NASCAR on TV this week

Five Points to Ponder: Send the Brickyard Packing (and the Restart Rules…and the Points System)

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*ONE: The Brickyard Has to Go*

Back in 1994, when the Brickyard 400 was an inaugural event, there’s a reason it sold out and was instantly one of the sport’s marquee moments. Taking the green flag there was more than tackling a storied oval. It was a story of triumph for how the backwater racers of NASCAR had surged from down south, become prominent in a way open-wheel racing used to be, and brought their beating and banging onto Indy’s home turf. It was the equivalent of planting the flag in the enemy’s capital city.

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in NASCAR: Indianapolis/Pocono Edition

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Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson may have been the two latest Hendrick Motorsports drivers to visit Victory Lane, but make no mistake about it, the spotlight is going to be on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. this week.

For the first time since September, 2004 Junior will head to the next event as the Sprint Cup points leader. And while media coverage and interviews are nothing new to Earnhardt Jr., both are going to be ramped up this week.

Still Shiny and Slick: Kevin Manion Prepares Car #1 for Pocono Race #2

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_The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series raced on the freshly paved surface of Pocono Raceway on June 10th. This weekend, just eight weeks later, the Cup cars will be back on the triangular-shaped track in the mountains of Pennsylvania. The teams have updated their notebooks after logging a full race on the fresh pavement and now are ready to head back with new ideas on how to go fast. But how do you make adjustments in so short a period of time? Jamie McMurray’s crew chief, Kevin “Bono” Manion tells Frontstretch what is on his mind heading back to Pocono for the second race on the upgraded surface._

Overhyping and Individual Coverage Mars ESPN at Brickyard

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, the weekly piece here at Frontstretch where TV coverage is placed front and center. This past weekend, we had “mini-Speedweeks” out in Indianapolis. The Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with Grand-Am’s two series. Meanwhile, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards raced Friday night at nearby Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis with USAC’s three big divisions (Midgets, Wingless Sprints and Silver Crown) as support.

Pace Laps: Winning At All Costs, RestartGate, And Going Dancing Again

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*Sprint Cup Series:* *Carl’s Last-Ditch Move To Make The Chase: Win At All Costs?* For Carl Edwards, the high point of Sunday’s race at Indy was simple: taking the plane ride home. Starting second, on the outside of the front row it took less than 15 laps for the No. 99 car to develop major engine issues; that forced several off-sequence stops, both under green and yellow before the cause of the problem was finally found. Dropping four laps off the pace, there were no Lucky Dogs to help him; just a lackluster performance, served up at the wrong time as a 35th-place result left him in the midst of Chase disaster. Now an all-but-insurmountable 61 points behind Clint Bowyer, who’s 10th in the standings a winless Edwards knows with six races left his key to making the playoffs won’t come through a handful of top-10, even top-5 finishes down the stretch.

“I think we are officially racing only for wins,” he said matter-of-factly after Indianapolis. “I think it will involve lots of pushing on the right pedal and turning left and going as fast as possible. We have to take chances. We have to go race. We can do that, we can race like that. It will actually be a big relief in a way because there is no other choice.”

Best NASCAR Driver Of The Modern Era? Building A Case, Brick By Brick(yard)

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They say he’s too politically correct. They say his team has more money and, therefore, better equipment than anyone else inside the 43-car field. They say his crew chief is a cheater, someone who should have been suspended from NASCAR as recently as this February’s Daytona 500. Heck, this man’s mere presence behind the wheel is blamed for the self-destruction of stock car racing’s popularity.

But as Sunday wrapped up, as a group of grown men in Lowe’s firesuits were getting busy kissing bricks on pillows (we’ll skip that for now), it was hard for the critics to argue this point: Jimmie Johnson has prepped a resume that will make him the best driver of NASCAR’s modern era. After putting up the latest bullet point, a fourth Brickyard 400 victory in his last seven starts at Indianapolis, even rivals could do nothing but stand up in awe.

Has Earnhardt Jr.’s Time Finally Come?

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After the dust settled at Indianapolis, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. emerged with the point lead for the first time since 2004. That’s right; the driver once labeled “fourth-best” at Hendrick used a fourth-place finish to climb to the top of NASCAR’s championship Chase for the first time since Joey Logano was practically in diapers. Although NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver won’t be the point leader when the postseason starts, unless he goes on a phenomenal winning streak, there is no doubt that he is a legitimate threat to win the championship in 2012. While the wins have not come in large numbers, the speed and consistency are there to position Earnhardt near the top of any pre-Chase favorite lists. With the current state of the sport somewhere between its niche status of the 1980s and its boom years in the 2000s, nothing could give it a bigger shot in the arm than having the No. 88 team in the mix for the championship once the green flag flies in Homestead.