If NASCAR is “Safety First,” then how to explain forcing drivers to race under conditions like this? NASCAR executives shouldn’t have backed themselves in a corner with Montreal and Pocono the same weekend. And the fans get cheated too. (Stanton Barrett drives in the rain during the Montreal 200.) (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for […]
Toyota’s racing boss Lee White isn’t very happy with NASCAR over last week’s Nationwide engine rules change (Photo: Toyota Motorsports) By Mike [email protected] Just minutes before the Indy start Sunday, Toyota’s Lee White was standing at the vast bay window overlooking pit road from four-stories up and the frontstretch of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the […]
By Mike Mulhern MARTINSVILLE, Va. Reality check, please: Here we are at Martinsville Speedway complaining about a mediocre crowd of maybe only 50,000 for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunday, on a drizzly, frigid 40-degree afternoon. And what was going on down in sunny Miami, where Sunday’s temp was a balmy 84 degrees, with a […]
By Mike Mulhern Kyle Petty is turning his Cup ride over to rookie Chad McCumbee for this week’s Texas 500, in an unexpected move, following Petty’s failing to qualify for last weekend’s race at Martinsville. “Texas is a good track for him,” Petty says of the 23-year-old. “He had a strong run going in […]
By Mike Mulhern MARTINSVILLE, Va. If he who laughs last laughs best, then Toyota men – after taking a few verbal shots on the chin lately—are all smiles today, with Denny Hamlin whipping Rick Hendrick’s Chevy quartet, Richard Childress’ Jeff Burton, and Jack Roush’s two best Fords, Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray, in winning […]
By Mike Mulhern MARTINSVILLE, Va. Just a look at all those empty seats in these grandstands, and it’s clear that Sunday’s 500 should be a big wake-up call for NASCAR executives and the France family, which owns Martinsville Speedway. It may have been the first race of spring, but it was the coldest Sunday […]
By Mike Mulhern MARTINSVILLE, Va. Okay, Jack Roush has had his fun. Michael Waltrip has given a mea culpa on that errant sway-bar from last September’s Dover race. NASCAR executives Robin Pemberton and John Darby have rolled their eyes enough now at Roush’s latest charges. And Roush is probably still chewing out […]
MARTINSVILLE, Va. Take Jeff Gordon against the field. Here. Certainly not next week at Texas. And if teammate Jimmie Johnson isn’t in Sunday afternoon’s hunt at Martinsville Speedway too, well, that could be a sign of something significantly wrong in the Rick Hendrick camp. Hendrick men dominated the Cup tour […]
By Mike Mulhern MARTINSVILLE, Va. If Bristol, Tennessee – population 42,000, in a Tri-Cities market of around 480,000 on Virginia-Tennessee border – can pull in 160,000 fans twice a year for its NASCAR weekends, then why not Martinsville – population 15,000…in a Piedmont Triad market of more than 1.5 million? Certainly it’s not the […]
By Mike Mulhern It may be only early spring, but already it’s looking like a topsy-turvy season as far as the NASCAR championship race is shaping up. But then after two years of domination by Rick Hendrick’s Chevy men, maybe it’s time for someone else to share in the riches. Maybe like Greg Biffle. […]