CONCORD, N.C. – Unless something miraculous happens, the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship will come and go without Jeff Gordon. And NASCAR has banned miracles.
Perhaps the reality has set in, perhaps Gordon is an Olivier-caliber actor or perhaps he has new golf clubs and is looking forward to using them.  It could even [...]

Rick Minter | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Sometimes, despite their good intentions, people in the racing world get Memorial Day mixed up with the Fourth of July and Veterans Day. Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day as in decorating the graves of those killed in the line of duty, isn’t about those who serve. It’s about those [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Three years ago, after learning he had been elected to the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Richard Petty was happy but also humble and reflective. Thursday night, after his cars and drivers won the front row for Sunday’s crown jewel Coca-Cola 600, The King [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – When Danica Patrick takes the green flag in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway it will be the first time in 36 years that a woman has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series longest race.
It also will be the first time in seven years Patrick [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Aric Almirola ripped off a stunning qualifying lap to win the pole Thursday for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The pole, which came after he logged a lap at 192.940 mph, was the first of the Richard Petty Motorsports driver’s Sprint Cup career. It [...]

CONCORD, N.C. – By most measures, Travis Pastrana’s entry into NASCAR’s Nationwide Series has been pretty positive. But by one measure – how much crap he’s taken from his friends – that entry has been a bit of a bummer.
The crap the action sports star has been issued has come courtesy of his X-Games peers and [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Zeroing in on criteria is the most difficult part when considering candidates for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It’s not that the criteria is nebulous, ill-defined. It’s that their really are none; except in the hearts in heads of each of the individual voters.
It was quite obvious [...]

By Mike Harris | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Being a part of the voting process for the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a pleasure, an honor and, most of all, a responsibility I take very seriously.
But the first year the voting panel met to go through the mechanics of the vote (2010), I looked at [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Selecting the 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees wasn’t easy for the 54-member voting panel and some said Wednesday they expect picking the five to only get tougher with each passing year.
“In the past, you had several that were slam dunks,” Ned Jarrett said when asked why [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In the end, it took what one member of the voting panel called a green/white/checkered restart, but the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday found out which five people would become its class of 2013.
The five are:
– Driver Herb Thomas
– Mechanic Leonard Wood
– Driver Rusty Wallace
– Driver/owner [...]