HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson will go for a record fourth consecutive NASCAR title from the pole in the season-ending Ford 400 this weekend.
With the race for the Chase heating up, media attention has understandably shifted to the 15 or so men fighting for a dozen playoff spots. But before the playoff push overwhelms the rest of the field, there are a handful of others we need to salute. They may not be competing for this season-ending trophy, but by this time next year, they could be in the thick of the Chase hunt.
Team US F1 mobilized this week for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Announced in late February, the team founded by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor finally completed the lengthy F1 approval process with the signing of the Concorde Agreement.
With midsummer already upon us, there's a lot of talk about what's going to happen to drivers, teams, and owners for 2010 and beyond. But in a sport in which news and rumors are now a 24/7 business, we often forget to stop and think about how the changes made during last Silly Season panned out.
I first caught Scott Speed's act last January, when I was in Charlotte for NASCAR's annual preseason media tour. It was an evening Red Bull event, and Speed addressed the press from a comfy couch, wearing shades and a button-down shirt open to about mid-torso. The California native, who was coming off of a two-year stint on the F1 circuit (where he went winless in 28 starts), seemed very conscious of projecting a laid-back vibe, greeting the media with, "What up, dog?"
In reading over the decision yesterday to grant a temporary injunction allowing Jeremy Mayfield to race, the song that came to mind was REM's "Everybody Hurts."
NASCAR's Silly Season starts earlier and earlier these days, and don't expect 2009 to be an exception to the rule. Remember, we're nearing the one-year anniversary of Tony Stewart's departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, which caused a long chain reaction of free agent dominoes falling before the 36-race regular season was even halfway complete.
As Joey Logano tore through NASCAR's lower divisions last year, he picked up the nickname Sliced Bread. But as Logano transitioned to NASCAR's top division, that bread turned stale.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Another offseason has vanished, seemingly as quickly as a qualification lap at Daytona International Speedway. By the end of this week there will be Sprint Cup cars at Daytona as a new season officially gets underway with Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout and Sunday's run for the Daytona 500 pole.
Of course, seasons can be made or broken on any given lap of every race, but even before the first engines fire for the new season, a handful of races loom as key moments. Mark your calendars for these five.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson will go for a record fourth consecutive NASCAR title from the pole in the season-ending Ford 400 this weekend.
With the race for the Chase heating up, media attention has understandably shifted to the 15 or so men fighting for a dozen playoff spots. But before the playoff push overwhelms the rest of the field, there are a handful of others we need to salute. They may not be competing for this season-ending trophy, but by this time next year, they could be in the thick of the Chase hunt.
Team US F1 mobilized this week for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Announced in late February, the team founded by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor finally completed the lengthy F1 approval process with the signing of the Concorde Agreement.
With midsummer already upon us, there's a lot of talk about what's going to happen to drivers, teams, and owners for 2010 and beyond. But in a sport in which news and rumors are now a 24/7 business, we often forget to stop and think about how the changes made during last Silly Season panned out.
I first caught Scott Speed's act last January, when I was in Charlotte for NASCAR's annual preseason media tour. It was an evening Red Bull event, and Speed addressed the press from a comfy couch, wearing shades and a button-down shirt open to about mid-torso. The California native, who was coming off of a two-year stint on the F1 circuit (where he went winless in 28 starts), seemed very conscious of projecting a laid-back vibe, greeting the media with, "What up, dog?"
In reading over the decision yesterday to grant a temporary injunction allowing Jeremy Mayfield to race, the song that came to mind was REM's "Everybody Hurts."
NASCAR's Silly Season starts earlier and earlier these days, and don't expect 2009 to be an exception to the rule. Remember, we're nearing the one-year anniversary of Tony Stewart's departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, which caused a long chain reaction of free agent dominoes falling before the 36-race regular season was even halfway complete.
As Joey Logano tore through NASCAR's lower divisions last year, he picked up the nickname Sliced Bread. But as Logano transitioned to NASCAR's top division, that bread turned stale.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Another offseason has vanished, seemingly as quickly as a qualification lap at Daytona International Speedway. By the end of this week there will be Sprint Cup cars at Daytona as a new season officially gets underway with Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout and Sunday's run for the Daytona 500 pole.
Of course, seasons can be made or broken on any given lap of every race, but even before the first engines fire for the new season, a handful of races loom as key moments. Mark your calendars for these five.
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- One of the greatest combinations in NASCAR Sprint Cup history will come to an end this weekend when Tony Stewart competes in his final race for Joe Gibbs Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Regan Smith's near-miss and Patrick Carpentier's firing this week illustrated just how tough a year it's been for Cup rookies. As I wrote toward the end of the summer, the 2008 freshman class is headed for the worst performance in NASCAR's 60-year history. After being stripped of a win at Talladega, Smith's penalty added insult to injury, negating what would have been the first top 10 finish by a full-time rookie this season (he wound up 18th).
As summer turns to fall, NASCAR's Silly Season is a little bit like a department store going out of business. All merchandise needs to be cleared out at bargain basement prices; and by the time you get to its final days, there's next to nothing left to shop for.
Sitting in the Bill Davis Racing transporter Saturday afternoon, two hours before driving in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas, Scott Speed reiterated that he's in no rush to get into Sprint Cup.
The promiscuous business of wooing and retaining drivers for the 2009 season and beyond will underpin much of the current Sprint Cup season, even with 16 weeks remaining. This so-called "Silly Season" process, a summer rite that has bloomed in spring the past two years, needs little embellishment, but here are a few plausible scenarios that could make things pretty interesting in the near- and far-terms.
It once seemed like America in microcosm, a high-banked land of opportunity where a hard-worker with a gleam in his eye and lead in his foot could make something of himself, where money and fame flowed like high-octane gasoline.
KOONTZ LAKE, Ind. -- It appears that Kyle Busch is getting the last laugh after he was dismissed from Hendrick Motorsports last June to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Scott Speed is too continental for an American, too American for Europeans.
Porsche has employed, through its sponsored teams or directly, a who's who of drivers in its more than 50 years racing in the U.S. The Americans who were factory drivers for the German manufacturer comprise an exclusive club. They include Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney, Al Holbert, Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood, arguably the greatest sports car drivers in American history.
This year's Formula 1 season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent history. With seven races remaining, the drivers' championship is still wide open.
Bounced out of his seat with Toro Rosso in Formula 1 at the end of July, Scott Speed will attempt to resume his career back home in the USA. Speed, who was pushed out after a run-in with team management at the European Grand Prix last month, will begin his comeback effort this weekend at Michigan, where he and agent Glen Hinshaw will meet with several NASCAR teams.
Scott Speed was a participant in the original Red Bull Driver Search of 2002, one of 25 considered for a program to bring an American to Formula One. After three seasons in the program, Speed graduated to successful campaigns in Europe's development series.
John Force has the type of name that just can't be real. No last name, in fact, has ever been more appropriate for a driver -- with the possible exception of F1's Scott Speed.
Jimmie Johnson finds himself in an unusual position this week. For the first time in nearly three years, JJ isn't among the top 10 in the Nextel Cup points for the first time in nearly three years. His 105-race streak began March 9, 2004 at Atlanta and ended with last Sunday's 39th-place finish in the Daytona 500.
A third generation of the Andretti motor racing dynasty is set to make his mark in the elite world of Formula One.
World champion Fernando Alonso boosted his Formula One title chances by seizing pole position on an all-Renault front row at a rain-swept Chinese Grand Prix.
Brazilian Felipe Massa roared to his first Formula One victory, in Turkey on Sunday, as Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher failed to find a way past championship leader Fernando Alonso.
American Scott Speed and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi are likely to stay on as Toro Rosso's drivers next season -- the Formula One team's co-owner Gerhard Berger has revealed.
Defending world drivers' champion Fernando Alonso stormed to pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Saturday.
Renault's Fernando Alonso led the British Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday to maintain his vice-like grip on the Formula One championship.
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