Turn on the lights and turn up the heat this week as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races under the lights for the first time this season. Texas Motor Speedway needs no introduction as it has produced some of the fastest speeds and exciting finishes we’ve seen over the past few seasons.
NASCAR is getting ready for Race #7 on the schedule located at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Will things finally settle down this weekend? I think so considering it is a large track with lots of room to race but you don't have to look any further than the 2013 Auto Club 400 if you want a shoot a gaping hole in that theory. It seems like this year anything can and will happen.
Refreshed from an off-weekend and ready to go short track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising when the Cup drivers returned to racing in the STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Johnson won from the pole at Martinsville, leading 347 of 500 laps to win the STP Gas Booster 500, his eighth win at the Virginia half-mile track. Johnson claimed the points lead, and now leads Brad Keselowski by six.
There is no doubt that Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR champion, is a fierce competitor. This past weekend, however, Stewart was more successful on the local short track circuit, including Williams Grove and Selinsgrove Speedway, than he was in the Cup race at Martinsville.
So, is 5-time better than Richard Petty and even the late, great Dale Earnhardt? Let's crunch some numbers first and see how the three compare. It took Richard 15 years to win 5 championships while Earnhardt did it in 13...a feat that took Johnson just 9 years to accomplish in arguably the most competitive era in NASCAR history.
It has been a couple weeks since you have heard from me, and I am excited for my opportunity to spout off my thoughts before tomorrow's STP Gas Booster 500. Martinsville Speedway is one of my favorite stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series each year due to its storied history and true short-track persona.
Martinsville is one of NASCAR's oldest venues and has been around since the beginning of stock car racing. It was one of the eight original tracks on the 1949 Strickly Stock Schedule which is now known as the Sprint Cup series. At 0.526 miles in length, it is the shortest track on the circuit and arguably the toughest to pass at.
From three-wide racing to the splitter-challenging bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 17th annual Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.
Earnhardt posted his third top-5 result of the year with the runner-up in the Auto Club 400 and took over the top spot in the Sprint Cup point standings. He leads Brad Keselowski by 12.
