Race Weekend Central

Bowles-Eye View: Don’t Let Pocono Rain On Your Parade – Some Sunday Highlights From the Track

While Pocono’s 500-miler was pushed back a day, the rain couldn’t do the same to my deadline. So while I’d love to write on the race itself, instead I started this Sunday night (Aug. 2) staring at a blank page after “start your engines” became “stop those weepers!” That left us with hours upon hours …

Read more

What’s Vexing Vito: Unsolicited Opinions on NASCAR You Haven’t Thought About Until Now

In this space each week, I usually wax poetic – or manic – depending on your view, on some topic that has been, by this point in the week, completely beaten to death and rehashed to the point that you probably can’t fire off a letter to me quick enough, asking that habeas corpus be …

Read more

2009 NASCAR Report Cards, Part II: Grading Dale Jr. & the Rest

Editor’s Note: For Part I of our midseason driver report cards, click here. Continuing on from yesterday’s review, it’s time for Professors Danny and Tom to grade those drivers sitting at the back of the class. Whether it’s some bad racing luck, poor chemistry with a crew chief or just plain awful driving, most of …

Read more

Mirror Driving: Double-File Disaster?, Ford’s Floundering Season & Gibbs Dominance in Nationwide

With Ford’s announcement that it has not cut NASCAR funding while every other manufacturer has, should more teams be jumping on the Blue Oval bandwagon?

Beyond the Cockpit: Bobby Labonte on Adjusting, Winning & Shooting the Truck?

At a time when veteran drivers are becoming a thing of the past in NASCAR, Bobby Labonte is the rare 40-something who’s remained a fixture in the series. Indeed, the sport has changed quite a bit since the Texan captured his lone Cup title nine years ago – but one thing that hasn’t is how …

Read more

Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: Trying to Overcome the Pythagorean Theorem of Racing at Pocono

The weekend’s trip to Pocono Raceway is about as far away from the Monster Mile as one can get. An enormous (and enormously wide) 2.5-mile triangle, Pocono is truly a one of a kind racetrack. With long straightaways and three unique corners, both handling and horsepower will be at a premium this coming weekend. And …

Read more

Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: Taming the Lady in Black

There aren’t many places where every driver, not just the rookies, is told “race the track, not the pack.” But that’s the only means of survival at Darlington Raceway, a unique combination of rim-riding and abrasive asphalt that’s among the most grueling 500-milers on the Sprint Cup circuit. The track itself may be Too Tough …

Read more

Frontstretch Fantasy Insider: NASCAR Beating & Banging in the Capital of the South

With Talladega in the rearview mirror, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series turns to the cozier confines of Richmond International Raceway and good ol’ fashioned short tracking this week. But while the Series’ last downforce race at Phoenix offered a glimpse of who you’d expect to contend in Virginia’s capital, don’t discount what happened last Sunday. …

Read more

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 Samsung 500 at Texas Edition

Jeff Gordon’s large winless streak came to an end Sunday in Texas – where everything is big. But while Gordon had a giant weight lifted off his shoulders, other drivers felt huge swings in the points. Greg Biffle gained eight spots in the standings after his third-place Texas run, while Mark Martin’s sixth-place finish gained …

Read more

Happy Hour: Once & for All, the Reason Dale Earnhardt Jr. Isn’t Winning

Last week, the bubbling cauldron that is the motorsports media began to boil over once again, reaching a point where Dale Earnhardt Jr. publicly asserted that his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. is a capable mechanic and even that he himself would be willing to take some of the blame for his failure to run …

Read more