NASCAR on TV this week

Did You Notice?…Common Sense Behind Junior’s Big-Time Concussion

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*Did You Notice?…* Today’s concussion diagnosis isn’t the first or even second since Junior’s last bout with this type of injury in 2002? Here’s a quick reminder of what Earnhardt told us in his press conference Thursday morning, a two-week “leave of absence” that might eclipse any piece of news collected this season – even the upcoming champion to be crowned come Homestead. (In case you’ve been living on an outpost, right now Earnhardt confirmed he’ll step out of the No. 88 due to a head injury initially suffered during a Kansas tire test, the end of August and then re-aggravated during Sunday’s last-lap wreck at Talladega.)

Four Burning Questions: Can Johnson and Co. Regain Lost Momentum?

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Charlotte Motor Speedway is the site of Round 5 of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and as the Chase reaches it’s midpoint, the championship picture is becoming increasingly clear. After emerging from the last lap mayhem at Talladega with minimal damage, Brad Keselowski also emerged from Talladega with a 14 point lead in the Championship over his nearest foe, Jimmie Johnson. Denny Hamlin is still very much in the hunt for the title as well, but a poor finish at Talladega set his number 11 team back a good bit. With this Saturday night’s race looming as another important step in the Chase for the Championship, here are the big stories to watch heading into Charlotte.

Voices from the Cheapseats: Repercussions of a Jr. Concussion

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In light of Dale Jr.’s shocking announcement yesterday, there are a few observations and/or questions that I’d like to throw out there.

As I read through the “transcript”:http://www.jayski.com/news/teams/story/_/page/88-Hendrick-NASCAR-Team-News of the news conference, the first thing that caught my eye were a few statements that seemed a bit off. Well duh, you say, the man has a concussion! Yeah, that’s very funny and all, but here is what struck me as strange.

Dakoda Armstrong Driver Diary: Sponsors, Championship and Football

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Just days after our last diary, I was released from ThorSport Racing. I knew we didn’t have all of the season funded and we were trying to work on it. It just got to the point where it’s hard to get more sponsorship in the middle of the year. We got to a point where we needed to hire the rest of the guys on the team and write their contracts out for the rest of the year and we couldn’t commit. We only had enough for one more race and that’s how the deal with Turner came about. Instead of just dragging it out for one more race, everyone wanted to get ready to do their own thing. I guess it worked out up there because there were some of the guys that got new jobs, so a lot of my guys got to go to the No. 88 or the No. 13; that was good.

Earnhardt’s Absence Comes At the Wrong Time for NASCAR, But It’s Still the Right Decision

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Dale Earnhardt, Jr. knew he didn’t feel right. Struggling with headaches in the days following a multicar crash at Talladega, Earnhardt finally had to admit that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t the aches and pains a driver can feel for a few days after a hard hit, and deep down, Earnhardt knew it. “I knew that I didn’t feel (right)—you know your body and you know how your mind works, and I knew something was not quite right,” Earnhardt said on Thursday. The lingering headaches prompted Earnhardt to contact Dr. Jerry Petty, a Charlotte neurosurgeon who has worked with numerous athletes, including other drivers.

Truckin’ Thursdays: Records, Roots and Championships

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With the Camping World Truck Series off for the next couple weeks, it’s time for teams and drivers alike to take a step back and regroup in preparation for the final four races of the season. Of course, along with off weeks comes a lack of news coming out of the series. In fact, it’s almost as if the series doesn’t exist during their breaks, so this week, I bring you a few random thoughts and observations.

*Record Breaking Year*

Parker Kligerman’s victory last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway marked the eighth different first-time winner (John King – Daytona, James Buescher – Kansas, Justin Lofton – Charlotte, Joey Coulter – Pocono, Nelson Piquet Jr. – Michigan, Ty Dillon – Atlanta, Ryan Blaney – Iowa) the series has seen this season. It breaks the previous record of seven set in 1997 and matched in 1998.

It’s Not What I Say, It’s What I Mean

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While listening to MRN’s post-race coverage from Talladega last Sunday, I was somewhat stunned to hear Greg Biffle describe the last lap of the Good Sam Auto Assistance 500 as being “like “Days of Thunder” once the 25-car accident began. It’s no surprise when racing turns into wrecking at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, but comparing NASCAR’s “fact” to Hollywood’s “fiction” seemed to take the nature of the accident out of context. There was more to the white flag carnage than what came out during post-race interviews.

Context is essential when considering why and how people communicate, yet the concept can be tricky when it comes to interpretation. Because context is always shifting and evolving, depending on conditions and connections, it can be difficult to determine the intention of a speaker. The concept is at the center of both literary analysis and writing, and being adept at managing and understanding context is at the heart of communicating effectively.

Frontstretch Fan Q&A: Putting NASCAR Villains In Perspective

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_”What is your take on how fans react to injuries in NFL compared to how fans react to unliked drivers? Example: Matt Cassell vs. Kurt Busch.. Do fans go overboard cheering for injuries and booing or least favorite?”_

_Terry_

Honestly, I don’t know enough about football to know if Matt Cassel is hated or how fans reacted to his injury. However, as much as fans hate Kurt Busch, I don’t think any of them genuinely want to see him physically injured. In fact, I can almost guarantee that if such a thing did happen (God forbid), he would receive an outpouring of support from NASCAR fans everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some crazy, creepy people out there who do wish harm on the drivers and they should be ashamed of themselves. But most diehard NASCAR fans care about the drivers and their safety, even if they don’t like the guy’s personality.

Champion, Interrupted: Kurt Busch’s Phoenix Racing Tenure

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Kurt Busch’s 29-race tenure with Phoenix Racing ended with a bang, though it’s probably not the kind of noise Busch and owner James Finch hoped to make.

After leading six laps and riding around at the front of the pack in the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Busch slowed on the track — in front of nearly the entire field, no less — claiming he was out of fuel. One spin and contact with the inside wall later, his No. 51 Chevrolet was rendered pretty much useless, though that didn’t stop him from driving away from safety crews, a piece of their equipment still sitting atop his car and later falling to the racing surface.

The move earned the Las Vegas native an early exit via a NASCAR parking, even though his car wasn’t going to perform too well in the draft anyway with a crumpled rear end.