Your 2012 Cup Champion: Look No Further Than These Five Drivers

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It certainly was strange not to have a Cup race to watch this past weekend. You get so used to the relentless nature of the schedule and the regular routine that when there is a brief moment of respite it seems, well, all a little strange. Now, though, with the off week consigned to the history books, it’s time for the stretch run and seventeen straight weekends of racing that will decide who does and doesn’t make the Chase; and ultimately who will be crowned the 2012 Sprint Cup Champion.

What Tony Stewart did last year in “the playoffs” was unparalleled in Chase history. No driver has ever won so many races to on the way to the wavy silver Sprint Cup trophy. You can top-5, top-10 the competition into the ground but wins count big. Real big. Truth is, it probably was something of an anomaly. How many drivers other than Smoke could have done that? You’re talking about a handful, at best. So yes, anything can happen.

Tech Talk – Making Smoke at the Brickyard with Steve Addington

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_Steve Addington heads to Indianapolis with Tony Stewart to try and put another win in the bag for the native Hoosier while he hopes to score a win at the fabled track for his first time as a crew chief. The challenges at Indianapolis are similar to Loudon and Pocono yet unique at the same time. Addington talks about going fast and slowing down at the Brickyard._

Mike Neff: *You had a week off and you’re getting ready to head to Indianapolis, which is obviously a very special place for Tony. Does he put any added pressure on you this week more than others as you get ready to head up there?*

Nationwide Series Breakdown: STP 300

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The good news for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his No. 6 team on Sunday was that the event marked a return to championship form. For the first time this summer, the defending champions were the class of the field.

The bad news? That still wasn’t enough. Though Stenhouse was running down Elliott Sadler in the closing laps, a late-race yellow bunched up the field and left the event up to a final restart. On that restart, Justin Allgaier gave Sadler a huge shove down the frontstretch, which provided all the No. 2 team needed to score their third win of the 2012 season and first since Bristol way back in March. Stenhouse, Allgaier, Kenny Wallace, and Michael Annett rounded out the top 5. The late caution interrupted what had been a largely green event, one of only five yellows to fly Sunday afternoon.

Pace Laps: Title Hunts, Two Bueschers On Top, And Two Helmets For A Cause

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*Izod IndyCar Series: Two Drivers to Allow Fans to Design Helmets for Charity* Fans with an artistic side have two chances to design helmets that will be used during races this season and then raffled off to benefit charity. Justin Wilson and the International Dyslexia Association have teamed up to present a competition for young people with dyslexia to design the helmet that Wilson will use at the Grand Prix of Baltimore. After the race, the helmet will be raffled off and the proceeds will benefit the IDA. Wilson recently revealed he had dyslexia.

Tracking the Trucks: American Ethanol 225

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*In a Nutshell:* James Buescher took the checkered flag 0.247 seconds ahead of Brendan Gaughan to win the American Ethanol 225 at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night. Buescher went two laps down thanks to a carburetor change, but managed to get both back before bolting on a set of four fresh tires and making quick work of the field en route to his third win this year. Timothy Peters (who started at the back of the field thanks to an engine change), Matt Crafton, and Parker Kligerman rounded out the top 5.

IndyCar Edmonton Race Recap

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*In a nutshell:* Helio Castroneves’ #3 team delivered a brilliant pit stop with 23 laps to go to snooker the lead away from Canadian driver Alex Tagliani. From there, Castroneves never looked back, and despite second-place finisher Takuma Sato’s best efforts to wrestle the lead away from Castroneves, Castroneves held firm for the final stint of the race to grab his second win of the season. Will Power delivered a valiant drive to grab the final spot on the podium in 3rd, and Dario Franchitti and Alex Tagliani rounded out the top 5.

Four Burning Questions: New Crew Chiefs and Old Stereotypes

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The thing is, I doubt if Norris can really make a difference. With only seven races left until the Chase is set, unless Norris and Edwards have an instantaneous chemistry tantamount to that of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, we likely won’t see a change.

Here’s the thing. Edwards is already 46 points out of the Chase—basically an entire race—and is continuing to slide. With an already uphill battle to climb, and a glaring goose egg in the “wins” column, without a miracle fuel mileage or rain victory, it’s looking less and less likely that we’ll see the 2011 runner-up to the championship in this year’s playoffs.

IndyCar Edmonton Indy Preview

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*Whats News?*

The IZOD IndyCar Series continues it’s trek through Canada this Sunday with the Edmonton Indy. The biggest and perhaps most curious news coming out over the past week was the revelation from IndyCar race director Beaux Barfield that the sanctioning body was heavily considering introducing an “overtime format” to IndyCar racing, similar to that of NASCAR’s Green-White-Checkered finishes. IndyCar officials will make a decision over the off–season as to whether or not GWC’s will make their way to the sport. Another very important piece of IndyCar news this week actually came from Washington DC. The U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of letting the nation’s military branches continue to sponsor sports teams. This is great news for IndyCar’s Panther Racing, who has a very lucrative sponsorship deal with the United States National Guard.

Formula 1 Friday: Celebrating Britishness!

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It was just the other day I was talking to a friend about the negativity surrounding our forthcoming Olympic Games in London and we fell to conversation about how we Brits are so categorically miserable when it comes to celebrating our nation. One of the things I greatly admire about you American ladies and gents is your unashamed joy in the positive things about your country. We could learn a lesson or two when it comes to melting away some of that British cynicism._

_So, with you having celebrated Independence Day recently, I thought I’d celebrate one thing we’re really rather good at – Formula One World Champions. In fact, so overcome with patriotism that, barring significant incident at this weekend’s German Grand Prix, I’ll be splitting this column across the next two Friday’s to make sure it’s being given the requisite attention by me. Currently Britain has produced 10 Driver’s Championship winners – with Brazil and Finland trailing far behind in second place with three each. So please excuse an unlikely bout of patriotic fervor as I unfurl the bunting and present you with the 10 Brits who have done us proud in the sport by carrying home the ultimate trophy…_