Race Weekend Central

Matt McLaughlin’s Driver Handicaps: 2007 New Hampshire Summer Race

Jeff Gordon – Gordon has three wins at Loudon, but none since 1998. In fact, his third-place finish at NHIS last fall put to bed a streak of three straight finishes outside of the top 10. But overall, Gordon has 13 top 10s in 24 career starts at this track – and do you want …

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Too Early to Worry? Not Necessarily in NASCAR

I love studying the points standings at the beginning of the NASCAR season. The first five or six races are intriguing in that unheralded drivers often float to the top of the rankings by running steady, not necessarily great, and avoiding early pitfalls that can start a team in the hole, if not derail their …

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Bowles-Eye View: Can Matt Kenseth Save Roush Fenway? More Importantly… Should He?

Matt Kenseth has never been one to stand out in the crowd. Quiet and unassuming when you first interact with him, he doesn’t give the impression that he’ll win any popularity contests anytime soon. Ironically, with his sarcastic humor and easygoing nature, Kenseth actually can be one of the most engaging drivers in the NASCAR …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Nextel Cup: 2007 Auto Club 500 at Fontana Edition

As the Cup Series put the Auto Club 500 in the books in Fontana, a state known for wildfires fueled the flames of several of Cup’s hottest drivers.

Running Their Mouth: 2007 Auto Club 500 at Fontana

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Frontstretch‘s newest column! Each week, we’ll go through all the media reports, interviews, PR and our own stuff to find the best quotes from Sunday’s race that best captures the story of how the weekend unfolded, straight from the drivers themselves. This week, Beth Lunkenheimer gives us a sneak peek at …

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Voice of Vito: Salute to You III… IV… Anyone for V?

Rocky Balboa. The Terminator. The Dismembered Knight from Monte Python. The paperboy from Better Off Dead that wants his $2. Mark Martin. All five keep getting up and coming back for more punishment. It had seemed that following the fall announcement in 2004 that Martin would be done competing in the Nextel Cup Series at …

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Scanner Static: Daytona Broadcasts, Street Cars & Last-Lap Finishes

With a thrilling Daytona 500 quickly fading into our rearview mirror, I have just a couple of comments before we settle in for a Sunday afternoon nap during the Auto Club Parade from California. Speaking of which, did anyone catch California Speedway president Gillian Zucker on SPEED TV during Speedweeks? Man, they’re trying hard to …

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Mirror Driving: I’ll Take Blocking for $200, NASCAR… & A Yellow Flag on the Last Lap

Should NASCAR stay consistent with NOT throwing the yellow on the final lap if the wreck happens behind the leaders, as they did in the Daytona 500?

NASCAR, Follow the Rules!

This week’s exciting but controversial races to the checkered flag in both NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and the Chevy Silverado HD 250 Craftsman Truck Series events have left me dumbfounded as how such a successful organization as NASCAR can all too often demonstrate such poor judgment. It seems to me that the organization masquerades as a …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Nextel Cup: 2007 Daytona 500 Edition

Normally, the fireworks in Daytona are reserved for July, but they came out early this year. 2007’s version of NASCAR’s Super Bowl didn’t disappoint in the action department… at least in the final fourth of the race. Kevin Harvick started off his season on fire with a weekend sweep after claiming his first Daytona 500 …

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