Jimmie Johnson, who after having issues in tech and sprinting to the qualifying grid, flew his Disney Planes car to the head of the field to qualify P1 for the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Todd Peck, behind the wheel of his No. 40 Arthritis Foundation Chevy, will be making his first ever run at Pocono Raceway, as well as his first start at a track larger than a mile and a half. And he has just one word to describe how he feels about it all: “incredible”.
We have been watching our sports on television for decades. Baseball, football, basketball, and (for Canadians, at least) hockey coverage began in the 1950's. NASCAR did not arrive as part of the national television consciousness until much later.
Each track on the NASCAR circuit is special. They all have a uniqueness to them that separates them from the rest of the pack. Some tracks produce more exciting racing then others, but all of them are special in their own way. Which track is the best? Well, NASCAR fans would give you a million answers to that question, but I give my answer to that question in this week’s Favorite Five.
“He was as good as they come,” Petty said. “There have been very few guys who had more confidence in what he could do than Herb. He was so strong-minded that he ‘willed’ his wins and what he was doing on the track. He was going to beat the guys on the track no matter what was going on. That was his mind set.”
Johnson controlled the Brickyard 400 until a slow pit stop late in the race likely cost him any chance at the win. He finished second behind Ryan Newman and still maintained a healthy led in the Sprint Cup point standings.
Sometimes it may be hard to like Kyle Busch. All you see on the track is his competitive drive that can lead to heat of the moment actions. That’s in the public eye. What you don’t get to see is what he is like behind the scenes, how much of a nice and caring guy he actually is.
After a rare pit mistake by the No.48 team that cost them a shot at history, Indiana race fans rejoiced as they watched native Hoosier, Ryan Newman triumph over all at the Brickyard. Newman and Johnson were the class of the field all day with Jimmie showing the most strength but this is a team sport and a 17 second pit stop with just a handful of laps remaining is nearly impossible to overcome when your rival takes two tires.
I am normally much more timely on these articles than this, and had actually toyed with the idea of scrapping this one completely to move to something more pressing. But, once I re-read what I had started writing I got fired up about the subject again and decided that this article deserved to be posted and hopefully read.
The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on Sunday, March 8, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1
Chevrolet-powered cars have visited INDYCAR victory lane at Phoenix Raceway ten times, but the sacred place in Chevrolet racing history goes far beyond the wins at the historic one-mile oval.
A two-race west coast swing kicks off this weekend for the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with the pair traveling to the desert for their first of two appearances at Phoenix Raceway this season.