Spotlight E.P. News

Not just any track

Posted on 29. Jul, 2011 by admin.

As NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this week’s Brickyard 400, there are rumblings that ticket sales are off compared to recent years. But for the drivers who will be on the track, there’s no drop-off in interest about racing at the track that recently hosted the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

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LIKE A BRICK HOUSE – NASCAR bringing Sprint Cup to Indy for annual Brickyard 400

Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by admin.

Like the golfers of the PGA playing a course like Augusta National in the Masters, there seems to be something magical that happens when NASCAR’s finest race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The cream always seems to rise to the top. And drivers who appear to have the best years of their careers behind them somehow summon the strength to run with the younger dogs at the famed Brickyard.

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Hamlin & Busch Sparks still flyin’ Smoldering rancor over All-Star Race flares up at Coca-Cola 600

Posted on 04. Jun, 2010 by admin.

The dust-up between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in NASCAR’s All-Star Race continued to generate buzz well into the Coca-Cola 600 race weekend, with both drivers obviously far from putting the incident completely behind them.
They did manage to avoid each other on the track during the 600, but they had plenty to say beforehand.
During his regular meeting with the media on Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch fielded question after question about the incident late in the All-Star Race when Busch tried to pass Hamlin.

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New NASCAR rules get vetted at Talladega races

Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by admin.

“How did the new spoiler and NASCAR’s instructions to the boys to ‘have at it’ work out at Talladega Superspeedway?”

A: NASCAR seemed to get it right on this one. Last fall at Talladega, drivers were told in the drivers meeting that there would be punishment for aggressive driving, and long stretches of the race were considered by many to be boring compared to previous Talladega events.

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Trading Spaces Swapping drivers presents challenges and opportunities

Posted on 23. Apr, 2010 by admin.

The full details of Kasey Kahne’s move to Hendrick Motorsports have yet to be revealed, but there’s a consensus in NASCAR circles about how things will work out in the end.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the four drivers now running for Hendrick in the Cup Series, summed up the feelings of many in his comments to reporters at Texas Motor Speedway last week.
“I’m sure whatever Rick [Hendrick] chooses to do will be a smart way to take care of it,” Earnhardt said.

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Driver A.J. Allmendinger…. Rising like the Phoenix

Posted on 15. Apr, 2010 by admin.

Children are often taught that “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
To back up that point, kids could be told the story of NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger. He came into the sport from the open-wheel ranks, a move that often doesn’t pay many dividends.
Allmendinger had a typical transition from open-wheel racing to NASCAR. In his first season with Red Bull Racing, then a new team, it was one struggle after another.

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Contender again Driving the No. 32, Sorenson concentrates on the win

Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by admin.

Reed Sorenson appears to be doing exactly what he said he would do when he stepped back to a partial Nationwide Series schedule after losing his Sprint Cup ride at Richard Petty Motorsports. He said in the preseason that he looked at his 23-race deal with Braun Racing as taking a career step back as part of a plan to eventually make a bigger step forward.

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NASCAR Racing Etiquette 101

Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by admin.

The week off that followed the Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway meant that when the drivers arrived at Bristol Motor Speedway last Friday, it was the first chance for the media to quiz them about the incident and its aftermath.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the questioning centered on how young drivers learn the unwritten rules of the sport, especially when it comes to aggressive driving. Call it Racing Etiquette 101.
It didn’t take Jeff Gordon but a second to recall his introduction to class.

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‘Have at it,boys’ Kurt Busch wins in dramatic Kobalt Tools 500

Posted on 12. Mar, 2010 by admin.

NASCAR’s new “Have at it, boys” approach to racing played a major role in the finish of Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But none of the late-race wrecking seemed to slow Kurt Busch, who got his third career Sprint Cup victory at AMS and his second straight in the spring race.
Busch was cruising at the front, finally having dispatched his chief challenger, Kasey Kahne, when Carl Edwards, running 156 laps in arrears, appeared to use his front bumper to retaliate against Brad Keselowski for a Lap 41 incident between the two of them.

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Jamie McMurray

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by admin.

Jamie McMurray, who was left without a ride when Roush Fenway was forced to drop from five to four teams to meet NASCAR’s maximum number of teams per owner, languished in limbo for a time before securing a job driving the No.1 Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, the team he left when he moved to Roush.
And on Sunday he gave the Ganassi team its biggest moment ever in NASCAR by surging to the front and scoring a win in the Great American Race, the 52nd annual Daytona 500.

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Do what it takes

Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by admin.

NASCAR’s new policy of loosening the reins on drivers, letting them be a little more aggressive on the track without incurring penalties, shouldn’t have too much effect on young Brad Keselowski. He already races that way.
That fact was evidenced by his stunning win over Carl Edwards in last year’s Spring race at Talladega Superspeedway, a race that ended with Edwards sailing into the catchfence after contact with Keselowski, who slipped by to take his and his car owner James Finch’s first Sprint Cup wins.

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