Race Weekend Central

The Frontstretch Five: Ways NASCAR Might Be Different If Dale Earnhardt Was Here

Welcome to the Frontstretch Five, a brand-new column for 2014! Each week, Amy Henderson takes a look at the racing, the drivers, and the storylines that drive NASCAR and produces a list of five people, places, things, and ideas that define the current state of our sport. In the latest edition, Amy takes a look …

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Did You Notice? … A Daytona Darkhorse, Power Split And NASCAR Quick Hits

Did You Notice?… One of the more underreported stories of Speedweeks, thus far is not who’s sitting in the front row but who just missed out. Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, third and fourth-best in Sunday’s qualifying for the 56th Daytona 500 look to have the speed to contend for Victory Lane. Quietly, Roush Fenway …

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Who’s Hot / Who’s Not In Sprint Cup: Daytona Speedweeks Edition

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not is ready to pick up where it left off last season. Defending champion Jimmie Johnson is the driver to beat in 2014 after rediscovering his title touch last year. Johnson starts his championship defense at Daytona International Speedway, where he is also the defending winner of the biggest race in …

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NASCAR 2014 Season Preview: The Rookie of the Year Battle

New playoff system. New qualifying procedure. New attitude. As NASCAR heads towards Daytona in 2014, all around the sport are focused on the positive, looking for the perfect season to recapture a nation currently preoccupied with other sports, along with the Olympics in Sochi. Can they do it? As Speedweeks dawn, both NASCAR’s Sprint Unlimited …

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Five Points to Ponder: Pole Conspiracies, Smoke Rising and the Great American Race

ONE: And We’re Back The NASCAR offseason is just about the shortest in all of professional sports. So why does it always feel like ages between the checkered flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the start of Daytona Speedweeks? I’ll leave that answer to those more qualified in the study of neurosciences in the human brain, …

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Racing to the Point: “Game 7 Moments” Don’t Feel Like Game 7 At All

Most playoff series don’t reach Game 7. Some go four games, some five, some six, but few go seven. There’s a reason for it: Game 7 is reserved for the playoff series that just couldn’t be decided any other way. They’re destined to have one last winner-take-all moment. As fans, we treasure Game 7s because …

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NASCAR 2014: The Year of the Rookie

Welcome back, my friends, to another year of speed and hopefully fun. While 2013 ended on a predictable note, at least after the controversy of Richmond, there are many things happening at the start of this season that may manage to jump NASCAR out of its proverbial rut. However, despite a new Chase/Points system, new …

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