Tony Stewart: After Pocono

It would have been a shame to lose it because of fuel milage, so it’s nice to be able to uh, to uh, I don’t know how much we had left, and if I saved enough whether I needed to or not remains to be seen. but um, just to know you can if you have to, that’s half the battle.

Tony Stewart: First Driver/Owner Points Win

Tony Stewart maneuvered the “Tricky Triangle” and survived the fuel milage gamble to win his first points race as an owner/driver.

Gas And Go: Episode 4

Welcome back to another edition of Gas and Go, the sister podcast to Over the Wall. It is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009, I am your host Chris Smith, managing editor at RubbingsRacing.com.

Well, “The Franchise” has two big weeks in a row, “Smoke” does something that hasn’t been done in over 16 years and you get my take on the latest hot topics.

Food City 500: Surprising, Not Surprising

One short track down, and another right around the bend. Bristol was…well Bristol.

Although it’s now the “NEW” Bristol, and not the “OLD.”

By new, I mean there is less bumping and passing, and cars can actually pass on the outside.

Anyway, here are a few things I found “Surprising,” and “Not Surprising” following the Bristol weekend.

Mark Martin on Pole at Atlanta

Mark Martin becomes the second oldest driver to sit on the pole, second only to Harry Gantt. Not only this, but this is his 42nd career pole, moving him to 12th all-time, right behind “Rocket Man”, Ryan Newman. After fighting with his car for the first three races of the season, Martin gets to show his Hendrick chops and sit in the front spot. Kurt Busch gets the number 2 spot.

Stewart-Haas Off to Rough Start

In the final practice session before the Daytona 500, Ryan Newman blows a right rear tire right in front of his drafting partner….his boss, Tony Stewart. Taking both cars out forces Newman to his third backup car and Stewart into his backup car used in the Bud Shootout. Stewart’s comments in the garage after the incident were very similar to many comments from Stewart over the past few years after a wreck,

Duels Over, What Do We Take Away?

  
Now that the duels are over, it’s time to see who has made the cut. The first race showed the Hendrick and Gibbs cars are pretty tough, as expected.
In Duel #1, Gordon goes away with the win and the nice surprise, Joey finished 4th and Stewart made a run at the end to win, but [...]

The Ever Changing Landscape of NASCAR

As we get geared up for the 2009 Sprint Cup racing year, we can’t help but notice the changing landscape of NASCAR. Long gone are the days of the single car owner, the two car owner and the owner/driver. No, today is the day of the “Super Teams”. Teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Rousch/Fenway, Gibbs Racing, Petty Enterprises (Petty/Gillette Evernham Motorsports (GEM)), Earnhart/Ganassi Racing, Hall of Fame (HOF)/Yates Racing, etc. are now dominating the garage.

2009 Budweiser Shootout Shooting Blanks

The latest trend in education these days is to do away with grading systems in order to build on students’ self-esteem. The problem with this idea is that individuals are no longer recognized for excellence as everybody is rewarded just by trying to do the job.

Newman Makes it Official

Ryan Newman finally makes it official. He is doing what I have thought from day one to be the right decision. Newman will join fellow Indianian Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. This is an exciting time and I feel that this will very quickly become a team to reckon with…