Race Weekend Central

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 Sharpie 500 at Bristol Edition

Welcome back Bristol – we missed you! Or maybe you never left and we just had to get used to a few less shoving matches in the Thunder Valley bullring. Nonetheless, the Sprint Cup Series capped off an exciting week of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway by seeing Kyle Busch break out of both a …

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Holding a Pretty Wheel: 5 Who Would Like to Forget – Who Isn’t Meeting NASCAR Expectations?

Last week in this column, I discussed the seasons of five drivers who were having a rather unpublicized good year. But there are also drivers who, while well inside the Top-35 cutoff in points, are having a season that is fraught with disappointment – the kind of year in which everyone from media to fans …

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Voice of Vito: Forgotten on Race Day? Ford Looks to Rebound This Weekend in the Irish Hills of MIS

Ford performance enthusiasts are fond of saying that Ford really stands for “First On Race Day.” Yet so far in 2009, the Blue Oval brigade has embodied the alternate acronym of their namesake foisted upon them by Chevrolet, Mopar, Pontiac and just about any other pocket of automotive resistance you can find that would cruelly …

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Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2009 Brickyard 400 Race Recap

The Key Moment: Jimmie Johnson edged ahead of Mark Martin on the final restart to take the lead for good. A valid argument could be made that the entire complexion of the race changed when Juan Pablo Montoya, who flat out dominated the race, was penalized for speeding on pit road during the last round of …

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What’s Vexing Vito: Unsolicited Opinions on NASCAR You Haven’t Thought About Until Now

In this space each week, I usually wax poetic – or manic – depending on your view, on some topic that has been, by this point in the week, completely beaten to death and rehashed to the point that you probably can’t fire off a letter to me quick enough, asking that habeas corpus be …

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2009 NASCAR Report Cards, Part II: Grading Dale Jr. & the Rest

Editor’s Note: For Part I of our midseason driver report cards, click here. Continuing on from yesterday’s review, it’s time for Professors Danny and Tom to grade those drivers sitting at the back of the class. Whether it’s some bad racing luck, poor chemistry with a crew chief or just plain awful driving, most of …

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Bubble Driver Review: David Ragan Biggest Disappointment Amongst This Group in 2009

Well, it’s that time of year where we look back at the first half of 2009 and grade our bubble teams. Keep in mind this report card is aimed at a specific subset inside the Cup garage – those in and around the cutoff for the 35 locked-in spots the series gives out each week …

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