Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
The Fourth of July weekend is full of food, fun and fireworks.
To a race fan, the Fourth means all this and more. It means NASCAR makes it way back to Daytona for the annual Pepsi 400. However this year, with Coca-Cola taking over as the ‘Official Cola of NASCAR’ the Pepsi 400 was renamed the Coke Zero 400.
It also means any driver has the best possibility to win under the lights. Of course there are the drivers that excel at Daytona International Speedway, but there are always those drivers, or that driver, that surprises even their biggest fan(s).
Who were you rooting for too win Saturday night? (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Loudon, N.H. last weekend was the site for the first race in the “Race to the Chase” — the 10 races leading up to the final 10 races — the “Chase for the Sprint Cup.”
The “Chase” begins in Loudon also — in Septemeber.
Both races there tend to be either boring from start to finish or boring with a little excitement toward the end. This first race to the Chase was pretty much the first option. It had no real excitement but was filled with lots of disappointments from beginning to end.
It wasn’t totally without surprises.
Surprise number one came when Patrick Carpentier qualified his No. 10 Dodge on the pole position for Sunday’s Cup race. (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Rain — always a factor — played havoc on Friday’s race track activities, this time at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.
Sprint Cup qualifying was canceled moments after the rain came down. Ten cars had qualified with Greg Biffle’s No. 16 sitting on top. However, it would be Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota who would “claim” the pole position, thanks to the current owner’s points standings.
The rain didn’t seem to be a problem Saturday. The Cup drivers were able to have their final two practice sessions. Greg Biffle’s No. 16 (still very fast) and Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet were the fastest. (Other track activities were able to resume as well, including an ARCA Remax race and a Craftsman Truck race.)
The LifeLock 400 started Sunday despite the possibility of rain with Busch pulling away from the pack until the first caution flag flew three laps in. (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
The weekend started a day, or rather night, earlier than usual, with a Cup practice session, both Nationwide practice sessions and Cup qualifying.
During qualifying, Ryan “Rocketman” Newman was able to put his No. 12 Alltel Dodge on the pole and starting second, beside him, was Elliott Sadler in the No. 19 Best Buy Dodge. Sadler and his Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) teammate, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, teams brought brand new cars to the track. A fact that was evident, with Kahne sitting fifth in the lineup.
Carl Edwards, No. 99 Aflac Ford, and Mark Martin, No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet, rounded out the top five. However, the three Dodges wouldn’t fair very well in Saturday’s race. (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Let’s hope not, because once again, Vegas was great racing.
Where weekend before where it was all rain, all day — Las Vegas was far from rainy. It was very much a typical race weekend.
Qualifying was Friday, as usual. The Cup drivers and fans got their first taste of the new way of qualifying (that is if you haven’t been watching Truck or Nationwide qualifying).
The top 35 in owner’s points qualified first and then all those who weren’t in the top 35 qualified at the end together. It makes it more fair for the teams who may or may not make it in, they say.
I agree with this. I think it gives all the “go or go-home” cars the same advantage (or disadvantage) — but that’s just my opinion. (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
NASCAR’s New Year’s Eve is here — with the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway!
It seems like the hiatus (that began nearly three months ago) went by fast and slow all at once. Of course, there were the three different testing sessions (Daytona, Las Vegas, and California) to help the time go by and feed our racing “addiction,” but in all honesty it really wasn’t enough. We really didn’t get to see any racing except for the few programs on ESPN2 and Speed that showed clips and highlights of the sessions. Real racing — as short as it may be Saturday night — is still more then enough to hold us over until the Gatorade Duels and the highly anticipated Daytona 500 next week. Don’t you agree?
There are several things to look forward to — good and bad. (more…)
Posted in Column | No Comments »
Loading ...