SM Staff

Over the last few years, Yankees Captain Derek Jeter retired from baseball, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant called it an NBA career, and Peyton Manning retired from football after a brilliant career with the Colts and Broncos. And now NASCAR will soon bid farewell to one of the best drivers of all time.

Will the retirement mark the end of NASCAR? Of course not. We may see a shift of loyalties (mostly to another driver at Hendrick Motorsports, maybe Chase Elliott) and some fans staying away, but just as was the case when other drivers retired, I don’t think this change will really change the landscape of the sport.

Jimmy Johnson took the lead from Kevin Harvick with 21 laps to go to capture his second win of the season and the 82nd of his career on Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson led 81 laps in route to his second win at Bristol in 31 starts.

In his fifth attempt at the Grand Prix of the Americas, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has sealed his fifth victory, and in regularly dominant fashion.

When Andrew Murstein entered into negotiations to purchase Richard Petty Motorsports from George Gillett in 2010, he didn’t have to look further than the name of the team to come up with a partner. While the President of Medallion Financial Group was eager to become a sports owner after raising $220 million to establish a sports fund in 2008, he didn’t know much about NASCAR.

Nevertheless, I was pleased to drive Ona because I'd heard that The King himself, Richard Petty, had raced there in the 1960's. So naturally, when Petty showed up at last week's Mecum auction in Houston (which I co-host for NBCSN), I asked him if he remembered racing at “West Virginia International Speedway,” as it was then known.

As most racing fans know, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is slated to run the Indianapolis 500 in a Honda-powered entry from Andretti Autosport.

The Monster All-Star Race, scheduled for May 20, 2017, will mark the 25th anniversary of this race. The first checkered flag for the All-Star race was waved under the lights for the first time in 1992. This was also the race that signaled a new change within the sport, and it has become a tradition that has quickly become a fan favorite.

Jimmie Johnson started at the rear of the field after a spin in Coors Light Pole Qualifying required the team to change tires before the green flag. The seven-time champion passed Joey Logano with 17 laps to go to capture his first win of the season, 81st career and his seventh win at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson led 18 of 334 laps and finished 0.340 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Larson.

NASCAR has always been a sport where teams push the envelope. Whether that’s a team trying to squeak something by inspection or a team trying to get the slightest advantage in the gray area of the rule book, innovation and outside the box thinking has always been something teams have tried.