Holding a Pretty Wheel: Severing the Last Tie to Another NASCAR Era
A look back at the legacy of Jeff Gordon, one of the last ties to an era of old in NASCAR.
Holding A Pretty Wheel
Holding A Pretty Wheel: With Kasey Kahne’s Future Secure, Others in Doubt
As of Wednesday, a lot of NASCAR Nation was looking at the future of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team, nodding and winking at each other. Sure, Kasey Kahne was in the seat in 2014, and would be through 2015, but it was really just a matter of time. Time, and keeping the seat warm. With …
Holding a Pretty Wheel: The Forgotten Four
The field of four is set for this year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR fans will see a first-time champion from among the likes of Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman or Denny Hamlin. The contenders weren’t locked in until the final lap at Phoenix, and when the dust settled, it was this group that …
Holding a Pretty Wheel: Chase Drama Only a Short Term Gain
Crashes. Fights. More crashes. More fights. It sounds a little like the plot of Days of Thunder, or maybe something out of the old days of racing, before there were big-money sponsors who frowned on their driver being in the center of a story that winds up with him either naked or in a swimming …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: NASCAR Needs Keselowski… And Johnson… And…
There are plenty of adjectives out there that race fans love to apply to different NASCAR drivers. Usually, the more adjectives applied, the less the fan likes the driver he’s attaching them to, so they should be taken with a grain of salt. But, truth be told, some drivers are more laid-back, or more outgoing, …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: Crew Chief Swaps Often Not Overnight Cure
In what the team termed as an “evaluation” move, Stewart-Haas Racing announced earlier this week that it would swap the crew chiefs and road crews for the Nos. 10 and 41 teams of drivers Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch. Vice President of Competition Greg Zipadelli said the move was made “to get a head start …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: Allmendinger All the Way
As teams were gearing up for the Chase in August 2013, AJ Allmendinger was looking for a future in NASCAR — any future. He’d been running part time in the Sprint Cup Series for midpack JTG-Daugherty Racing; a couple of Nationwide Series starts with Team Penske, the team that had released him from a full-time …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: May the Best Man Have a Chance to Win
My, how things have changed. For most of the NASCAR season, a few names stood out as title favorites: Jeff Gordon, who led the standings for much of the year; 2012 champ Brad Keselowski, who was a contender everywhere almost from day one; Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whose three wins were a statement that he was …
Holding a Pretty Wheel: Chase Format Left NASCAR Schedule Behind
Change. It’s a word that many NASCAR fans loathe. After all, it’s been in the name of change that fans have endured racecars that don’t handle when they race, limited innovation, beloved short tracks replaced by cookie-cutters and a championship system that poll after poll has shown they don’t want. A lot of the changes …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: The Grand Jury Got it Right, But Now It’s Time to Heal
After weeks of speculation, the first questions have been answered in the Tony Stewart–Kevin Ward, Jr. tragedy. In case you somehow missed it, Stewart hit and killed Kevin Ward, Jr. during a sprint car race in New York State on Aug. 9 of this year. Ward, apparently angered at Stewart for spinning his car out, …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: The Magic Number Is… Not Four
And the number shall be three. Maybe Monty Python was onto something when it came to counting. Three might have been the magic number on which to release the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, but it also seems to be the magic number for race teams. You’d think that a successful three-car organization could easily …
Holding A Pretty Wheel: The Man Nobody Remembers
One more night and it’s over. NASCAR’s so-called regular season will be on the books, the Chase field set, and the two-and-a-half dozen-or-so teams who don’t make it will be virtually forgotten for the rest of the year. In the final 10 races, it will be all Chase all the time, as teams vie for …