The wait is over. The first official race of the year — the Daytona 500 — has come and gone. It was nothing like NASCAR fans expected considering the weather decided to play havoc and shortened the “biggest race of the year” by 48 laps. It was pretty much a sour end to a much anticipated race and week. Read the rest of this entry »
Lot’s Of Racing, Rubbin’ At Bristol
On August - 27 - 2008
I apologize for the absence of a column last week. I had spent the weekend in Ohio and Michigan for the race in celebration of my birthday on Sunday, Aug. 17, — the Cup race.
As for the night race at Bristol, well, it was as should always be expected — a shakeup in the standings, good racing, a a new “good, wholesome” feud and the inevitable pileup or two.
Carl Edwards, who captured his first pole of the season and last week’s Michigan winner, also won the Sharpie 500. Edwards’ No. 99 Ford was also in Victory Lane the year before beating Kasey Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge to the finish line. However, this year it wasn’t Kahne who lead the most laps only to be passed by Edwards in the closing laps. Instead, it was Kyle Busch that was the unfortunate one. Read the rest of this entry »
Things That Go Bump In The Night
On May - 7 - 2008
Richmond was night racing in all its glory.
The first Richmond race is always the shortest race weekend; it doesn’t include any of the non-points races. Everything is done in a single day, with the exception of the Sprint Cup race.
The Nationwide and Cup series have one two-hour practice session each in the morning and both series qualify toward the middle of the afternoon. The Nationwide race starts immediately after Cup qualifying.
The Nationwide race began with Kasey Kahne’s No. 9 Lipton Dodge on the pole, which was interesting (but not in a bad way) considering Lipton was the sponsor of the race — the Lipton Tea 250.
Despite Kahne’s great qualifying attempt, his race attempt didn’t fair so well. Kahne would only lead the first 17 laps before Carl Edwards, in the No. 99 Ford, took the lead for 126 laps. Kahne ended up in the wall, with help from another driver, on lap 158. He would finish the race at 14 and on the lead lap. Read the rest of this entry »
Sprint Back From A Break
On March - 26 - 2008
An off weekend means, not only was I bored, but I have a chance to review the first five races of the season.
I have been very pleased with the racing, so far. I think this new car, respectfully the Car of Today (no longer should it be called the Car of Tomorrow), is worth the aggravation it brought last year. The racing has improved, maybe that isn’t just due to the new car, but nonetheless it has been enjoyable to watch.
The race finishes, most of them, have been spectacular. Read the rest of this entry »
Free Fries And A Lot Of Firsts
On March - 12 - 2008
Atlanta proved to be every bit as exciting as the previous races.
The racing at our in-state speedway was good and clean as a limited number of caution flags flew. Once again, a dominant driver won and, of course, the weather was indecisive.
The weather, it seems to me, is very wishy, washy these days. One minute it’s hot, the next it’s freezing and then it’s hot again. I should have figured that the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) would be no different. And it wasn’t.
It did rain, but not enough to totally cancel anything Friday. The Nationwide practice sessions were combined into one with Kyle Busch being the fastest.
The rain was gone Saturday, but snow appeared that morning canceling Nationwide qualifying, causing the drivers to start according to the owner points, and joining both Cup practice sessions into one final practice. Read the rest of this entry »
A ‘Newman’ For The New Year?
On February - 20 - 2008
Last Thursday, all the 53 drivers entered into the Daytona 500 — the Great American Race — competed in two separate qualifying races — the Gatorade Duels. Only four were able to race their way into the Daytona 500 (John Andretti, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Wallace, and Brian Vickers).
The first duel win went to Dale Earnhardt Jr. who dominate the race and was able to secure his win thanks to Reed Sorenson, driver of the No. 41 Target Dodge, who help push him and keep in first position. This left everyone, including myself, to speculate whether he’d win the 500 or not. I was leaning towards the yes, as were many others that I talked with.
The second duel was won by Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota. This gave Toyota their first Cup win and momentum for the 500. Despite Hamlin being the first Toyota winner, he wasn’t the one everyone was eying for the first coveted win. Read the rest of this entry »
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