NASCAR on TV this week

Four Burning Questions In Kansas: Judging Fast Speeds And Penalty Appeals

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Kansas Speedway is the site of Round 8 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, but before I get into this weekend’s preview, I feel I would be remiss if I did not express my most profound condolences to all those affected by both the Boston Marathon bombings and the West Texas Fertilizer Plant Disaster. There are no words to express the pain I felt upon hearing of these horrible tragedies, and my heart and all of my thoughts and prayers go out to all of the innocent families that these tragedies struck. Alas, in times like these, the best thing we can do as humans is pull ourselves back up by the bootstraps and get back to doing what we do best. That is exactly what the men and women of NASCAR will be doing this weekend, in the wake of these disasters as we as a nation forge past the atrocities of the past week.

Did You Notice? … NASCAR Penalties: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

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*Did You Notice?…* On some things, despite mounting criticism NASCAR has the ability to stay consistent. In the wake of penalties issued Wednesday, the one that stands out the most here is *Martin Truex, Jr.’s* penalty for being too low in post-race inspection. That six-point deduction – equivalent to about 25 in the old system – along with a $25,000 fine for crew chief Chad Johnston keeps along with the same type of infraction reaching all the way back into the previous decade.

Why I find that important is, for the first time if you asked 50 of the top media members and garage insiders what Truex’s penalty would be, I’m confident all 50 would have said what actually happened. For once, a rulebook deadpanned as written in dry erase marker has a sense of permanence when it comes to a penalty for a _specific_ violation.

Fantasy Insider: Good Picks, Bad Picks And Sleepers, Oh My!

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We are nearing the quarter-pole of the season with race No. 8 at Kansas this Sunday. That means by now we’ve seen drivers at enough tracks to pretty much know who’s going to contend most weeks and who is not. Even if your favorite driver has been disappointing, he or she can still be your favorite driver — but in terms of picking them regularly in your fantasy lineup, it may be time to look in another direction.

Kansas also brings us another intermediate track, and tracks like these 1.5-milers are what the new Gen 6 car was supposedly built for. That’s because with the old Car of Tomorrow, we had way too many snooze fests at these types of tracks.

NASCAR Mailbox: Security Measures, Christmas, And Tattling

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It’s not hard to rile up NASCAR fans. Just drop the words, “Brian France”, “Chase”, “Jimmie Johnson”, or any other buzzword and they’re off to the races (so to speak).

However, I found out over that weekend that this is simply child’s play in comparison to the potential for controversy when it comes to the wings of the political parties. I had somehow underestimated the impact that, “NRA” sponsoring the race would have on how quickly everyone on both sides of the aisle would completely lose their minds. Liberals were losing their minds because, oh my gosh, why would a company want to appeal to their base?

Oh and apparently the NRA kills people…

Truckin’ Thursdays: Kansas Kind To First-Time Victors

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This weekend, the Camping World Truck Series heads off to Kansas Speedway for a little Saturday afternoon action at the 1.5-mile oval. In 12 previous visits to the facility, no driver has even been a repeat winner — yet. But perhaps what’s more interesting is that of those 12 different victors, four happened to notch their first career trip to victory lane at the speedway. With an entry list 37 strong and only four previous winners at Kansas entered (Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Todd Bodine and James Buescher), the likelihood of adding a 13th different winner is pretty high.

But until the checkered flag flies on Saturday afternoon, I’d like to take a look at the drivers who did score their first wins at the track and where they are now.

Mirror Driving: NASCAR Stuck In A Box… Have We Reached Maximum Speed?

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*NASCAR has announced the penalties for three teams following last week’s pre- and post-race failures. Martin Truex Jr. was fined six points and crew chief Chad Johnston was $25,000 and placed on probation until June 5th. Meanwhile, Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were each docked 25 points and both of their crew chiefs were suspended for the next six races, though they will be in Kansas as Penske Racing is appealing. Are these penalties fair? Why or why not?*

Amy: The Truex penalty was fair, provided they couldn’t prove something broke. If the rear ends on the 2 and 22 were illegal, the penalty is fine. But NASCAR has not said what was illegal, or how it was discovered, so we’ll never really know.
Summer: I guess all the penalties were “fair”, though I think it’s ridiculous how sensitive NASCAR is with these cars. Let me put it this way. I thought the points penalty and fine were OK, but the fact that they suspended as many people as they did with Penske seemed excessive.