Michael Waltrip, NASCAR, Swan Racing Come Together For Sandy Hook
An exciting partnership will have a fund designed to help Sandy Hook Elementary School front and center for this year’s Daytona 500. It’s not often …
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2013 NASCAR Fantasy Preview: Old Favorites And Diamonds In The Rough
*Come back every Thursday, to the website to get Jeff’s advice on who to pick for your team, all season long and see if you can beat your favorite staff members! More special announcements about this league to come.*
Daytona is just around the corner, so it’s time to rev up that NASCAR fantasy engine again. When it comes to playing fantasy sports, we all like to think we have some inside secret, or maybe some unique idea that can shoot us to the top. We like to think we know more than the other people we’re playing against.
But having played in many a fantasy league in many a sport (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, NASCAR) more often than not, having success is more about not making the huge mistake than coming up with a sleeper pick who comes up big consistently. So whether you are in league that limits drivers to a certain amount of races for the 36-race season (Yahoo gives drivers nine) or a where you have drivers for an entire season, one of the key factors is to not mess up that early “sleeper” selection.
Speeding Through Summer: Weekly NASCAR Fan Q&A Includes MWR, J.J., More
Finally, we are here. Gone is the hype and hoopla of the Super Bowl. Now, we’re staring face first into the motorsports giant and that Great American Race – the Daytona 500. But first, we have this week’s “preseason” warmup: the Sprint Unlimited, formerly known as the Budweiser Shootout. After an offseason filled mostly with stories about drivers’ (ahem … Danica) personal lives and some random bits about the Gen-6 cars, it’s been a mostly uneventful one compared to years past.
We’re back, however, and just as ready to hear those engines roar as the rest of you. New cars, new drivers in new places, and, as an added bonus, new rain delay technology! Mother Nature vs. Air Titan, Round 1. I can’t wait!
The Big 6: Questions Answered After NASCAR Acceleration 2013
Leave it to Bristol Motor Speedway to capitalize on its rough-and-tumble reputation in what was perhaps the most creative game of the day in terms of the actual racing at that track. Everyone has seen the carnival games where someone has to launch a beanbag or a ball through a deceptively small hole to win a prize. But for Bristol, could there be a more appropriate version of this one than a helmet toss, paying homage to, among other incidents, Tony Stewart’s display of anger toward Matt Kenseth last summer? Apparently not, because in order to win Bristol’s prizes, fans had to fire a miniature helmet smack through the driver’s side windshield of a cardboard racecar. Sometimes things are simply right, and this game was one of those times.
25 NASCAR Questions For 2013: Biffle, Kahne, Johnson, Bowyer, Keselowski
*Kasey Kahne*
*2013 Ride:* No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet (Hendrick Motorsports)
*Season With Team:* 2nd
*Crew Chief:* Kenny Francis
*Burning Question:* Can Kahne win a championship where he’s at?
In his first year at Hendrick Motorsports, Kahne finally found what he’d been lacking in his previous eight seasons in Sprint Cup — consistency. Would you believe that Kahne, considered one of the most talented young drivers in the sport, had only two points finishes in the top 10 before last season? And they were eighth and 10th.
25 NASCAR Questions For 2013: Gordon, Stewart, Harvick, Kenseth, Hamlin
*Jeff Gordon*
*2013 Ride:* No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont Chevrolet (Hendrick Motorsports)
*Season With Team:* 21st
*Crew Chief:* Alan Gustafson
*Burning Question:* Will Gordon ever win another title?
It’s hard to believe that Gordon hasn’t won a Cup title in 12 years, but it’s true. The only driver to go that long between championships was his former teammate at Hendrick, Terry Labonte, who won his first in 1984 and beat out Gordon for his second in 1996. Gordon put up strong bids to win his fifth championship in 2004 — the first year of The Chase — then three years later, setting a modern-era record for top-10 finishes (30) to go along with ten wins but fell short to others on both occasions.
Frontstretch Foto Funnies: Dude, Where’s My Car?
_Welcome to the Frontstretch Foto Funnies! Ever see a photo that’s just begging for a caption? We see them all the time! Each week, we’ll pick a few, and our let our staff give it their best shot. Then we’ll post the best ones for you!_
_Want to get in on the fun? Each week, we’ll also designate one of the photos for fan captions. Leave your best ideas in the comments below or on our Facebook page. We’ll choose our favorite one and reprint the photo next week with its new caption! This week’s Fan Foto is Photo No. 6 (the one with Tony Stewart pointing his finger at Danica Patrick in her car). Ready, set…caption that!_
25 NASCAR Questions For 2013: Edwards, Newman, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Truex
*Carl Edwards*
*2013 Ride:* No. 99 AFLAC/Fastenal Ford (Roush Fenway Racing)
*Season With Team:* 10th (ninth full season)
*Crew Chief:* Jimmy Fennig
*Burning Question:* Is Jimmy Fennig the solution?
After Matt Kenseth struggled a little at the start of the 2010 season, Jack Roush replaced Todd Parrott atop the pit box with the veteran Fennig. It proved to be a successful partnership as Kenseth had points finishes of fifth, fourth and seventh in the last three seasons with Fennig calling the shots.
25 NASCAR Questions For 2013: Almirola, Burton, Ambrose, Logano, Menard
*Aric Almirola*
*2013 Ride:* No. 43 Smithfield Foods Ford (Richard Petty Motorsports)
*Season With Team:* 2nd
*Crew Chief:* Todd Parrott
*Burning Question:* Can Almirola get it done in Sprint Cup?
Richard Petty Motorsports’ selection of Almirola before the start of 2012 was a bit of a head-scratcher. Almirola had just come off of a mediocre season in the Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports, in which he failed to win a race (or really even come close). Drivers such as Brian Vickers, Trevor Bayne and maybe even Ricky Stenhouse were available as quality alternatives.
2013 Staff NASCAR Preview, Part II: Who Has The Most To Prove
Today’s Season Preview Topic: There’s only a handful of drivers in new rides this season, but they all have big names attached to them. Which driver within that group has the most to prove entering the 2013 season, and why?
Brett Poirier, Senior Writer: Easily Joey Logano. Joe Gibbs Racing gave up on him as a Sprint Cup driver, but he’s been given a second chance with Penske. He’s entering his fifth full season in Cup and has little to show for his time — two wins and no points finish inside the top 15. Logano has more potential than any young driver I can think of, and he’s only 22. Kyle Busch was 22 when he left Hendrick for Gibbs in 2008 and became a star. Logano needs to prove he is capable of doing the same. While he is still very young, if he does fail with Penske, then what would be next? It would be highly improbable for Logano to land another ride with a top-tier team if this one doesn’t work out. The pressure is on to perform now.