Race Weekend Central

The Big 6: 2008 Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix

Who… gets my shoutout of the race? He made a last turn, last-ditch effort for the win, getting his car sideways in turn 4, but in the end Kurt Busch couldn’t quite grab a win at Phoenix. Still, Busch had a great run in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. Penske Racing hasn’t been competitive this …

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Did You Notice? Montoya’s Nightmare, Logano Losing Steam & Disbelieving a Championship Dream?

Did You Notice? Juan Pablo Montoya’s sophomore season has officially become a nightmare? Of drivers who’ve started all 34 races in 2008, Montoya has the most DNFs with nine. Eight of those have been caused by crashes, including four in the last five races that have wrecked – literally – any supposed on-track improvements for …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2008 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta

Carl Edwards made good on the promise that he showed at the beginning of the spring Atlanta race by taking the win this past weekend. Overshadowed by that performance, however, was a banzai run by Jimmie Johnson from 11th to second in the last eight laps of the race. That strength solidified the points leader’s …

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The Yellow Stripe: It’s Jimmie Johnson’s World – We’re All Just Living In It

It’s as good as done, folks. Park the haulers, turn off the seven-post shaker rigs, put away the tools and send the shop guys home for some well-deserved R&R. It’s over. O.V.E.R. See you in Daytona. Jimmie Johnson’s gonna three-peat, becoming just the second driver in NASCAR history to do so (joining the immortal Cale …

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Top 10 Recent Understatements by NASCAR-Affiliated Personnel (With Commentary!)

10. “It was great to see the front and sniff a little bit of the lead of the race with 25 [laps] to go.” – Kurt Busch (Oooo, that smell! Can’t ya smell that smell?!) 9. “Everyone at Roush Fenway runs well. I mean, all of my teammates run well every single week… so I …

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Fantasy Picks ‘N’ Pans: Avoiding the Talladega Big One That Destroys Your Team

The Chase heads to one of the big unknowns this weekend with restrictor-plate racing at Talladega. The tight packs that occur on the plate tracks are nothing less than a nightmare for fantasy owners, leaving them on edge for every bit of those 500 miles. It’s a situation where a single slip by a driver …

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Fanning the Flames: Advantage Greg Biffle? Slow Down There, Cowboy

After watching Greg Biffle put a hurtin’ on the field at both Loudon and Dover, that got me thinking: How has the top Chase finisher in each season’s first two playoff events fared in the final standings? It’s been widely reported since Biffle’s New Hampshire triumph that Kurt Busch, in 2004, is the only driver …

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Voice of Vito: Food for Thought – What’s Broken & What Works in NASCAR

The popular saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” applies to many things in life — especially in racing. As we’ve seen the last few years, sometimes NASCAR tends to tinker with things that don’t need to be messed with, while ignoring problems that badly need to be solved. So, on the heels of …

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Holding a Pretty Wheel: When Is a Fight Not a Fight? Only When It’s Between NASCAR Cup Drivers

Fight! There’s one word that’s sure to send people flocking to a scene, and last Saturday, they flocked to pit road at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, specifically to the immediate vicinity of David Starr’s truck. There were several reasons for the sudden congregation. Todd Bodine’s team hurried to the scene to… well, start the fight. …

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