Race Weekend Central

Who’s Hot / Who’s Not: Daytona-New Hampshire Edition

2014 Sonoma Cup Ricky Stenhouse Jr Face Cia

(Credit: CIA)

Remember when you were a kid at the beach — Daytona Beach, perhaps, and went into the surf only to have a huge wave rock everyone? Well, that happened at Daytona International Speedway this weekend in many ways. Rain forced officials to move the race back to Sunday, but precipitation continued to come into play …

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Fantasy insider:Daytona Puts Plenty of Unpredictability On the Plate

2014 Michigan I Cup Ryan Newman Kevin Harvick Cia

The Sprint Cuppers head to Daytona for the third of four restrictor plate races Saturday night. And the one thing about these races, as you may well know, is that you don’t know with any certainty what is going to happen. Sure there are some guys who have a knack for this kind of racing, …

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Fantasy Insider: Will The K-Factor Continue In Kentucky?

2014 Sonoma Cup Kyle Busch Dave Rogers Cia

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography)

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series will make its way to Kentucky for the fourth time Saturday night. When it comes to making picks, there is not a whole lot of history to go on here for the Cup drivers. But with three races, there are at least some trends we can look at. The one …

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Who’s Hot / Who’s Not In NASCAR: Sonoma-Kentucky Edition

2014 Sonoma Cup Carl Edwards Jamie Mcmurray Racing Cia

Another stop in California left the road course specialists of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wishing for another try.  They’ll get one eventually, but for now, the Chase picture remains unchanged. Carl Edwards added another victory, a first ever at Sonoma, and helped Roush Fenway Racing get back in the win column.  Next up is …

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Who’s Hot and Who’s Not In Sprint Cup: Michigan-Sonoma Edition

2014 Michigan I Cup Jimmie Johnson Helmet Cia

Can Jimmie Johnson help Tyler Clary achieve his goals of becoming a racecar driver?

Move over Talladega — Michigan International Speedway deserves some of the spotlight now. NASCAR’s fastest non-restrictor plate track took a step up with the assistance of Sprint Cup’s new rules package, and Who’s Hot and Who’s Not shows that other than the faster speeds, nothing really changed.  Long green flag runs were prevalent, and smart …

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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Quicken Loans 400

2014 Michigan I Cup Jimmie Johnson Woohoo Cia

Credit - CIA Stock Photography

Key Moment – On lap 150, caution period pit stops took place for the last time. Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray stayed out. They would pit with 35 or so laps to go and run the remainder of the laps to the finish. That strategy paid off in top …

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Going By the Numbers: A Rookie’s Way To Stay Relevant… Laps Completed?

Consistency can be a cruel mistress. On the one hand, you have Mark Martin, nicknamed Mr. Consistency for his steady performance over a healthy 25+-year career. Martin wasn’t always the winner, but he was near the top constantly, gaining the respect of fans, drivers and owners for simply being there at the finish almost all …

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The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2014 Sprint Showdown at Charlotte

Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about racing at Charlotte after dark this week. “As late as it gets in the night, at this track,” he said, “The groove narrows up. It gets faster and faster on the bottom and there’s no time to be gained in trying to step up the race track or run the high line like you might during the afternoon. So, it’s a really fascinating race track in the middle of the day. But, as it gets darker and darker and cooler and cooler, the groove really shortens up. So you need to be in that top three, I think, to have a shot at it.”

Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2014 Daytona 500

Key Moment – On the final restart of the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. chose to start in front of teammate Jeff Gordon. When the green flag flew, Gordon stayed tight to Earnhardt’s bumper while Kyle Busch was several feet off of the bumper of Brad Keselowski. The resultant push put Earnhardt solidly in the lead …

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The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2014 Daytona 500

He didn’t quite have what it took to get by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the trifecta, but Denny Hamlin was stellar throughout Speedweeks, winning the Sprint Unlimited and his Budweiser Duel before coming home second in the 500. Hamlin, who also finished 2013 with a win at Homestead, is trying to bounce back from a back injury suffered in a crash at Auto Club Speedway last season. Hamlin made the decision not to have surgery on his back after fracturing a vertebra in the incident, and many questioned his decision as he struggled for most of the season following a return to the seat.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2013 Budweiser Duels at Daytona

The Duels aren’t points races, so nobody saw their title hopes go up in flames like you might see at Talladega in October. However, the week’s activities did leave a few drivers behind the eight-ball to start the season. In particular, Carl Edwards has suffered what could be an early season blow, beginning with a hard crash in preseason Daytona testing. Last week, practicing for the Sprint Unlimited, Edwards wrecked his car for that race, forcing him to go to his Daytona 500 backup. His team made preparations to return to Charlotte for a replacement, which was a smart move because they’d need it: Edwards suffered another practice crash before having his primary car turned into sheet metal spaghetti in the first Duel.