Stock Car Racing Tag

History was made this weekend when Danica Patrick became the first woman to qualify on the pole position for the Daytona 500 or any other NASCAR Sprint Cup race.  Her first full Sprint Cup season could not be starting out any better.  Congrats to Danica and hopefully this serves as inspiration to women everywhere.  The racing world has been waiting for Danica to make her big splash and it might finally be here.  She has a realistic shot at winning the Daytona 500 and what a story that would be.  It seems her goal is to be good enough to challenge for a championship but her next hurdle is just to finish consistently in the Sprint and possibly win a race.  Thankfully Danica has a great team and owner  who has knowledge of what it takes to be successful in open and closed wheel racing.

Danica won't want to hear this but history tells us she won't win on Sunday.  Winning the pole is normally a nice accomplishment and comes with a nice paycheck but it is by no means a indicator of who will win the race.  The last Daytona 500 pole winner to win the race was current ESPN analyst Dale Jarrett in 2000.  That was DJ's third and he is one of just 5 drivers to win the 500 3 times (Petty, Gordon, Allison, Yarborough).  Since the opening race in 1959, the pole winner has only won the actual race on 8 occasions.

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The 2012 season has came and went.  The season ended with a fury for some and a fizzle for others.  Brad Keselowski captured his first Sprint Cup championship and Jimmie Johnson came up short on his quest for a sixth championship.  The season literally ended in a fury for Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.  Some contact at Phoenix turned into a forced accident which then transpired into an all out brawl that left Gordon at the bottom of a pile of members from both teams.  Pretty exciting stuff for NASCAR junkies.  Gordon, who most thought should have been suspended, then won his first career race at Homestead the following weekend.

Interestingly enough, Bowyer finished in second place in the standings and just 39 points behind Keselowski.  NASCAR got lucky that the point differential wasn't close enough that Bowyer could blame Gordon for not a having a legitimate shot at the championship.  In the end I would just call it a "no harm, no foul" situation.  This season is now in the history books so lets get up to speed with some new things starting at Daytona in February and brief look at the upcoming 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.

Let the Racing Begin

Well that was quite a finish to the 2012 regular season last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.  Clint Bowyer and his crew put in a great effort that landed themselves the victory, but that was hardly the biggest story of the night.  There was little left to decide inside of the top 10 as the drivers started their engines for the annual night race at Richmond.  The real action was clearly going to be the battle for the final Chase spot.

Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch represented the 2 favorites for the final Chase position with Busch holding a 12 point advantage entering the night.  Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano, & Ryan Newman all had a shot to make the Chase but they would have needed a victory to claim that final spot.  Paul Menard also had a very, very small chance but he too would have required a victory and, at best, for Gordon to finish worse than 20th and Busch to finish worse than 31st.

Only 2 races remain until the Sprint Cup Chase for the Cup kick off at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL.  Hard to imagine that we have already come this far in 2012.  This season has been an exciting one and different than those of recent past.  For the first time in a while it seems that several drivers not named Jimmie Johnson or Tony Stewart have a chance to win the Cup this year.  A lot can change over the next 3 months but if all goes well we could be looking at another exciting finish to the season at the Ford EcoBoost 400 in Miami, FL.

Coming to the last race of 2011 it was a two horse race for the Cup.  Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart were practically dead even and at the end of the race they shared the exact same point total.  Edwards had a 3 point lead at the beginning of the race, finished second, and lost the championship in a tie-breaker situation.  What a rough ride for Edwards who has suffered since the race last November.  On the other hand Tony Stewart provided the performance he needed to win the race and the championship.  As a NASCAR fan you really couldn't have asked for a better finish to the 2011 season.  With no clear favorite in 2012, I am excited for the possibilities of another incredible finale at Homestead Speedway.

That's right folks!  We are quickly approaching The Chase for the Cup in NASCAR's Sprint Cup and things are really starting to heat up.  And speaking of heat, what better place for a late season playoff race than Texas Motor Speedway.  Like its sister track Atlanta, TMS features incredibly fast speeds and 3-wide racing.  This is what I like to call a recipe for great racing.

With the new race schedule the way it is, I truly believe that the fall race at TMS is the best of the bunch.  Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy all the Chase tracks.. cough.. cough [under my breath] except for Homestead, so nothing against those other tracks.  However, TMS just creates the right combination of excitement and drama.  Speeds will approach 200 mph and sometimes you can see cars 3-wide on this amazing track.

Did you know? 
Carl Edwards has the most career victories at TMS since the track hosted its first NASCAR race in 1997.

We are currently about a month and a half away from the start of The Chase.  2012 will be the second consecutive year that Chicagoland Speedway will play host for the first race of The Chase for the Cup.  With just six races left before The Chase, Dale Jr. currently leads the standings for the first time since 2004 and might be in position to capture his first ever points championship.  Junior has put himself in a good spot and he seems to be driving with the more confidence than ever before.

Last week Jimmie Johnson returned to his winning ways with his fourth career victory at the Brickyard.  Junior and JJ are in good position but the final few spots are still up for grabs.  If The Chase were to start today, this would be the list of qualified contenders for the Sprint Cup championship.

The Aaron's 499 will return to Talladega Superspeedway on May 6, 2012!

NASCAR still has the new season smell to it as we go into the third race of 2012 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  At the moment Denny Hamlin leads all drivers in the Sprint Cup standings after his win at Phoenix last weekend.  It is still very early in the season but it is nice to see Hamlin back in good form after a disappointing season in 2011.