlanta was a “pure” oval and a bit bowl-shaped like Dover. I loved it that way. We don’t have enough tracks like that nowadays…

Vexing Vito: Another One Bites The Dust at Roush Fenway Racing

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With Tuesday’s announcement making official what everybody has known for the past two months, 2003 Winston Cup Champion Matt Kenseth has left Roush Fenway Racing, and will be moving to Joe Gibbs Racing. To say that Roush Fenway is a talent vacuum might not be much of an understatement. Over the course of the past five years, consider the drivers that they have lost: Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, and Matt Kenseth in the Cup Series alone. Sponsorship has taken a hit as well, adding to the list of Office Depot, UPS, AAA, DeWalt, Crown Royal, and Carhartt.

Did You Notice? … Sponsors Make Things Silly

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*Did You Notice?…* Sponsorship is what’s making the Silly Season world go round these days? Matt Kenseth didn’t have enough of it at Roush Fenway; Joey Logano had it stripped from him at Joe Gibbs Racing. Their financial problems, not personality conflicts or performance issues led to the biggest day of announcements we’ll see for 2013.

Kenseth’s time in front of the cameras came first, one of the most poorly kept secrets in NASCAR history due to a contract that kept him from “officially” announcing his move until a certain date. (Side note: When will NASCAR get with the 21st Century? Do they really think an archaic piece of paper will keep the Twitterverse silent for three months? Hello… someone get Jack Roush an iPhone and a paper shredder – that contract should have been ripped up and a press conference held back in July. But I digress.)

Mirror Driving: Kenseth’s Big Move, Wild Racing Ahead And Who’s Got A Title Edge

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*With his win at Atlanta, Denny Hamlin is guaranteed at least a tie for the top spot in the Chase. Given that Hamlin is currently a distant seventh in points, should this be the case?*

Amy: Um, the words “hell, no” come to mind… it’s a massive slap in the face to the guys who have been the best drivers all year long.
Tom: Hamlin’s pulling a Tony Stewart 2011 as we speak. What an awful summer of being completely irrelevant, but that’s the way this format works — he deserves it based on the rules given to all the teams in February.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Atlanta II

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We’re getting close! The 10 race stretch to the champinonship known as “the Chase” is now only a week away, and Atlanta still left many more questions raised than answered. Hamlin’s back-to-back wins were almost a forethought to the wild card spot that were occupying headlines. However, Hamlin was indeed the driver in Victory Lane and is making some noise of his own heading to his home track in Richmond.

A Tale of Two Title Contenders: The Winding Road to the Championship

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Seventeen points. That is how many points separate IZOD IndyCar Series points leader Will Power and second place driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. Seventeen points. It always amazes me that we can go 14 weeks into a racing season (much longer than that if NASCAR is your thing) and still have two drivers so close at the top. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been good at math. Who knows.

But the point is, we have a hell of a title fight on our hands this year, and for the first time in a long time, I really am undecided as to which driver is truly the favorite to take the title. Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay have been leaps and bounds ahead of the competition all season long. These two guys deserve to be where they are. And they couldn’t have got to where they are now more differently.

The Greatest Street Course Racing Has Never Seen

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I came to the world of INDYCAR just as I did NASCAR – through a work assignment. Unlike with NASCAR back in 2005, it was not a bucket of freezing water over the head type rude awakening; I already had an interest and knowledge about the premier North American open wheel series, I just wasn’t an expert. Over the last two years, I’ve very much enjoyed getting to know the intricacies of Indy car racing and becoming an expert (or at least an approximation of one). After all, it’s the nuances that help you truly understand any sport you care to mention. This year, in particular, has been a fascinating season to watch Indy car racing in intensive detail with new engines and engine manufacturers (Chevy and the much maligned Lotus), a new chassis (the DW12); the departure of one Danica Patrick to pastures supposedly lime-greener and of course the tragic death of the popular British champion Dan Wheldon in the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In short, there were plenty of unknowns.