Showing posts with label NASCAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASCAR. Show all posts
Smoke rises again, y'all. For the first time in 84 races, three-time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart finds himself back in Victory Lane after a thrilling finish at Sonoma over the weekend. "It's been a tough three years not just for him but
everyone that's close to him," his father, Nelson Stewart, said. "I don't know what to
say. We all needed that bad. He really needed that bad." After missing the first eight races with a back issue, Stewart is hoping to channel his inner Kyle Busch and race his way into the Chase picture. Sunday's W helps that a great deal. "With about eight to go it was the first
time I thought, 'hey, we might actually have a shot to hold onto this,'
and I actually got a little bit emotional thinking about it while I was
driving," Stewart said. "You didn't have time to think about
wine and flowers and ponies and all that stuff. I had to get back to
business. But it was nice." Now his attention turns to racing his way back into the top-30 by the season's end in Richmond. Considering he's only 10 points back from Brian Scott, we think the odds are good.
Happy belated Father’s Day to all you dads of children, dogs, cats, Jedi…we’re not picky. Hopefully you were too busy hanging out with your father, or kids, to keep up with social media on Sunday, so we’ve put together a roundup of posts to highlight how your favorite drivers spent their Father’s Day.
With 33 laps to go, substitute crew chief John Klausemeier told Kurt Busch was told that he'd be two laps short on fuel in Monday's rain-delayed Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at Pocono Raceway. Turns out he had enough to pick up his first win of 2016 and even throw in a burnout to celebrate. "We just had to balance everything," said
Busch, who got to the stripe 1.126 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. "We had a
fast car, a (suspended) crew chief, and the way the fuel mileage played
out, I didn't know if we would have enough fuel. It's a wonderful win for us. We have
been so close all year. It was just a matter of putting it all together." It was the 2004 Cup Champion's first win since the 2015 TOYOTA OWNERS 400 at Richmond International Raceway, and the third of his career at the Tricky Triangle.
Chase Elliott's phenomenal rookie season continued yesterday, scoring his fifth consecutive top-10 finish with a fourth-place showing (including a race-high 51 laps led) at Pocono Raceway. "We certainly had, I feel like, one of our best days of the year personally," Elliott said. "I thought for us to be able to contend and lead laps all day and have a car that could fight for the lead the majority of the day... I thought was great." It certainly was, and the finish put him in the company of NASCAR royalty. It was the rookie's fifth top-5 of the year, which ties Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s 1979 rookie mark through the first 14 races in a season.
The 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame class will be announced tonight and among the 20 considered for induction is fan-favorite Mark Martin - who finds himself on the ballot for the second straight year. Martin's distinguished career includes 40 premier series wins, an XFINITY Series wins record (49) that stood for 14 years, and although there was no championship trophy for Martin, he finished second in points a record five times. The other potential inductees include Red Byron, Benny Parsons, Alan Kulwicki, Ron Hornaday Jr., Jack Roush, Ricky Rudd, Waddell Wilson, Ken Squier, Buddy Baker, Richard Childress, Ray Evernham, Ray Fox, Rick Hendrick, Harry Hyde, Hershel McGriff,
Raymond Parks, Larry Phillips, Mike Stefanik and Robert Yates.
Queen City Kings
Drivers often talk about how much winning the Coca-Cola 600 means to their career, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that a Sprint Cup Series champion has won 56% of all Coca-Cola 600 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Thanks to a fifth-place finish by Ryan Blaney on Saturday, a rookie has finished in the top-5 in four of the last five races (Richmond being the only exception). It was Blaney's first top-5 finish to go along with four top-10's for the Wood Brothers this season, while fellow rookie Chase Elliott has more top-10 finishes (seven) than any other Hendrick driver, in addition to three top-5's.
Daytona's new motorsports stadium will get a "fresh coat of paint" with Axalta Coating Systems coming in as the fifth and final founding partner. "Axalta has been a long-standing and strong sponsor of our sport for many years and we’re thrilled to welcome them as a partner at Daytona International Speedway,” said ISC Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy. “Their activation will enable us to further enhance the fan and spectator experience which is a main focus of our new stadium.” Their activation includes naming and branding rights within the center injector at the facility and is a part of Axalta's 150th anniversary celebration.
When Tony Stewart made his season debut in Richmond he was 112 points out of the 30th place, the cutoff mark for drivers with a win to qualify for the Chase. Just three starts later, he's almost cut that margin in half to a mere 59 points. Thanks to a sixth-place finish by the No. 14 at Talladega and Stewart's 12th-place showing on Saturday, he is poised to continue his season surge this weekend at Dover where he has three career wins.
One. Hundred. Posts.
It's a big deal, so we wanted to celebrate our centennial post with a look back at some of the highlights from our first nine months.
ALSO
Don't forget to comment below to join in the celebration... and earn a chance to win a special prize!
It's a big deal, so we wanted to celebrate our centennial post with a look back at some of the highlights from our first nine months.
ALSO
Don't forget to comment below to join in the celebration... and earn a chance to win a special prize!
Sure, Junior's won NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award 13 years running, but the RIR honors go to.... (drumroll please).... Kevin Harvick! The 2014 Sprint Cup Champ has made in appearance in 15 (well, technically 16 now) of our 100 entries so far. I guess racing in back-to-back Championships helps keep your name top of mind in NASCAR circles.
We've been churning out content since we launched "Over the Wall" last August, but we really put our nose to the grind back in February. Between early season announcements and 2016 Speedweeks, we graced the blogosphere with 24 entries. That's three more than any other month thus far (April 2016 comes in at P2), so it'd make sense that our next award would go to...
The RIR crew road tripped it down to central Florida for the season's launch and took our readers along for the ride. With daily storylines, photos, videos and more - our 2016 Speedweeks coverage included everything from Media Day through the Daytona 500.
"I'm a Virginian. Born. Raised. Educated: school and sanctuary and stadium." Few have been able to explain the storied history of racing in the Commonwealth as profoundly as ESPN's Marty Smith, who guest wrote an article for RIR earlier this year. With over 2,800 views, his Dashboard Confessional is far and away the most viewed entry on our blog, and it's easy to see why.
Trent Harmon's moving National Anthem performance prior to the 2016 TOYOTA OWNERS 400 created a lot of buzz on event day, so it's no wonder our Pre-Race Ceremony recap has been the most popular post on social media to date. No other entry has scored higher engagement on Facebook and Twitter and, like his performance, it'll be a tough one to top.
Congratulations to Jacob Spears, winner of out 100th Blog Post Contest!!
Talladega's GEICO 500 wasn't the easiest race for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Amelia. While two wrecks and an early exit led to a 40th place finish for NASCAR's "power couple," it was an issue with 70 laps left that may have been the most bizarre. Coming through turns 1 and 2, Earnhardt pulled the steering wheel off it's column, causing him to actually steer the car with his hand to avoid the wall. "Luckily it was under caution. I just grabbed the shaft and steered the car that way. Might of ripped the skin off my hand, but I wasn't going to let it hit the wall," said Earnhardt. "That was just a freak deal." Fortunately he was able to get things back in working order on the backstretch.
A lot of drivers didn't finish through the chaos in Sunday's race, but Tony Stewart's reason was different than most. On lap 53, the three-time champion (who's still recovering from off-season back surgery) gave way to Ty Dillon, who was able to race back from a lap down to a sixth-place finish at the Superspeedway. While Stewart was disappointed he couldn't race on, he was thrilled with the way Dillon finished the race. “I really appreciate Ty (Dillon). He's been a rock star through this
whole thing and especially this weekend," said Stewart. "He's done all the heavy lifting
and I just got in to ride around for 50 laps and turn it over to him.”
It's only a matter of time before "The Big One" hits when it comes to Talladega. But Sunday's action saw 35 of the 40 car field involved in accidents, 16 of which came within the last 10 laps. “About everybody had some sort of damage and was tore up. I don't think
there was a car that came out of this place without needing the body all
redone," said defending Sprint Cup Champion Kyle Busch.
Now We Got Bad Blood
One of NASCAR's biggest rivalries got another shot in the arm last weekend, as Matt Kenseth put the bulk of the blame for his involvement in a lap 173 crash on Penske driver Joey Logano. It's understandable why tensions are high, as both drivers have run well in 2016 but neither have found their way into Victory Lane yet. Well that could change this weekend. Logano has won two of the past three races in Kansas City, and no driver has a better average finish at the track over the last five races. No active driver has led more laps at the 1.5-miler, and he took home back-to-back victories between 2012 and 2013. For reasons both on and off the track, you can bet a lot of eyes will be on these two come Sunday.
September 7, 1991: Harry Gant shines “under the lights” at Richmond International Raceway, winning the first scheduled night race at the Action Track. It was the second of four consecutive trips to Victory Lane that month - earning him the nickname “Mr. September.”
September 12, 1998: Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon hook up for the closest finish in NASCAR action at Richmond. Burton edges Gordon by just 0.051 second for the win after starting third. His winnings top $100,000 for the first time at Richmond.
September 11, 1999: Future champion Tony Stewart wins his first ever Cup race by edging teammate Bobby Labonte. Richmond remains close to Stewart’s heart; he’s had nothing but praise for the track: "It's not one of my favorite tracks; it is my favorite track," Stewart says. "It is literally the favorite track of mine on the circuit."
September 8, 2001: Virginia native Ricky Rudd loses the lead after being bumped by Kevin Harvick in the waning laps of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400. With just six laps to go, Rudd retaliates with a push from behind to re-take the lead en route to his second win at Richmond. Finishing third in that battle? Dale Earnhardt Jr.
September 12, 2009: “One Last Race to Make The Chase” again lives up to its billing. The Chase field is unsettled until the final lap, as Brian Vickers edges Kyle Busch by just eight points for the 12th spot in NASCAR’s playoffs. Denny Hamlin finally takes the checkered flag in a Cup Series race at his hometown track for the first time.
September 8, 2012: Jeff Gordon rallies from a lap down to race his way into The Chase with a second place finish to Clint Bowyer. Bowyer edged out Gordon by 1.198 seconds in one of the tightest finishes in RIR history. To this day, Gordon considers it one of his favorite moments at Richmond, commenting after the fact, "... It was amazing. I still can't believe we actually did it."
September 10, 2016: For the Federated Auto Parts 400 this September, we celebrate the RIR tradition of racing under the lights with the "25th Anniversary of The Night Race." To get ready, we're offering TWO tickets on the fronstretch for just $91 total.
“Four-wide at Richmond, are you kidding me?”
Early in the race, the high line appeared almost like magic. The little grip caused cars to slip and slide across the track, creating multiple grooves in which cars could go three and even four-wide as they battled for track position.
The Fans React
It’s no secret the switch from a Saturday night showdown to a Sunday afternoon battle was something of a leap of faith. Change isn't always easy, but this one was well worth it.
85% Vote – “YES.”
Jeff Gluck's post-race polls are something every NASCAR fan is familiar with. The USA TODAY reporter asks his Twitter followers to vote and share their opinion of the race that week - and Richmond's 85% "YES" score was the second highest this season, falling only behind Fontana.
Not A Great Day for All
It can't always be sunshine and daisies though. A few non-"flawless” pit stops had lasting repercussions for more than one team, but maybe none worse than Kurt Busch's on lap 360. Leading at the time, a slow(ish) trip down pit road dropped the 41 from first to fifth. Honorable Mention: Samantha Busch found herself in hot water post-race, after allegedly mouthing a curse word on live TV. (We don’t blame her one bit. We’ve said much worse in far less frustrating situations.)