Jimmie Johnson won the Sprint All Star race. The five time Cup Champion took home the one million dollar prize with the #48 LOWE’S Chevy Crew and goes in the books as a four time winner of the event.

That about sums it up.

Except for the math of adding a million dollars to the ledger…

And the rain delay…  And two “rookies” on the grid…  And two brothers sharing the lead only to fall back…

There wasn’t much on the track for fans looking for chash-n-dash action. There was much hype coming in over rivalries and who might, or might not, bump another into a spin to make that final run for the checkered flag and the bank. For the most part, it was your typical “rubbin’ is racin” brand of driving. A few scraped or bounced or bumped but there wasn’t too much that will set the 2013 race into a “yeah, I was there!” memory. (more…)

Front Row Motorsports made the last lap run around to take the one and two spots at Talladega.

However, there was more going on at the Aaron’s 499. Some rain held it back. Some cars got tangled. Some tempers were tugged.

You could leave it at that as it sums up the day at Talladega. Everything else is just marbles next to the outside wall.

Or is it…?

The “Big One”, the Talladega Shuffle that seems to always come, happened early at lap 43 as Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne bumped and spun involving 14 other cars in the high speed bumper dance. Busch said over the radio it was his fault with the move on Kahne that set it in motion.

However, fast forward to the latter laps and you get the “Big One – The Sequel”. The #17 of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. scraped the wall bouncing J.J. Yelley into the #78 of Kurt Busch and the ride begun… (more…)

There has been a lot of chatter about football lately. The season is just a couple of weeks in without, apparently, the standard issue referees. The regulars are on strike. The fill-ins are, apparently, less than stellar.

No matter, really. The “Chase” is on. How can there be a comparison? Early season football or late season racing? I’ll go racing any day.

So I did, of a sort. Kyle Busch was at Martinsville Speedway to give a brief on the Tums Fast Relief 500. The manner of this briefing was from the cockpit of an M&M’s #18 Toyota Cup Car, modified a bit to carry a passenger. Also suited up was Speedway President Clay Campbell. Clay has his own experiences with driving so he was also on hand to run passenger laps behind the wheel of a Federated Auto Parts #52 race car. The cars were brought up to Martinsville by the folks from Fast Track High Performance Driving School in North Carolina.

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The NASCAR season is into the late half and so far, by design or luck, it is shaping up for big races. The “Chase” is winding with a few aces being held to the chest. The ingredients have been mixed and all that is left is to toss it in the oven and watch it rise.

There has been drama and controversy to keep the fans talking. Kurt Busch, for example, with media trouble and a race suspension from NASCAR trying to break him back inside the corral.  A.J. Allmendinger is another with a mark on substance abuse, suspension and a sanctioned rehab program. The continuing saga of Matt Kenseth making a jump for 2013 keeps some speculation in the conversation. (more…)

Off track drama is like glaze on a steak. It is an additional aspect that flavors the conversation but rarely takes the focus away from the main course. However, as NASCAR made the return to Daytona for mid-season racing the off track activities overwhelmed the run of the race.

Tony Stewart gave it a run to shift attention back to the race as the defending Cup champion drove from the back of the pack to the win as if saying all that mess is nothing because Smoke is here…

But it is something. In a span of two weeks two drivers were the center of bomb drops in the garage, arcing in from totally different directions but both resulting in an exit in some way, shape or form. (more…)

NASCAR fans should have had plenty to be excited about at the road course for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 as there were spins, passes and plenty of challenges. For the end of the day at Sonoma Clint Bowyer managed his first win of the season and a first in 2012 for Michael Waltrip Racing.

However, the race also brings forth a few issues to toss around.

First and foremost is the idea of NASCAR on a road course in the first place. Many fans don’t seem to like it. We don’t understand that. This type of course offers a variety of terrain and therefore a variety of challenges to racing. It would certainly follow that those challenges would make for a more exciting race. Granted, the big oval speeds are not there but if all you want is speed then flip on NHRA for a few seconds and you’ll see 300+ mph.

As for the diehard traditionalists that want to insist stock cars turn left and anything else is blasphemous we would say to get over it. This is the same bunch that cried when Toyota entered NASCAR. This is the same bunch that chided the “Car of Tomorrow”. They still boo Jeff Gordon because of some perception that goes back to the #3 and Dale Earnhardt. (more…)

Racing at Pocono shook things up a bit. Early crashes, points lead change, pit road police…

Good racing at Pocono with Joey Logano taking the pole and the win for the day… Seventeen lead changes… Greg Biffle had some engine issues with a lazy cylinder and fell back off the points lead after finishing midpack.

Early laps saw loose cars in turn 3. The new surface at Pocono raised questions on set-ups, speed and handling and the start of the race saw turn 3 serve up some free tickets to a slip-n-slide.

Landon Cassill went for a slide and AJ Allmendinger was caught up on the first lap. At the 13th lap, J.J. Yeley, Reed Sorenson and Tony Raines took the ride and beat up some sheet metal.

However, it was pit road that made for many surprises until drivers began to bite the brake and just roll with it as best they could. The re-surfacing at Pocono also did a number on the speed markers along pit road and caught many drivers with penalties. It was as if they set a speed trap just outside of town after a big party at the local hot spot… (more…)