Race Weekend Central

Happiness Is… R.A.S, Regulars, and Sochi

2015 Cup Dover Pack Racing Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Another week, another sense that the sky is falling on NASCAR. The stands this past weekend showed a less than stellar crowd in attendance. Whether that can be credited to the threat of rain and overall gloomy weather, the popularity of football, or the fact that Dover is not what it once was, it doesn’t …

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Happiness Is… Sayonara, Hurricane Joaquin, and Money

2015 Chicago Cup Tony Stewart Helmet Ii Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

The changing of the calendar comes across as an appropriate thematic concept for what is currently happening in NASCAR. With October letting its presence be known again, it marks the beginning of the sunset of the season as just eight races remain on the Cup schedule. So for all of our collective griping, enjoyment, haranguing, …

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Happiness Is… Handling, Wussiness, and NASCAR’s B-Series

2015 Chicago Cup Matt Kenseth Racing Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Anyone else underwhelmed by the first round of the Chase, er, playoffs?   The race drew just a 1.8 rating, which means somewhere in the neighborhood of three million fans tuning in to enjoy the action. On a positive note, that number also put the race as the most-watched sporting event that wasn’t football (Reminder …

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Happiness Is… Records, Chicagoland, and Smog

2015 Richmond Ii Cup Grandstand Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Out like a lamb and in like a lamb. That description feels apt for the end of the Cup Series’ regular season and the beginning of its Chase – or is it playoffs? In many ways, there is nothing surprising about the regular season wheezing out as few can remember anything significant happening in that …

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Happiness Is… Themes, Hype, and Silly Season

2015 Darlington Cup Tony Stewart Car Ii Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

The low downforce. The softer tires. The retro paint schemes. The return to Darlington Raceway over Labor Day weekend. All of these elements added up to an interesting Southern 500, one that has seemed to garner overall positive reactions. That’s great! For a sport that has seemingly battled itself more than it should and caused many of …

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Happiness Is… Throwbacks, Jeff Gordon and Scott Dixon

Fans in the stands for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway

(Photo Credit: Yvonne Leonard, Frontstretch)

It’s Darlington time this weekend and the race is once again situated on its traditional Labor Day weekend slot. It seems that someone over there at NASCAR HQ finally made some kind of decent decision. Of course, the track had taken a difficult situation and made it its own before this most recent shift in the …

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Happiness Is… Busch (Beer, That Is), Tires, and the Championship

Pirelli tyres, tires, in the studio (credit: Pirelli)

(Credit: Pirelli)

One of the things that continues to perplex in the wonderful world of NASCAR isn’t the consistent use of lame debris cautions, the myriad of car configurations for this season or that there aren’t more road courses on the schedule.   For a change, the wonderment is pointed in another direction. With Joey Logano’s win …

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Happiness Is… A Green Light, Overload & Pocono

2015 Charlotte I Cup David Ragan Crew Guy Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Well, that sucks.   With Rob Kauffman’s decision to take his ball and go play with the cooler kids on the playground, what once was a decent NASCAR Sprint Cup organization is left in shambles. But as Michael Waltrip Racing becomes another team left in the haze of exhaust and burnt rubber as the sport …

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Happiness Is… TV, Ohio & Bills

2015 Pocono Ii Cup Jeff Gordon Pack Racing Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

The nightmare season continues.   With another lackluster finish at Watkins Glen, Jeff Gordon continues his magical mystery tour, with the mystery being how far back in the field he’ll finish each race. Even the race before, at Pocono, Gordon and co. appeared lost, hanging out midpack for much of the event before their fuel-mileage …

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Happiness Is… Kyle Busch, Lewis Hamilton, Safety & The Glen

2015 Pocono Ii Cup Kyle Busch Kurt Busch Racing Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

As usual, everything is wrong with the sport of NASCAR. The best race of this past weekend happened at Iowa on Saturday night at a time when no one was watching. The truck race got besieged by the Cuppers, with Kyle Busch stealing another win from the little guys. And the headline of the weekend, …

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Happiness Is… 483 Points, Ohio & Hungaroring

Kyle Busch celebrates his win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

The feeling after the Brickyard 400 seems to be a hangover without the fun of having drank. It’s like there’s something that should have happened but didn’t and now there’s just the empty blankness of moving on and continuing in some sort of rut. Nothing to take away from Kyle Busch’s win; that dude is …

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Happiness Is… Acting, Thanking & Remembering

2015 Kentucky Cup Jeff Gordon Car Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

This week, NASCAR provides fans with an interesting and peculiar division. It’s almost as if the governing body is playing a game of Yes and No with the schedule. It’s a tantalizing mixture, one that offers nods to the past and the present while also bringing about a beguiling look toward the future. All of that …

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