Race Weekend Central

Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta

The aged surface of Atlanta Motor Speedway offered up multi-groove racing from the drop of the green flag that also yielded some bizarre events, with Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards both having freak problems that knocked them out of contention. Tony Stewart also had another off weekend, which cost him some of his first-place votes …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Edition

The buzz generated by Sunday’s exciting night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will likely reverberate through the NASCAR masses for a long time. The Pep Boys Auto 500 saw exciting racing for much of the event and saw someone not driving a non-Hendrick-affiliated car go to victory lane (though many were picking Jimmie Johnson to …

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Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2009 Atlanta Fall Race Recap

The Key Moment: Kevin Harvick seemed poised to run away with an upset win at Atlanta until a late caution (caused ironically enough by Harvick’s teammate, Clint Bowyer) reshuffled the deck and handed Kasey Kahne the winning hand. In a Nutshell: On Labor Day weekend within a sport where fans have labored to believe that we’d ever …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 Sharpie 500 at Bristol

The new banking at Bristol, along with the new car, has bred a new form of racing at the old bullring. Single-file bump-and-runs have been replaced by side-by-side competition, with wrecks at the finish line replaced by the type of winning maneuvers you’d be more likely to see at a track like Atlanta or even …

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2 to Go: 5 Points to Ponder Ahead of NASCAR’s Last Off Weekend

With the last of four off weekends for the Sprint Cup Series ahead of us this weekend, here are five points to ponder ahead of the stretch run of 12 races in 12 weeks. Just How Good is Marcos Ambrose Going to Get? Following a tremendous third place finish at Thunder Valley, Ambrose played the …

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Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: 36 Degrees of High-Speed Bristol Bank

Love it or hate it, the new Bristol Motor Speedway is a far cry from its older, one-grooved brethren. Perhaps the only half-mile oval out there that can boast legitimate three-wide racing, Thunder Valley may no longer boast the wrecks that made its night race so famous, but still poses a treacherous challenge to those …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 CARFAX 400 at Michigan

A fuel-mileage race at Michigan? Who would have guessed it? Seriously, as expected Sunday’s 400-mile affair in the Irish Hills left us counting drops of Sunoco gasoline to see who was going to make it to the finish line first. And just like any stock car event decided by fuel strategy, those final few laps …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 CARFAX 400 at Michigan Edition

What a weekend for Brian Vickers! After winning poles in both the Nationwide and Cup series at Michigan International Speedway, Vickers scored his second career Cup win on Sunday and came close to scoring the sweep Saturday in the NNS race. Now within 12 points of the Chase, Vickers’s place in this week’s column is …

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Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: Fuel Mileage in the Big 3’s Backyard… Whoda Thunk It?

The Sprint Cup Series heads from the road course of the Glen back to the ovals and the Irish Hills this weekend as the race to the Chase continues to take shape. For teams like Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing, scoring a top-10 run this weekend is imperative, while those whose playoff berths …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 Heluva! Good Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

Turning right and turning left was good for some at Watkins Glen, but turned others into a knot they never wriggled out of. After his record-breaking fifth victory at the track, Tony Stewart was able to once again garner all of the first-place votes for this week, but the remainder of the spots in our …

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Fan’s View: Those Top-12 Teams… Some Random Thoughts

Well, here we are. It’s August and the Chase is just about on our doorstep. Nobody can stop talking about two people, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. I suppose it’s all well and good, but right now there are a few other noteworthy individuals currently in the top 12 who we should not completely ignore. …

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