I saw an estimate that put the crowd at New Hampshire Speedway at 30,000 for last Sunday’s IndyCar race.
As my old sports editor once said about an obviously-inflated attendance figure at a Vanderbilt football game, a lot of those fans came disguised as empty seats.
When the TV cameras panned the gaping New Hampshire grandstands, a […]

The biggest story in NASCAR this season is not Jimmie Johnson’s drive for a history-boggling sixth championship, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s promising comeback or the stirring first-time triumphs by five Sprint Cup drivers.
The biggest story is one that doesn’t get much coverage: drivers walking away unscathed from crashes that a few years ago would have been […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR President Mike Helton said Tuesday he expected safety updgrades to be made at Watkins Glen International before next season’s event, but he stopped short of saying SAFER barriers would be installed on every section of the road
course where two vicious crashes occurred during Monday’s Sprint Cup race.
A horrendous crash on Monday’s […]

From the Monday Morning Crew Chief™:
I wish NASCAR’s Sprint Cup would start racing in the rain at Watkins Glen. While the disastrous IndyCar finish in New Hampshire confirmed the obvious that it’s impossible to race in the rain on an oval, it can be done by the Sprint Cup competitors at places like the Glen.
The […]

Just as all oval-shaped tracks are not the same, neither are road courses. In the case of the two road courses on the Sprint Cup schedule, they are not even close.
So say the drives who will be competing in the second of the two road races on the schedule today – the Heluva Good! […]

LOUDON, N.H. – IZOD IndyCar Series boss Randy Bernard has confirmed the rampant rumor that aero kits for the new race car that will be introduced in 2012 have been delayed until 2013.
“The ICONIC Committee 16 months ago made a commitment to have an aero kit as part of the new car for 2012 and […]

Kyle Busch went out last in Saturday’s Sprint Cup qualifying session at Watkins Glen International and came home first.
Busch won the pole for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips race with a lap at 126.421 mph.
A.J. Allmendinger of Richard Petty Motorsports was second fastest in qualifying with a lap at 126.041 mph.
Third fastest was Allmendinger’s RPM […]

You kind of have to admire Brad Keselowski’s unshakable determination to not let anybody drive his Sprint Cup car as he recuperates from the broken ankle he suffered two weeks ago. You do kind of have to question the wisdom of that determination. Especially this weekend.
Word is, there is no backup driver standing by to […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Tony Kanaan vividly recalls the excitement of fellow Brazilian and then-teammate Andre Ribeiro after he took the checkered flag in 1995 at the last CART race at what was then New Hampshire International Speedway.
That was a year before Kanaan came to the U.S. to race, but he enjoyed the aftermath of what […]

In Racin’ News Today, Wednesday, August 10:
(In this package: Busch to Sub for Brad; Pocono cutting 100 miles from races; Crew members suspended.)
Kurt Busch will take the place of injured Brad Keselowski in the Nationwide Race Saturday at Watkins Glen International.
Tim Cindric of Penske Racing, the team for which both Busch and Keselowski drive […]