Race Weekend Central

Up To Speed: JGR Shines Again in Texas, but Hendrick Motorsports Not Far Behind

Dale Earnhardt Jr Martinsville Cup 2016 Mike Neff

The team that has been in the headlines of late has most certainly been Joe Gibbs Racing, especially considering that Kyle Busch has won every national touring series race over the past two weekends. Every discussion of the favorites for next week includes the JGR drivers and every race seems to include at least one …

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Inside Texas Motor Speedway’s Parity Streak

2014 Texas Ii Cup Jimmie Johnson Guns Cia

(Photo: CIA Stock Photo, Inc. ©2014)

If you could sum up all of the changes that NASCAR has made to the cars, the series, the rules in the last 15 years in one word, it would be parity. It’s no fun to see one driver dominate the win column like Jeff Gordon did in the 1990s. It’s no fun to see …

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Did You Notice? … NASCAR’s 2016 Season Has A Green-Flag Feel?

Ricky Stenhouse Jr Crash Martinsville Cup 2016 Mike Neff

(Photo: Mike Neff)

Did You Notice? … No Sprint Cup race has had more than eight caution flags all season? The 51 laps we ran under yellow at Martinsville were the fewest for that track since 1996; overall, the number of slowdowns have dropped significantly for the first six events. TOTAL CAUTION FLAGS – FIRST SIX RACES 2007: 58 2008: 66 2009: 59 2010: 56 2011: 56 …

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Kasey Kahne wins Saturday Morning Practice at Martinsville

Kahn

Zach Catanzareti

The momentum continues for Kasey Kahne. After qualifying on the front row for Sunday’s STP 500, Kahne grabbed the top time in Saturday morning practice at Martinsville Speedway. With a 19.710-second lap on the half-mile track, he bested Ryan Newman by 0.046 seconds to claim top honors. Martin Truex, Jr. was third as Brian Vickers …

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Logano Nabs Third Straight Martinsville Pole

2016 Phoenix I Cup Joey Logano Matthew T Thacker Nkp

(Photo: Matthew T. Thacker/NKP)

Skies were cloudy at Martinsville Speedway, but the rain stayed away long enough for sunshine to rain down on young Joey Logano. Logano, still winless this season for Team Penske took the pole for Sunday’s STP 500 in his No. 22 Ford. Logano led all three rounds of qualifying, posting a lap speed of 97.043 MPH to …

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Did You Notice? … Tony Stewart Could Easily Still Make The Chase

Tony Stewart Bank Of America 500 2015 Charlotte Cup Mike Neff

(Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch)

Did You Notice? … Five races into the 2016 season the door is still wide open for Tony Stewart to make the Chase? Certainly, there’s a lot that would have to happen; the three-time Sprint Cup champion isn’t even expected to return to the series until May. The sabbatical leaves him out for about 12 …

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Five Points to Ponder: Can Kasey Kahne Recover?

2016 Fontana Cup Kasey Kahne Helmet Brett Moist Nkp

(Photo: Brett Moist/NKP)

ONE: Martinsville, Sweet Martinsville Ah, Martinsville, let me count the ways I love you. I’ve said it before countless times and I’ll say it again this week: There’s little that ails NASCAR that can’t be fixed with a trip to the venerable and ageless Martinsville Speedway. This will be Cup race number 135 – a …

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Did You Notice? … The Death Of The NASCAR DNF

2015 Atlanta Cup Kevin Harvick Engine Practice Credit Nascar Via Getty Images

(Photo: Getty Images)

Did You Notice? … That in the first five races more cars are avoiding mechanical failure than ever before? One of the storylines in the midst of NASCAR’s new rules, a package that has brought much needed passing and unpredictability back into racing has been the ability of cars to go the distance regardless of circumstances. …

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NASCAR Mailbox: Developing Rivalries Creates Positive Vibes for NASCAR

It has been way too long since NASCAR had a rivalry. You cannot consider Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano’s month-long battle a rivalry. The same can be said about Kenseth and Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, having a duel at Texas Motor Speedway in 2014. NASCAR’s lack of rivalries has a lot to do with camaraderie within …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Dissecting A NASCAR FOX Fontana… Hyperbole?

2016 Fontana Cup Carl Edwards Pack Racing Russell Labounty Nkp

(Photo: Russell LaBounty/NKP)

Welcome back, everyone.  We had some great action last weekend in Fontana.  It wasn’t that long ago that Auto Club Speedway put on the most boring races in all of NASCAR.  That is just a memory now (thankfully).  Despite that, the way that races are covered can affect how a race is perceived. Auto Club …

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Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in NASCAR: Martinsville Edition

2016 Fontana Cup Jimmie Johnson Superman Nigel Kinrade Nkp

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade /NKP)

There’s that old Jim Croce song, covered by many several times over the years, where it talks about not tugging on superman’s cape and where you don’t mess around with Jim. A late restart at California Sunday afternoon allowed for both of those things to happen, in a sense. It pulled the cape of the …

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Danica Patrick Facing Possible Penalty for Walking on Hot Track

Following a hard hit entering Turn 1 at Auto Club Speedway, Danica Patrick is in line for a possible penalty from NASCAR. Patrick made contact with Kasey Kahne with 80 laps remaining in the Auto Club 400 on Sunday afternoon, slamming the outside wall on the frontstretch. The impact was hard enough to send her No. …

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