Race Weekend Central

Frontstretch NASCAR Fantasy Insider: Loading the Dice for a Sin City Payoff

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series concludes its two-week west coast tour with a stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday. It’s the first race of the season on a 1.5-mile oval, the most common distance for a NASCAR track in this division. Since being reconfigured with higher banking in the corners, LVMS has become an …

Read more

Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 Stater Brothers 300 at Fontana

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 …

Read more

Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Freshmen Cannot Dodge Wrecks at Daytona

This week’s Rookie Report is based on the results of a rain-shortened Daytona 500. What is important to note is the race would’ve finished all 500 miles – if the green flag didn’t fall at the ridiculous start time of 3:40 p.m. ET. When are the networks going to realize that fans want racing, not …

Read more

Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 Camping World 300 at Daytona

It only took three races for Tony Stewart to put a Chevrolet back in victory lane. After posting runner-up finishes in both the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duels, Stewart’s first ride with Hendrick Motorsports landed Smoke back in the winner’s circle, collecting the eighth Nationwide Series victory of his career and his fourth in the …

Read more

Why Brad Keselowski Can Win the 2009 Nationwide Series Title

The first NASCAR preview magazine that came to the local newsstand was that of The Sporting News. As I read through it, I flipped to the publication’s Nationwide Series preview. Predictably, the lead feature was on the “Sprint Cup Showdown” between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards that is already being framed as the extent of …

Read more

Sprint Cup Rookie Report: 2009 NASCAR Season Preview

After one of the most economically brutal NASCAR offseasons in recent history, it’s finally time to start focusing on performances on the stopwatch instead of on the balance sheet. This also spells good news for Professor Lumbis as I get to preview and critique this season’s rookies once again. The 2008 season was not kind …

Read more

Mirror Driving: Ownership Smoke & Mirrors, Smoke’s Fiery New Team & Logano’s No Smoke… Yet

Welcome to Mirror Driving. Every week, your favorite columnists sit down and give their opinion about the latest NASCAR news and rumors. Love us or hate us, make a comment below and tell us how you feel about what we’ve said! This Week’s Participants: Tom Bowles (Editor-In-Chief; Mondays/Bowles-Eye View & Wednesdays/Did You Notice?) Doug Turnbull (Tuesdays/Who’s Hot …

Read more

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie Report Cards: Economic Woes & Poor Performances Leave Their Mark

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 …

Read more

Talking NASCAR TV: ESPN Pit Reporters Bring Their A-Game to Texas

There were two major storylines Sunday in the Dickies 500: Jimmie Johnson coughing up some of the points lead to Carl Edwards and Edwards’s unbelievable stretching of fuel to win the race. Johnson’s problems became entrenched before the midpoint of the race when the No. 48 team fell back to 25th in the running order …

Read more

Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Brad Keselowski Has Impressive Debut While Joey Logano Struggles

Rookies in the Starting Lineup: Sam Hornish Jr. (21st), Marcos Ambrose (24th), Regan Smith (25th), Scott Speed (33rd), Brad Keselowski (37th), Joey Logano (43rd) Unofficial Finishing Positions: Keselowski (19th), Ambrose (21st), Hornish (23rd), Speed (33rd), Smith (34th), Logano (40th) Rookie of the Race: Keselowski. The 24-year-old rookie finally got to make his Sprint Cup debut this …

Read more