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Lee
 Image via Wikipedia
The incident between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski has been a major focus of fans and national media attention for the past two days. With much anticipation, everyone was waiting to see what the reaction would be from NASCAR. In today’s press conference, Mike Helton announced that Carl Edwards would be placed on probation for the next three races…period!
A large segment of the NASCAR community was expecting a fine of at least $25,000 and a lost of driver and owner points. That didn’t happen, and rightfully so. Similar incidents in the past were dealt with in similar fashion with drivers being black flagged for a lap, and on a couple of occasions drivers have been parked. The only example I can think of where drivers have been fined and docked points for retaliation incidents is when those incidents took place on pit road, placing crew members and officials at risk. I can’t think of a single case where someone was fined for intentionally bumping or spinning someone on the track under green flag conditions, like the incident on Sunday.
The only reason the Edwards/Keselowski incident has generated any interest at all is because Keselowski’s car went airborne. Helton did go on to say that NASCAR takes the incident seriously because the car went airborne and would be evaluating the conditions and taking steps to make sure that it never happens again. Continue reading →
Angie
 Image by Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway via Flickr
At the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour earlier this year, Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton indicated they would give drivers more leeway on the racetrack.
“We will say boys, have at it and have a good time.”
The incident on Sunday between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski was probably not what he had in mind.
It began on lap 40 when Edwards was tapped by Keselowski on the restart sending Edwards up the track, into Joey Logano and into the wall.
Late in the race on lap 323, Carl Edwards, who was over 100 laps down, hit Keselowski sending him into the wall. Keselowski bounced off the wall, went airborne and onto his roof. This dramatically ended Brad’s day and his shot at a sixth place finish.
The shaken Keselowski was helped from his car and eventually cleared by the infield care center.
At first, Carl didn’t come right out and admit that the hit was intentional but he later made the following statement on his Facebook Fan Page. Continue reading →
Lee
 Image by Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway via Flickr
This weekend, at Atlanta, Ryan Newman is reasonably sure of achieving one milestone in his career, and maybe two. On Sunday, Newman will start his 300th NASCAR Sprint Cup Race. And he’s doing so where he has started on the pole more than any other driver in the history of NASCAR, with the exception of Buddy Baker. Of 15 starts at Atlanta, The Rocket, has captured the pole 7 times, and is hoping to be fast enough Friday evening to get his 8th pole at the track.
Newman has faced some pretty rough times over the course of the first three races this season, and is currently 32nd in the Sprint Cup standings, one spot better than he was at this time last year. Ryan was featured in this week’s NASCAR teleconference where he talked about the milestones ahead of him at Atlanta and his struggles so far this season.
Q. Atlanta, this weekend you’re going to possibly set a pole record with the Buddy Baker situation and tiebreak that. Where does that fit in your career? How much do you actually place emphasis on your career on poles or is this something you naturally do well? Continue reading →
Angie
 Wendell Oliver Scott, born in 1921 in Danville, Virginia, was an American stock car driver and a pioneer of NASCAR. On March 4, 1961 in Spartanburg SC, he broke down racial barriers to make his first start in the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) division. Scott went on to become the first and to date, the only, African-American to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup event.
In recognition of his contributions, NASCAR will pay tribute to Scott this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. All of the competing vehicles will have a commemorative decal bearing his image.
Daughter of the late Scott, Sybil Scott, will attend the race as well as Drive for Diversity competitor, Jason Romero. Romero was the 2009 recipient of the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award. This award is given annually to a minority or female driver who displays excellence on and off the track in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
A look into his life gives us insight into a tumultuous part of NASCAR and American history. Continue reading →
Angie
The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is just beginning but has already been filled with its share of ups and downs.
The Daytona 500 began with a bang as Mark Martin won the pole and Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured the second starting position. Junior Nation was anticipating a comeback and excitement was in the air.
However, no one anticipated the pothole appearing between turns one and two on the racetrack. With two stoppages for repairs and the over two hours in delays, the race was in jeopardy of becoming a complete debacle.
But, the patience of NASCAR fans was rewarded with a finish that couldn’t have been scripted better by a Hollywood screenwriter. Continue reading →
Lee
 Image by virtva via Flickr I’ve taken to monitoring Twitter during the races this season to keep up with what is going on behind the scenes. Delana Harvick and Krissie Newman are great sources for a little extra scuttlebutt during races. But on Sunday, I was tweeting anyone and everyone asking why there had been so many speeding penalties this year on pit road. My perception was that it was happening a lot more often than it had in the past. Continue reading →
Angie
 J.C. “Jake” Elder, a former crew chief in the Cup Series, died Wednesday in Statesville, North Carolina at the age of 73. He was known as “Suitcase Jake” because he could never settle down with one organization for very long.
He is generally considered by the NASCAR community as one of the greatest crew chiefs of all-time. He won two championships with David Pearson and helped mold some of NASCAR’s legends including Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Benny Parsons.
If you want to take a look back at the grassroots of NASCAR, Jake Elder is a great place to begin.
He was born on November 22, 1936 and his education ended around the 3rd grade. Elder never learned to read and write but his knowledge of cars was almost unrivaled.
He began his NASCAR career in 1960 as a fabricator for Petty Enterprises.
Jake came to work for us in Level Cross in the ‘60s, down from the Hickory area, and he was a fabricator,” Richard Petty said. “Jake was old school. There was no engineering; it was all off the cuff. He’d put something on the car and say, ‘OK, now it’s right. Here, you go drive it. And don’t come back in complaining to me, because I got the car fixed. You go learn how to drive it.’” Continue reading →
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