Are Gas Prices Keeping Fans At Home?
I wonder how true this article is. I am not questioning the whole gas price thing, but the fact that track promoters are just now trying to book concerts and all that.
Auto racing is the ultimate in gas-guzzling entertainment. But the prospect of paying $4 a gallon to get to the track has some fans reluctant to start their engines.
Ticket sales have slipped just as May, the biggest month in motorsports, approaches. So track promoters are shifting into high gear to keep the grandstands full, offering all-you-can-eat packages and staging rock concerts.
Seriously, performers worth their salt cannot just drop what they are doing to fit in a NASCAR date simply because a track promoter wants to fill the stands. I don’t buy it. I think they have been planning it because ticket sales were already slumping before the current “gas crisis” started to lift off.
In fact, it would take more than a concert and all-you-can eat food to get me to a track, especially now with the “car of today”. I can’t stand that car. I can barely stand to watch an entire race on TV anymore, why would I pay to see it live at the track?
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Sphere: Related ContentKyle Busch Wins At Talladega
Congratulation to Kyle Busch for winning at Talladega.
Kyle Busch fell a lap down midway through the race, and after racing his way back into contention, needed an awesome save to keep himself from triggering a massive crash.
“Typical Talladega,” he thought.
Only this time, the crash happened behind Busch. Instead of leaving Talladega Superspeedway with a smashed-up car, he drove into Victory Lane. The kid who couldn’t conquer Talladega finally won at the harrowing track Sunday, and in this breakout season for Busch, it was only fitting that he coasted to the victory.
“I’d like to say that I’m smarter than I look, but that’s certainly not the case,” Busch said. “Today was just due to having a great car. Getting a lap down, that was like, ‘Oh, typical Talladega’ there. But I didn’t wreck today and I was definitely happy of that, and I was greatly appreciative that I was able to win today because it’s certainly been a struggle for several years.
I must say though, the race was quite boring. So far this year, I have seen two great races, all the others were boring as hell. NASCAR may want to “even the playing field” by making all the cars the same, but I tell you one thing, if they keep things so “even”, I won’t be tempted to watch much more.
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Front Row Joe To Lead Pack At Talladega
I’ve said it before, but I really like Joe Nemechek. I like his style, I like his attitude. It’s good to see someone like Joe starting on the pole for today’s race.
Joe Nemechek has won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Nemechek was able to secure his first pole for the season and 10th career by circling the 2.66-mile speedway in 51.103 seconds at an average speed of 187.386 miles per hour.
Nicknamed “First Row Joe,” Nemechek was the 45th of 46th drivers to make his qualifying run. He captured his first pole since 2005, a span of 93 races.
“I want to thank Hendrick Motorsports,” Nemechek said. “The engines have been incredible this year. We are getting better and better at making these cars to go around the corner and getting them to go faster. It is a big day.”
It was a record-setting qualifying run for Nemechek, whose four career poles at Talladega leads all active Cup drivers.
A good omen for Nemechek heading into Sunday’s race is that a Chevrolet has won 17 of the last 18 races at Talladega.
Even better? Ken Schraeder will be starting right behind him in the second row. I love it when the old-timers come in and kick butt. Now, hopefully they can hold their own during the race.
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Tony Stewart Wins At Talladega
When Tony Stewart wants his name in the news, it’s in the news. All weekend people have been talking about him “shopping around”. Then he went and qualified first for today’s race. So what did he do next?
Tony Stewart held off Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last-lap charge to win the Nationwide Series race Saturday for his first career victory at Talladega Superspeedway
“This is not like winning a regular Nationwide race,” he said. “To me this is the biggest one I’ve had. To finally win at Talladega, it’s more than I can put into words.”
Stewart started from the pole, led 81 of the 117 laps, and sat comfortably out front in the waning laps with Earnhardt on his rear bumper just biding his time to make a move. Caution came out with five laps to go for debris, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish.
He won his first race at Talladega. Not only did he win it, he did so by holding off Dale Jr. while doing so.
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The Talk Of Talladega
This is the race I want to go to someday. The spring race at Talladega. We went to Talladega a few years back to see the museum and tour the track. There wasn’t a race that weekend. If and when I do go to a race, it will be at Talladega.
Having said that, this weekend, Tony Stewart is the talk of Talladega. First we had reports of him “shopping around” and now he captures the pole for the Nationwide race on Saturday.
Stewart will start on the pole for Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 after qualifying first on Friday with a time of 51.308 seconds in a Toyota at Talladega Superspeedway.
The 36-year-old, who collected his second Nationwide pole of the season, made national headlines the past several days by declaring that he is looking for other offers from racing organizations instead of extending his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Stewart’s Camry clocked a speed of 185.308 miles per hour to become the seventh Gibbs’ racing car in the last eight Nationwide races to win the pole at an event.
Congrats on the pole, Tony. I’m curious to see how he does in Sprint qualifying.
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Tony Stewart Is Entertaining Offers
I just can’t see Tony Stewart in another car other than that Home Depot #20. Can you?
Tony Stewart has several different offers to leave Joe Gibbs Racing, and the two-time champion is considering every option—including ones that could make him the owner of his own NASCAR team.
“We’ve got multiple offers on the table right now, and there’s a couple in particular that really have caught our interest,” Stewart told reporters Thursday after Nationwide Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.
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But a pair of internet reports Wednesday said Stewart was in negotiations to purchase at least a portion of Haas CNC Racing in a deal that would require him to leave JGR.
I know this kind of stuff is normal, and people come and go from teams all the time now, but it doesn’t mean that I have to get used to it. Seriously. It took me two seasons to get used to Kurt Busch in the #2, and it’s going to take longer to get used to seeing Dale Jr. in the #88. If a deal happens and Tony leaves JGR, who could you see in the #20?
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Kyle Busch Wins Three In A Row
I wonder if Kyle Busch would be doing this well if he had stayed at Hendrick Motorsports? I doubt it. I think being replaced by Dale Jr. is the best thing that has happened to the kid.
If Kyle Busch keeps this up, he’s going to have some difficult decisions to make.
Busch won his third consecutive race on NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, taking the Corona Mexico 200 by less than a second Sunday. He’s not committed to a full Nationwide schedule, but will he be able to resist a run at the championship?
Think about it. He’s in first place in the Craftsman Truck Series, second in the Nationwide Series, and third in the Sprint Cup. Granted we’re not that far into the season, but it’s pretty impressive if you ask me.
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Schrader Gets A Ride At Haas
While the suspension of operations at BAM Racing really sucks, there is good news for their “former” driver Ken Schrader.
Haas CNC Racing announced on Wednesday that Ken Schrader will drive the No. 70 Chevrolet at Talladega next weekend.
Schrader was scheduled to race for BAM Racing at Talladega until they announced they were closing up shop until the fall.
I like Ken Schrader. I hope he does well at Talladega.
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BAM Racing Out Until Fall?
Damn, I hate to see good teams struggle like this. Granted, you haven’t seen any BAM Racing cars in Victory Lane lately, but once all the smaller teams have been killed off, what’s left? The big teams with 3 or 4 drivers, that dominate the sport. Remember one thing. Dominating a sport does NOT make it better.
Team owner Beth Ann Morgenthau said Tuesday the No. 49 team may not return to Sprint Cup until the fall, as a proposed primary sponsorship deal has been severely curtailed.
“A primary sponsorship deal once planned for the majority of the 2008 season had been reduced to a fraction of a season and that fraction will likely be in the fall,” Morgenthau said in a statement released by the team. “The private company has been in the process of raising funds in the equity market for working capital, which included a portion going to a product launch using the No. 49 car. Due to the uncertainty of the stock market raising the capital is taking longer than expected.
“With no other primary sponsor currently in place to fill the void, the harsh reality of this most recent news is that we are forced to reduce our 2008 participation to a partial season.”
I hope something happens and they can get back on the track before the fall. Yeah, I root for the underdogs all the time.
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Jimmie Johnson Wins At Phoenix
It took him long enough. I was beginning to wonder if Hendrick Motorsports had lost its edge over the off season. I wish it would have been Junior or Casey Mears that won though rather than Jimmie. I still don’t like him much.
Jimmie Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports its first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the year, winning a fuel gamble Saturday night at Phoenix International Speedway.
As leader after leader dove for the pits to take on gas in the waning laps, Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet stayed on track and the two-time reigning Cup champion made it to the finish, beating Clint Bowyer — another gambler — by 7.002 seconds.
Congratulations are in order, however, because their gamble paid off.
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