Race Weekend Central

Tracking the Trucks: 2009 Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville

In a Nutshell: Ron Hornaday Jr. took the checkered flag 0.944 seconds ahead of Brian Scott to win the Toyota Tundra 200 Saturday night (Aug. 1) at Nashville Superspeedway. Hornaday Jr. again appeared to have the most dominant truck on the track and easily held on to lead through a green-white-checkered finish. Colin Braun, Timothy …

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Happy Hour: Travis Kvapil’s Situation is Sad – But It’s Reality

It’s a bummer to watch Travis Kvapil be out of a ride because of the harsh realities of motorsports. As I write this, and as Tom Bowles explained so lucidly on Monday, a freak combination of owner points transfers and bad luck has resulted in Yates suspending operations of its famed No. 28 shop indefinitely. …

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Bowles-Eye View: Travis Kvapil Did Everything Right, but Today’s NASCAR Left Him All Wronged

As too many of you know firsthand, this recession has no filter in taking the innocent and making them innocent victims before they even know what hit them. Men and women who were the stars of their respective companies have gone from Employee of the Month to Employee Out The Door with nothing more than …

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Mirror Driving: Grading NASCAR in 2009, Why Kvapil’s Cryin’ & Pushing for a Pension Fund

Four races in, how would you grade the 2009 NASCAR Cup season to date? And what, if anything, can be done to make things better?

5 Points to Ponder: 2009 NASCAR Off-Weekend Edition

How’s Jimmy Fennig’s Job Security? Four races into 2009, it’s safe to say that David Ragan’s season has been among NASCAR’s biggest disappointments on the track thus far (sans Mark Martin). The Cup circuit’s most improved driver in 2008 has struggled since a top 10 in the rain-shortened Daytona 500, with no top 10s and …

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in Sprint Cup: 2009 Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Edition

As the 2009 season wears on, some of the teams that have had early success are finding themselves in a points standings freefall. As they disappear from view, the composition of the top 12 is starting to take form, with annual contenders slowly creeping towards and into that coveted threshold. The season may be early …

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Bubble Breakdown: TRG Making Miracles with David Gilliland While Mark Martin Just Hanging On

The Kobalt Tools 500 marked the fourth race in the 2009 season, meaning there is just one more event to get into the Top 35 in owner points before NASCAR shifts to this year’s standings to determine who is or isn’t locked into the starting grid each week. This made the race at Atlanta critical …

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Mirror Driving: NASCAR’s Red-Flag Fiasco, Gordon’s Great Start & Which Small Teams Can Survive?

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: Tony Lumbis (Mondays/Rookie Report) Vito Pugliese (Wednesdays/Voice of Vito) Beth Lunkenheimer (Tuesdays/Running Your Mouth …

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Bubble Breakdown: Team Penske Rebounds From Poor Daytona 500 Performances

NASCAR’s top series headed out west to start a two-race stint on the left coast beginning with the first stop of the year at the Auto Club Speedway in California. With this just the second race of the season, the race to get into the Top 35 is a complete mess, with teams jumping way …

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Fanning the Flames: The Inevitable Daytona Hangover

Lots to get to from you guys this week. But if there is one thing I haven’t heard, it’s that Matt Kenseth is not a worthy Daytona 500 champion. And after all the head-scratching, shoulder-shrugging, and general frustration that Daytona birthed last weekend, that’s saying something. Anyways, we’re chock full of Daytona discussion this week, …

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