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

Denny Hamlin wins Kroger 200 at Martinsville

Oct 27, 2012
200 laps of typical short track racing at Martinsville resulted in a lot of bent sheet metal, quite a few hurt feelings, a new point leader and another grandfather clock for Denny Hamlin. Hamlin started the race at the tail end of the field because he missed the drivers’ meeting. It took him 76 laps …

Read more

dummy-img

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Returns To NASCAR… Not A Moment Too Soon

Oct 27, 2012
Almost three weeks ago, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. climbed out of his wrecked race car at Talladega after a late race wreck had ruined his day, ended his faint chances at a series title and apparently scrambled his brain. After suffering a concussion during the tire test at Kansas a few weeks earlier, and then a second one at Talladega, the most popular driver in NASCAR was left with a decision that no race car driver, or athlete for that matter, ever wants to have to face: his mortality. Suddenly, scary health news turned the iron will of a race car driver vulnerable, a future left shaky due to brain trauma that, if left untreated could leave a lifetime risk of permanent damage. So after taking that look in the mirror, Earnhardt decided to take the doctors’ advice and stay out of the car for at least two weeks. It was two of the longest weeks of his life, agony from the couch while having to watch someone else drive the No. 88. But in hindsight it was the right thing to do — for both Earnhardt and for the sport.
dummy-img

Johnson Wins Pole; Keselowski To Start 32nd Sunday

Oct 26, 2012
Jimmie Johnson won the first skirmish in this week’s Chase battle, winning the pole at Martinsville with a speed of 97.598 MPH, his third of the year. Brian Vickers will start on the front row beside Johnson after topping the charts in the only practice session of the day. Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, and Denny …

Read more

dummy-img

Earnhardt, Jr. Ready To Be Back to “Normal,” Back In the 88 At Martinsville

Oct 26, 2012
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. returns to what the 38-year-old driver classifies as “narmal” this weekend at Martinsville–sitting behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet. Earnhardt sat out two weeks following a concussion that he suffered in a last-lap crash at Talladega, during which Earnhardt says he learned much about both himself and about head injuries …

Read more

dummy-img

BSNews! Allstate and Progressive Explore 2013 Sponsorship For Danica

Oct 25, 2012
A spokesman for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has announced that two different car insurance companies have expressed an interest in sponsoring NASCAR’s most popular female driver, Danica Patrick, possibly full-time by 2014. The two companies are Allstate and Progressive. This could prove to be a huge boon for Danica, or it might prove to be a huge headache as she is currently a spokesperson for Nationwide insurance. As one might expect, any sponsorship by a rival insurance company would only be allowed at the Sprint Cup level as Nationwide currently sponsors NASCAR’s lower series. While Nationwide doesn’t directly sponsor Danica’s car on the race track, she does do their ‘Vanishing Deductible’ commercial at the track and often takes it a step further by vanishing from contention and even behind the wall during races.
dummy-img

The No. 7 and the Risk of Backwards Development

Oct 25, 2012
My first visit to the Daytona International Speedway came as a writer in 2010. Though the weekend would eventually be defined by a pothole and the Daytona 500 going from day to night, entering Speedweeks the story was one Danica Patrick. Danica-mania was coming to NASCAR, to an extent that the ESPN broadcast booth and execs took questions in the media center regarding their coverage of her debut race.
dummy-img

Eyes On the Prize: NASCAR’s Coolest Trophies

Oct 25, 2012
There’s just something about Martinsville. NASCAR’s oldest track, on the schedule since 1949, has a certain ambiance that is missing at the high-banked, high-dollar speedways that take up the lion’s share of the schedule. The little track, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, seems to have been passed over by the sands of time. But there is another reason why the drivers want to win at the little paperclip-shaped oval in the hills, and it’s not just bragging rights. It’s the trophy. Since 1964, the speedway has handed out what is perhaps the most unique prize in motorsports, a grandfather clock, manufactured locally by Ridgeway Clocks. It’s worth a cool ten grand, but that’s not why the drivers want it. It’s different, a symbol of conquering what is still one of the hardest tracks in all NASCAR to master.
dummy-img

Kenny Wallace Driver Diary: Repaving, Regrouping, and Looking Ahead

Oct 25, 2012
Kansas went really well. We practiced in second spot, but we were tied with Paul Menard, so they listed us third. We backed it up by qualifying fourth. It’s a pretty special car, you know? People will ask, “well, how come you qualify twelfth to fifteenth then all of a sudden, you qualify so good?” My best qualifying run of the year was third at Phoenix. When I’m in the car, we usually qualify in the top 11, let’s say; I’ve got a couple of eleventh-place qualifying runs. So it was a really solid qualifying effort.
dummy-img

Four Burning Questions: Junior’s Return and Allmendinger’s Second Chance

Oct 25, 2012
It’s surprising to me to think back to last year’s race at Homestead and realize we are already coming up on one year since that race between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. This year has flown by and already so much has happened, including last weekend at Kansas. Now, we head into Martinsville for yet another chapter in what is turning out to be the same exciting battle – albeit it between two different drivers.
dummy-img

Truckin’ Thursdays: Debuting Drivers, A Winless Hornaday And Paludo’s Martinsville Breakdown

Oct 24, 2012
*Truex, Merrell Set to Debut* If all goes well in qualifying on Saturday morning, the Kroger 200 will feature two drivers making their Truck Series debuts. Ryan Truex has partnered with Hillman Racing, who fielded the No. 27 for a Jeb Burton 13th-place result at the paperclip in the spring event earlier this year. Though it’ll be his first Truck Series start at the 0.533-mile oval, Truex does have a 2010 K&N East Series start where he brought home a runner-up finish for Michael Waltrip Racing.
dummy-img

Beyond the Cockpit: Ricky Taylor on his 2012 Season, Surfer’s Paradise, and the Future

Oct 24, 2012
_For 23-year old Ricky Taylor, things are looking pretty decent. Entering Lime Rock, he had won two races (the rain-shortened event at Homestead, and at New Jersey Motorsports Park) and two poles (New Jersey and the short course at Watkins Glen). Recently, Taylor took a break from his busy schedule to sit down with our own Phil Allaway._ Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com: Can you give our fans an idea of what it’s like to drive around [Lime Rock] in the wet? Ricky Taylor, driver, No. 10 SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP: It’s a handful. It’s a lot of work. There’s not a lot of runoff here, and when you do go off, it’s all grass, which gets super slippery. So, the margin for error is really small. The track isn’t very wide, so there isn’t a lot of room to explore different lines. [As a result], you’re stuck on one line. If that line is super slippery, then you’ll have to deal with it. You have to be very sensitive with the throttle and the brake. You have to be very precise with all of your movements with the car.
dummy-img

Frontstretch Fan Q&A: Sorting Out NASCAR Fact From Fiction

Oct 24, 2012
Last weekend at Kansas Speedway, the new black surface was indicative of the black cloud that hung over most drivers’ heads as they loaded their beaten and battered racecars back into their haulers—including race winner Matt Kenseth. At least _someone_ was happy after that race, because no one else was. I can’t say I was altogether surprised at first. I figured we’d have a few crazy things happen throughout the race—it was a Chase race after all and we have three or four guys who are either in it or who are trying desperately to get within range of the leaders. But a wreckfest? That sort of thing is more expected at places like Bristol or Martinsville. Kansas is considered one of the most boring tracks on the schedule—two dates or not—so there weren’t really high expectations going in.
Load More Articles