August 07, 2008
Stewart, Gordon poised for win
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — A road course race couldn’t come at a better time for Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.August 03, 2008
Edwards wins his fourth race
LONG POND, Pa. — Carl Edwards won Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway, gambling with a pit strategy that he thought would cost him the victory.August 01, 2008
Johnson wins pole
LONG POND, Pa. — Mark Martin has a warning for everyone in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series: Look out for Jimmie Johnson.July 16, 2008
GM cutting back NASCAR spending
Troubled General Motors has notified two racetracks that run NASCAR events that their current contracts will not be renewed as part of an overall $10 billion cost-cutting program.MULHERN: Martin can’t stay away from the track
A funny thing happened to Mark Martin on his way to retirement.July 10, 2008
Stewart takes Hass deal
JOLIET, Ill. — Tony Stewart knows he’s taking a gamble by leaving NASCAR’s elite Joe Gibbs Racing team to join one that usually runs in the middle of the pack. But Stewart also can imagine what it might feel like to be in victory lane at the Daytona 500 both as a driver and a car owner, so it’s a risk he’s willing to take. Having recently negotiated a release from his Gibbs contract at the end of this season, the two-time Cup series champion announced Thursday that he will join the team currently known as Haas-CNC as an owner-driver in 2009.July 09, 2008
Stewart out of Gibbs
It looks as if Tony Stewart will be back in a Chevrolet next year, after a season in Toyotas. Toyota team owners Joe and J.D. Gibbs announced Wednesday that they will release Stewart from his contract at the end of this season, rather than hold him for the remaining year of that contract.LIPPER: Hendrick lost Busch and future
Let me acknowledge up front that Rick Hendrick has sold a bazillion cars through his assorted dealerships, whereas I once traded in a two-year-old Fiat with a nasty habit of destroying piston rings. Furthermore, Hendrick has overseen seven NASCAR championships, while I was a dismal failure at Burnout and Need for Speed when matched against my controller-savvy son.July 03, 2008
NASCAR feels the pinch
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For the first time since Chip Ganassi started his team in 2001, his team’s No. 40 hauler is not in the Sprint Cup garage this week at Daytona International Speedway. The team ceased operation this week because of a lack of sponsorship. It was an outward example of flagging sponsorship money to one of NASCAR’s most visible teams. It wasn’t a fly-by-night operation, or a consistent underachiever being forced out this time.July 01, 2008
Ganassi shuts down Franchitti’s Cup team
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi shut down Dario Franchitti’s race team Tuesday because of a lack of sponsorship, putting the former IndyCar Series champion’s future in doubt. Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and series champion, has struggled in his first NASCAR season driving Ganassi’s No. 40 Dodge. He ranks 41st in the driver standings, failed to qualify for races in Texas and Sonoma, Calif., and missed five with a broken ankle he suffered in a Nationwide Series crash at Talladega.June 20, 2008
Kahne wins pole
SONOMA, Calif. — Kasey Kahne continued his recent hot streak Friday by winning the pole at Infineon Raceway for his best career starting position on a road course. Kahne was the third driver to make his qualifying attempt and his lap around the twisting track at 92.153 mph was good enough to hold the top spot for the entire session. It was his second pole of the season, and second in three weeks.June 17, 2008
LIPPER: Junior wins on fumes; how convenient
I don’t know what you saw at Sunday’s Good to the Last Drop 400, but I’d swear that was Tim Donaghy in the pits and Dick Bavetta in the tower at Michigan International when the deal went down for Junior. Think the NBA is rigged? That Michael should’ve been whistled for a push-off? That the Kings were jobbed in ’02? That there’s no way David Stern wasn’t pushing these finals back to Boston for a Game 6?June 15, 2008
Earnhardt’s 76-race slump ends on fumes
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. is enjoying that old winning feel and he doesn’t much care what his detractors have to say about it. “I can understand how it might look, especially if you’re not Dale Jr. fans,” Little E said Sunday after ending a 76-race winless by stretching his last fuel load beyond the limit at Michigan International Speedway. “I know exactly what they’re going to say Monday.June 13, 2008
