Race Weekend Central

Did You Notice?: That Summertime NASCAR Spark At Stewart-Haas Racing?

2017 Kansas I CUP Tony Stewart Barry Cantrell NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Did You Notice? … How quickly Stewart-Haas Racing has gotten its act together this summer? While Kevin Harvick has been a title contender all season long in the NASCAR Cup Series, his trio of teammates spent the first half of 2020 mired in midpack. Here’s where all four drivers stood through the Martinsville Speedway race June …

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Beside the Rising Tide: Matt McLaughlin Thinks Out Loud After Darlington 2020, Round 1

2020DarlingtonNCSMattKensethFaceNASCARMedia

(Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR Media)

In a Nutshell: For years I wrote on a Sunday night deadline (that sometimes stretched to the point my alarm clock was going off while I was still trying to clean up the punctuation) for at least a half-dozen websites in various forms and under various titles. At Frontstretch, that column continues on in an updated …

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Up to Speed: NASCAR COVID-19 Therapy Came to Darlington

2020DarlingtonNCSRacingNASCARMedia

(Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR Media)

For a few hours on Sunday, May 17, we got to focus on something other than social distancing, rates of infection and toilet paper shortages.  Some stay-at-home orders may still be in place, but the NASCAR COVID-19 quarantine came to an end… and gave millions a break. They got to watch a race. After a …

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The Frontstretch 5: Things Still Uncertain as NASCAR Returns

Jimmie Johnson

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

1. How Long the Season Will Last Even as the season restarts this Sunday (May 17), there are still questions as to how long it can really last. The shadow of COVID-19 still looms over the sport, and an outbreak in the garage could bring things grinding to a halt. There’s a lot at stake, …

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Beside the Rising Tide: Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC USA Sunday 3 September 2017 Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, American Ethanol Chevrolet SS Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion World Copyright: Matthew T. Thacker NKP

(Photo: Matthew T. Thacker/NKP)

Back in the late 1960s Marvin Gaye, backed by Tammi Terrell, scored an AM radio hit with a song entitled, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby. In the same era, one of the big cola companies had a marketing campaign using the same tag line.  Say what you will about this invitational NASCAR iRacing …

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Godspeed, Good Darlington: Thoughts on the End of The NASCAR COVID-19 Shutdown

2019 Darlington MENCS Kyle Larson Car NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

For all the successes of pros going iRacing during the NASCAR COVID-19 shutdown, the general consensus seems to be that the return to real-track racing is coinciding almost perfectly with the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series running its course. Be it the Kyle Larson slur fiasco or Santino Ferrucci turning the end of last week’s IndyCar …

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Up to Speed: Which Drivers Are Likely to Tame Darlington in its 2020 NASCAR Return?

2019 Darlington MENCS Racing NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The 2020 NASCAR season, paused for about two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is less than a week away from resuming.  The first two races will be held at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, about a two-hour drive from race shops in the Charlotte area.  They include a 400-mile event on Sunday, May 17 …

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Stock Car Scoop: The Latest Updates On NASCAR & INDYCAR 2020 Schedule

2019 Portland IndyCar Simon Pagenaud Car IndyCar Media

(Photo: IndyCar Media)

INDYCAR has announced their 2020 return to competition after the COVID-19 pandemic. Where will the INDYCAR 2020 schedule start and when? Find out in the latest edition of Stock Car Scoop with Bryan Nolen. Frontstretch’s new podcast focused on the motorsports news of the week also has a look at the three tracks that will …

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Kyle Larson Has Completed Sensitivity Training

2020 Las Vegas NCS Kyle Larson Face

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Kyle Larson completed his required sensitivity training but is still indefinitely suspended by NASCAR, NBC Sports confirmed Wednesday, May 6. NASCAR suspended Larson on April 13 and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training after he spoke a racial slur during an iRacing event. Chip Ganassi Racing released him on April 14 after his sponsors terminated …

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NASCAR Contradictions on Full Display With May 17 Return Looming

2019 Darlington MENCS Racing NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Be it in Brasstown, N.C. Thursday night (April 30) or Lancaster, S.C. on Friday (May 1), live racing trickled back this weekend to locations throughout the southeast. For me, where Virginia is still under a stay-at-home order through June 10, there’s not much for a motorsports writer here to do but long for racing to …

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Matt Kenseth Replacing Kyle Larson in Cup No. 42

Matt Kenseth NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Matt Kenseth will return to the NASCAR Cup Series once the sport returns from its hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak, replacing Kyle Larson in Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42, CGR announced today, April 27. Kenseth replaces Larson after the former driver of the No. 42 was released for saying a racial slur on an …

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The Kyle Larson Pandemic: Lack of a Cure Proving Worse than the Disease

2018 darlington cup zach catanzareti kyle larson

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Earlier this week, I compared Kyle Larson’s disastrous use of a taboo slur during an iRacing event to the current pandemic that has brought much of the world to its knees. Nearly a week later, it’s still proving an apt comparison. KEITH: LARSON’S SLUR BECOMES NASCAR’S PANDEMIC As my sixth weekend in quarantine comes to …

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