Race Weekend Central

Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2009 Sonoma Race Recap

The Key Moment: Kasey Kahne held off Tony Stewart on no less than four restarts at the end of the race to claim his first victory in over a year at Sonoma. In a Nutshell: Everything some fans love and other fans hate about road-course racing was featured in a single event. Dramatic Moment: Those …

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Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 Meijer 300 at Kentucky

Finally, someone has Kyle Busch’s number. And it’s his teammate. Running his first Nationwide Series race since an incident that saw him knock Busch from the lead at Dover with two laps to go, Joey Logano beat his teammate without the chrome horn on Saturday and took the checkers for his trouble. On a late …

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Nuts for Nationwide: For Nationwide Series Regulars, The Time is Now

In counting down the days till the start of the 2009 standalone stretch for the Nationwide Series, I find myself constantly thinking back to my favorite time in college, the 2006-2007 football season. The slogan my beloved Demon Deacons took the field with that season was a simple one: The Time Is Now. No more …

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Fanning the Flames: Carl Long, Brad Keselowski & Other Issues of the Week

Carl Long, we are with you bud. Just so you know, there are a lot of longtime fans of the sport out here that are appalled by the situation you find yourself in. Thank you for fighting the good fight and speaking frankly on the subject. We don’t get that a lot, but whether out …

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Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Joey Logano’s Improvement Continues With Help From Miles the Monster

Joey Logano Start: 21st; Finish: 15th Summary: After struggling throughout much of practice, Logano was able to qualify his Home Depot Toyota in the middle of the pack for the Autism Speaks 400. As it turned out, his starting spot was actually quite good considering how tight the car was. Logano struggled mightily with the …

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Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 Heluva Good! 200 at Dover

For 198 laps, it was business as usual for Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing, as the No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas put an absolute smackdown on the NNS field – combining to lead 195 laps and holding the top-two spots when the race’s final green flag restarted the event with two laps to …

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Sprint Cup Rookie Report: Joey Logano Earns 3rd Top-10 Finish at the “Lake at Lowe’s”

Joey Logano Start: 14th; Finish: 9th Summary: Logano rolled off the starting grid in the 14th position when the green flag finally waved for the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday afternoon. The rookie, who just turned 19 years young on Sunday, celebrated by keeping his name mixed with the leaders for virtually the entire afternoon. By lap …

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Nationwide Series Breakdown: 2009 CARQUEST 300 at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. – A Nationwide Series regular went to victory lane for the first time in 2009 Saturday night. It only took a lucky caution… and a lot of help from Mother Nature… to finally make it happen. The only car left on the lead lap waiting to pit before green-flag pit stops cycled through, …

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Fanning the Flames: Did Someone Say “10-Lap Shootout?”

All-Star week on the Cup circuit normally invokes a cry of “Change the format!” from this writer and long-time NASCAR geek. The 10-lap shootout that concluded what was The Winston for years were 10 of my most anticipated laps of the year – points or no. Earnhardt/Elliott/Bodine in 1987, Rusty and Darrell in ’89, Kyle …

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Did You Notice? NASCAR’s Drug Mistake? (Not Mayfield’s), Keselowski Should Be Cup’s Top Rookie & Johnson Plays Dead

Did You Notice? How secretive NASCAR is trying to be with this whole drug thing? There’s two main questions that came up in my head since the positive test, ones I couldn’t answer immediately as a reporter as Darlington was a weekend I’d taken off: 1) Why was Jeremy Mayfield allowed to practice and qualify …

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Voice of Vito: The Southern 500 & Darlington – Same as It “Ever Was, Only Different

Darlington, S.C. You’d be hard pressed to find it on a map; but say the name and instantly a flurry of iconic imagery comes flooding forward; Cale Yarborough sailing out of the track over the guardrail; Richard Petty hanging halfway out of the window of his battered Plymouth as it tumbles down the frontstretch; Bill …

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Frontstretch NASCAR Power Rankings: Top 15 After the 2009 Southern 500

The Track Too Tough to Tame may have a new surface, but she’s that same old fickle girl. The rankings may not have taken a DNF at Darlington, but they certainly earned their stripe with the list all scrambled after 500 miles there Saturday night. Former champions are hogging the top of the charts, but …

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