Sunday’s racing at the small, half-mile paperclip in Martinsville was truly spectacular, reminding us why it’s the only racetrack remaining on NASCAR’s schedule every year since the sport’s inaugural season of 1949. Polesitter Denny Hamlin was certainly not the best car all day, but he was the best when it counted, mounting an impressive comeback …
The anti-climactic final moments of the Race to the Chase left a feeling in NASCAR fans’ mouths like they’d kissed their sister Saturday night. There wasn’t any of the built-up excitement that was promised from all the ESPN hype, and the oft-rumored, rarely intense battle for 12th place never materialized.
At the center of it all is Jack Roush, who put three cars inside the top five at Michigan; was that enough for all of them to make moves toward the top of the Power Rankings? And while Kurt Busch done blowed up, was that lack of horsepower enough to send him tumbling out of the poll? This week’s NASCAR Power Rankings reveals all the movers and shakers after the year’s final trip to the Irish Hills.
Drivers turned right and left this past weekend at Watkins Glen, and some of them turned themselves right out of their positions in the NASCAR Power Rankings. But while top competition faltered, Juan Pablo Montoya righted his ship, breaking a 113-race winless streak while licking the wounds of a difficult season. Further back, Marcos Ambrose was …
With the Cup Series off this weekend, the pollsters took a look at the recently announced list of nominees for the 2011 Hall of Fame induction class. The mix of names covers all aspects of NASCAR – drivers in various series, crew chiefs, car owners and promoters. Some were there when the first green flag …
Chase leaders learned the hard way why Chicago’s known as the Windy City, as many saw their cushion at the top swept away. Points leader Kevin Harvick’s advantage over second place was cut from 225 to 103 points, while third-place Jimmie Johnson led the most laps in the race, but could not overcome a couple …
Daytona lived up to its wild reputation Saturday night, triggering another classic Big One that shook up the 43-car field faster than your local bingo caller before calling out a number. By the time the spinning stopped, 19 cars – including a host of the top runners – were taken out in the melee, and …
Everyone thought that a little game of road course bumper cars at Infineon would stir up the Frontstretch Power Rankings. But one week later, it was actually the (mostly) caution-free, flat one-mile oval in New Hampshire that threw the top 15 into the blender. Four drivers climbed into the rankings this week, while four fell …
A typical road-course weekend saw a few names you don’t normally see up front, and some you expected to see up front relegated to poor finishes through no fault of their own. When the smoke cleared from a day filled with bumper cars and bumpy strategies, Jimmie Johnson surprisingly took home the checkered flag for …
The Irish Hills of Michigan were not the scene of a fuel-mileage strategy play this weekend; instead, the drama scenes fizzled in the face of total domination by Denny Hamlin. Not even mystery debris could cloud the ending of a race thoroughly controlled by the No. 11 from start to finish. Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon …
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