Less than a week after Kevin Conway and sponsor ExtenZe left Front Row Motorsports’ No. 34 team, drivers Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland and Tony Raines quietly salvaged finishes inside the top 30 at Bristol to move all three of their teams more than 20 points away from the bubble. Sliding closer to trouble was none …
With the NASCAR season two-thirds of the way gone and the final off week now out of our way, we’re taking a brief moment of respite, grading all the drivers and teams once again on their performance so far in 2010.
Last week at Michigan, Elliott Sadler ended a nine month top-10 drought and amassed a season high 375-point cushion on the bubble. Regan Smith and Scott Speed also turned heads on race day by parlaying pit strategy into a pair of top-25 finishes while Sam Hornish Jr. continued a steady seven-race gain. But behind these …
Tremendous point swings marked last week’s chapter of the 2010 Top-35 battle as the twists and turns of Watkins Glen stirred up the standings. While Marcos Ambrose earned a season-best third-place finish and 90 points of cushion, Scott Speed plummeted 46 points down into bubble danger with the first last-place finish in his young Cup …
Last week at Pocono, Sam Hornish Jr. was all smiles when his fourth consecutive top 11 at the tricky triangle capped a five-race, 157-point climb up the standings for his No. 77. The run moved them past Marcos Ambrose, who suffered his third engine failure of 2010, and Elliott Sadler, who was left catching his breath after a horrifying late-race crash, while putting the top 25 in points within reach.
Last week, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was mean to the bubble drivers, preventing all but one – 24th-place Travis Kvapil – from finishing any higher than 30th. A first-lap crash crunched the fenders of Elliott Sadler and Sam Hornish Jr., a shredded tire ended Robby Gordon’s day and mechanical troubles wreaked havoc on both Kevin Conway and Regan Smith.
Last week, bubble drivers continued to make headlines among the humps and bumps of Daytona’s war-weary pavement. Elliott Sadler’s No. 19 and Sam Hornish Jr.’s No. 77 combined to lead 25 laps, only to wreck each other out of top-5 finishes. “The Big One” reared its ugly head, deflating the cushions of Regan Smith and …
Last week’s race at Infineon brought the bubble battle into greater focus. Although he came up short of his first Cup win, Marcos Ambrose’s No. 47 finished a season-best sixth and gained 24 points of cushion on his rival. Four cars in front of Ambrose, Robby Gordon’s No. 7 managed to one-up the Tasmanian: a …
Each week, we’ll go through media reports, interviews, PR and all of our own stuff to find the best quotes from the Sprint Cup race, capturing the story of how the weekend unfolded. It’s the most original commentary you’ll ever find: the truth, coming straight out of the mouths of the drivers, crew members and …
A 150-point penalty for Travis Kvapil topped the Bubble headlines last week, knocking the No. 38 team out of the Top 35 and putting Robby Gordon’s No. 7 back in for the first time since Dover. Gordon played defense at Michigan and successfully guaranteed himself a starting spot at Sonoma, a strategy that worked to …
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com