Frontstretch 5

1. The Closer It’s really hard to deny that Kevin Harvick is the most deserving title candidate so far. He leads the Cup Series in wins (eight), top fives (21), top 10s (27), laps led (1859) and total playoff points (51). Take away the playoffs and he’d be currently be …

1. NASCAR Cup Series: 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400; 0.002 seconds With five laps to go at Darlington Raceway, Darrell Waltrip said that if Ricky Craven could catch leader Kurt Busch, it would be “really, really exciting.” Truer words have never been spoken. The finish in this race was nothing …

1. The money When NASCAR’s popularity hit its high point around 2000, business was booming. And like any boom time, the sport had the luxury of making a lot of changes very fast. It wasn’t unlike the California gold rush. Everyone wanted a piece of the sport and the sport …

1. Well, yeah, we messed up, but, just deal, OK? Former journeyman driver Brett Bodine is the current lead pace car driver for NASCAR. Ironic, considering his only Cup Series victory came about because of a pace car miscue. In a race at North Wilkesboro in 1990, Bodine had led …

1. Let teams control their destiny There has been much talk about parity in NASCAR in recent years, and while it’s certainly important for teams to be able to enter the sport and establish themselves, NASCAR’s move toward spec everything isn’t working. Cost-cutting attempts have been little more than taking …

1. Should NASCAR run the ROVAL again? Yes, absolutely. Sunday’s race wasn’t perfect and no race really is, but it was exciting. There was more passing than the TV broadcast made it seem, which is standard fare. Most races have a lot more going on than fans at home will …

1. Going old-school Definitely the old-school nature of Matt Kenseth punting Joey Logano at Martinsville in 2015. Logano had spun Kenseth from a certain victory earlier in the playoffs at Kansas after winning the previous week at Charlotte. Of course, that was seen as rubbing salt in the wound at …

1. The elephant in the room The fact that looms over NASCAR these days is the decline in both ratings and race attendance; it simply can’t be ignored, explained away, or overlooked. There are pieces that can’t be fixed, like the steady erosion of American car culture. That’s outside any …

1. Kevin Harvick v. Ross Chastain The XFINITY Series’ visit to Darlington Raceway marked the first of three opportunities for Ross Chastain to show what he’s capable of in top-notch equipment. And in his first start with Chip Ganassi Racing, all went well for the 25-year-old, who started on the …

1. Quicksilver One of the original one race paint schemes, if not the first, was the silver Goodwrench Chevy that Dale Earnhardt ran in the 1995 Winston (or whatever the race might have been called back then.) Because Earnhardt always ran the familiar black Chevys, it was quite a surprise …