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Get ready to burn rubber right through November. That’s the length of the NASCAR season that began in mid-February with the Daytona 500 and ends with the Ford 400 right back in Florida.
Between those stops, NASCAR drives through all four corners of the country — as long as the Northwest doesn’t count as a corner and Mexico City does.
As NASCAR gains popularity, its weaknesses get more airtime. The schedule and track locations are just two of them.
Right now, the closest major track to us in Moscow is the road course in Sonoma, Calif. It used to be called Sears Point but now it’s Infineon Raceway.
Only Major League parks change their names more.
Speaking of name changes, NASCAR’s top echelon is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.
Aren’t sprint cars those little things that look like a roll cage with wheels and a big wing on top?
They’re the ones you see on shows highlighting dangerous home videos any time one of them jumps the wall at a dirt track and flies into a crowd.
The days of Winston are gone and even beer is less prominent as a sponsor as it once was.
The second series, formerly known as the Busch Series, is now the Nationwide Series.
Which, in a way, makes sense.
Trade in a beer sponsor for a car insurance sponsor.
That’s NASCAR’s new image for you — safer, slower and more family friendly.
Which is why hard alcohol sponsors have come back in recent years. The fans need stiffer drinks now that their sport is being taken over by Californians.
California, though, gets two prominent races on the schedule and can’t fill the seats. Auto Club Speedway in Fontana gets the race after the Daytona 500 and the Labor Day race that used to belong to Darlington Raceway, one of the old school tracks. Now Darlington gets one race in May, and it doesn’t even have a cool name.
Darlington used to host the Southern 500 and the Mountain Dew 500. For those who don’t know, hillbillies created Mountain Dew as a moonshine substitute. NASCAR and bootlegging have as much history as Las Vegas and the mob.
This year Darlington will host the Dodge Challenger 500. That would be fine, except that the General Lee was a Charger, not a Challenger.
Like Darlington, Martinsville is an old school track. One of the oldest running tracks in the series, Martinsville is also the shortest at .562 miles.
Martinsville is a track that four-time series champion — all in the Winston Cup days — Jeff Gordon has won at seven times. Hendrick Motorsports teammate and two-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson has won there four times, including the last three races.
This is all good for the Hendrick Chevys, who haven’t won a race yet this year but won 19 races last year.
Then again, Kyle Busch, winner of two races last year, isn’t with Hendrick anymore. He’s at Gibbs and driving a Toyota. He’s also the points leader after five races, including Toyota’s first Cup win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
His replacement at Hendricks is NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He hasn’t won a race since May 2006 at Richmond. Right now, he’s the top Hendrick driver, sitting fifth in points.
He’s never won at Martinsville but does have seven top five finishes there. His No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevy has three top fives and four top tens for the year.
Earnhardt’s move to Hendrick was the big story during the off-season and so far he’s having a good year. Many point to Busch’s win and current leader position as reasons for him being the better driver. Time will tell.
Neither of those drivers have a championship yet, but they come from racing families.
Busch’s older brother Kurt won the Cup during its first year as the Nextel Cup and in its current 10-race playoff format.
Earnhardt’s father, Dale Sr., won seven championships and is still argued as being the best driver not named Richard Petty.
There is still a Petty on the track, most of the time. Kyle Petty, son of King Richard, drives his No. 45 Dodge most weeks and the classic No. 43 is having a good season with 2000 champion Bobby Labonte behind the wheel. Labonte is currently 18th, 511 points behind the leader.
A Dodge driven by Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 this year for the manufacturer’s only win. Ford has two wins, both by Roush Fenway driver Carl Edwards. Busch has the Toyota win and Jeff Burton won in a green-white-checker finish at Bristol two Sundays ago for Chevrolet’s first win of the season.
Edwards, who drives the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, would be closer to the points leader but someone forgot to screw on an oil lid and it cost him 100 points. He’s 16th in the standings, 234 points back. His teammate Greg Biffle stands in second place.
And that’s the season so far. I finally acquired a black 88 shirt and will be sitting down with a fresh Amp to watch the race.
I never liked Budweiser anyway. Kasey Kahne can have it.
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