Written by Monte Dutton Sat, 2016-11-05 09:05
Drew Carey was on a late-night talk show the other night, and he said some contestants on The Price Is Right try to spin the wheel exactly one turn.
They try to get it calibrated just right.
Perhaps Jimmie Johnson has gotten this three-year-old Chase format calibrated. It’s sort of like a roulette wheel. Ask Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. To paraphrase the late, great Lefty Frizzell, they’re “gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, crying won’t bring [‘em] back.”
Fri, 2016-11-04 15:50
You might say Johnny Sauter is on a roll.
Then again, that might be an understatement.
Passing Matt Crafton near the start/finish line with two laps left in Friday night’s Striping Technology 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Sauter pulled away to win his second straight race in the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase.
By Reid Spencer Mon, 2016-10-31 12:27
Mr. Martinsville is back – and with him, a realistic shot at a record-tying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Winless at the .526-mile short track since the spring race of 2013, Jimmie Johnson ended his "drought" on Sunday with a victory in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 and earned a berth in the Championship 4 race, set for Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In winning for the ninth time at Martinsville, the fourth time this season and the 79th time in his career, Johnson didn’t take the lead until he passed Denny Hamlin for the top spot on Lap 409 of 500.
By Reid Spencer Sat, 2016-10-29 22:25
With a finish that was the diametric opposite of his last run at Martinsville Speedway, Johnny Sauter punched his ticket to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship race with a victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at the .526-mile short track.
After a restart with 18 laps left, Sauter, who finished last at Martinsville in April, held off pole winner Chase Elliott, beating the No. 71 Chevrolet driver to the finish line by .316 seconds.
Written by Monte Dutton Wed, 2016-10-26 12:02
If a ruling body, be it the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing or the Wyoming High School League, devises a system, one can only expect teams to take full advantage of it.
It’s like the tax code. One may feel as if a certain deduction is unwise or unfair, but one still takes it if he or she qualifies. The law’s the law.
Three of Joe Gibbs’ four Toyotas held the mayo at the Hellmann’s 500. They didn’t need to run hard to advance into the Round of 8, so they didn’t. The driver who needed to race hard, Denny Hamlin, did. The other three finished 28th, 29th and 30th, as careful as if they’d had a baby in the car.
Written by Tom Higgins Mon, 2016-10-24 09:21
Approaching the Windy Gap Road exit on U.S. 421 Saturday I was struck by a deep sense of nostalgia.
I knew it was coming. It happens every time I happen to travel that way.
Windy Gap, see, is the route I took for almost 40 years while en route to cover NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro Speedway, mostly while I was the motorsports writer for the Charlotte Observer.
by Reid Spencer Sun, 2016-10-23 16:34
If Joey Logano’s victory in Sunday’s Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was decisive—in relative terms—the race between Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon for the final spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s Round of 8 was anything but.
In an overtime race that went four laps past its scheduled distance, Logano surged ahead after a restart on Lap 191 at the 2.66-mile track and beat runner-up Brian Scott to the finish line by .124 seconds.
Written by Monte Dutton Sun, 2016-10-23 09:18
Seldom has NASCAR made more sense than in the first two races of the second segment of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Come to think of it, seldom has NASCAR made sense at all, but that’s a recurring theme from which I shall today depart.
Since NASCAR began its Chase format in 2004, Jimmie Johnson has won six championships. He won at Charlotte. Since NASCAR began the current version of the Chase in 2014 – 16 to 12 to eight to four, over 10 races – the only driver who has advanced to every round is Kevin Harvick. He won at Kansas.
By Reid Spencer Sat, 2016-10-22 16:34
In the race that decided the lineup for the Round of 6 in the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, Alabama native Grant Enfinger stole the thunder from the playoff drivers in Saturday’s Fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
With a strong push from GMS Racing teammate and Chase driver Ben Kennedy after a restart on Lap 93 of 94, Enfinger surged to the front and stayed there in the face of a last-lap challenger from another teammate, Spencer Gallagher, who came home second, .108 seconds behind the winner.
by Reid Spencer Mon, 2016-10-17 14:31
He did it again.
Last in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and faced with an uphill struggle to make the Round of 8, Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team did what they do best—win with their backs to the wall.
Moments after a restart on Lap 238 of 267, Harvick cleared Carl Edwards for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 at Kansas Speedway and pulled away to win Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 by 1.183 seconds.
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