Race Weekend Central

Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Rookies Find Checkers, Not Wreckers at ‘Dega with Keselowski, Speed, Logano Mastering Draft

Brad Keselowski Start: Ninth; Finish: First Summary: Brad Keselowski raced the Aaron’s 499 in the same manner as one would want to play a game of poker. After starting in the top 10, Keselowski spent much of the afternoon darting to the front of the pack, only to fall off the pace soon thereafter – …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix Edition

Another one bit the dust in the sands out west at Phoenix Saturday night. But as the smoke cleared from the Cup Series’ eighth race of the season, we’re left with plenty of storylines from a weekend’s worth of action at PIR. Mark Martin became one of the oldest drivers ever to win a NASCAR …

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Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Out With the New & In With the Old for Phoenix Freshmen

Joey Logano Start: 31st; Finish: 21st Summary: Last Friday, Joe Gibbs Racing president JD Gibbs put to rest the rumors that had his team’s rookie driver out of a job before the end of his first season. But it looked like even a vote of confidence from the boss wasn’t going to be enough to …

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Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: Keeping Your Team Hot in Phoenix’s Dry Heat

After a week off to regenerate the batteries and fatten up on Peeps and chocolate, the series is heading to the desert Southwest. The quirky 1-mile oval outside of Phoenix tests the drivers and the teams to come up with a setup that can handle the tight turns 1 and 2 as well as the …

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Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Doomsday Looms Large Leaving Texas as Rookies Face Uncertain Futures

Joey Logano Start: 10th; Finish: 30th Summary: The weekend started out strong for the Joe Gibbs Racing newcomer when he recorded his second best Sprint Cup qualifying effort and his best under “normal” procedures (Logano’s career-high is a ninth-place start earned through the Gatorade Duels for the 2009 Daytona 500.) But 10th would be as …

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Fanning the Flames: Little Rock, Chase Hopes, Ford’s New Engine & a Crack-Back

If every race were as good as the one we saw last weekend, ratings would be up 15% right now, not down. Watching Martinsville made me long for the muggy summer nights of my youth spent at the track, breathing in exhaust fumes and picking rubber out of my hair. Good show, boys. While I …

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Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: No Need for Headache Powder at Martinsville

As NASCAR’s first short-track leg of the season continues, the Cup circuit heads from a drastically altered Bristol Motor Speedway to a track that, well, hasn’t changed much at all since the 1950s. Martinsville Speedway is still a flat-banked, claustrophobic paperclip that provides the most old-school racing still seen today in big-time stock car competition. …

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Mirror Driving: Final Thoughts on the New Bristol & Digesting the New Top 35

It’s clear 18 months after repaving this isn’t the same old Bristol. That’s led to mixed reviews from fans – but is the new Bristol a classic or a total flop?