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.
Preview: Rain, rain go away! Friday’s qualifying session was rained out at Martinsville and, though it is supposed to be sunny Saturday, Sunday’s forecast calls for more rain and a high temperature of just 54°.
Preview: Aside from the usual storylines when NASCAR visits “the World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” there are a few things to watch for this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway:
Preview: Atlanta is known as a driver’s track because of its high speeds and multi-groove racing surface. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored the pole Friday and his 192.761 mile-per-hour qualifying lap set a record for the fastest-ever pole lap in a COT. Atlanta is a 1.54-mile quad oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns, and NASCAR has been racing here since 1960 for a total of 101 Cup races in the books.
Preview: Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of a handful of racetracks on the circuit that the NASCAR Cup Series visits just one time per year. NASCAR has been coming here since 1998, but the track was repaved in 2006 and reconfigured with the addition of progressive banking. Kurt Busch, who grew up in Las Vegas and considers this his home track, won the pole in qualifying Friday, with Jeff Gordon on the outside pole.
Preview: Now that the spectacle known as the Daytona 500 is over, NASCAR drivers like to say that the ‘real’ season is starting in California. The Cup Series has only raced in Fontana since 1997 – once a year at first, then twice a year starting in 2004, for a total of 19 races. It’s worth noting that Roush Fords have won the last five straight spring races here, though Jimmie Johnson in a Chevy won three straight in the fall.
Unfortunately for NASCAR bettors, the Daytona 500 didn’t tell you much! Mother nature showed her ugly head, and shortened the ‘500’ to roughly to ‘380,’ and handed Matt Kenseth his first victory at the Great American Race.
