Race Weekend Central

Breaking a Sweat: Top NASCAR Drivers on the Hot Seat

2016 Fontana Cup Kasey Kahne Brett Moist Nkp

(Photo: Brett Moist/NKP)

There’s a few indisputable truths about the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season. Perhaps the most important, cloaked within a playoff system that rewards trips to Victory Lane, is the lack of winners dotting the current Chase for the championship. Just six drivers have earned a first-place trophy through the first 11 races, the lowest number through this stretch …

Read more

Did You Notice? … Steering NASCAR’s Safety Discussion Post-Talladega

2016 Talladega I Cup Multicar Crash John Harrelson Nkp

(Photo: John Harrelson / NKP)

Did You Notice? … Jim Utter’s comments on SIRIUS XM Tuesday morning expressing confusion about how more wasn’t made of steering wheels coming off race cars after Talladega? One of Motorsport.com‘s main editors made reference to the fact there was an uproar about restrictor plate racing safety, an issue that’s been front and center to various degrees for …

Read more

Power Of The People: Could NASCAR Drivers Nix The Plates?

2016 Talladega I Cup Crash Damage Cleanup Logan Whitton Nkp

(Photo: Logan Whitton/NKP)

The most notable moments of Talladega, contrary to popular belief, came two days before multiple cars flipped upside down. Prior to the Chris Buescher melee, long before Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano flared up once again there was a meeting of political minds behind closed doors. The Driver’s Council, an unofficial union of racers feeling more like a “Union” …

Read more

Did You Notice? … Talladega Truly Is Unpredictable

Did You Notice? … Talladega truly is the most unpredictable race on the NASCAR circuit? OK, I know you hear that all the time. But let’s take a look at the type of upsets that have occurred here the last seven years…. Spring 2009. Brad Keselowski wins in a James Finch-owned car that’s a single-car program, only went full-time …

Read more

Bump And Run To The Bank: NASCAR’s Success Equals Every Man For Himself

This morning, Joe Gibbs Racing will hold a team debrief over what happened Sunday afternoon at Richmond. Warring factions will sit on either side of the table. Sunday’s winner Carl Edwards will be in one corner, trying to hold in a smile while holding the sport’s most recent trophy by way of bump and punch to the …

Read more

Did You Notice? … NASCAR Homogeny & Early Racing Death

2016 Las Vegas Cup Clint Bowyer Nigel Kinrade Nkp

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade / NKP)

Did You Notice? … Only four different engine combinations are currently in position to make NASCAR’s Chase? A quick look at the top 16 gives us the following breakdown…. Hendrick Motorsports: 7 Joe Gibbs Racing (via TRD): 5 Team Penske (via Roush Yates motors): 2 Richard Childress Racing (Earnhardt Childress motors): 2 In a modern racing world where multi-car efforts have increasingly …

Read more

Did You Notice? … NASCAR’s 2016 Season Has A Green-Flag Feel?

Ricky Stenhouse Jr Crash Martinsville Cup 2016 Mike Neff

(Photo: Mike Neff)

Did You Notice? … No Sprint Cup race has had more than eight caution flags all season? The 51 laps we ran under yellow at Martinsville were the fewest for that track since 1996; overall, the number of slowdowns have dropped significantly for the first six events. TOTAL CAUTION FLAGS – FIRST SIX RACES 2007: 58 2008: 66 2009: 59 2010: 56 2011: 56 …

Read more

A Must For NASCAR’s Recovery: Every Man For Himself

2016 Las Vegas Cup Matt Kenseth Nigel Kinrade Nkp

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade NKP)

Teammates be damned. That phrase, however simple was the most important moment in Sunday’s Martinsville race. No, it wasn’t Kyle Busch overcoming a decade’s worth of bad history there. It wasn’t Busch reaching Victory Lane despite a valiant charge by underdog AJ Allmendinger. It wasn’t pit problems by a consistent Kevin Harvick or a self-induced crash by …

Read more

Did You Notice? … Tony Stewart Could Easily Still Make The Chase

Tony Stewart Bank Of America 500 2015 Charlotte Cup Mike Neff

(Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch)

Did You Notice? … Five races into the 2016 season the door is still wide open for Tony Stewart to make the Chase? Certainly, there’s a lot that would have to happen; the three-time Sprint Cup champion isn’t even expected to return to the series until May. The sabbatical leaves him out for about 12 …

Read more

Did You Notice? … The Death Of The NASCAR DNF

2015 Atlanta Cup Kevin Harvick Engine Practice Credit Nascar Via Getty Images

(Photo: Getty Images)

Did You Notice? … That in the first five races more cars are avoiding mechanical failure than ever before? One of the storylines in the midst of NASCAR’s new rules, a package that has brought much needed passing and unpredictability back into racing has been the ability of cars to go the distance regardless of circumstances. …

Read more

Kevin Harvick’s Opportunity Lost — And Big Decision Ahead

Kevin Harvick Bank Of America 500 2015 Charlotte Cup Mike Neff

(Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch)

For Kevin Harvick, the phrase “so close, yet so far” has got to be getting old. Like, about ready to smack a dude in the face old the second someone mentions second place. The driver of the No. 4 car dominated Sunday’s proceedings at Fontana, leading 142 of 205 laps and appeared poised to run away with …

Read more