Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
The more I see of Jimmie Johnson – and I’ve been seeing a lot of him lately on almost every TV news channel – the more impressed I am by him.
Understand, Johnson’s national exposure is nothing new. This is the fifth consecutive season in which he represents NASCAR as it champion.
But [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
NASCAR boss Brian France says some “significant changes” will likely be made in the way the sport determines its champion next season.
Brian hasn’t asked me, but if he should, this is my advice:
Beware of over-tweaking.
As they say, if it’s not broke don’t fix it. And I don’t detect any major cracks [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
They say you can tell more about a man’s character in defeat than in victory.
I’m not sure that applies to Mark Martin.
Mark is so even-keeled that he’s dignified win or lose. Through good times and bad, amid highs and lows, his personal compass invariably remains stuck on “classy.”
This year, for [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Last Sunday King Jimmie the Fifth was crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway, concluding a race and a season that followed a familiar scenario for success:
Jimmie Johnson did a masterful job of driving.
And the competition did a masterful job of choking.
Denny Hamlin, Johnson’s closest challenger, spun out early in the race.
Kevin Harvick, [...]

If this season’s Chase for the Championship hasn’t got you excited, you might want to check your pulse.
You might be clinically dead.
I don’t see how anyone who doesn’t have a tag on their toe won’t be perched on the edge of their La-Z-Boy Sunday afternoon when they roll off the line at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NASCAR wanted [...]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
At the start of the season I wondered which Sprint Cup major-leaguer would dominate the second-tier Nationwide Series and (as usual) steal the little guys’ lunch money.
The verdict is in: Brad Keselowski.
Keselowski won in a romp, officially tying the bow at Texas Motor Speedway a week ago. It was over long [...]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Remind me never to let Chad Knaus borrow my lawn mower.
By now everybody knows what happened during last week’s Texas race. Chad “borrowed” Jeff Gordon’s pit crew and now he won’t return it.
He says it works much better than his old pit crew.
He says it’s faster and more efficient.
He likes it [...]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Last Sunday’s Texas smackdown between Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton was significant not for the physical damage inflicted – I’ve seen better brawls during a blue-light special at WalMart – but because of what it indicated:
Gordon is feeling the pressure.
Not that he didn’t have ample reason to be peeved after Burton [...]

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
First we were forced to witness the somber demise of Petty Enterprises.
Now we’re watching an equally wrenching battle to keep Richard Petty Motorsports afloat.
No family has meant more and contributed greater to any sport than the Pettys have to NASCAR. Somehow it seems unfair that they should be in such a [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
If every one of Jim Hunter’s friends offered a eulogy we would be – as Hunter used to say, “here all night.”
Just about every sports writer has a personal story about some favor done by Hunter, some request he went out of his way to accommodate, some helping hand he [...]