Race Weekend Central

Mirror Driving: Kicking Talladega Out of the Chase, How Regan Lost the Race & Do DNFs Matter?

Welcome to Mirror Driving. Every week, your favorite columnists sit down and give their opinion about the latest NASCAR news and rumors. Love us or hate us, make a comment below and tell us how you feel about what we’ve said! This Week’s Participants: Tom Bowles (Editor-In-Chief; Mondays/Bowles-Eye View & Wednesdays/Did You Notice?) Vito Pugliese (Tuesdays/Voice of …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2008 Amp Energy 500 at Talladega

Blown tires, Big Ones, passes below the yellow line… Talladega had it all this fall. No question about it, the race routinely regarded as the biggest wild card of the Chase lived up to all its expectations, with more than half the title contenders caught up in accidents – some of their own making. But …

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Voice of Vito: Talladega Blights – Regan Smith Disenfranchised, Jimmie Johnson 1 Step Closer

I am going to forego the normal flowery introduction to this week’s column with a decidedly blunt statement: Regan Smith got screwed out of a win Sunday at Talladega. As I see it, the rules are pretty clear, even if the interpretation is not. You can’t go below the yellow line unless you are forced …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2008 Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Edition

Talladega. It was the Chase wildcard; everybody knew it. The Big One. Who would be in it? Everybody tried to avoid it… but you knew not everyone could. In the end, after a number of Chasers raced conservatively for three quarters of the race in anticipation of the big wreck, it was ironically one Chaser …

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Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2008 Talladega Fall Race Recap

The Key Moment: The race at Talladega was decided in NASCAR’s control room almost a minute after the event itself ended. In a Nutshell: Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over until it’s over.” Apparently, sometimes it’s not over even when it is over. Dramatic Moment: With 15 laps to go, Carl Edwards got Greg …

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2008 Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Gives Us Everything Right, Wrong with NASCAR Today

Say what you will about restrictor-plate racing. When NASCAR’s best strap the plates on their cars and proceed to race 500 miles in 20-plus car packs at nearly 200 mph, there is hardly a sporting spectacle in the world that can hold a candle to it. The annual races at Talladega always provide tons of …

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10 Points to Ponder… After the 2008 Amp Energy 500 at Talladega

1. Change in Direction – Joey Logano, heir to the No. 20 Toyota presently driven by Sunday’s race winner Tony Stewart, will not compete in any further races this season in the No. 96 Hall of Fame Toyota. The 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing phenom had been scheduled to fill the driver’s seat in the HoF …

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Fantasy Picks ‘N’ Pans: Avoiding the Talladega Big One That Destroys Your Team

The Chase heads to one of the big unknowns this weekend with restrictor-plate racing at Talladega. The tight packs that occur on the plate tracks are nothing less than a nightmare for fantasy owners, leaving them on edge for every bit of those 500 miles. It’s a situation where a single slip by a driver …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2008 Camping World RV 400 at Kansas

As the 2008 postseason rolls on to Talladega, Jimmie Johnson continues to make the playoffs his own private playground. The all-time winningest driver in Chase history scored another one this past weekend at Kansas, and it was enough to propel him into first in our weekly rankings. Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not In Sprint Cup: 2008 Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Edition

It was another week, another mechanical problem for Kyle Busch this weekend at Kansas. Busch is going through one of the most surprising slumps in recent history, dropping from the points lead to 12th in a manner of three weeks. But while Busch continues to struggle, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle continue to fight …

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Bowles-Eye View: Time for Joe Gibbs Racing to Fight – Not Fold – Through Its Dark Nightmare

“Adversity is a fact of life. It can’t be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.” – Anonymous Things can change quickly in the landscape of professional sports, and no one knows that better than Hall of Fame football coach Joe Gibbs. His race team spent the first six months of …

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