Preview: As race number 21 of the 36-race Sprint Cup season, Pocono is one in a series of upcoming races that, by and large, the circuit is visiting for the second time this year. NASCAR was just at Pocono in June for a race won by Denny Hamlin, who also led the most laps. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin led Friday’s only practice session, while Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya qualified for the front row.
Preview: NASCAR drivers will tell you that racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500, is second only in excitement and prestige to NASCAR’s own Daytona 500. It once seemed unthinkable that stock cars would compete on the track renowned for open-wheel racing, but NASCAR debuted on this flat 2.5-mile track back in 1994.
Preview: This weekend’s race at Chicagoland, and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in two weeks, have become two of the premiere Midwestern stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit, although each hosts just one Cup race per year.
Preview: If you listen to the drivers this weekend, it sounds like the 2010 Coke Zero 400 will be the equivalent of dropping a bucketful of ping-pong balls on a marble floor. The track is extremely hot and slick and the cars have a bigger plate this time around with more power.
Preview: There’s been a lot of talk in the media about the possibility of paybacks at Loudon this week with so many drivers mad at each other following last week’s demolition derby in Sonoma. But with the points battle as close as it is and just ten weeks left to make the Chase, I doubt anyone within striking distance of that goal will risk doing something foolish.
Preview: For a change of pace this weekend (literally), NASCAR will be making one of two annual visits to a road course race track, where drivers have to contend with both right and left hand turns, hills, constant shifting, and other conditions not typically associated with stock car racing.
Preview: While the NASCAR Nation is still buzzing about last weekend’s dust-up between veteran driver Kevin Harvick and young gun Joey Logano, there are two other stories to keep an eye on as the circuit heads to Michigan this weekend.
Preview: Pocono Raceway, known as the “Tricky Triangle,” is a venue where drivers either catch on quickly or seem to struggle, with not much gray in between.
Preview: The number ‘600’ in the Coca-Cola 600 represents 600 miles – 400 laps on this 1.5-mile quad oval track – which is a very long race, even in NASCAR terms. And the race won’t get under way until after 6 PM ET so that motorsports fans can catch the Indy 500 earlier in the day. NASCAR has been racing at this track since 1960 with a total of 102 Cup races in the books.
Preview: Before planning any wagers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Challenge, you’d better check and see if your favorite driver is in the field. And that can be complicated, because three of the race’s entrants – the 1st- and 2nd-place finishers in the preliminary Showdown Race, and the winner of the fan vote – won’t be known until moments before the green flag.
Preview: Dover is one of those tracks that NASCAR drivers either love or loathe, without much middle ground. It is a one-mile, high-banked concrete oval where the Cup Series has run since 1969 for a total of 80 races in the books.
Preview: More than any other track in NASCAR, Darlington is the one that is personified – The Lady in Black, as she’s known – a temperamental old gal who reaches out her wall and slaps racecars at will, branding them with her legendary Darlington Stripe.
Preview: NASCAR has been racing at Richmond International Raceway since 1953, just a few years after the birth of the sport. Many drivers cite this track as among their favorites, though others say it’s a track they can’t seem to get a handle on. While the likelihood of rain is low this weekend, teams will be coping with high heat, as it has been sunny in Richmond this weekend with daytime temps of 90 degrees or higher.
Preview: Racing at Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama’s high-banked 2.66-mile tri-oval, has been described as a 200 mile-per-hour chess match. The Cup Series races twice a year here and last season ‘Dega produced two somewhat unexpected winners: Brad Keselowski in April and Jamie McMurray in November.
Preview: It’s been a good week for Tony Stewart so far. Last Saturday, his teammate and driver Ryan Newman won in Phoenix, Newman’s first win since the 2008 Daytona 500. Today, Stewart scored the pole for the Texas Cup race, his first pole since 2005.
Preview: There are several ‘firsts’ taking place at this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 600 in Phoenix. It is the first night race of the Sprint Cup season, the first weekend of the year with no rain in the forecast, and the first time the race has been run at its new longer length – formerly 500 km, now increased to 600 km as a result of NASCAR’s new standard race start times.
