NASCAR

In what could be the deepest and most talented field to date, NASCAR announced Wednesday the list of eligible competitors for the 2012 Shootout.

NASCAR announced today the 2012 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule that will feature traditional dates at some of the premier short tracks and speedways in the northeast.

In its 28th season of competition, the Whelen Modified Tour will see the 14-race slate spread across seven tracks in four states. New to the schedule in 2012 will be a return to Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl.

A Virginia-born driver with a need to prove himself after losing the championship on NASCAR's premier division two seasons ago. A Virginia-born crew chief with a need to prove himself after getting fired despite winning the title this past year. In some ways, Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb seemed made for one another.

That partnership was formalized Friday, when Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Grubb would lead Hamlin's No. 11 team beginning next season.

David Ragan spent Sunday flying home from the Snowball Derby, a prestigious late model race held annually in Pensacola, Fla., and his focus during the trip was a right-rear hub assembly that had broken down and knocked his car out of the event. Then he landed in Charlotte, flipped on his mobile telephone -- and suddenly realized he had much more pressing concerns.

"We land in Charlotte, and Twitter is blowing up, and we see reports that something is going to happen with the 22 program the following day," Ragan said.

As expected, veteran Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch and Penske Racing announced Monday they have mutually decided to end their six-year relationship, effective immediately.

"I appreciate the victories that Kurt has brought Penske Racing and our sponsors over the past six years," team owner Roger Penske said in a statement released by the organization. "While I am disappointed that Kurt will not be racing for our team in the future, both Kurt and I felt that separating at this time was best for all parties, including our team and sponsors.

One run of NASCAR dominance ended this year, when Tony Stewart snapped Jimmie Johnson's streak of five consecutive championships in NASCAR's premier division. But another continued Thursday, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was awarded the sport's most popular driver trophy for a ninth year in a row.

Earnhardt received the award at the annual National Motorsports Press Association/Myers Brothers Luncheon at the Bellagio, and the trophy will go into the case near his sister Kelley's office at JR Motorsports along with the others.

NASCAR announced today that the points system all NASCAR national series began using this year will be instituted in the regional touring level for 2012.

The points system was simplified to make it easier for fans, competitors and the industry to understand.

Eight days after winning the 2011 Sprint Cup title with Darian Grubb, Tony Stewart has a new crew chief.

Steve Addington will replace Grubb as crew chief for the three-time Cup champion at Stewart-Haas Racing, the team announced in a news release Monday.

Addington had served as crew chief for Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch for two seasons, following a nearly two-year stint as crew chief for Kurt’s brother, Kyle, at Joe Gibbs Racing.

There’s something to be said about going out on top, but this probably wasn’t the way Darian Grubb thought a possible departure from Stewart-Haas Racing would happen.

The crew chief for Tony Stewart was informed during the Chase – six weeks prior to the end of the year – that he wouldn’t be retained after the season. Grubb could have sulked and just cruised through the final six weeks.

NASCAR’s future was front and center Monday night as four champions in two national series were crowned.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 24 and Austin Dillon, 21, officially were proclaimed champions of the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, respectively, on the Americana Ballroom stage at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.

Neither Brad Keselowski nor NASCAR would confirm nor deny an Associated Press report Keselowski has been fined $25,000 for critical comments he made about NASCAR’s switch to fuel injection.

NASCAR has fined drivers the last two years for comments that it believes hurts the credibility of the sport. It hasn’t announced the fines, but drivers have confirmed they were fined.

The remaining two contenders for the Sprint Cup championship have very different track records at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the facility where this year's title will ultimately be decided. But the crew chiefs for Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart each will draw his strategy from the same place -- last year's event at the 1.5-mile oval in South Florida.

Homestead is statistically Edwards' best track, a place where he's won twice and has an average finish better than any other driver.

Is there any question the final two contenders in the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup would be Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards?  Not at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

What started out as a 12 man race has now become a two man show featuring Edwards and Stewart. Both have different styles of driving, different teams and a different history in the sport.  Edwards is chasing his first title, but Stewart is looking to sit right where he did in 2005, at the head table.

The next-to-last landscape upon which Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart will wrestle for stock car supremacy has been a part of NASCAR's top series for almost a quarter-century, but that means almost nothing in the context of this weekend's racing.

Phoenix International Raceway, which had been one of International Speedway Corp.'s most neglected tracks for years, got a major upgrade this year.

Tony Stewart backed up his smack talk with a convincing victory in Sunday's AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

With his fourth victory in the Chase and the 43rd of his career, Stewart put a dent in runner-up Carl Edwards' series lead, scoring maximum points (48) to trim Edwards' advantage from eight to three points with two races left in the season.

Until Friday, all we knew about Danica Patrick's 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule with Stewart-Haas Racing was the GoDaddy girl would start her Cup career with the Daytona 500.

Now we know the rest of it. Almost.

In addition to her full-time Nationwide Series schedule with JR Motorsports, Patrick will run Cup races at Daytona, Darlington, Bristol (the night race), Atlanta, Chicagoland, Dover (fall race), Texas (fall race) and Phoenix (fall race).

Eddie Gossage spent Sunday afternoon in a television studio at Texas Motor Speedway, publicizing his upcoming race weekend in satellite interviews with local stations across Texas and Oklahoma. He kept one eye on a TV off in the corner, where the event at Martinsville Speedway was wrapping up. The Texas track president finished his interviews just in time to see Tony Stewart overtake Jimmie Johnson for the victory, and issue his now-famous challenge to points leader Carl Edwards -- the latter a large chunk of promotional manna that had fallen right into Gossage's lap.

Championship NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick and his wife are recovering at home in Charlotte after each suffered minor injuries Monday night when the small jet carrying them to Key West, Fla., lost its brakes and crash landed at the island's airport.

Officials on the scene told the Associated Press that the Gulfstream 150 ran off the runway at Key West International Airport Monday at 7:45 p.m., and that Rick and Linda Hendrick, as well as a pilot and co-pilot, were taken to Lower Keys Medical Center.

About the only thing Brian Vickers regrets about his wild race at Martinsville Speedway Sunday is that his retaliation against Matt Kenseth didn’t cause more damage to Kenseth’s car and his championship hopes.

Vickers is not all that concerned that his retaliation against Kenseth impacted the finish of the race. He just wishes Kenseth had not already been running 30th when he chose to take him out.

Chad Knaus told driver Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage the back end of his race car if the No. 48 team won Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, the crew chief acknowledged Wednesday.

Knaus admitted giving the five-time NASCAR champion the pre-race instructions in order to "cover our bases" in case 500 miles of bump-drafting knocked the car beyond NASCAR's strict tolerances.

When it came right down to it, Sunday's Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was decided by a decidedly different set of opinions on how the race should be approached.

While some teams were intent on merely surviving and obviously drove as conservatively as possible -- and that's relatively speaking on a 2.66-mile oval where speeds frequently approach 200 miles per hour -- others were determined to run up front from the drop of the green flag.

As race car drivers, we all are keenly aware of what can happen to us every time we strap in behind the wheel of one of our cars. More times than we care to count -- as in Sunday's tragedy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- something happens that causes us to ask ourselves, "Is everything worth it?" To me the answer is ...

Yes. Without a doubt. At least it is in my case. Racing makes me who I am. It's what drives me. It's what I'm wired to do.

Kasey Kahne woke up Monday thinking about Dan Wheldon and the wrenching pain felt by the late two-time Indianapolis 500 champion's family and friends.

Kahne didn't spend a moment thinking that it could have been him — even though the NASCAR driver seriously had considered entering the Izod IndyCar Series season finale in which Wheldon died in Sunday's 15-car accident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Despite being unable to come to contract terms with driver Clint Bowyer, who announced last Friday that he will drive beginning in 2012 for Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress said Thursday that he could not be more pleased with the future direction in which his company appears to be headed.

Speaking after a function where he appeared together with Bowyer to promote an upcoming special paint scheme on the No. 33 Chevrolet Bowyer currently drives for Richard Childress Racing, Childress said he tentatively plans to scale down from four full-time Sprint Cup teams to three full-time teams in 2012.

The sponsorship picture at Joe Gibbs Racing will undergo a vast change next season, the Observer has learned.

At a news conference Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dollar General is expected to announce it will greatly increase its involvement in NASCAR, sponsoring both Sprint Cup and Nationwide series teams at JGR in 2012, several sources confirmed.

He didn't take the lead in the Sprint Cup standings, didn't even move into second, but he didn't need to. Winning at Kansas Speedway in such dominating fashion was plenty good enough. And in the end, it was one of those afternoons that evoked the feeling of inevitability that's loomed over NASCAR's premier series for much of the past five years, one that grew stronger and stronger with each circuit the No. 48 car made around the track.

Jimmie Johnson is back. As if he ever left.

Over the past 95 years one toy has brought countless smiles to boys and girls faces across America, the Radio Flyer wagon.  For race fans at New Hampshire Motor Speedway a fleet of little red wagons lined up along the grandstand fence means the excitement of NASCAR has finally arrived. But during this year’s SYLVANIA 300 one wagon was missing.

Jan and Diane Duisendecker of Canterbury, N.H., have been attending races at “The Magic Mile” since 2005 and each year, along with hundreds of others, they brought their wagon to help carry food and beverages to and from their campsite.

Reed Sorenson, a championship contender in the Nationwide Series and a race winner earlier this season at Road America, is out of Turner Motorsports' No. 32 car in a move that could herald more departures from the NASCAR team.

Sorenson stands third in the Nationwide standings, 49 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Turner has also notified employees of a potential downsizing following this season due in part to the impending loss of sponsor Dollar General.

At speeds of up to 140 mph, experience the same thrills that Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon felt during last weekend’s SYLVANIA 300 by driving a stock car around New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Beginning today through Sunday, the Richard Petty Driving Experience will offer several programs to fulfill every race fans need for speed.

NASCAR will unveil the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule via its social/digital channels on today, Sept. 28, at noon ET.

NASCAR.COM will first unveil next year’s schedule on its homepage, with a question-and-answer Twitter chat session to follow involving NASCAR (@NASCAR) and Senior V.P. of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell (@odsteve). Fans, media, teams and tracks are encouraged to participate throughout the one-hour interactive Twitter forum.

Tony Stewart may not have captured a win leading up to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but he sure is making up for it now. Stewart is two-for-two in NASCAR's playoffs after winning the SYLVANIA 300 today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet passed Clint Bowyer on the second to last lap after Bowyer played a fuel mileage game and lost. Ironically, in a similar dramatic finish last year Stewart ran out of gas on the last lap and it was Bowyer to cross the Granite Stripe first.

The year was 1997. Bill Clinton was the president, we lost Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, but we gained a little lamb clone named Dolly. We explored Mars for the first time through unmanned explorers and New England race fans enjoyed fall racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway the very first time.

“The Magic Mile” is one of only 13 tracks in the world to host two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events in a season. 

Ron Silk bump drafted to the end and grabbed his points lead back after winning the New Hampshire 100 at this afternoon.

Silk started from the pole position and went bumper-to-bumper with all of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regulars to capture his third victory of the 2011 season and his second “Magic Mile” checkered flag.

Brett Moffitt finally scored his first New Hampshire Motor Speedway win today during the rain shortened New Hampshire 125 event.

This was Moffitts third win of the season and seventh in his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East career.  He now sits just 21 points unofficially behind Max Gresham in the championship standings.

The driver of the No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota has finished as the race runner-up the last two trips to Loudon and has four top-five efforts in five career K&N Pro Series East events at NHMS.

You know the ticket is big when it has to be bolted to the side of the grandstands.  New Hampshire Motor Speedway made it big with a Guinness Book World Record for the largest scratch ticket ever made.  The N.H. Lottery unveiled the gigantic instant ticket during last night’s FanFest.  

The enormous scratch ticket measured a whopping 36-feet and 2-inches-tall by 18-feet and 8 inches-wide and was officially measured by Phillip Robertson of Guinness Book of World Records.  It beat the previous record held in Australia.

Ron Silk, looking to get his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead back, will start on the point for Saturday's New Hampshire 100 after winning the Coors Light Pole Award Thursday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Silk had a top lap of 29.764 seconds (127.967 mph) around the 1.058-mile oval. It was the fifth career pole for the Norwalk, Conn., driver, who won at the ‘Magic Mile’ in 2009.

 The New Hampshire 100 will be carried by SPEED Saturday at 1 p.m., prior to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

The campers have parked and the grills are fired up, which only means one thing. NASCAR has returned to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the SYLVANIA 300. 

The WOKQ FanFest will kick off the jam-packed weekend with free fun for the entire family tonight beginning at 5 p.m. in the speedway’s Broadway Midway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, David Reutimann will highlight the event signing autographs and hosting a fan Q&A beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Ron Hornaday Jr. has accomplished just about everything in his 14-year career in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, including a record four series championships.

This weekend the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet will attempt to get his 50^th win during the F.W. Webb 175 on Saturday, a feat that has never been accomplished in the series.

Brian Vickers says he isn’t feeling pressure to prove himself on the track, but that doesn’t mean his future is secure or he knows where he’ll be racing in 2012.

Vickers spent three years at Hendrick Motorsports before moving to Red Bull Racing in 2007, where he has spent the last five years.

But Red Bull wants to sell the team, and Vickers is unsure what will happen. Red Bull announced in late June that it was selling the team and it’s been nearly three months with no announcement of a buyer.

Four years after making waves in NASCAR by signing on as the primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Amp Energy is phasing its brand off the car of the sport's most popular driver.

PepsiCo is expected to announce this week that Diet Mountain Dew will replace its Amp Energy brand as Earnhardt's primary sponsor for 16 races in 2012. The company has the primary sponsorship rights for 20 total races on the No. 88 car, and Amp will serve as an associate sponsor while also appearing on the hood for the other four races.

Ten lucky fans will have the opportunity to wave the green flag during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying during FansFirst Pole Day on Friday, Sept. 23.  The contest will be run through Twitter and entering is simple.

Anyone that takes a picture at the track from now through Thursday and shares it on Twitter using #ILoveNHMS will be entered to win.  There is a maximum of one entry per day.  Pictures may be of anything from the track to FanFest to your camper to, well, whatever strikes your creative mind! 

Who says second place is the first loser?

For the first time since the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup began in 2004 New Hampshire Motor Speedway will not be the first stop on the 10 race playoff schedule, but it doesn’t mean that the 2011 SYLVANIA 300 is any less important.

One of NASCAR's best is among those giving time and attention to the New Hampshire Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities during the SYLVANIA 300 race weekend, but there are many ways for fans to help New England children in need throughout the event.

On Tuesday, Sept. 20, feel the same thrill that you’re favorite NASCAR driver feels as you drive your own car around “The Magic Mile” for three laps during the SCC Laps for Charity event.

There was no back flipping for this win, but Carl Edwards did get a New England style victory as he trapped over a dozen lobsters today in Portsmouth, N.H. It was good practice for Edwards, who hopes to hoist Loudon the Lobster in victory lane after the SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 25.

As NASCAR’s best prepare to invade “The Magic Mile,” the driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford joined local media members and fans at Geno’s Chowder House in Portsmouth,

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is just two weeks away from racing into New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Race fans can expect a heated battle during the SYLVANIA 300 as eight of the top-12 have visited victory lane at least once in the Sprint Cup Series at “The Magic Mile.”

Stewart-Haas Racing will have the most momentum when the series returns. Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart dominated the July race weekend, both starting and finishing first and second.

Like most Americans, race fans will never forget where they were on September, 11, 2001. As the nation remembers the 10^th anniversary of that historic day, New Hampshire Motor Speedway reflects on what turned out to be a silent race weekend that September.

The attacks came on a Tuesday, just days before the scheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 300 lap event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Danica Patrick thinks it would be nice if she got her NASCAR Sprint Cup career started at the Daytona 500.

The IndyCar star is moving to NASCAR full time next season and will run a limited Cup schedule in a car owned by Tony Stewart. He expects her to struggle at most of the tracks where she'll race, making a Daytona debut even more attractive to her.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, NASCAR announced today a special in-race tribute to take place on Saturday, Sept. 10 during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. Fans attending the event, ABC-TV and MRN Radio broadcasters announcing the race, and the track announcer will all go quiet for a three-lap moment of silence from laps 9 through 11 at the .75-mile oval.

NASCAR will give the AdvoCare 500 another go Tuesday.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee produced heavy rain and spawned tornadoes around the Atlanta metropolitan area on Monday but the weather should yield in time for Tuesday's 11 a.m. Sprint Cup Series race (ESPN).

Hendrick Motorsports and driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. have agreed to a five-year contract extension that will keep Earnhardt behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolets through the end of the 2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

“We’re excited to have everything formalized and announced,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports.

During the SYLVANIA 300 weekend, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Tommy Baldwin Racing are offering the ultimate modified fan ticket package for just $71.

The exciting package will include a grandstand ticket for Sept. 25's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' SYLVANIA 300, as well as a ticket for the Sept. 24 triple header. It will also include a 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame yearbook and a 2012 inductee photo card rack from the Hall of Fame.

Two races remain before the complete 12-driver Chase field is set, seedings and all.

Here's what we know: Five drivers have clinched a Chase spot in some fashion. Kyle Busch, five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards have locked up a top-10 spot. Kevin Harvick, on the strength of three 2011 victories, has clinched at least a wild card spot -- and will likely cement a top-10 berth in Sunday night's AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Brad Keselowski's phoenix-like rise from the ashes continued Saturday, with an improbable victory in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway -- his third win of the season and his second since breaking his left ankle Aug. 3 in a crash during testing at Road Atlanta.

Keselowski grabbed the lead on a restart with 80 laps left in the 500-lap Sprint Cup race and held on to win for the fourth time in his career. The victory all but assured Keselowski of at least a wild-card position in the upcoming Chase.

Danica Patrick might not even be a race car driver today, let alone have the opportunity to race in NASCAR full time in 2012, had Brooke Patrick not stepped away from the family go-kart nearly 20 years ago.

On Thursday, Patrick confirmed plans to take the next step in her career -- one which began in the Midwest, then to England as a teenager, and then a triumphant return to racing's heartland and the Indianapolis 500.

Kyle Busch had his driver's license suspended for 45 days and was fined $1,000 Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to speeding.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who won Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Michigan, was charged May 24 for speeding and reckless driving for driving 128 mph in a 45-mph zone in a residential area in Mooresville, N.C., according to his citation.

The two drivers just inside the top 10 in points as the Chase For The Sprint Cup nears held onto their positions at Michigan International Speedway Sunday, but had very different outlooks following the Pure Michigan 400.

Part of that could be the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t made the Chase the last two years while Tony Stewart has.

With the start of the Chase For The Sprint Cup looming, drivers already in position or scrambling to secure one of the 12 playoff spots can be forgiven for casting long glances over their shoulders.

After all, racers have long memories, and issues linger.

With the start of the 10-race playoff on the horizon, the last thing a potential title contender wants to deal with is unfinished business with a fellow competitor.

Marcos Ambrose's happiness bubbled over Monday afternoon to the point where he began vigorously chasing various employees of Richard Petty Motorsports and attempting to spray them with a bit of the bubbly in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International.

For a driver and company whose intertwined futures were so uncertain just one year ago, it was indeed a day to call for champagne all the way around.

NASCAR announced today the No. 7 team that competes in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has been penalized as a result of rules violations committed Saturday, July 16 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

The team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-I (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20D-5.9P (the intake manifold ports did not completely seal to the cylinder head ports.

For all the angst and despair brought on by the two-by-two racing that has emerged at Daytona and Talladega, one thing is clear.

The two tracks have produced the most exciting, most intense races in the first half of the 2011 season.

The two tracks have wowed fans with unimagined numbers in terms of lead changes and leaders, and when it was over, two first-time winners – Trevor Bayne and David Ragan – graced victory lane at Daytona.

So, you’re zipping along in heavy traffic and the check engine light comes on and then a bunch of other indicator lights kick in, lighting up the dashboard in a fireworks-like display.

Now you’re NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and that zipping along is at about 170 miles an hour, in serious want-to-kick-your-butt traffic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on a speedy Sunday afternoon drive.

Sprint announced today the biggest promotion in its history as the title sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by HTC EVO 3D. The six-consecutive-race series runs from Indianapolis on July 31 to Atlanta on Sept. 4 and puts a $3 million purse on the line for a driver, a driver’s charity and one lucky race fan. 

The flag said it all when Kyle Busch took his victory lap around New Hampshire Motor Speedway today. Holding a flag emblazoned with the number 100, Busch celebrated becoming the third driver to win 100 NASCAR national series races.  He notched this historic win at the New England 200.

The 26-year-old Las Vegas, Nev. native continues to set records. Busch also captured his 49th NASCAR Nationwide Series win today.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway officials are anticipating a near capacity crowd for Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301. As of 11 a.m. Saturday, approximately 2,000 tickets remained for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.  Track officials will hold a limited number of tickets for Sunday morning walk-up sales.

Please plan travel to the track accordingly and aim to arrive early.

It is easily the most overlooked event of every New Hampshire Motor Speedway race weekend.

It doesn't have the glitz of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the star power of the Nationwide Series or the cache of the Whelen Modified Tour. But the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East served notice yet again on Friday evening here at New Hampshire that the division is as entertaining as any competing during the two NASCAR weekends every year.

Max Gresham's victory in the New England 125 had a little bit of everything.

Max Gresham started his day out front and ended it in the same position, capturing the checkered flag at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East’s New England 125 event.

Behind the wheel of the No. 18 World Crown 300 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing the 18-year old from Griffin, Ga., scored his second win of the 2011 season, fighting his way from the back to the front because of a pit stop gaffe.  

In conjunction with New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s race weekend, an evening meal with NASCAR Sprint Cup champion driver Tony Stewart was auctioned off with proceeds going to the N.H. chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities benefitting local kids in need.

The top-two bidders enjoyed a spectacular five-course dinner with lobster tails, filet mignon, fresh asparagus and some very funny and personal stories from Stewart. The top bidders were Francine Slesinski and her mother Jeannine Laroche (left) and (right) Eugene and Eileen Beckman.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is inviting all race fans to stop by the new Lite Lobster Lounge located in the display area. The speedway unveiled the new fan amenity Thursday night during FanFest.

Thanks to Miller Lite, this New England themed watering hole will feature every New Englanders favorite food including; lobster, clam chowder, hamburgers, chicken and much more.  Fans can also enjoy a cool beverage all in a family fun atmosphere.

Max Gresham was fast when it counted today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Griffin Ga., native will start from the pole position in tomorrow’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East New England 125. 

This is Gresham’s third pole of the 2011 season in NASCAR’s developmental series. This is also his third start at “The Magic Mile.” Gresham’s best finish at NHMS came in 2009 where he finished ninth.

It was out with the old and in with the new today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as the new state-of-the-art Panasonic scoreboard was officially unveiled.

Race fans joined former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and ESPN analyst Ricky Craven, NHMS executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens and K&N Pro Series East driver Eddie MacDonald, who waved the green flag to launch the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 weekend.

Today, the New Hampshire Lottery and New Hampshire Motor Speedway are pleased to announce that the New Hampshire Lottery is now an official partner of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway throughout the 2011 season. Starting this week, the Lottery and the Speedway will be working together to rev up fans with unique promotions, special discounts and brand new offers.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway boasts a statistic that may breed some major Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup implications. That stat: There have been six different winners in the past six races. New Hampshire’s reputation as a competitively balanced track grew with each passing NASCAR Nationwide Series race at NHMS – there were 23 different winners in the first 23 races. That streak was broken last year when Kyle Busch finally repeated.

Why would anyone ever bet against NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch? Even the most ardent fans of other drivers have to admit Busch is looking like a serious contender for unseating Jimmie Johnson’s historic run of Championship seasons. 

Busch dominated the inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway this weekend, winning the Quaker State 400 the old fashioned way: he got out front early and simply stayed there.

It was shortly before 11 p.m. local time Saturday when the two images that will come to define this inaugural Sprint Cup weekend at Kentucky Speedway began to intersect. Kyle Busch stood in a Victory Lane styled after that from a horse-racing oval, giving television interviews amid the litter of damp confetti and empty energy drink cans. A few hundred feet away, a line of still red taillights snaked out of the tunnel and onto Speedway Boulevard, as spectators began the slow crawl into the traffic gridlock.

Track Facts LENOX Industrial Tools 301(NSCS)

Qualifying
Qualifying for this event is scheduled for Friday, July 15, at 3:10 p.m. (ET) and will be televised live on SPEED Channel beginning at 3:00 p.m. (EDT).  The better of two laps will determine a driver’s official qualifying speed for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has started getting the pace cars on the track to warm them up and figure out which one will run for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 on July 17.  Unfortunately, the track has had trouble getting the cars up to speed, as there seems to be a hindrance that is getting in their way.

To help analyze how each car is running, a NHMS staff member filmed the pace car session and this video highlights the main issues with the cars.  Hopefully the issue will be resolved by next weekend's races.

It sounds like the NFL players and owners are finally finding a way to preserve the 2011 football season.  After about 115 days of accusations, lawsuits, counterclaims and lots of hyperbole regarding the end of football as we knew and enjoyed it, both sides are talking and both sides are sounding upbeat. 

The latest media reports indicate a deal may be done within the next few days.  One thing that hasn't been a priority in the battle over billions is the most important part of any professional sport: the fans.

For the first time in their racing careers, one of the Cope Twins is going to attempt to race "solo" in one of NASCAR's top three series.  Without her sister Amber, Angela Cope plans to compete in the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 16. Amber will be in attendance, however, on the headset helping guide Angela instead of behind the wheel herself.

By competing in a Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville in October, the duet rewrote NASCAR'shistory books last year by becoming the first twins to ever race against each other in one of NASCAR's top three divisions.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway Executive VP/General Manager Jerry Gappens recently caught up with Rutledge Wood on NASCAR.com.  With the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 only a week and a half away, Gappens talked about the unique New England atmosphere the speedway offers to the NASCAR community.

As the country celebrates Independence Day, New Hampshire Motor Speedway officials announced today that the speedway will host a unique service dedicating a grandstand seat to the thousands of Americans who are or were a prisoner of war and for those who are missing in action during the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 pre-race ceremonies on Sunday, July 17.

The POW/MIA empty chair and plaque will be located in “The Magic Mile” main grandstand area, a special reminder of those who serve and protect America. The POW/MIA chair will be part of several special pre-race activities and dedications. 

David Ragan has been trying to let it go since February.

So when leading at Daytona with five miles to go -- again -- the last thing Ragan wanted to hear on his radio was "don't forget to stay in your lane until you cross the start/finish line."

"I was on Matt Kenseth's radio on that last restart and his spotter mentioned it," Ragan said.

Twenty-year-old Trevor Bayne beat the best stock-car drivers in the world the last time he was at Daytona International Speedway. He then promptly proceeded to stump the best doctors in the world.

Bayne returns to the historic Daytona tri-oval this weekend to race in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 hoping to do everything possible to repeat the former feat and then avoid the latter.

As the NASCAR world prepares to celebrate Independence Day weekend at Daytona, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has to tip our hats to Dale Earnhardt Jr.  In a recent interview about the upcoming Coke Zero 400, Dale sounded off about what he’s really looking forward to this July.

According to a report in Yahoo sports, here is what Earnhardt Jr. said when asked if he was excited to return to Daytona, where he has enjoyed success in recent years:

Before Dale Earnhardt Jr. could race again at Daytona International Speedway after his father died there 10 years ago, he had to check the place out, see if he'd be overwhelmed, see if his cold memories there would consume him.

The week before NASCAR returned to Daytona for the first time after the 2001 Daytona 500, he took some friends there, in part to show them the place but also to see how he felt. Like a man going ice fishing who isn't sure if the ice is thick enough to hold him, he stepped gingerly onto the grounds.

After years of watching the excitement of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events on the 1.058-mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway TV analyst Andy Petree has decided that he'd like to see what it looks like from behind the wheel.

Petree, a former Sprint Cup Series championship crew chief, team owner, driver and current ESPN motorsports analyst, will enter the Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 which is scheduled for July 16 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Tony Stewart pretty much dared any Sprint Cup driver to block him with his antics on and off the race track Sunday at Infineon Raceway.

Stewart dumped Brian Vickers for blocking him during the race and said afterward that even if drivers wreck him in retaliation, as Vickers did, those that block him will pay the price.

On a sun-splashed day in the California wine country, Kurt Busch left no doubt about his ability to win on a road course at Infineon Raceway.

As dominant as the Penske Racing driver was in leading 76 of 110 laps, it’s difficult to believe that it took him 15 seasons to get his first victory on a serpentine course.

“It was one of those unbelievable days where having a game plan going in, we weren’t questioning it, it was just old school on how we were going to make it on two [pit] stops,” Busch said. “

If management of the team currently known as Red Bull Racing is unsuccessful in its bid to find new ownership to keep the Sprint Cup organization alive after this season, don't expect Toyota to scour the garage area looking to add to its fleet.

Red Bull's intention to withdraw from NASCAR after this season has left team general manager and vice president Jay Frye searching for investors to keep the 200-employee operation afloat.

When NASCAR races into New Hampshire Motor Speedway fans can bet Kyle Busch will be a factor to capture at least one checkered flag during the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 weekend, July 15-17.

In just seven years of racing on "The Magic Mile," Busch has claimed five wins, two of which came last year.  He became the first ever repeat winner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at NHMS in 23 races.

Just like the way he seemed to sneak up on everyone on Sunday, Denny Hamlin wants to make sure nobody forgets his name when it comes around to discussing championship contenders.

"I feel like over the last six to seven weeks, we've been as good as anyone," Hamlin said. "... One win's not going to put you in [the Chase], necessarily. It might if you're still high up in points. But we know two wins pretty much puts you in.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens joined the Granite State’s Congressional Delegation today hosting the second consecutive Experience New Hampshire day in Washington D.C.

Gappens also hosted the Experience New Hampshire reception with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, gearing up the nation’s capitol for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 on Sunday, July 17.

It will be both an emotional and celebratory feel for U.S. Army driver Ryan Newman at this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

Newman's No. 39 Chevrolet will pay tribute to the U.S. Army's 236th birthday and will honor Walter "Bud" Moore, recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and decorated World War II veteran.

Anybody got a gallon of gas for Junior?  I just got back from Charlotte and watching one of the most dramatic Coca-Cola 600 finishes in history.  The highs and lows of NASCAR Sprint Cup race fans could be felt in that final mile of the race.  The crowd roared its approval when one of the most popular drivers on the circuit was literally seconds from snapping a long winless streak. In this case, risk was not rewarded and the team’s estimates about fuel mileage were just short.  Hopes were dashed in turn four when Junior fell off the pace and the race victory went to Kevin Harvick, who is enjoying a solid season of good luck and great finishes.

Respect. That’s what Jimmie Johnson earned last year with his wire-to-wire win in the Prelude to the Dream, Tony Stewart’s annual star-studded charity race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Johnson will defend his victory in Wednesday’s Prelude, the seventh since Stewart launched the charity race in 2005. The event will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View at 8 p.m. ET.

If there is one thing that Jeff Gordon knows, it's that he's running out of time to make certain he's part of the 2011 Chase.

So while he was pleased with his fourth-place finish in Sunday's STP 400 at Kansas Speedway, and he realizes the value of the one win he already owns this season, he's hardly satisfied. He is, on the other hand, no doubt thankful for the wild-card element that was added to the Chase qualifying format this season.

COMMENTARY: NASCAR needs to be consistent with the way it uses late-race caution flags.

And as long as it consistently officiates the final laps like it did Sunday night in the Coca-Cola 600, then it is giving drivers and fans the finish they deserve.

Sometimes an incident that might result in an automatic caution during the middle part of a race might not bring a yellow flag at the end. And that’s OK.

Welcome to NASCAR, Steve Herbst. Now get ready to negotiate.

This month, Herbst joined NASCAR as vice president of broadcasting, a role that puts him in line to spend the next 18 to 24 months working to secure the sport’s next TV contract. He’ll report to Paul Brooks, the president of NASCAR Media Group and lead executive in NASCAR’s negotiations.

NASCAR signed its current $4.5 billion contract with Fox, ESPN and Turner Sports in 2005.

Jamie McMurray will get escorted into his hometown of Joplin, Mo., Thursday by the mayor and the chief of police.

But it won't exactly be a hero's return or any kind of a joyful event for McMurray -- a standout Sprint Cup driver and winner of the 2010 Daytona 500.

Joplin was probably best known as McMurray's hometown until a twister that to date accounts for around 140 lives lost struck on May 22.

It was an odd sight, but one that made Richard Childress smile.

In the ultimate display of teamwork, as Kevin Harvick attempted to save gas for the final laps of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Childress looked out onto the 1.5-mile track and saw three of his Richard Childress Racing cars lined up bumper-to-bumper during the caution period that preceded the final restart. Harvick teammates Paul Menard and Jeff Burton were pushing Harvick from behind in an effort to help Harvick save fuel in his No. 29 Chevrolet.

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will sit out for a fifth consecutive week as he continues to recover from fatigue and blurred vision caused by an unexplained illness.

Roush Fenway Racing termed the decision “precautionary” and plans for Bayne to return next week for the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Bayne was scheduled to drive in the Top Gear 300 Nationwide Series event on Saturday and the Coca-Cola 600 Sprint Cup event on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Carl Edwards' No. 99 crew didn't win Thursday's Sprint Pit Crew Challenge -- they waited until it really counted.

Flawless work during mandatory four-tire pit stops before the final 10-lap shootout in Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway got Edwards off pit road first, ahead of Kyle Busch. That proved decisive in Edwards' first All-Star win as he became the eighth different winner of the event in the past eight years.

For the first time since, well, he’s been a Sprint Cup driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not in the Sprint All-Star Race.

As a rookie in 2000, he qualified with a win at Texas Motor Speedway in April, just over a month before the all-star race. Then he won the all-star race – the first rookie to win it – to give him a 10-year exemption into the annual event.

Consider it the ultimate irony.

In October of 2008, when Regan Smith thought he had recorded the first Sprint Cup victory of his career at Talladega, it was Tony Stewart who helped take it away from him. Last Saturday night, when Smith finally did capture that elusive first win more than two years and eight months later, Stewart had a hand in helping him do it.

As if there wasn't already ample evidence piling up that this year may very well be different for Dale Earnhardt Jr., there was last Saturday's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Oh, part of what transpired was a rerun of similar Earnhardt implosions in recent years. But what happened in the immediate aftermath of a costly Earnhardt mistake getting onto pit road late in the race was different indeed.

Kevin Harvick vs. Kyle Busch is more than a feud of the week. It could be the feud of the year.

Harvick and Busch, who have clashed before, are drivers who don’t easily forget. And they expect to not only battle for wins and the championship in the Sprint Cup Series but also will be racing each other for victories in the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series events as well.

Nearly three years after a NASCAR ruling denied him his first Sprint Cup victory, Regan Smith finally got the elusive win.

After staying out on old tires, Smith held off Carl Edwards to win Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in a dramatic green-white-checkered-flag finish.

For many of the drivers, crewmen and series officials who work in NASCAR, Darlington Raceway is a home game. Getting to the race track requires not flights and layovers, but rather a leisurely drive from the suburbs north of Charlotte, through the speed-trap town of McBee, and down into the agricultural heart of South Carolina. It's a three-hour drive back through time, from the modern hub of steel and glass shop complexes that populate the sport today, to a timeless facility that was opened in 1950 and in some ways looks now exactly as it did then.

NASCAR officials meet with each of its four participating car manufacturers periodically, but its meeting Tuesday at the Westin Hotel in Detroit will be different.

It will have representatives of all four manufacturers – General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Dodge – all in the same room.

The meeting will be much like the town hall meetings NASCAR has had with its race teams in recent years.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin said rumors of a potential Joe Gibbs Racing crew-chief swap for them are not true.

Both drivers, speaking Thursday before the Denny Hamlin Foundation Short-Track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway, virtually laughed when asked about the rumors.

Hamlin said he talked to team owner Joe Gibbs about the rumors Wednesday. Hamlin has worked with crew chief Mike Ford for his entire Sprint Cup Series career, which started with a handful of races in 2005.

The setting will be the same, but the scene will be very different the next time NASCAR's premier series arrives at Richmond International Raceway following this weekend's event. That early September date will carry with it the usual sticky, final vestiges of a long summer in the South, making everyone thankful for whomever came up with the idea of running under the lights. And the focus will be less on the race itself and more on the drama surrounding it.

Rachel Gilbert of Laconia, N.H. proved that the need for speed can hit at any age, by taking a spin around New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in the tracks pace car, to celebrate her 100^th birthday.

Gilbert’s centennial celebration got off to a flying start today, when she hopped in a Toyota Camry pace car, similar to the one that will set the field for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on July 17.

NASCAR’s new points system emphasizes winning by placing two wild cards in the Chase For The Sprint Cup based on wins, but in the overall standings, it appears that winning doesn’t mean as much as it did a year ago under the old points system.

And like under the old system, consistency still means more than winning while poor finishes seem to be more difficult to overcome than in the past.

Kasey Kahne had minor surgery to his right knee Monday to repair a torn meniscus and will not need a backup driver next weekend for the Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.

The Red Bull Racing driver had surgery on both knees in the offseason to repair a condition known as “plica syndrome,” the result of a buildup of tissue in the knees.

Kahne tweeted about the surgery Thursday night and said he feels fine.

A number of fan-friendly events should help set the stage for one of sports' most exciting all-star events.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is set for Saturday, May 21 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (SPEED, 7 p.m. ET), but there will be plenty of action in and around the Charlotte area to engage fans leading up to Saturday night's grand finale.

Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway seemed to have everything you could want at the end of 500 miles of NASCAR racing: A four-wide finish, sparks and a tie for the closest finish in NASCAR's history of electronic scoring.

The top-finishing competitors were all enthused by an environment that enabled a record-tying 88 lead changes -- and oh yeah, their finishes.

Strap those seat belts tight, step on the gas and  experience the same rush that the stars of NASCAR and INDYCAR feel at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, by driving your personal vehicle around “The Magic Mile” during FANtasy Drive 2 on Saturday, April 23. 

If you have purchased a ticket to any of the major motorsports event weekends during the 2011 season, satisfy your need for speed and take three laps around the 1.058-mile oval.

The winds of change appeared to be blowing pretty fiercely last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

And we're not talking about the gusts of wind that drivers said they had to account for during the running of the Samsung 500.

NASCAR issued a statistical package this week that cited the Sprint Cup Series' competitive balance and the level of competition seen in the season's first six races.

Among the numbers used to paint the picture: An average of 13 leaders per race, and 31.5 lead changes per race -- the most, after six races, in series history. Lead change records have fallen in three of the six races, Daytona, Phoenix and, most recently, Martinsville.

When Jeff Burton wrecked Jeff Gordon under caution at Texas Motor Speedway last November, the wreck wasn’t the highlight that most people saw.

Instead, it was the shoving and scuffling that ensued between the two drivers after Burton spun Gordon into the wall, knocking them both out of the race. Burton said that it wasn’t intentional, claiming that he was trying to pull alongside Gordon to apologize for

Oh say can you sing? New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the New Hampshire chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities have the perfect opportunity for aspiring performers to belt out the national anthem, with the first-ever Speedway Star performing competition on Saturday, April 23.   

“The Magic Mile” and WGIR’s “The Morning Buzz” will give two people the opportunity to perform the national anthem in front of thousands of screaming race fans

Denny Hamlin got caught on pit road by an untimely caution flag. Jimmie Johnson got caught speeding on pit road.

But neither of them had as bad a day as Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne, who were involved in a frightening crash at Martinsville Speedway.

They topped a long list of losers in the Goody's Fast Relief 500.

Martinsville Speedway is one of the toughest and most exciting tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit, producing the type of fender-banging action fans expect from stock-car racing.

At Martinsville, drivers have to be physical, but also race with finesse, soft-pedaling brakes and protecting their equipment for an often frantic dash to the finish.

NASCAR's loaded with developmental series that all work to set the stage for its premier Sprint Cup Series.

If you look at current Cup standouts Kurt Busch or Greg Biffle -- to cite just two -- NASCAR's national series such as Camping World Truck or Nationwide were their respective penultimate steps.

But you have to take a step back to get to the national series, and that's where NASCAR's perfect development platform sits, namely the K&N Pro Series.

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin is down but not out.

After finishing 39th due to engine failure this past Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California, Hamlin is sitting 21st in points. And that has him somewhat worried.

At this point, it's starting to affect me," he said.

They ended 2010 trash-talking and racing head to head for the Sprint Cup championship.

Going into 2011, they were expected to win races and battle for the title again.

So far, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have been relatively quiet and stayed out of each other’s way.

That could all change Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, where the two drivers have combined to win the last nine Cup races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is ninth in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series points standings, and if he hopes to remain inside the top 10, he knows he’ll need a good run at Auto Club Speedway this weekend.

But that’s easier said than done, according to the 36-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver.

“California is a track I need to run better at,” he said, and a look at his record on the 2-mile oval does nothing to refute that.

You can’t run the bases with the Red Sox, shoot a free-throw with the Celtics, skate the ice like a Bruin, and you definitely can’t score a touchdown with the Patriots. But, you can drive your own car into Turn 1 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway just like Jeff Gordon during FANtasy Drive 2 on Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

New Hampshire Motor Speedway race fans of ALL ages can rev up their race-day experience by purchasing a pre-race pit pass or garage pass for either of the track’s two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends or the IZOD INDYCAR Series event.

Racing offers some of the best behind-the-scenes access in all of professional sports and, for the first time, “The Magic Mile” is welcoming children into the infield, pit road and garage area to witness the excitement of race day during a NASCAR or INDYCAR weekend.

When Jennifer Jo Cobb quit and left her team rather than running a few laps and then parking the car in the Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday, it demonstrated again how sensitive drivers and fans are toward start-and-park teams.

To many, it doesn’t matter that a team runs only portions of a race to raise money so it eventually can run a full race. Until the team actually attempts to run full races on a consistent basis,

The question isn't whether Kyle Busch will win at Bristol Motor Speedway -- it's how soon, if ever, someone else will find a way to keep him out of Victory Lane.

First off pit road after stops under caution on Lap 429 of Sunday's Jeff Byrd 500, Busch held off pole-sitter Carl Edwards and defending race winner Jimmie Johnson to win his fifth consecutive race in NASCAR's top three national series at the .533-mile short track.

Jamie McMurray took some laps around Barber Motorsports Park on Wednesday.

It wasn’t a test to help him and his Sprint Cup team on road courses. It was a chance to drive one of team owner Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar Series machines.

“When I drove for Chip Ganassi from 2002 to 2005, honestly I don’t think I even saw an Indy car, never had the opportunity,” said McMurray,

Rusty Wallace will never forget the sack of cash he scored after winning the 1996 Suzuka Thunder Special, the first of three NASCAR exhibition races held in Japan during the late 1990s.

In Victory Lane that afternoon, Wallace was given the choice of how he wanted his $130,940 in winnings. He could have a check or cash; of course, he took the cash. There was only one small problem --

Like most NASCAR drivers, AJ Allmendinger will never forget the first time he went to Bristol Motor Speedway.

Allmendinger couldn’t believe he was supposed to race on the half-mile, high-banked oval shaped like a cereal bowl. When he finally pulled onto the track in front of 160,000 revved up fans, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of his racing career.

Bristol Motor Speedway is about more than just racing.

It’s NASCAR drama at its finest played out at one of the sport’s most unique and compelling venues.

The half-mile, high-banked bullring surrounded by 160,000 fans is known as NASCAR’s version of the Roman Coliseum. It’s where drivers go not just to race, but to do battle

 Kasey Kahne did it again.

Making his first and possibly only Camping World Truck Series start of the year, Kahne cruised to a relatively comfortable win in Saturday's Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway.

The victory made Kahne the first driver in the Truck Series to win three of his first four starts.

NASCAR Driver Greg Biffle was involved in his second crash of the season Wednesday, this time on a Lexington airport runway.

Biffle and two pilots were not injured when a landing-gear malfunction caused his plane to partially collapse while landing at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, according to a news release from NASCAR.com.

In a phone interview with NASCAR Now on ESPN2, Biffle said he looked out the window and noticed the left wing rising into the air, and the right wing dragging the runway and sending up sparks.

After three weeks which saw record number of lead changes at Daytona and Phoenix, plus upticks in television ratings and attendance, the lack of a Cup event this weekend takes a bit of the steam out of NASCAR's apparent resurgence.

But that shouldn't be the case in 2012 and the foreseeable future, according to NASCAR chief executive officer and chairman Brian France.

The announcement last summer that Richard Childress Racing was adding Paul Menard as a fourth driver raised eyebrows on many levels. First there was the question of why an organization that had expanded a year earlier with disastrous results would attempt such a thing again. And then there was the question of why they would do it with Menard, a driver who, despite a few flashes on restrictor-plate and intermediate tracks, didn't seem to fit in with a stable comprised of three strong contenders for the Sprint Cup championship.

Perhaps Carl Edwards figures jumping off tall buildings or strapping himself into F-16 fighter jets for flights of fancy will be distracting to others, making them forget for a moment that he's proving himself a legitimate contender to take away Jimmie Johnson's Sprint Cup crown.

It is not working, however, with Jack Roush.

As Mark Martin climbed out of his winning race car in Victory Lane on Saturday afternoon, another, smaller celebration was unfolding along pit road at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Danica Patrick exchanged jubilant hugs and handclaps with other drivers and members of her crew, and then turned and waved at the crowd that had witnessed her breakthrough finish in the Nationwide Series.

Having grown up in and around Las Vegas, Kurt Busch is very well acquainted with the NASCAR track there. Inside and out. Except for one spot -- Victory Lane.

This weekend, Busch will take an 11th swing at winning at his hometown venue, 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the way things are going for him and his Penske Racing team, it just might happen.

Gentlemen, place your bets.

Well, before you do, someone else has to place your odds. With this Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 to be run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, did you ever wonder who sets all those odds everyone scrambles to bet on? Better yet, did you really have any idea how many different "proposition bets" you can legally lay down on NASCAR races every week in Vegas?

There will be plenty of stars and celebrities in the spotlight this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There always is – it's Las Vegas, the glitz and glamour capital of the world.

But two of the biggest will be Sprint Cup stars Kurt and Kyle Busch, Las Vegas natives who will have the hometown crowd behind them for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400.

This East Tennessee city welcomed native son Trevor Bayne back into its soggy and wind-blown arms Monday afternoon.

It was a day on which the weather conditions couldn't have been much worse. Violent storms hammered the area, leaving much of it flooded. There were countless lightning strikes, hail and a report of at least one tornado.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway race fans of ALL ages can rev up their race-day experience by purchasing a pre-race pit pass or garage pass for either of the track’s two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends or the IZOD INDYCAR Series event.

Racing offers some of the best behind-the-scenes access in all of professional sports and, for the first time, “The Magic Mile” is welcoming children into the infield, pit road and garage area to witness the excitement of race day during a NASCAR or INDYCAR weekend.

The 2011 NASCAR season is off to a roaring start, sparked by a thrilling Daytona 500 with a shocking outcome.

In the first three races of the season, there have been exciting finishes, a record number of lead changes, big multicar wrecks, aggressive driving, tempers flaring and three different winners for the first time since 2007.

Jeff Gordon didn't just drive to end hunger Sunday -- he drove to end a famine.

 With a convincing victory in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, where he beat runner-up Kyle Busch to the checkered flag by 1.137 seconds, Gordon ended a 66-race winless streak dating to April 2009 at Texas.

How wild and crazy was young Trevor Bayne’s victory Sunday in the Daytona 500?

Many are rating it the biggest surprise triumph in NASCAR's history, which dates to 1949.

Consider:

It was standing room only in the Daytona media center this past Sunday afternoon when Trevor Bayne walked in following his dramatic win in the Daytona 500.  But in the same room a year earlier, just a handful of people looked on as he drove an iRacing.com-powered simulator while Michael Waltrip talked him around Daytona International Speedway.

Posted on You Tube by Simcraft, builder of the Apex simulator builder, here’s a video of that day in 2010 when a former Daytona 500 champion used iRacing to coach a future one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RkoG1MKvfU&feature=related

At the end of the 53rd Daytona 500 Sunday, the proof was in the pushing for many, but none so much as David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte whose third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively, were breakthroughs.

 "There's no question in my mind Front Row Motorsports is going to be the most improved team in Sprint Cup this season," Gilliland said after posting his best finish in 84 races,

I first met 2011 Daytona 500 Winner Trevor Bayne in June 2008 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Trevor was`17 and had just graduated from high school. It was his 1st season in the NASCAR Camping World East Series, what was once the NASCAR Busch North Tour. Trevor was a development driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., a member of a 3 car team that included Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jesus Hernandez.

Two and a half years ago, Trevor Bayne was sitting in the press box at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway talking about his first NASCAR win.

The 20-year-old from Knoxville, Tenn., was nearly speechless Sunday as he stole the spotlight on NASCAR's biggest stage at Daytona International Speedway with his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory -- the 2011 Daytona 500.

The Daytona 500 will take place one week later in 2012, on the final Sunday in February, NASCAR has announced.

The race weekend is being pushed one week back from the traditional President's Day weekend to the final weekend in February. The date for the Daytona 500 is Feb. 26, 2012. To maintain the end of season schedule, the off Sprint Cup weekend typically scheduled in March will now be eliminated.

The main sponsor of Elliott Sadler's Nationwide Series team is rebranding itself this year, changing its name from CitiFinancial to One Main Financial.

Sadler hopes to do exactly the same thing with his name.

Former Cup driver Elliott Sadler is the early favorite to win the Nationwide Series championship.

It is finally here the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 Season! To kick start the year, join the New Hampshire Motor Speedway family as they fan out around New England to celebrate the Daytona 500.  “The Magic Mile” is hosting five Daytona 500 parties in Nashua, Newington and Manchester, N.H. as well as in Foxborough and Boston, Mass. 

Join us at:

It's been quite an offseason for NASCAR following Jimmie Johnson's fifth consecutive championship. Not only is there a new point system across all three national series, but also added were wild cards in the Chase and drivers have to pick just one series to run for the championship.

The changes were made with an eye on competition and the fans, to make the sport better than ever. But which rule will have the biggest impact? Bill Kimm and Mark Spoor weigh in with their thoughts, read theirs and then weigh in with yours in the comments below. And don't forget to vote in the poll at the right.

Carl Edwards says there’s no need for a long, messy contract negotiation between him and Roush Fenway Racing over whether he will return to the team in 2012.

About five minutes later, he says he’s not in any rush to sign a new contract.

If that sounds a little contradictory, it is.

The pressure's off Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- until next Sunday, that is.

In Sunday's qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway, Earnhardt edged Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon for the top starting spot in next Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.

Turning a lap in 48.364 seconds (186.089 mph), Earnhardt claimed the 10th Coors Light pole award of his career and his first at a restrictor-plate superspeedway.

Five-time defending Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus went on TV last Monday to, among other things, reveal that his Hendrick Motorsports team had finalized its six-man over-the-wall pit crew -- as well as a backup man for each spot -- at least for the next two weekend's season-opening events.

Hendrick created some ripples throughout the sport last season mid-race at Texas, when the organization switched the over-the-wall crews

In the last few years, NASCAR has said good-bye to Texaco, Verizon, Old Spice, Jim Beam, Jack Daniel’s, Irwin Tools, AT&T and Wrigley’s.

And while they haven’t said good-bye, they’re seeing much less of DeWalt, DuPont, Kellogg’s and DirecTV

Maybe the biggest fan criticisms of Dale Earnhardt Jr. are that he doesn’t care about his performance or that he doesn’t have the will to win. Or maybe not even the talent.

Maybe the biggest criticism of his team owner, Rick Hendrick, is that he doesn’t give Earnhardt Jr. the best cars or the best personnel.

A 6-year-old girl fighting for her life against leukemia has touched the hearts of Charlotteans, and their outpouring of support could help other cancer patients, too.

A mechanic with NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte's team was so moved by an Observer story about Jordan Jemsek that he suggested the team promote a March 5 bone marrow drive in her honor.

The offseason has morphed into the preseason. And in a couple of weeks, the season-opening Daytona 500 will be upon us.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) released today its telecast times for the 2011 season, primarily preserving the earlier and consistent start times established in 2010.

Danica Patrick is planning to spend Super Bowl Sunday at home in Arizona, away from the hustle and bustle, not to mention the cold weather.

Sporting a Pittsburgh Steelers hat -- Bears fans can never pull for the Packers, ever -- she'll be surrounded by snacks and drinks, watching the game and those over-the-top commercials like everyone else.

Joey Logano is smarter, more mature, more experienced and this season also more confident.

That's something Logano hasn't always had in his brief NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.

"He needs that," Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs said. "We forget how young he is and what little time he had before running in this sport. That really bodes well for our future.

Frank Stoddard, 14-time winning NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief, announced today that he has formed his own NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race team.  Stoddard will own the #32 Ford Fusion and plans to compete in the full schedule. 

Stoddard, a native of North Haverhill, New Hampshire, paved the way for a successful Sprint Cup career by working with the great Stanley “Stub” Fadden while racing short tracks throughout the northeast and collecting four wins together. 

Unless Jimmie Johnson has decided that five Cup titles is enough and chooses to run for the Nationwide or truck series title in 2011, it’s a given that the 35-year-old will be the favorite to win a sixth straight Sprint Cup championship.

But while Johnson’s success at Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t slowed, the same can’t be said for his three teammates, who went winless in 2010.

There is less of Tony Stewart to go around these days, but don't get the idea he's gone all Mark Martin on the racing world.

That would be, in the carefully considered words of Stewart, "insane." But Stewart, who is roughly 15 pounds lighter than he was last fall, did admit that Martin was his inspiration for attempting to get into better physical condition as he approaches age 40.

Chad Knaus, crew chief for five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, says there will be changes on his No. 48 team’s pit crew, but admits that with only a little more than two weeks remaining before cars are back on the track at Daytona, he still isn’t sure what those changes will be.

“I’m happy with what we have right now, for sure, at this time of the season,” Knaus said during this week’s Sprint Media Tour. “I don’t have a roster picked of the guys that will be starting but I’m real happy with where we are at.”

The final day of the annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway kicked off with an announcement from NASCAR.com that focused on improved services catering to race fans.

The site's current Race Buddy and new NASCAR Fantasy Live programs will feature more detailed data available to NASCAR fans.

"The changes and additions we are implementing are geared toward making the NASCAR fan as excited and engaged in the sport as possible," said Jason Williams, general manager of NASCAR.com

With just a few weeks remaining until the Sprint Cup Series season gets under way, Sprint unveiled its 2011 Miss Sprint Cup lineup Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C.

Returning Miss Sprint Cup representatives Paige Duke and Monica Palumbo were joined by newcomer Kim Coon. The trio was introduced to a crowd of race fans and motorsports media at the popular Whisky River nightclub.

NASCAR announced Wednesday that it has added a wild card element to setting the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field and it has simplified its points system for 2011, making it easier for fans, competitors and the industry to understand. 

 While the 12-driver Chase field remains intact, the final two spots will be determined by the number of wins during the first 26 races.

Richard Childress took the microphone at the very beginning of Tuesday's media visit to his Richard Childress Racing shop and wasted little time in making a bold proclamation.

"This year is the year to knock Jimmie [Johnson] from the throne," Childress said. "We were close with Kevin [Harvick] last year, but this is the year to do it -- and it's going to be RCR, I feel certain. So I'm going to make that [prediction]."

 It is finally here the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 Season! To kick start the year, join the New Hampshire Motor Speedway family as they fan out around New England to celebrate the Daytona 500.  “The Magic Mile” is hosting five Daytona 500 parties in Nashua, Newington and Manchester, N.H. as well as in Foxboro and Boston, Mass. 

NASCAR officials are satisfied heading into next month's Speedweeks despite Preseason Thunder's top speeds that were faster than those registered at December's Goodyear tire test at Daytona International Speedway. There was as much as a 14 mph differential between qualifying and drafting speeds during three days of testing.

 One morning session was rained out, which left one morning exclusively devoted to single-car runs and then four sessions in which drafting was allowed. However, single-car and two-car runs still dominated, with no drafts of more than six cars seen.

Former Cup Series driver Jerry Nadeau has been hired as the driving coach for Jeffrey Earnhardt's rookie season in the Camping World Truck Series.

Nadeau will be mentoring Earnhardt not only on track at the races, but off track as well. Jeffrey's grandfather, Dale Earnhardt, raced against Nadeau on many occasions with Nadeau winning the last race Earnhardt competed in prior to the Daytona 500 which claimed his life.

With just 12 drivers making the Chase For The Sprint Cup each year, and the number of annual race winners hovering around the same mark, the list of drivers who underachieved in 2010 is a long one.

Four drivers who made the Chase in 2009 missed it last year. Two other former Chase participants – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. – also failed to return to the championship race last year.

In the next two weeks, NASCAR officials are expected to announce changes that will affect both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series. Will the Cup points system undergo a complete overhaul? Will Cup drivers not be allowed to earn points in the Nationwide Series? Will the Chase For The Sprint Cup go through yet another format change? We’ll know the answers soon.

In the meantime, here’s a look at seven changes we would like to see in 2011:

NASCAR driver Juan Montoya and his wife, Connie, became parents for the third time last year, and they're enjoying the experience tremendously.

 But sometimes, thanks to the activity of him and Connie's Formula Smiles Foundation, you would think the Montoyas actually have thousands of kids, based off the numbers of youngsters they help.

Check one box.

It seems simple, doesn't it? Just draw an X in the appropriate place, and you're committed to running for only one title on NASCAR's national level -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide, or Camping World Truck. Say goodbye to the moonlighters trying to double-dip championships, and hello to NASCAR's first real attempt to limit incursions into its No. 2 series. As Dave Rodman reported earlier this week, drivers won't be barred from competing on more than one national tour, but they will be restricted to pursuing a single championship of their choice.

As Daytona inches closer on the calendar, the NASCAR.COM writing staff looks ahead to the 2011 season and offers up some predictions. The focus for Thursday is which driver is the one on which you should keep your eyes in 2011.

MARK AUMANN

For all the victories he's piled up in Nationwide and Trucks -- including the 2009 Nationwide drivers championship -- Kyle Busch remains somewhat of an enigma in Cup.

Turner Motorsports announced Wednesday the addition of racing legend Mark Martin to its 2011 driver lineup. Martin will pilot the No. 32 in Nationwide Series events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway with crew chief Trent Owens calling the shots. He will also drive the No. 32 in Camping World Truck Series races at Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway.

Drivers in NASCAR's three national series will have to elect a single championship to chase in 2011, eliminating the ability of drivers such as Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Paul Menard -- who were full-time double-dippers in 2010 -- to chase two championships at once.

 NASCAR has scheduled a "competition update" on Jan. 21 with NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president for competition Robin Pemberton as part of the "Preseason Thunder" Sprint Cup test session at Daytona International Speedway.

Just as Mario Andretti, Earl Ross and David Hobbs were drawn to the Daytona 500 in years past, several international drivers are targeting the 2011 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, a race that has come to be known as the ‘Daytona 500 of short-track racing,’ on Jan. 28-29 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.) as an opportunity to make their mark on the world of NASCAR.

Brian Vickers, who was forced to take a medical leave of absence from the Sprint Cup Series last spring, made his first laps in one of his Red Bull Racing Team stock cars in eight months Monday at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

 The first day of the two-day session was interrupted by rain in mid-afternoon but both Vickers, who last drove in May 2010, and his new teammate Kasey Kahne, who said he "felt great" after having surgery on both knees immediately after the 2010 season, were thrilled.

With a strong lineup that features former Sprint Cup Series champions, last year's Chase field, a host of former outstanding rookies, along with a collection of previous winners at the sport's most storied race track, NASCAR announced Friday the list of eligible competitors for the 2011 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway will make its movie debut Saturday in the made-for-television family drama “Change of Plans,” which airs at 8 p.m. (EST) on FOX.

 Jeff Burton, a veteran NASCAR driver and four-time winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, worked with the cast and crew in filming “The Magic Mile’s” scene during the SYLVANIA 300 weekend in September. 

Ray Evernham Enterprises has been retained to consult for the Hendrick Companies, a management company formed in 2005 to oversee strategic initiatives for chairman Rick Hendrick.

Founded in 2008 by Ray Evernham, REE will consult on special projects related to Hendrick's core businesses. In that role, REE's initial focus will be development of the Hendrick Performance retail brand of high-performance parts, vehicles, products and related services.

Welcome to 2011, everybody! Hope 2010 closed out well for you and yours. As the new year kicks off, it dawns on me that we're so totally living in the future. I mean, check it out -- the iPhone is so much better than Star Trek communicators (and the iPhone 5 will feature a laser beam!), we've actually got flying cars now (ask Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski), and aliens walk among us. How else to explain the dominance of Jimmie Johnson, huh?

Thanks to NASCAR’s no-holds-barred approach to racing and adjustments to the new Sprint Cup car, the 2010 season produced some of the most exciting racing fans have seen in years.

There was plenty of bumping and banging – on and off the track – along with thrilling finishes, controversy, surprising winners and the closest points race in Chase history.

The only thing that didn’t change was the champion.

Here’s a look at the top 10 races of the season:

As 2010 comes to a close, NASCAR.COM looks back at the season that was and forward at the season that's looming on the horizon with some Top 5 lists.

In Saturday's list, David Caraviello breaks down the five biggest issues facing NASCAR.