By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
BROOKLYN, Mich. – The biggest, most important struggle for Sprint Cup drivers these days is not to be No. 1 in points. It’s to get into the Chase. And for those who can’t get into the Chase on points, it’s to be in the top 20 with a victory or [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
BROOKYN, Mich. – Greg Biffle won the pole for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Friday afternoon. It was the first pole of his career and it was secured by a lap at 190.345 mph.
Second was Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, who had a lap [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
BROOKLYN, Mich. – As racing mysteries go, this one has been a humdinger: Not only has Roger Penske not been able to win a Sprint Cup championship in his nearly three decades as a NASCAR team owner, he’s really not been able to work his organization into the top tier [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Increasing attendance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., has been a constant challenge for officials since the $195 million building opened in May 2010 amid the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Predicted attendance figures for the first year were inflated – about four times more than what [...]

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 [...]

By Bill Fleischman | Senior Correspondent
RacinToday.com
Dr. Joseph Mattioli has many traits of successful people: he is a complex person – smart, ambitious, forceful, family-oriented and old-fashioned. Did we mention he’s also stubborn?
Several years ago, in a feature story for the Philadelphia Daily News, I noted that Mattioli also is stubborn. One issue he made up [...]

Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Welcome to the ‘Working Person’s Friend’ column in which the high and low points of Monday’s workday Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International are listed:
High point: Marcos Ambrose, probably the best driver of stock cars on road courses in the world, got himself and Richard Petty Motorsports their very warm [...]

RacinToday.com
Marcos Ambrose passed Brad Keselowski for the lead with just over a lap to go and went on to win Monday’s rain-delayed, green/white/checkered decided Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips Sprint Cup race at the Watkins Glen International road course.
The victory was the first of Ambrose’s Sprint Cup career. It put the native of Australia into [...]

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 [...]