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Chase Elliott Wins the ARCA 200 at Pocono
posted by Tony Lumbis
Saturday June 8, 2013
Chase Elliott became the youngest superspeedway winner in ARCA history when he took home the checkered flag at Pocono Raceway, the same track where his father, Bill, won 5 times in the Sprint Cup Series. Frank Kimmel, the early favorite, lead the first 22 laps from the pole as he looked to capture his 79th career ARCA win, which would have put him in a tie with Iggy Katona for all time wins in the series. However, Erik Jones took command of the leaderboard on lap 23 and stayed there for 20 circuits unitl his ToyotaCare Camry ran out of fuel. Elliott, who started 32nd as the field was set by owner’s points due to qualifying being rained out, wasted no time moving up through the field. He grabbed the lead on lap 60 and would never look back, fending off a hard charging Jones in the final laps. Kimmel finished third followed by Tom Hessert and Mason Mitchell.
Kurt Busch Wins Happy Hour at Pocono
posted by Tony Lumbis
Saturday June 8, 2013
Kurt Busch and his Furniture Row Racing team lead final practice at Pocono, followed by Jimmie Johnson who lead first practice, Carl Edwards, last week’s winner Tony Stewart and his SHR teammate Ryan Newman. Rounding out the top 10 were Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch. Other notables: Kevin Harvick was 12th, Denny Hamlin was 13th, Brad Keselowski was 16th, Matt Kenseth was 18th, Jeff Gordon was 20th, Clint Bowyer was 23rd and Danica Patrick was 29th.
Rain Puts Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards on the Front Row at Pocono
posted by Tony Lumbis
Friday June 7, 2013
The remnants of topical storm Andrea has soaked Pocono Raceway on Friday. Not a single lap was turned at the Tricky Triangle due to the consistent wet weather which cancelled all on-track activities. As a result, the lineup for Sunday’s Party in the Poconos 400 will be set by owner’s points, putting Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards on the front row. Since only 43 cars entered the race, nobody went home.
Ten Fans Injured By Falling Rope at Charlotte
posted by Amy Henderson
Sunday May 26, 2013
Ten fans were injured during the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Guide ropes for a television camera fell onto the race track, damaging several cars and bringing out a lengthy red flag, and pieces of that rope also injured the fans, who were in the in the Turn 4 grandstand. The Speedway issued the following statement: “Ten fans were injured when a nylon rope fell over the grandstands in Turn 4 on lap 121 of tonight’s race. Seven fans were treated for minor cuts and scrapes at on-site care centers and released. Three people were transported to an area hospital for further evaluation. The rope was a guide for the network television CamCat overhead camera system.” We will update with more details as they become available. 10:00 PM UPDATE: So far, officials have not been able to determine the cause of the failure. According to an official release, the system consists of three ropes, including a drive rope which moves the camera back and forth, and two guide ropes. The drive rope failed and fell onto the racing surface. The camera itself did not fall. FOX plans to suspend use of this camera system, which was used during the Daytona 500 and All-Star race, until they complete an investigation of the failure. Fox issued the following in their statement: “We certainly regret that the system failure affected tonight’s event; we apologize to the racers whose cars were damaged, and our immediate concern is for the race fans. We also offer a sincere ‘thank you’ to the staff at CMS for attending to the injuries and keeping us informed on this developing situation.” 12:40 AM UPDATE: Though pravacy laws prevent officials from discussing the specific nature of any injuries, it was reported that the three fans who were transported to a local hospital have all been treated and released.
Busch Dominates, Wins History 300 at Charlotte
posted by Amy Henderson
Saturday May 25, 2013
Kyle Busch led 186 laps en route to a dominating victory in the History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday. It was a record seventh CMS win for Busch and his overall in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Busch’s victory was the most dominant in a 200-lap Nationwide Series race at Charlotte since 1986, when Dale Earnhardt led 194 laps en route to the win. Kasey Kahne looked like he might have something for Busch after a series of late cautions set up a dash to the finish, but the No. 5 faded in the final alps while the No. 54 rolled to the win. Joey Logano, rookie Kyle Larson, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 5, with Larson the highest finishing Nationwide Series regular in the race. Larson’s charge through the field in the second half of the race, using the high groove to pass several cars, had the young driver closing on the leaders before a string of cautions shuffled the field. The first half of the race was a test of patience for race teams. Austin Dillon started from the pole but quickly faded, leading just one lap and finishing 14th. The caution didn’t fly for the first 39 laps, until debris in turn three brought the yellow flag out of hiding. Close racing on the restart led to a second yellow flag at lap 47 as Robert Richardson, Johanna Long and Reed Sorenson were all involved in a crash that ended Richardson’s day and caused damage to both Long’s and Sorenson’s machines. The third of seven cautions, for debris, flew at lap 88. The field would not see another caution until lap 154. That yellow flag came out on that lap for debris once again. The final 43 laps were punctuated by three more caution periods, starting at lap 166 with a spin by Travis Pastrana, who hit the inside wall on the backstretch hard enough to lift all four wheels off the ground, reminiscent of Denny Hamlin’s hit at Fontana that sidelined Hamlin for more than a month, but unlike that crash, there was a SAFER barrier where Pastrana slammed the wall, and the driver walked away unhurt. John Wes Townley and Joe Nemechek also sustained damage trying to avoid Pastrana and the cars checking up around him. Just seven laps after the race went back to green, Sorenson spun in Turn 2 for caution number six, and the field went back to green for just two laps before the final caution came out on lap 185 for a crash between Dakoda Armstrong and Michael Annett, who was making his first series start since being injured in a crash at Daytona. That incident set up the 13-lap shootout between Busch and Kahne before Busch pulled away for the win, leaving Logano and Larson to duke it out with Harvick for the rest of the top 5. Trevor Bayne finished sixth, and Justin Allgaier, Matt Kenseth, Parker Kligerman, and Regan Smith rounded out the top 10. Busch was quick to credit his team after the victory. “It was a really great race for us,” said Busch in the media center at Charlotte after the race. “We’ve had a lot of fast race cars this year, and it’s a testament to our team and (crew chief) Adam Stevens and the work that the guys put in. They do such a great job for me, and being able to go out there with some good-driving cars and lead a lot of laps and put them in Victory Lane, I think it’s just a true testament to how good our organization is and how hard these guys work. They never forget what they’re supposed to do. We have to have good race cars from practice and qualifying and into the race, and so having those adjustments all set and having things ready to go is what makes us look so good. “ Smith leaves Charlotte with a 29-point advantage over Hornish in Nationwide Series standings. Allgaier moves into third, 40 back of Smith, and Elliott Sadler dropped to fourth after finishing 13th. Sadler’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Brian Vickers, holds on to fifth spot after a pit gamble didn’t pay off, leaving Vickers, who had been racing with the leaders, with an 11th-place result. Kligerman, Dillon, Brian Scott, Larson, and Alex Bowman finish off the top 10 in points.
Hamlin Snags Coca-Cola 600 Pole With Track Record Time
posted by Amy Henderson
Thursday May 23, 2013
Denny Hamlin shattered the track qualifying record at Charlotte Motor Speedway as he rocketed to the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Hamlin had a lap time of 27.604 seconds, or 195.624 miles per hour. Several drivers drove past the old record, set by Greg Biffle in 2012, but it was Hamlin who came out at the top of the heap and holds the new record. Kurt Busch will start on the outside of the front row. Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, and Clint Bowyer round out the top 5. Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, and Ryan Newman hold down sixth through tenth places. The pole is Hamlin’s second of 2013; he also started in front at Fontana before an injury in that race sidelined him for over a month. Hamlin says that his back feels “nearly 100%” and that it doesn’t cause him pain while driving. He added that winning the pole helped solidify for him that he is back at a competitive level, but he wants one more thing before he’ll be satisfied. “I think winning would do that. I think ultimately getting the big trophy on Sunday is the validation that you’re truly back,” said Hamlin after his lap. “For me, it’s going to take some wins and some really good consistency throughout these summer months to put ourselves in position to have a chance at a championship. That’s what we’re here for. Even these small victories though give me that confidence that I’m still capable, and I’m still able to do the job at 100 percent like I should be. Any kind of confidence booster for me — it’s always a plus on Sunday.” The Cup teams are next on track Saturday at 10 AM for the weekend’s second practice. Final practice for Sunday’s race is Saturday afternoon at one o’clock. The Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled to start at 6 PM on Sunday and will air on FOX.
Jimmie Johnson wins the Sprint All-Star race.....again
posted by Mike Neff
Sunday May 19, 2013
Five-time is now four-time when it comes to the Sprint All-Star race. Coming into Saturday night’s race, Johnson was tied with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt for most wins in the annual event with three wins. Johnson bided his time, restarted the last segment in the second spot, dueled Kasey Kahne for two laps to secure the lead and pulled away to a convincing win. Joey Logano started the last segment in the seventh position, took advantage of a slip up by Kyle Busch on the start of the final segment, and ultimately came home in the runner-up spot. Kyle Busch rebounded from his slip up to muscle his way back to third. Kahne started the final segment on the pole but couldn’t hold off Johnson on the first few laps of the restart and ended up fourth. Kurt Busch won two segments, was the first on pit road for the money pit stop, but finished the event in fifth place. Jimmie Johnson summed up his results in two words, “we’re lucky”. It was tongue in cheek but Johnson was poking fun at the people who continue to accuse the No. 48 of preferential treatment, fixed races, and a blind eye to cheating. Johnson has one of the highest winning percentages in NASCAR history and it comes from natural talent and chemistry with his crew. This race also now ties Johnson with Davey Allison as the only two drivers to win the race in back-to-back years. Logano and Busch visited with the media after the race to speak about their runs. Logano was understandably upbeat about his second while Busch was quite dejected, having another All-Star race slip out of his grasp. Kahne spoke about the elephant in the room that is the length of the segments in the race during his post race availability on pit road. He noted that the inherent problem with the format is that the car is designed with downforce, on a track that is cool and has a bunch of grip. The only way to make the races exciting after the first couple of laps of racing would be to extend the segments to the The first 20 lap segment was won by Kurt Busch. Segment two went to his brother Kyle. That segment win allowed Bruton Smith to breathe more easily since he put up a $1,000,000 bonus to anyone who won all four of the segments. Segment three also went to the younger Busch, while the fourth segment win was tallied in brother Kurt’ s account.
Kyle Busch wins the North Carolina Education Lottery 200
posted by Mike Neff
Friday May 17, 2013
‘Rowdy’ Busch was back in his familiar No. 51 truck at his favorite track on the Truck schedule. Busch led 80 laps and thought he should have led more but had a fuel issue on pit road that resulted in him having to battle back through the field. The race was slowed by eight cautions that helped him work his way back through the field. Busch beat Brendan Gaughan to the finish by .488 seconds, while Max Gresham chased them both to the line for his first top three finish of his Truck career. Matt Crafton came home in fourth place after having to battle through a couple of tire mishaps during the event. Ty Dillon rounded out the top 5 for his first finish that high this season. Busch led the race three times for his 80 laps. Miguel Paludo was second on the laps led board with 33. Gaughan, Gresham and Dillon also scored bonus points for leading laps. There were two cautions in the first 72 laps of the race while 29 of the last 62 laps were completed under the yellow flag. Jeb Burton started the race on the pole but did not lead a lap. He did however end the race as the Rookie of the Race for his 13th place finish. Matt Crafton leads Burton by 22 points in the season standings after five races this season.
Matt Kenseth Snatches Victory from the Jaws of Defeat at Darlington
posted by Mike Neff
Sunday May 12, 2013
Kyle Busch appeared to be headed for another weekend sweep after winning the Nationwide race at Darlington on Friday night. However, a funny thing happened as they were bringing out the dustpan. Matt Kenseth chased down the dominant car of the night, passed him with relative ease and then strolled away to a 3.165 second victory. Kenseth led the final 13 laps after Busch had held the point for 265 of the 354 laps leading up to Kenseth’s race winning pass. After Kenseth worked around Busch, the No. 18 slid rapidly backwards over the final eight laps to fall from second to sixth place. Joe Gibbs Racing did manage a 1-2 finish after sweeping the podium in Friday night’s Nationwide tilt. Denny Hamlin, in his first full race back in the car since his vertebrae fracture at California, soldiered through the pain of his arms, neck and shoulders more than his recovered back to wrestle a second place finish away from the Lady in Black. Coming home in third was Jeff Gordon, who turned his 700th career start into a top 3 finish. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 5 in the Bojangles Southern 500. Kurt Busch started the race on the pole and led the first 51 laps before coming to the pits for a green flag stop. After the stops cycled through Busch was back at the point for 18 more laps before his brother began his domination. The race went green for the first 302 laps save a seven lap caution stint from lap 125 to lap 131. The final 65 laps saw four more cautions that flew for accidents involving Regan Smith, Brad Keselowski, Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Josh Wise, David Reutimann and Kasey Kahne. The race saw four leaders including Jeff Gordon in addition to the Busch brothers and Kenseth. The win is Kenseth’s 27th of his career and breaks a tie between himself and his teammate Kyle Busch. The win is Kenseth’s third this season which is the most among all of the competitors in the Cup series. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the Rookie of the Race. Jeff Gordon’s top 5 finish was his 300th of his career. He joins Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison as the only four drivers in the history of the sport to accomplish such a feat.
Busch Dominates at Darlington as JGR Sets Nationwide Series Record
posted by Amy Henderson
Friday May 10, 2013
Kyle Busch dominated the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 on Friday night en route to his 56th career Nationwide Series victory and fifth series win of 2013. Joe Gibbs Racing in general was the class of the field all night at Darlington Raceway, claiming four of the top 5 finishing spots, with only fourth-place Joey Logano keeping them from sweeping the top four spots. It was a historic night for JGR, as no team has ever before placed four cars in the top 5. Elliott Sadler finished second to Busch and Brian Vickers third, with Logano and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top 5. Busch led 107 of 147 laps on the way to the win. Sadler was the best among the Nationwide Regulars, finishing second despite an early spin in Turn 2, and gained points on leader Regan Smith, who finished seventh. Kyle Larson continued to impress at the Lady in Black, posting a sixth-place finish in his first Darlington start as he runs for rookie honors. Sam Hornish, Jr., who remained second in points, finished eighth while Kasey Kahne and Justin Allgaier filled the top 10. Smith now leads Nationwide Series points by 28 over Hornish. Sadler jumps two spots to third on his second-place run as Justin Allgaier fell one place to fourth. Vickers gained three sports and is now fifth, 49 behind Smith. Austin Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Brian Scott, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson round out the top 10. |
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Matt McLaughlin · Monday March 4, 2013
The Key Moment – Carl Edwards seemed to be cruising to an easy win when Ken Schrader wrecked with three laps to go, drawing the caution flag. On the green-white-checkered restart, Brad Keselowski in third gave Edwards a nice shove into the lead and he cruised on to win after all while Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin waged a spirited battle for second in his mirror.
In a Nutshell – The new logo for the Gen-6 car apparently ought to be “No Passing Zone.”
A small step for mankind… but a very big step for Carl Edwards Sunday, over the moon on getting to Victory Lane in Cup for the first time since Las Vegas in March, 2011.
Dramatic Moment – During that final lap Hamlin, Johnson and Keselowski battled for second, side by side. It seemed the first time all day any driver actually seemed to care about advancing his position.
What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week
Truthfully, most folks will be talking about some upcoming NCAA basketball tournament, which teams should be part of the contest and even devising imaginary ladders. What almost nobody will be talking about is stock car racing. After the glamour and drama of Daytona, there’s been a dearth of stories about the Cup Series, this week that involve the actual racing itself. I mean, come on… when the big story is Junior is on a diet, it’s back to reality. (Prune juice. Really?)
Of course, the residual big story that continues to garner headlines was the continuing recovery of the victims injured in the grandstands on the last lap of the N.W. race. Earlier this week, Frontstretch ran a column by my esteemed colleague Jeff Meyer blasting some of those injured fans for deciding to sue NASCAR and the track. I respectfully disagree. Saturday wasn’t an unforeseeable accident. Many writers, myself included, have been predicting it for over a decade. No, the carnage wasn’t as bad as it could have been but it was still life-altering for those injured in the tragedy. They’re going to have medical bills. They will miss time for work. Their friends and family had to pay for extended lodging to be with the injured. There are out-of-pocket expenses coming at a time of reduced income. I feel NASCAR should bear those costs, if not for legal reasons then for compassionate ones. One single mother had her leg broken and Achilles tendon torn. She then had to endure a 13-hour ride home in agony seated in the backseat of a pickup truck. (Because of the swelling, they hadn’t even been able to put a cast on the shattered leg.) C’mon. How many aircraft does NASCAR or the ISC have at their disposal? They couldn’t have flown her to an airstrip near her home?
At Daytona, the drivers said they couldn’t pass because the spoilers were too short. This weekend at Phoenix, the same drivers said they couldn’t pass because the spoilers were too tall. It behooves NASCAR to quickly figure out at what spoiler height is their “Goldilocks moment” as in “just right.”
The Toyotas are clearly very fast this season, but their power trains are proving to be fragile as well (see: Martin Truex, Jr.‘s broken rear gear, plus engine changes pre-race for Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch). Expect the midnight oil to be turning at TRD this week.
On a brighter note, it’s nice to know it’s 80 degrees and sunny somewhere in the world. Those of you who live in the northeast are probably as tired of rain, gray skies, cold temperatures and biting chilly winds as I am.
Another Nationwide race and another win for a Cup driver. (In this case, Kyle Busch putting on an absolute driving clinic. Busch got caught speeding on pit road and dropped to 23rd on the restart. 45 laps later, he was back in the lead.) The last time a full-time N.W. driver won a race in his own series was Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. at Kansas last year. Guess what he’s doing with his Sunday afternoons now…
Jimmie Johnson laughed off claims that that he’d purposely destroyed the front end of his car doing doughnuts to celebrate his Daytona 500 victory. Oddly enough, the No. 48 car struggled mightily to make it through pre-qualifying tech inspection this weekend, requiring three trips through the barn before it was labeled kosher. When that happens, so soon after that it just adds to the image of the this team as being cheaters. Then again, if you’re not trying to push the envelope, especially with a brand new car you’re probably not doing your job…
But wait… there’s more… rumors are circulating that NASCAR’s new high-tech laser based inspection system for the cars’ bodies might be at fault with some of the teams struggling to pass pre-race tech. It is said that the normal jostling around of moving the equipment from track to track is effecting the system’s accuracy. If that’s the case, it behooves NASCAR to have three cars, one from each manufacturer competing built to comply completely with the rules being enforced. Use those three prototypes to ensure the accuracy of the measuring devices weekly.
The team calls Landon Cassill’s ghastly paint scheme “camouflage wildfire.” Well, that was my second guess. My first one was it looked like someone had gorged themselves on pasta and Mad Dog 20/20 while dropping acid, causing him to puke.
Sharp-eyed (no pun intended) readers who commented on last week’s column pointed out something I saw but deleted from that column which had already swollen to epic length. After Tony Stewart’s Holden was wrecked, at Daytona he joined his team in trying to make repairs to get it back out on the track. But while using a die-grinder, Stewart overlooked basic air tool safety by not donning eye protection. My guess is good vision is essential to race car drivers and that a bit of red hot metal piercing your eye isn’t going to help vision any. Besides, it smarts something awful…
It’s a brave new world amongst the decimated ranks of the NASCAR media. This year, NASCAR is determined that there will be a more positive tone to coverage of the sport. As such, they are trying to spew out positive storylines, one after another which some elements of the press are regurgitating undiluted. Take, for instance the breathless headlines that last week’s TV ratings for the Daytona 500 were up roughly 30 percent over last year. Hmmm. What do I recall about the 2012 Daytona 500? Well, for the first time in the event’s history Sunday’s running of the race was rained out. Attempts to run the event Monday afternoon were also hampered by weather issues, so the race finally ran on Monday evening against primetime programming. During the course of the event, fans still awake had to endure the delay caused by the jet dryer explosion, one that led the race to conclude in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. And ratings were up over that? No crap. The highest-rated Daytona 500 ever remains the 1979 running of the race, the first broadcast flag-to-flag on network TV. With much of the nation socked in by a blizzard and only three channels to choose from, that 500 earned a rating of 10.5 — higher than Sunday’s 9.9.
As long as we have Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds in the booth, fans will continue to be reminded that there’s no such thing as a bad Goodyear tire — just bad teams that do bad things to their tires.
The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune
The afterglow of Daytona faded as quickly as fog on the lawn in the spring at sunrise for Danica Patrick. She was never up to speed in any of the practice sessions at Phoenix and qualified 40th. During the race, she struggled to run in the 20s before popping a tire, clobbering the outside wall, then getting hit so hard by David Ragan it sheered off most of the left side sheet metal on the No. 10 car. As I’ve said, the Daytona 500 is the chrome and neon trim of the sport. Starting Sunday, we’re seeing the nuts and bolts and it appears the No. 10 team is in need of some Loctite.
Ryan Newman lost a right front tire and slammed the wall Sunday – twice. After the second incident Newman, who wound up 40th ran from the car as if afraid someone would tell him they could fix it so he could return to the race.
Kyle Busch’s Sunday didn’t start well with an engine change, sending him to the rear of the field. He then spun out trying to work his way forward and struggled just to get back on the lead lap (he wound up 23rd).
Finishing fifth isn’t awful. In fact, there are have been months-long periods during his career Dale Earnhardt, Jr. probably would have soul-kissed a mule for a top-5 result. But Sunday, it appeared the driver of the No. 88 car had a shot at a win until he spun the rear tires starting on the outside on a restart and he faded backwards.
Mark Martin won the pole, then led two practices this weekend at age 54. He dominated the early stages of the race, looking like a threat to become NASCAR’s oldest winner but fell victim to a wheel left loose during a pit stop.
Clint Bowyer’s day also went wrong in the pits. Bowyer thought his team was going to change two tires when, in fact they planned to replace all four. To add a little icing to the cake, Bowyer then found himself blocked in his pit stall by the car ahead of him (Travis Kvapil).
The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune
The only thing that went wrong for Carl Edwards all of Sunday was a stuck landing on his backflip. The Russian judge gave him a 4.
Jimmie Johnson’s season is off to a positive start with a first and second-place finish to date.
Denny Hamlin had to start from the rear of the field after his team had to replace yet another blown engine in his Toyota. He managed to charge forward well enough in the final two laps he was able to wrest third from Brad Keselowski.
How close did Keselowski’s team come in judging their fuel mileage? He ran out of gas while crossing the finish line in fourth.
AJ Allmendinger’s return to grace continues apace with a solid eleventh-place finish.
Worth Noting
- Edwards won a Cup race for the first time since Las Vegas, the third race of the 2011 season. He also led laps for the first time since Bristol last August.
- Earnhardt, Johnson and Keselowski have top-5 finishes in both this season’s points-paying events. No other drivers have even two top 10s.
- The top-10 finishers at Phoenix drove five Chevys, three Toyotas and two Fords. Like General Francisco Franco, the Dodge Cup program continues to struggle valiantly to remain dead.
- Johnson has now won three of the last six Cup races.
- In the last thirteen Cup races, Keselowski has missed the top 10 just twice.
- Jeff Burton (10th) earned his first top-10 finish since Talladega last fall.
- While it feels like a the fall race at Phoenix was a long time ago, there have only been three points-paying Cup races run since then. (Including Sunday’s race.) Well, the only driver with a top-5 finish today and in last year’s penultimate event is Denny Hamlin. The only other driver with a top 10 in both races is Brad Keselowski.
What’s the Points?
Johnson leads the standings, eight markers ahead of Earnhardt and Keselowski who are tied for second. Bowyer and Hamlin are tied for fourth, 18 points behind Johnson. If the Chase were to start right now, NASCAR would save us months of watching frustratingly boring races.
If you’ve already gotten your panties in a wad over the points, I have to ask if you have even the barest semblance of a life. When the last time you talked to mom, walked the dog (or had the dog take mom for a walk), pointed out the constellations to children, hugged an endangered species, or went out on a date with a partner that wasn’t inflatable? Life… it’s not just a breakfast cereal anymore.
Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans, with one being a stinker and a six-pack an instant classic) — We’ll give it two cans of lukewarm generic stuff. At least this week, all the fans left on their feet.
Next Up – The Cup series is leaving for Las Vegas. Yawn.
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Tuesday on the Frontstretch:
Five Points to Ponder: NASCAR’s Midwestern Malaise, Manufacturer Malfunctions And More
Going By the Numbers: Need a Road Course Ringer? Here’s Who Not to Call
Couch Potato Tuesday: Michigan Meant Progress, Not Perfection For TNT
Who’s Hot / Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: Michigan-Sonoma Edition
Death Visits NASCAR Less Often Now, But Still Is Present At Local Tracks
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