Category: Auto Racing

Sometimes racing is hard to watch.

Consider NASCAR at Texas and the Duck Commander 500.

First was the rain. We just saw the same threat at Martinsville which washed out the Camping World Series Trucks forcing a run late on Sunday after the STP 500. The Sprint Cup race at Martinsville was also threatened with drizzle and even snow early in the morning.

At Texas, however, the rain played the day for the main event pushing the race to Monday. Fans plan and buy tickets and travel and many can not afford that extra day. It means an extra night stay-over and an unscheduled day away from work to remain and watch a race on Monday.

Rain might not bother a duck too much but to NASCAR it is a big, expensive, logistics hassle. (more…)

The sun is out. The temperature is 72. For all accounts it is a beautiful day.

And 24 hours too late…

It’s Monday. Yesterday closed out race weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the STP 500.

Thursday of last week the forecast still looked good for Sunday in southside Virginia. Sunny to partly cloudy and mid 60’s. Marvelous!

By Friday someone had flipped a switch. There was a good chance rain could blow Sprint Cup qualifying out for Alpha Energy Solutions Pole Day. There was a 60 to 90 percent chance of rain on Saturday for the Camping World Series Kroger 250.

Sunday still looked like the weather would blow out and clear up Saturday night into Sunday. (more…)

Martinsville Speedway! Clouds threatened but practices went on and qualifying was run for the STP 500! Kyle Busch grabbed the pole for the race this Sunday. Oddly enough it was Joey Logano who turned the fastest lap but could not follow it up in the second session of qualifying at Martinsville for the Alpha Energy Solutions Pole Day.
The top 10 starting order for the STP 500 is:
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray and…. (more…)

So maybe, as Spring racing brings NASCAR to Martinsville, you just don’t dig on the big and the loud and the crowd and the repeated left turns of national stock car racing. Maybe you like racing but want something a bit different…

It doesn’t get much more different than Chump Car Racing. It is colorful. It is fun. It is full of left turns AND right turns. There is variety. There are trees. (more…)

Yes, Bristol has run and done. Technically Tennessee yet many Virginians call it one of their own. Richmond and Martinsville are, straight up, Virginia racing.

Richmond comes up in late April. Mark it.

Martinsville is next up and riding a big wave of racing to bring it home. Dale Jr. gave us a win at Daytona. Harvick has a new team win. Keselowski, Edwards and Kyle Busch have wins. Denny Hamlin had some pre-season success. All the manufacturers have had victories.

New teams, new numbers and the return of the iconic #3 have made marks on the NASCAR season and the whole show is coming to Martinsville.

Do I sound excited? Well, yes… Martinsville is just down the road. If I close my eyes I can smell the steam from the hot dogs. (more…)

It was a Toyota day in California for the Auto Club 400.

More or less…

A Toyota started on the pole with Matt Kenseth in the Dollar General #20. A Toyota won it with Kyle Busch in the Interstate Batteries #18.

Between these Toyota landmarks were 27 lead changes and 9 cautions. The final laps saw the caution that set in motion a green-white-checkered finish which also played out in the critical lead change.

It was Jimmie Johnson’s race to loose with a comfortable lead over team mate Jeff Gordon. Johnson’s tires, however, did not have the will to go on and the left front shredded under pressure. He managed to keep the #48 in a straight line and limped to the pits. (more…)

The late season race at Bristol is under the lights. The early race is supposed to be under the sun. There was no sun. Weather bounced Bristol with rain and was just south of snow which threatened much of Virginia. As the field rolled off the start it was delayed by 2 hours. At lap 117 the race was red-flagged for another 3 hours as rain came through again. The Food City 500 was eventually restarted and finished under the lights.

Rain is rain and racing at Bristol is racing at Bristol. The weather only changed the time. The lead changes, fender bangs and wall hits were all in the mix to shake the points. In the end it was Brad Keselowski packing up with the points lead despite a 14th place finish and the lack of a hood. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 10 spots behind Keselowski which allowed the flip in the one-two points positions. (more…)