By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
It wasn’t so much that Tony Stewart won the 2011 Sprint Cup championship which made his season so remarkable. It was how he did it – with a walk-off victory over second-place Carl Edwards in the final race of the year.
Dramatic much?
For both what and how he won his third [...]

By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Completely sober when the ball in New York City’s Times Square dropped – and failed to land anywhere close to Lady Gaga – I admit to immediately clicking over to ESPN to watch extreme sports dudes Robbie Maddison and Levi LaVallee ring-in 2012 via record-setting ramp-to-ramp jumps on a motorcycle [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Some thoughts on a couple of off-season burgers that may have fallen through the grate:
– The SPEED television network’s series of pieces on the drivers who will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January has been very good. They have been of the type of quality that [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Those NASCAR fans out there who are, this week, thinking that the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship has seen the last of Kurt Busch, may want to re-think. Busch may soon be back in the championship mix and, quite possibly, as soon as the 2012 season.
Because like it or not, [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
NASCAR pioneer Gary Baker once described Nashville as “Daytona without the beach.”
With its rich country-music base, Nashville and NASCAR went together like biscuits and gravy. But in recent years the biscuits have crumbled away – country music’s not country any more – and the racing gravy has curdled and dried [...]

Phoenix Racing announced Thursday that it has hired former Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch to drive one of its cars in 2012.
“I’m very happy to join Phoenix Racing and after entertaining a lot of quality offers, there’s no better place for me,” said Busch, winner of 24 Sprint Cup races, as well as the 2010 [...]

AJ Allmendinger has long been on this unwritten list of drivers that I keep. The list that is filed under the heading of “Wonder What They Could Do If They Drove For A Top Team?”
On Wednesday, the Allmendinger file was moved to the “Now We’ll Find Out” folder.
That’s because, of course, the young Californian was hired [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Penske Racing has named AJ Allmendinger to replace Kurt Busch as the driver of the team’s No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Allmendinger, competed in the Cup Series for Richard Petty Motorsports, is coming off a season that saw him finish 15th in the series [...]

Greg Zipadelli’s new job will not be of the low-profile variety. On the contrary. Because in addition to taking over as competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing, Zipadelli will also serve as interim crew chief for Danica Patrick as she forays into the Sprint Cup Series.
Love it, Zipadelli said of the second part of the job [...]

RacinToday.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.  – NASCAR’s list of eligible competitors for the 2012 Budweiser Shootout covers a timeline from reigning Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart to former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope.
The 34th annual season-opening event launches Speedweeks at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 18, with start time set for 8:10 p.m. (EST). [...]