NASCAR’s race for the Chase pulls onto the unfriendly, cramped and just difficult racing venue of Martinsville Speedway for Friday’s Tums Fast Relief 500, a .526-mile track that probably isn’t the favourite of many of the NASCAR competitors. Kurt Busch admitted recently that he has a love hate relationship going with this track and that he has had a less than successful time at Martinsville in the 18 races he has competed in during his ten year NASCAR career and it’s my guess there are probably a few other racers that don’t exactly feel confident coming to Martinsville.
Martinsville is one …read more

Redemption is a sweet-pickle if you have to wait and Kyle Busch achieved Sunday what he failed to do last year at the Bristol Motor Speedway by driving his No. 18 Toyota with skill and precision for 378 laps and taking the checkered flag in the Food City 500 for his second victory lap of the 2009 NASCAR Cup Series. Winning by a .391 second difference in an extended race that took 503 laps to complete, Kyle had to out-race Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin to a green-white-checkered flag to take his 14th Cup Series win and his 10th …read more

*Credit photo to Newscom.
This week NASCAR heads to Waktins Glen International for one of their two road course races of the season on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The race comes just one week after NASCAR made history for itself when they raced in the rain last Saturday in the Nationwide Series in Montreal, which most critics feel came off as a huge success. As of right now there are no plans to break out the rain tires on Sunday, but there’s still plenty to look forward to with just five races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase.
Recent Winners:
2007 …read more

Despite being handed his walking papers from Hendrick Motorsports when the team announced at the end of June that Casey Mears would no longer be the driver of the no. 5 car in 2009, it’s not exactly the end of world for Mears. Really, if it had to happen, it couldn’t have happened in a better year with seats still remaining open at Richard Childress Racing, Penske Racing, and technically, even Stewart-Haas Racing for next season.
With Roger Penske and Ryan Newman recently announcing their split at the end of the year, the no. 12 ride at Penske has now become …read more

Rain played a large part in pretty much anything NASCAR tried to accomplish this weekend, and Sunday’s race at Pocono was no different. It was also one of the more interesting weekends in Carl Edwards’ professional racing career, that’s for sure. He had to squeegee the rain off his own windshield under caution during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Montreal (in which he finished 6th). Then, after both of the Sprint Cup practice sessions were rained out on Saturday, his team unloaded off the hauler on Sunday with a car that Crew Chief, Bob Osbourne, described as “experimental.” Then, they …read more

TZ’s Picks (Pocono):
1. Denny Hamlin – 23rd – No points
2. Kurt Busch – 38th – No points
3. Jimmie Johnson – 3rd – 41 points
4. Tony Stewart – 2nd - 41 points
5. Brian Vickers – 28th – No points
6. Kasey Kahne – 7th – 37.5 points
Lock of the Week – Denny Hamlin – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Sleeper Pick – AJ Allmendinger – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Steer Clear of – Kevin Harvick – Top Five – (Minus) 20 points
Roc’s Picks (Pocono):
1. Jeff Gordon – 10th – 38.5 points
2. Jimmie Johnson – 3rd – 41.5 points
3. Denny Hamlin – 23rd …read more

Coming off of a terrible weekend at Indy, you can bet that NASCAR’s feeling the pressure to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible at Pocono this weekend, and if the trip here back in June is any indication, then things should be just fine. It’s also a big weekend for the teams, as Pocono is only the second track on the schedule that the series has already traveled to once before this season, and this is about the time of year that you really begin to see how much some of these groups have been able to …read more

In a race that was dominated by tire issues, Kurt Busch brought out one of the few cautions of the day at Indianapolis this past weekend that wasn’t caused by tires. Just 14 laps into the race, Busch was trying to let the no. 29 car of Kevin Harvick pass underneath him when Busch’s car got loose and set off into a spin …. a spin that also collected Harvick in the process.
Video footage of the wreck involving Busch and Harvick:

Although these two drivers have mixed it up with one another plenty of times earlier on in their careers, this …read more

With only two accidents and one blown engine, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in Indianapolis Motorspeedway still managed to see 11 caution periods during the 160-lap event because of tire issues …. that’s the story of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, and unfortunately that story overshadows the one of Jimmie Johnson winning the pole award and going on to pick up his second career victory at the Brickyard.
NASCAR knew that they were likely to experience tire issues, but they weren’t sure just how bad it would be. They had a competition caution scheduled within the first 15 laps of the …read more

Image details: LifeLock.com 400 Practice served by picapp.com
There’s only 6 races to go before we make it to Richmond, and then, after that 7th race is over, we’ll know once and for all who’s in and who’s out of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Historically speaking – since they first turned to the Chase format a few years ago – those who were in at this point in the season have typically stayed in, and those who were out have typically stayed out ….. but, this season could be one that breaks all the rules. While I …read more