Race Weekend Central

Tracking the Trucks: 2009 Heluva! Good 200 at Loudon

In a Nutshell: Kyle Busch took the checkered flag 0.560 seconds ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr. to win the Heluva! Good 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon. Busch took the lead during a round of green-flag pit stops in the late stages of the race, and never looked back despite having to face …

Read more

Fan’s View: That Couldn’t Have Been Team Orders, Could It?

LOUDON, N.H. – During the closing laps of the Heluva! Good 200 Saturday (Sept. 19), one thing was clear: Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday were not too happy with each other. Well, yes, they had been trading paint for the last 50 laps; that alone could explain the rubbin’ and bumpin’ during caution laps, especially …

Read more

Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond

The final weekend in the race for the Chase saw plenty of playoff-worthy drivers put their best foot forward at Richmond. Brian Vickers slipped in, Kyle Busch fell just short… and there were a slew of others in between who made it clear they’ll spend this fall fighting for a season championship. The shuffling of …

Read more

Did You Notice? The Power of Motivation, Danica Drama & How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot

Did You Notice? How the simple threat of future job security in NASCAR can motivate drivers sitting in mid-pack? Every year about this time, there can be so many that enter an ugly routine of just going through the motions. They’re not bad enough to have to fight to stay within the Top 35, but …

Read more

The Yellow Stripe: Kevin Harvick, RCR Headed for Happier Future After Great Weekend

The difference between champagne-soaked success and bitter, incongruous crumpled sheetmetal defeat in NASCAR is razor thin. And it’s a fact the good folks at Richard Childress Racing know all too well this season. After two years of placing all three cars in the elite Chase field, the addition of Casey Mears in a fourth car …

Read more

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 …

Read more

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2009 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta

Who… gets my shoutout of the race? Usually this goes to a driver, but this week’s shoutout goes to the entire No. 83 crew. A broken axle could have ruined driver Brian Vickers’s night and killed his Chase chances – instead, the team changed the axle on pit road and Vickers finished seventh, just 20 …

Read more

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 …

Read more

Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 Degree V12 300 at Atlanta

In 2009, Kevin Harvick has seldom, if ever, resembled the championship-contending driver that he has been on the Sprint Cup circuit in years past. But on Saturday night, driving his own No. 33 car, the Harvick of old was alive and well. With Cup stars Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton, as well as the JR …

Read more

Kasey Kahne Takes Advantage of the Short Run to Win 2009 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta

New wrinkles in the schedule typically result in teams having to scramble in order to figure out what the right setup is, or how to handle the track at all. Sunday night was no different. A three-way change in the schedule for this season moved the second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway from the end …

Read more

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 …

Read more