Race Weekend Central

Tracking the Trucks: Ford EcoBoost 200

2014 Homestead CWTS Darrell Wallace Jr Flag CIA

Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Author’s Note: To all of my readers that have stuck by throughout this season that the Truck Series has struggled through: thank you! Your criticisms and praise have challenged me to think outside the box in a year that can only be considered a tough one for the series that featured several short fields, and …

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Matt Crafton, Ryan Blaney Pace Thursday Truck Series Practices at Homestead

2014 Talladega II CWTS Matt Crafton truck CIA

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography)

The battle for the Camping World Truck Series championship heated up on Thursday as championship leader Matt Crafton and second-place Ryan Blaney paced practices for Friday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200. Crafton, who comes into this weekend with the opportunity to become the first driver to win back-to-back Truck Series championships, was on top of the …

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Happiness Is… The End, A Mirror, and the Trucks

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(Photo: Getty Images)

In Brian Donovan’s book Hard Driving, which details the life of driver Wendell Scott, the author lays down the central premise for how sports operates.  He doesn’t discuss fairness, or competitive balance or any of that kind of stuff.  Instead, he adopts a more business sided mindset and how early track promoters worked.  This concept …

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Tracking the Trucks: Lucas Oil 150

2014 Phoenix CWTS Erik Jones Winner CIA

Credit: CIA Stock Photography

In a Nutshell: In what can only be called a bizarre race, Erik Jones beat out Matt Crafton when Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 was called 24 laps short due to power issues at Phoenix International Raceway. Jones dominated much of the night, leading all but 12 laps en route to his second consecutive victory …

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Happiness Is… Drivers Not Liking Other Drivers

2014 Richmond II CUP Jeff Gordon CIA

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography)

So this is what NASCAR wanted, eh?  Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman duking it out at Homestead for the championship.  There’ll probably be another driver there too, like Matt Kenseth, or Carl Edwards.   Then, when one of these drivers hoists the big shiny trophy everyone will collectively yawn and find something else to …

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Truckin’ Thursdays: Phoenix Storylines to Watch

2014 Las Vegas CWTS Erik Jones woohoo Credit NASCAR via Getty Images

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography)

While much of the NASCAR community has focused on the post-race fracas after Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, the Camping World Truck Series teams have quietly packed up and headed off to Phoenix International Raceway for its second to last race of the season. As the green flag flies over the …

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Eric Phillips Moves to XFINITY Series With Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015

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Eric Phillips set to move up to the Xfinity Series in 2015 with Joe Gibbs Racing (Credit: Kyle Busch Motorsports)

During an interview with Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, crew chief Eric Phillips revealed that he will be moving from Kyle Busch Motorsports‘ NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team to Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Xfinity Series (currently the NASCAR Nationwide Series) team in 2015. “I’m gonna be moving on, I’m gonna go to JGR at the end of the year,” Phillips …

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Friday Faceoff: Feuds, Winning & the Dynamic Duo’s Demise?

2014 Martinsville Cup Martin Truex, Jr., Casey Mears, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, More Wreck Credit CIA

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2014)

Welcome to Friday Faceoff! What do you get when you take some hot-button NASCAR topics and hand them over to our dedicated and… er, opinionated staff? A little disagreement and a whole lot of thought-provoking insight! Check out this week’s edition to see what everyone is arguing… um, we mean, discussing this week! Martinsville Speedway‘s …

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Truckin’ Thursdays: Grading the 2014 Championship Hopefuls

2014 Kentucky CWTS Ryan Blaney CIA

Credit: CIA Stock Photography

As the Camping World Truck Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night, I took a look at the entry list and found just 29 trucks. It marks yet another short field for a series that’s been struggling most of the season to meet the maximum truck count of 36. Last week, NASCAR announced …

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Five Points to Ponder: Projecting Final Four, Junior’s Good Year & Frayed Tempers

2014 Martinsville II CUP Brian Vickers car CIA

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. © 2014)

One: Final Four Up for Grabs Two races remain until we learn which quartet of drivers will contest for the Sprint Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Most of us, myself included, had assumed we would find out at least one of those four names at Martinsville, but for the first time in seven Chase races …

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Tracking the Trucks: Kroger 200

2014 Martinsville II CWTS pack racing

In a Nutshell: Darrell Wallace, Jr. took the checkers ahead of Timothy Peters to win the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway, while Matt Crafton, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 5. The win is Wallace’s third of 2014 and the fourth of his career, with his first win coming in this race …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: ESPN Erases “Everyone” At ‘Dega For Chasers

2014 Talladega II CUP Terry Labonte Brad Keselowski CIA

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography)

Race weekends at Talladega Superspeedway make my stomach churn. I’m nervous the whole weekend, just hoping that nothing terrible happens. The sad truth is, terrible things have been happening at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega with an increasing frequency in recent years. It’s truly sad, and since almost all of the bad things happen in …

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