The Sprint Cup race last weekend at Watkins Glen was one of the most exciting NASCAR road races in a while.
Marcos Ambrose, looking to sweep the Glen after his Saturday Nationwide victory, saw his chances fade when his car lost the handle after his last pit stop.
Up until then, he and winner Juan Pablo Montoya put on a tremendous nose to tail battle lap after lap. Boris Said's best-ever chance to win a Cup race faded when he was caught up in a multi-car wreck.
And Mark Martin bumped himself back into Chase contention while Clint Bowyer is now out by 10 points. One has to wonder about Rick Hendrick's decision to combine Martin's No. 5 and Junior's No. 88 teams. After Martin's stellar 2009 season, it seems that the merger has hurt him without helping Junior much.
Montoya's win at the Glen (his second in his Cup career) adds another feather in Chip Ganassi's cap for 2010. It has been a storybook season for Ganassi, with Cup wins at Daytona and the Brickyard, plus the Indy 500.
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Sprint Cup and Nationwide are at Michigan this weekend, and it is the second outing for the "new" Nationwide cars that will run four races this year before switching to a full-time season for 2011.
Danica Patrick will be back in the series this weekend, but don't look for her familiar Go Daddy green #7. The car will be wearing Hot Wheels colors for today's race.
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In another move, Paul Menard will be leaving the Earnhardt-Ganassi stable to field a fourth car for Richard Childress Racing in 2011. Menard has shown speed and maturity the last couple of seasons, and an association with Childress should further that progress.
After a miserable 2009 season, RCR has two of its three cars solidly in 2010 Chase contention.
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The Mid-Ohio IndyCar race last Sunday was overshadowed by the lingering controversy over an ill-advised rule that cost Penske driver Helio Castroneves a win at Edmonton, a $60,000 fine, and probation.
It seems as though color commentators Jon Beekhuis and Robby Buhl were falling all over themselves justifying competition director Brian Barnhardt's call at Edmonton. And to be fair, Castroneves did violate the letter of a rule which in the opinion of many is just about the stupidest rule devised.
in the history of racing. When I was road racing, the lead car always had the choice of line into a corner, especially on a restart. By restricting the leader from the entire right side of the track into turn one, the effect is to force him to move aside and let second place through. In my opinion, that's not racing. And when looking at the replay, Castroneves would have had to make a radical maneuver to get to the outside of the track, because his teammate was right alongside him. The fan input on the rule and the decision is running about 90% against. NASCAR has shown in the last couple of years that they listen to their fan base, and I think it's high time IndyCar did likewise.
Finally, score another one for us old guys! Terry Labonte, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion who turns 54 in November, is planning to return for a full season in Cup competition in 2011. Labonte, who has 867 starts and 22 wins in NASCAR's top series, will run three races this year in a Stavola Labonte Racing Chevrolet (built by Childress Racing).