So Sunday at Talladega started with an 11-car or so crash seven laps in, taking out top contenders such as Jeff Gordon.
Then, if that wasn't enough drama, it ended with Brad Keselowski (who?) winning after he and Carl Edwards bumped. Here's what happened next to Edwards:
Plus, in Saturday's Nationwide race, there was Matt Kenseth's flips:
Wrightsville resident Mike Dunn was one of the NHRA's top drag racers in the 1990s and for the past six years has served as a television analyst for the sport on ESPN.
We caught up to Mike and posed a few questions for him:
Do you miss driving at all? I miss the driving part, I don't miss the politics of driving. It is pretty political.
What is it like to go 300 miles per hour? It is fast. It is hard to explain. What a lot of people don't realize a top-fuel dragster on a good run will get from zero to 280 miles per hour in the first ‰ mile. That is right over three seconds. The run happens so quick you don't have time to sit and look. You are focused on where to shut off. You can't tell it is going 330 miles per hour.
Former Lincoln Speedway champion Rick Eckert claimed the season-opening super late model feature on Sunday at Hagerstown Speedway.
Eckert placed ahead of Roy Deese Jr., Josh Richards, Dan Stone, Jim Yoder, Frankie Plessinger, Mike Knight, Jared Miley, Scott LeBarron and Greg Satterlee.
Richards, Plessinger and Eckert won heat races.
The rock band Live will play a pre-race concert Sunday as part of the Ford 400 festivities at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
The band, which originated in York, is scheduled to take the Miller Lite Rock N’ Racing stage at 1:30 p.m. The Nextel Cup finale will start after 3:30 p.m. and be shown on WHTM-27 and WMAR-2.
Littlestown's Jeremy Miller placed 25th in Sunday's "The Ultimate" super late-model feature at The Challenger Raceway in Indiana, Pa.
Miller placed last in his qualifying heat, qualified through the B-main and started the feature in 25th spot.
Billy Drake won the race and the $25,000 purse.
When NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray was at York's Galleria Mall on Thursday, he put his autograph on some normal, and some not so normal items.
The normal things included: signs, shirts, pictures, posters, die-cast cars, matchbox car boxes, books, hats and his own replica action figure.
Some of the "different" items included: a Baseball (this is a race car driver), a bag that held a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey (his main sponsor). He signed a cast on a boy's recently broken arm, but topping the list was an empty quart motor oil container.
Jamie McMurray was the York Galleria Thursday evening signing autographs as a part of the Coca-Cola Experience. We asked him some questions.
Q. How do you like doing these shows? A. “It was fun. It was well organized. It is fun to come out, especially when you get to come out to a smaller town. You feel like they appreciate it more than somebody (who) gets to see NASCAR drivers all the time. It feels like everybody really enjoys it.”
DALLAS — Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have two 8s on his new car.
NASCAR’s most popular driver will be in the No. 88 Chevrolet when he moves to Hendrick Motorsports next season, the team announced Wednesday. Earnhardt’s car will be sponsored by Pepsi, with the company’s Mountain Dew soft drink and Amp Energy drink featured on the car. The National Guard will also be involved in the sponsorship.
The new number and sponsor are another step in the rebranding of Earnhardt from party boy to serious corporate pitchman, one that now can be heavily marketed to the under-21 crowd.
Littlestown's Jeremy Miller captured the championship of the 33rd Annual Hub City National 150 Sunday night at Hagerstown Speedway. (And there's a nice photo of Miller on Hagerstown Speedway's Web site.)
After placing third in the first 50-lap feature, he took the lead from Ronnie DeHaven on the 21st lap of the 50-lap finale and led the rest of the race. Miller, who also won a qualifying feature and set fastest time in trials on Saturday, took home $7,500 for his triumph.
With the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship field now set, here's a quick look at the contenders entering Sunday's first playoff race, at New Hampshire.
“Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the Anna Kournikova of NASCAR,” says reader Craig Glatfelter of Manchester
The second annual Susquehanna Showdown will feature a 50-lap feature for the 358 Late Models paying a possible $30,000 to win on Saturday night, Sept. 29 at the Susquehanna Speedway Park.
The winner is guaranteed $5,000 to win with the chance to win an additional bonus of $25,000 in victory lane.
There will also be a 35-lap AMRA/UMP/E-Mod/IMCA Modified Challenge race paying $1,200 to win along with a Mini Van double point special race.
The Susquehanna Speedway Park is located midway between Harrisburg and York off I-83 to exit 32, then 1.4 miles northwest on SR382 to York Road, then 1.3 miles south.
"You can tell NASCAR that they didn’t hand out a penalty at all. Even though the crew chiefs weren’t right on pit row, they were there at the racetrack giving all the instructions. Plus, 100 points didn’t mean anything to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson."
"Barry Bonds will be in the Hall of Fame and he should be, for the simple reason that he had enough natural talent without using steroids. And when Bonds goes in, they should make sure they put Sosa and McGwire in the Hall of Fame, too, because they definitely have the credentials. And so do the Big Hurt and Biggio."
RICK GROSS,
WRIGHTSVILLE
Dover’s Jake Lettich was the winner in last Wednesday night’s 15-lap limited late model event at Williams Grove Speedway. That was the same night that Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney from the Nextel Cup circuit made their appearance at the Mechanicsburg oval.
Read more about Lettich on his Web site.
