Race Weekend Central

Up to Speed: Tickets to the Smoke Show

2017 Kansas I CUP Tony Stewart Barry Cantrell NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

This was a good week to be Tony Stewart. On Wednesday, Stewart’s Eldora Speedway hosted the Camping World Truck Series.  As the only dirt track race that any of NASCAR’s national series runs, the Eldora Dirt Derby is always a highly-anticipated event.  This year’s edition featured plenty of action, capped with a photo finish between …

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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Martin Truex Jr. Stomps Sonoma Competition

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Who’s in the headline Martin Truex Jr. has proven he knows how to road race with wins at both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series road courses on the schedule. Sunday, (June 24) he made it back-to-back thanks to a victory at Sonoma after taking the win at Watkins Glen last year. That gives him three …

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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Kevin Harvick Slathers Competition in Kansas

#4: Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Busch Light celebrates his win Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Who’s in the headline Kevin Harvick continues to confirm the belief that Ford is the manufacturer to beat in 2018 in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. For the fifth time in 12 races, Harvick was in Victory Lane. He started the year with three wins in a row after the Daytona 500 and has now …

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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Kyle Busch Triumphs In Texas For First 2018 Win

2018 kyle busch Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Who’s in the headline After three seconds and a third in the last four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, Kyle Busch finally put it all together Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Holding off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick down the stretch, Busch became the fifth MENCS winner of 2018 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not In NASCAR: Championship Edition

2017 Kansas I CUP Danica Patrick Nigel Kinrade NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade/NKP)

As often happens in all levels of different sports, the team (and in this case the driver) that was the best for the whole season ended up winning the title. Martin Truex, Jr. capped off a truly storybook season on the track with his eighth victory of the season Sunday at Miami-Homestead. He was a …

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NASCAR 101: Who Didn’t Return to NASCAR in 2017?

15 February, 2016, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA Brian Vickers (14) ©2016, John Harrelson / NKP

(Photo: John Harrelson /NKP)

Time for another game of sifting through the long list of NASCAR national series drivers who didn’t make an appearance in 2017! After beginning this series in 2015 and continuing in 2016, this space will again chronicle the list of competitors who ran in one of the three NASCAR national series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not In NASCAR: Elimination and Advancement Edition

2017 Kansas II CUP Martin Truex Jr woohoo John K Harrelson NKP

(Photo: John K. Harrelson/NKP)

Maybe Sunday’s race at Kansas is an example of why NASCAR shifted its schedule to make this an elimination race. The normally snoozish 1.5-miler at least had the added drama of seeing drivers eliminated, or advancing, into the final eight of the playoff rounds. Unfortunately, NASCAR can’t do this at all of its 1.5-milers, but …

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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Late Pass Gives Kyle Busch Victory Over Chase Elliott at Dover

dover

(Photo: NASCAR via Getty Images)

Who’s in the headline – We’ve seen it happen multiple times at Dover International Speedway as the No. 48 team makes a late-race charge to lead a handful of laps and win the race. It wasn’t the No. 48 car Sunday, but it was the No. 18 team. Kyle Busch dropped like a stone in …

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NASCAR 101: Top 5 Silly Season Moves of All Time

2017 Kansas I CUP Tony Stewart Barry Cantrell NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Unlike in most other sports, the term “free agency market” isn’t used in NASCAR. Instead, NASCAR begins “silly season” usually around the halfway mark of the year, and there are much more lame duck drivers and teams than in “stick and ball” sports. There have still been some huge driver transactions in the near 70-year …

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Who’s Hot and Who’s Not: The Jimmie Johnson is Freaky Fast Edition

2017 Bristol I CUP Jimmie Johnson checkered flag Kohn K harrelson NKP

(Photo: John K. Harrelson/NKP)

It took an extra day and some long-awaited, not-so-rainy weather, but for Jimmie Johnson the winning was worth the wait. Not that Johnson needs to do anything to be considered one of the top three or four NASCAR drivers of all time, but now he is just one win short of matching Cale Yarborough’s 83 …

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Did You Notice?: NASCAR’s All-Star Race Hail Mary

2016 Charlotte All Star CUP Jamie McMurray Ryan Newman Kyle Larson racing Nigel Kinrade NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade / NKP)

Did You Notice? … NASCAR is throwing an All-Star Race Hail Mary? A litany of changes announced Tuesday (April 11) for the sport’s main exhibition are designed to return it to a state of former glory. Twenty-five years after “One Hot Night,” the infamous 1992 race in which Dale Earnhardt and a victorious Davey Allison spun in …

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Pace Laps: Martinsville Madness, NHRA Rookies and Fernando Alonso’s Frustration

2017 Martinsville cup zach catanzareti brad keselowski

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: It’s just how we like it – Sunday’s STP 500 somehow was able to give us every aspect, challenge, up, down and turnaround that makes Martinsville Speedway what it is. As fans sat with their hot dogs in hand, the 38-driver Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race put on a show in …

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