NASCAR on TV this week

Mirror Driving: The Death of NASCAR Road Ringers, the Great Rain Debate & Truck Talk

Marcos Ambrose had two top-two finishes at Watkins Glen, but most of the top spots on Monday went to the usual suspects – the same drivers who run in the top 10 or close to it most weeks. Is the road-course ringer a dying breed?

5 Points to Ponder: 2009 Heluva! Good Sour Cream Dips at the Glen Edition

Like any NASCAR road-course rain delay, fans who actually wanted to see a race on a Sunday immediately called for rain tires and windshield wipers. We’d seen it before in the Nationwide Series in Montreal… and the results were mixed. But this is the way I see it: If you don’t have brake lights or headlights, how can you race in the rain? Would you want to see your favorite driver crash because his windows are fogging up and he can’t see the car in front of him? Looking back at a pretty good race Monday afternoon, I’m glad the series didn’t have rain tires on Sunday.

Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Yellow Tail & Lambrusco Pace the Rookie Field at NASCAR’s Wine & Cheese Event

Well, once again we were forced to wait until Monday for the race because for some reason NASCAR feels that it is absolutely necessary to get the entire pre-race show in. I remember back in the day, flipping the race on at 12:30 p.m., expecting to see the pre-race show, and instead found the pace laps in progress because weather was threatening. Guess we’ll never see that kind of common sense anymore… but I digress.