Race Weekend Central

Did You Notice? Indy Takes a Bite Out of NASCAR

Indycar 2015 Indy Montoya And Team Victory Credit Chris Owens

(Photo: Chris Owens)

Did You Notice? Two races headed in two markedly different directions? While the Indianapolis 500 went through its third straight ratings increase, reaching Nielsen numbers it hasn’t touched since 2008, NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 hit a new low. The Sunday overnight of 3.6 was the worst since FOX started covering the event in 2001; it was …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: How the 2015 Indy 500 Fared on the Crowd-o-Meter

Indycar 2015 Indy Montoya Victory Sign Credit Chris Owens

(Photo: Chris Jones/INDYCAR Media)

You could maybe make an argument that social media reflects mainly the opinion of the squeaky wheels and in some cases this could be true. People are more apt to go online to post a bad review than a good one. There are some exceptions to this though I think, and a huge event like …

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Tweet ‘N’ Greet: Danica Patrick, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Plus More!

2015 Charlotte I Cup Clint Bowyer Danica Patrick Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Frontstretch will scour Twitter every week looking for some of the best tweets from your favorite NASCAR drivers, personalities and other people that work around the industry. These were some of our favorite posts from the previous week and we hope you enjoy them too! https://instagram.com/p/26CHj9wfZV/ If you follow Danica Patrick or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on …

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Professor of Speed: A Memorial Day to Remember for NASCAR

Last Sunday was one memorable day of racing. If we move beyond the self-serving particulars of who won, who lost, and other such personally-driven details as those, we can treat this past weekend’s slate of events as a simple matter of earnest motorsports competition. It was a Sunday as simple as one, two and three. …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Missing the Forest While Staring at the Wrong Trees

2015 Charlotte I Cup Kurt Busch Racing Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Well, Memorial Day weekend is over now. We were treated to over 1,500 miles of racing last weekend between a number of series. Today, we’re going to focus in on 1,400 of those miles and the broadcasts that brought those races to us. Last week, the big story in TV land was Jeff Gordon‘s move …

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Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in NASCAR: 2015 FedEx 400 at Dover Edition

Carl Edwards Charlotte Motor Speedway Coca Cola 600 2015 Yvonne Leonard 002

(Photo: Yvonne Leonard, Frontstretch)

Since Sunday was such a great day for auto racing fans, I’m going to bounce around between series a bit for just this week. So here goes: Burnouts (Hot) First, you have to give kudos to Carl Edwards and crew chief Darian Grubb for their win in NASCAR’s 600-miler at Charlotte Sunday night. Grubb, knowing …

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IndyCar Breakdown: 99th Indianapolis 500

Indycar 2015 Indy Montoya Milk Credit Chris Owens

(Photo: Chris Owens)

15 years after his first victory in the Indianapolis 500, Juan Pablo Montoya overtook teammate Will Power and held him off over the final three laps to score his second victory in three tries at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Here’s a quick look at the 99th Running of the Indy 500. How it happened: Power looked …

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IndyCar Preview: 2015 Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Pippa Mann Pink Indy 500

(Photo: Pippa Mann)

The series returns to race at its most storied home, but this weekend it races on the other circuit for just the second time.  The race was meant to add to the fun of the month of May at Indianapolis and it looks like it does just that. The one question that might arise is …

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IndyCar Preview: 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

Last weekend the drivers in IndyCar finally got out of their own way (for most of the race) and held a decent event. After the messiness of St. Pete and the less than spectacular debut of the aero kits, followed by the rain-soaked race in NOLA, it was good to have some solid competition. With …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: Taking Stock of the 2015 IndyCar Season After 3 Races

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

Open-Wheel Wednesday – This week is a group chat with Matt Stallknecht, Toni Montgomery, Huston Ladner, and Aaron Bearden.   Huston: What you got to start us off with? Anyone‏? Toni: Well let’s see there’s the new aero kits.‏ Matt: I’d say the aero kits have been a modest success thus far‏. Toni: I’d say …

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IndyCar Preview: 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

So if the debris-fest at St. Petersburg didn’t exactly get your IndyCar juices flowing, then it’s likely that the most recent race in Louisiana did even less to raise your excitement level. Though the organizers and teams, and surely James Hinchcliffe, won’t be calling the race a debacle, from a fan’s perspective the premiere in …

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Happiness Is… Bristol, The Beach & Bahrain

Indycar 2015 Nola James Hinchcliffe Frontstretch Paing Credit Chris Jones

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

Kyle Busch popped out of his groundhog’s hole this week, meaning that NASCAR will feature six more weeks of uninspiring racing. OK, Busch’s appearance may not have signaled such a thing, but surely his absence from the track does nothing to better the product. However, by meeting with the media, Busch did address one of …

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