Deb Williams, Senior Writer
An award winning motorsports journalist, Deb Williams has covered auto racing for more than 30 years. She began her career covering weekly short-track races in Asheville, N.C., while a student at East Tennessee State University and continued after becoming the sports editor at the newspaper in Waynesville, N.C. Upon joining United Press International in Raleigh, N.C., as a general assignment reporter, she began covering NASCAR's top two series and continued to do so after being named UPI's Charlotte, N.C., bureau manager. After leaving UPI, she spent 18 years with the publication NASCAR Winston Cup Scene, serving as its editor for 10 years. Her numerous honors include the Henry T. McLemore Award, the Russ Catlin Award and the George Cunningham National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year award. She has received NMPA awards for columns, news, features and magazine stories. She has written three books. Her most recent, “The Evolution of NASCAR, A Historical Collection, was released in November 2010. Williams has taught the Evolution of Southern Motorsports at Appalachian State University, and has been interviewed for historical motorsports shows that have aired on ESPN and SPEED. She resides in Concord, N.C.
Articles by Deb Williams
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Jeff Gordon continued Hendrick Motorsports’ decade-long domination of Martinsville Speedway Sunday by scoring his eighth victory at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series shortest track, taking the lead for good with 21 laps remaining in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger.
The 42-year-old driver’s first victory this season gives him 88 [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Brian Vickers said Sunday the blood clot that has sidelined him for the rest of the season was caused by a protective boot he wore for 1 ½ months after suffering a mid-foot sprain in a wreck at Bristol Motor Speedway in [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski says he’s trying to keep an open mind about the sanctioning body’s requirement for 2014 that drivers in its three national touring series undergo pre-season neurocognitive baseline testing.
“I don’t want to call it a negative, but at this point I haven’t [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Elliott Sadler steps into the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota this weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the first time since a medical issue sidelined the team’s regular driver, Brian Vickers, earlier this month and the Virginia native said Friday Vickers was handling the situation better
than he [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – A NASCAR test scheduled for Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway will deal with various aerodynamic devices on Sprint Cup cars in an effort to find a configuration that will eliminate aero push, thus allowing for easier passing and side-by-side racing during an event.
Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR’s vice president [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Two tires or four?
It’s often the toughest question a crew chief faces in the closing stages of a race. However, for Penske Racing crew chief Paul Wolfe, that wasn’t the case in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
When the fourth and final caution period began with 27 laps [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Three drivers – Kyle Larson, Brian Scott and Blake Koch – will make their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut Saturday in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Bank of America 500, adding their names to a rather stellar list.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt, five-time Cup titlist Jimmie Johnson, Harry Gant, [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick doesn’t believe today’s rookies in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing succeed as quickly as those who preceded them about a decade ago because the training ground isn’t as good as it was in that era.
“I think that the Nationwide cars and trucks are so slow,” Harvick [...]
By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Jeff Gordon was beaming when he strode into Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield media center Thursday night after claiming his ninth pole at the 1.5-mile track in perhaps the most dramatic qualifying session this season.
The smile on his face and the twinkle in his eye seemed to say, [...]
CONCORD, N.C. – Jack Roush said Thursday he was excited about the youth coming into Roush Fenway Racing, noting Ryan Reed was expected to compete full time for the organization next year in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series while Chris Buescher possessed the inside track for his fourth Cup team.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 26, returns to Roush Fenway [...]