Race Weekend Central

The latest from the Frontstretch YouTube channel

NASCAR Best Bets Richmond Raceway - Through The Gears with Tino Pattigno & Michael Palmer

Articles

dummy-img

Michael Annett Driver Diary: End of the Season and Looking Ahead

Nov 21, 2012
Phoenix was actually a pretty good weekend from the start. Practice went good, qualifying was OK. I think we ended up qualifying 17th and within the first 20 laps I think we were up to ninth, so the car was just really good in the beginning. We took two tires on the first stop and that made it too tight. In the spring race, towards the end of the race we were really tight and so we just put on two left sides to free it up, and that’s really what brought the car to life and got us a top-10 finish that time but this time it just made it way way way too free.
dummy-img

NASCAR Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Homestead

Nov 21, 2012
Th-th-th-that’s all, folks! For the second year in a row, we are talking about someone not named Jimmie Johnson winning the championship. For the first time since 2005, someone not named Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson finally took the trophy home. But who would have thought that out of all the experienced, talented, and qualified drivers out there, that it would be Brad Keselowski? Not that there could have been a better driver considering his outreach on social media, but still .. he beat Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin when it came to winning their first titles. I get the feeling that this dude is going to be around for a while.
dummy-img

Did You Notice? … The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Of NASCAR 2012

Nov 20, 2012
*Did You Notice?…* As the dust begins to settle on the 2012 Sprint Cup season, a look inside the numbers tells you the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on the state of the sport. Let’s get right to it: *The Good:* A total of fifteen different drivers won a race this season, roughly one-third of what would compose a 43-car grid in a total that’s roughly in line with previous years. Also, for the second straight season parity took center stage as no driver got more than five wins apiece. Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin, drivers from three different organizations _and_ manufacturers shared the honor. It’s hard to get competition any closer than that; NASCAR hasn’t had league-leading victory totals this low in back-to-back years since 1991-92.
dummy-img

Fan’s View: For Every Checkered Flag, There is a Green

Nov 20, 2012
Well, it’s over. No more races for the year. We’ve got a new champion named Brad, rediscovered the bad guy in Jeff and welcomed MWR into the upper ranks of Cup goodness. Dale Jr. proved his mortality, Danica proved… what we always suspected, and a host of capable young drivers signed up for the future …

Read more

dummy-img

Five Points to Ponder: The Young, the Old and the Future of NASCAR

Nov 19, 2012
*ONE: Truck Schedule Key to NASCAR’s Future* For all the talk that Brad Keselowski is generating for being the bridge that NASCAR needs to get back to its core fans after his beer-guzzling exploits celebrating Penske Racing’s first Cup title, it’s all perhaps a bit premature. Keselowski has always been brash, old school and outspoken, much to the annoyance of many fanbases (just ask any Hamlin or Edwards fan). The fact that he won a Cup ahead of both of those stars isn’t going to change that opinion.
dummy-img

Couch Potato Tuesday: Title Usurps All, Including Covering the Race

Nov 19, 2012
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast critique is the name of my game. This will mark the final full-fledged TV critique of the 2012 season, as every series of note with the exception of Formula One and the V8 Supercars are done for the year. This past weekend was Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the final races of the 2012 season for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series.
dummy-img

Numbers Game 11/19/2012

Nov 19, 2012
by Garrett Horton 1 Brad Keselowski had just one finish worse than 18th in the final 28 races this year. He had three finishes of 32nd or worse in the first five races in 2012. 2 Carl Edwards led more than one lap in just two races this year – Richmond in the spring where …

Read more

dummy-img

Pace Laps: Runner-Up Blues, American Success Stories, and Weird Weather

Nov 19, 2012
_Did you see all of the race action this weekend? Or, like a lot of busy fans, did you miss a late-night adventure, a Friday controversy, or a juicy piece of news? If you did, you’ve come to the right place! Each week, The Frontstretch will break down the racing, series by series, to bring you the biggest stories that you need to watch moving forward. Let our experts help you get up to speed for the coming week no matter what series you might have missed, all in this edition of Pace Laps!_ *Sprint Cup: Which No. 2 Is The First Loser?* If he didn’t lead a lap, Brad Keselwoski needed to finish 15th to clinch his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup title. Keselowski finished 15th—his worst since coming home 30th at Bristol in August—though in the end, he could have finished anywhere and taken it as Jimmie Johnson’s broken drive train ended the day for his only challenger.
dummy-img

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2012 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead

Nov 19, 2012
For possibly the first time ever, Dale Earnhardt Jr. snuck up for a good finish. Usually, it’s impossible for Earnhardt to fly under the radar in a race. But this week, with the spotlight on his teammate and his former employee running for the Cup, Earnhardt did just that, finishing 10th after running mid-pack for most of the day.
dummy-img

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Ford EcoBoost 300

Nov 19, 2012
After a late-race wreck drastically changed the championship picture at Phoenix courtesy of Elliott Sadler’s troubles, the season finale race at Homestead was tame by comparison. Though Sadler started strong and even challenged for the lead during the first run of the race, by event’s end it was business as usual, with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. comfortably ahead of Sadler, who had faded in the final stretches. The result was Stenhouse and the No. 6 team easily scoring their second consecutive Nationwide Series championship, with Sadler holding off teammate Austin Dillon by only one point for second in the standings.
dummy-img

Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2012 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead

Nov 18, 2012
Jeff Gordon was among the drivers who pitted on a quick caution on lap 155. In the end, it resulted in the No. 24 having enough fuel to make it to the finish when Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. had to pit from the front of the field. Gordon ended the night taking the first win for Hendrick Motorsports at Homestead-Miami Speedway while his teammate Jimmie Johnson sat in his car in the garage, having lost the championship due to a faulty rear end.
dummy-img

One Move, One Champion

Nov 18, 2012
There’s a name not often mentioned as the catalyst for Brad Keselowski, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. For every Roger Penske, Paul Wolfe, or Miller Lite VP with a bucket load of cash there’s just one name I will always think of, one whose own failure could have changed the course of the sport. Mark Martin.
Load More Articles