Race Weekend Central

Beside the Rising Tide: Autumn’s Closing In

2015 Kentucky Cwts Matt Crafton Racing Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

A funny thing happened Saturday night at Kentucky (a bunch of not-so-funny things happened at Kentucky leading up to the race, but we’ll get to that.) Saturday, in the midst of a NASCAR event, a stock car race broke out. Was it a perfect stock car race? Not hardly. Was it a decent stock car …

Read more

Kickin’ the Tires: New Aero Package Brings Better Racing

Kybusch Passes Cedwards

(Photo: Jerry Jordan, Frontstretch)

It’s impossible for anyone with two eyes to argue that Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway was the best the sport has seen since it began racing at the track four years ago. Although some might argue better racing at Kentucky was a low bar to clear, it still baffles me how anyone can claim …

Read more

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Fights Brake Issues, Collides With Danica Patrick in 2015 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Saturday’s Quaker State 400 saw a track-record 11 cautions, two of which came from NASCAR’s most popular driver. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won last weekend’s Coke Zero 400, struggled throughout the night’s 400-mile event at Kentucky Speedway. Suffering from a lack of brakes, the Kannapolis, North Carolina native found himself in the wall on lap …

Read more

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Criticizes JR Motorsports Team Following Kentucky Struggles

Nascar Xfinity Series Kentucky 300

(Photo: Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

Last year, JR Motorsports was one of the premier teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, winning multiple races and the 2014 championship with driver Chase Elliott. This season, however, the organization is struggling, according to owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt, who finished eighth his team’s No. 88 Hellman’s Chevrolet in Friday’s Kentucky 300, admitted to …

Read more

Friday Faceoff: Evaluating Rules, Wreckage & Chase Heading To Kentucky

Kentucky Rain

(Photo: Aaron Bearden, Frontstretch)

Welcome to Friday Faceoff, our weekly NASCAR roundtable where the Frontstretch experts give their take on major storylines surrounding the sport. Here’s a few major questions we’re trying to answer heading into Kentucky. 1) We’ve had a full week to digest the Austin Dillon wreck, its aftermath and reaction from fans, other competitors and NASCAR …

Read more

Happiness Is… Franchising, Tinkering & Miling

2015 Daytona Ii Cup Austin Dillon Crash Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

The Daytona Cup race put the governing body squarely in the crosshairs for those seeking to find more issues with the sport – and deservedly so. Let’s run down the quick checklist: Scheduling the race for Sunday night: check Scheduling the race for any night: check Asinine rain delay: check Starting the race at a …

Read more

Fronstretch Podcast: Episode 1 – Austin Dillon, 2015 Coke Zero 400

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson lead the pack in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)­­

Welcome to the Fronstretch Podcast! Young racing expert Matt Stallknecht and his rotating panel of guests have you covered from now until the end of the season with all of the main storylines from the NASCAR week that was. On this week’s episode Stallknecht, along with guests Mike Neff and Aaron Bearden, go in-depth on Austin Dillon‘s horrific last-lap crash at …

Read more

Did You Notice? Dodging Bullets on NASCAR’s Confusing Road Ahead

2015 Daytona Ii Cup Denny Hamlin Big One Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Did You Notice? Hendrick Motorsports leading a new type of charge on restrictor-plate tracks? What got swept under the rug the second Austin Dillon got swept into the air is the way HMS spent much of Daytona running 1-2-3-4 in line. There was one point poor Landon Cassill, part of a single-car program, worked his …

Read more

Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2015 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his team celebratein Victory Lane after the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)­­

Mother Nature seems to have it out for NASCAR this season. Rain once again delayed the start of the race, but that didn’t stop the fans from enjoying the Fourth of July fireworks on and off the track. Dale Earnhardt Jr. reasserted himself as the restrictor-plate king, leading 96 laps en route to his second …

Read more

NASCAR Mailbox: How Late is Too Late & the Air Titan Brigade

Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer race ofr position in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)­­

If your July 4th weekend didn’t involve at least two of these things: hot dogs, fireworks or racing at Daytona, then you missed some of the best things our country and the sport we love offer. The fireworks in the towns and cities across this great nation of ours were spectacular, but the racing this …

Read more

Tweet ‘N’ Greet: Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Plus More!

2015 Michigan I Cup Martin Truex Jr Jimmie Johnson Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Frontstretch will scour Twitter and other social media platforms looking for some of the best posts from your favorite NASCAR personalities, drivers and media members from all across the industry. These were some of our favorite posts from this week and we hope you enjoy them too! This guy showed up on my birthday @ReconyxInc …

Read more

Beside the Rising Tide: Looks Like Rain

2015 Daytona Ii Cup Pack Racing Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2015)

Naturally the big headline in the aftermath of Sunday night’s (or was it Monday morning’s?) race wasn’t so much the fact Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, but that as the clock prepared to strike three the No. 3 car of Austin Dillon struck the catchfence and a fortunately limited amount of debris pelted the …

Read more