As you’ve likely read plenty of places over the past 48 hours, the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. is a much-maligned venue – arguably the least popular of the 22 tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. Interest is sparse, attendance is – to put it politely – “not the best,” and in general fans …
Kenseth Proves Daytona Wasn’t Luck Several fans had a bitter taste in their mouth about the ending of the Daytona 500 last week – and rightfully so. When you have a driver who hasn’t won a race in over a year and he suddenly wins the sport’s most prestigious race after taking the lead one …
In a word, uneventful. As if following up Daytona with Fontana wasn’t enough of a letdown, Kyle Busch made sure that there would be no last lap fireworks this time around. Leading over 140 of the 150 laps run Saturday night, Busch followed up his Truck win earlier in the day with a dominant performance …
As MWR continued to fight to find its footing in the Sprint Cup Series, Michael McDowell found himself the odd man out.
Looking back on the 2008 NASCAR season, many fans will notice a lot of similarities between this year and 2007. The most obvious comparison, for example, involves the complete dominance by three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson during both Chases. But the 2007 season also saw the emergence of a new trend in NASCAR, involving the …
2008 Bubble Review The 2008 Sprint Cup tour is now officially in the books. And as with all sports, there were many surprises as well as disappointment throughout the year. So, as the holiday season descends upon us and the thundering of NASCAR’s engines fades away for another offseason, let’s take a moment and look …
When a few of the Frontstretch gang get together for Mirror Driving on Monday nights, what happens in that room gets chopped and mangled and edited before its airing on Wednesday. Conversations are stitched together for coherence, off-topic rants are removed, and a sincere effort is made to ensure that at least most of the …
The true rookie story of this race is about those drivers who were not here. Yes, some anticipated debuts were ruined by the weather, but it is not Brad Keselowski, Bryan Clauson or even Scott Speed that I am talking about. No, it is the dismissal of Patrick Carpentier and the continued sabbatical for Michael McDowell that disturbs me. I would really like to know what goes on inside the head of a Sprint Cup owner when they set expectations for a rookie driver with little to no experience at racing’s top level. I’m beginning to think that some team executives expect a driver to jump into the seat of a stock car for the first time and immediately race his way into the Chase.
Rookies in the Starting Lineup: Aric Almirola (third), Regan Smith (fourth), Jon Wood (27th) Unofficial Finishing Positions: Almirola (13th), Smith (18th), Wood (33rd) Rookie of the Race: Almirola. On Friday afternoon, rookie Almirola led a DEI assault on the top 10 in qualifying when he placed his U.S. Army car on the inside of row two. …
Rookies in the Starting Lineup: Patrick Carpentier (19th), Marcos Ambrose (20th), Sam Hornish Jr. (23rd), Joey Logano (28th), Regan Smith (35th) Unofficial Finishing Positions: Carpentier (29th), Smith (32nd), Hornish (33rd), Ambrose (36th), Logano (39th) Rookie of the Race: Carpentier. The weekend started out on a positive note for Carpentier, who put his Dodge in the top …
As NASCAR headed to Kansas this past Sunday, the big news from the bubble teams left many scratching their heads, as Team Red Bull is about to let AJ Allmendinger go. According to the driver himself, he’s “almost 100% sure he’ll be out of the car after Kansas” after turning down a one-year deal to …
Rookies in the Starting Lineup: Patrick Carpentier (17th), Sam Hornish Jr. (25th), Regan Smith (26th), Michael McDowell (28th), Marcos Ambrose (29th) Unofficial Finishing Positions: McDowell (29th), Ambrose (32nd), Smith (37th), Carpentier (41st), Hornish (42nd) Rookie of the Race: McDowell. The freshman for Michael Waltrip Racing beat all of his ROTY counterparts, but it probably didn’t seem …
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com