NASCAR BLOG

Despite everything that we thought a few weeks ago, it appears that Danica Patrick will indeed be headed to the Nascar circuit next week. She is one of the most popular drivers in either type of racing and she’s hopefully going to bring more people to Nascar. When Patrick comes, she will be taking on some very exciting racers in the Nascar paddock. People like Dale Earnhardt Jr and Patrick going head-to-head will be a very exciting time. Before, we heard that she had signed an exclusive deal with the Indy Car world, but there are reports that she’s coming over to Nascar, so it must not be as exclusive as we had previously thought. She might not be as hugely transformative as we had thought, but she will be a rare female racer, possibly bringing in all kinds of fans that hadn’t thought of it before.

The Nascar Champions Awards are going on today and it’s supposed to be a particularly fun affair. This year, they made some changes. Normally, in the past, they have done this event in New York City, but in an effort to change a few things, save some money and to shift the image a little bit, they are having it in Las Vegas, a no less flashy place but sufficiently “real American” to offset the benefits offered by New York. So far, there isn’t much news to come out of the awards, other than that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still the most popular member of the crowd of competitors. That’s not a huge surprise, even though he hasn’t won the way he used to. Hopefully he will be able to ride that popularity forwards.

Next year, we probably won’t be seeing Danica Patrick on the Nascar circuit. She just signed a 3 year deal with Andretti on the IndyCar world. That wouldn’t give her much opportunity to work at her Nascar driving and make some inroads. This will also be disappointing to many fans in Nascar who were hoping to have a pretty woman in the sport. But equally so, it would have been an interesting change for a sport that hasn’t gotten too many women behind the wheel over the years. Hopefully that will beging to change, but it would appear that this year isn’t it. Patrick hasn’t been particularly successful as a driver, only winning once in awhile, but she has been able to bring a certain kind of exciting celebrity to her team.

When the new Nascar series begins next year, there are some big concerns. There has been a drop in commercial advertising and some other kinds of things. It’s also not clear whether the fan base is holding out the way that they want them to. There are a lot of fans who can’t afford to come to a race anymore, if they got laid off or have seen their incomes drop. Some people have attributed the drop to other problems, like the fact that Jimmie Johnson just keeps winning. According to one columnist, there’s a big branding problem, because the sport tried to get fans nationally and it hasn’t worked as a long term strategy. But that’s not really true. The fans from around the country are still getting used to the characters in the sports. They haven’t had much time to enjoy their different quirks and such yet. Give it time and I’m sure it’ll work out for Nascar.

It’s not a surprise that Jimmie Johnson is finally a winner again in the Sprint Cup. You probably even watched the race. Let’s take a minute to be happy for Mark Martin, who came close again this year and was gracious in his runner-up role. Jimmie Johnson completed a 4-peat in the Sprint Cup, which is the first time that’s happened in the Nascar world since the championship was created. He was able to complete what no one else has been able to, not Earnhardt, Gordon or any of those other guys. Will he be able to make 5? This team has been able to accomplish so much over the years, with talented driving and sturdy car mechanics which have allowed them to make all these wins. For fans of other teams, perhaps it’s boring to see them win again and again, but this is a huge accomplishment!

This weekend might be the moment you’ve been waiting for all year. Jimmie Johnson could come in and actually win the Sprint Cup this weekend, with a good win in the race. We will be interested to see what actually happens, because this year has been anything but normal for Nascar racers. It’s not the last race of the year, but if Johnson can open up a big enough lead on Mark Martin, he will be hard to beat. It could get exciting if Martin ends up far ahead of Johnson though, or if Johnson is unable to finish. The end of the season is fast approaching, and then it’s going to be quiet for us Nascar fans for a little while. This has been a good year though, aside from some weird controversy, and hopefully we’ll have some fun again next year! But watch for a champion in the next week or two!

Mark Martin came in 4th this weekend in Phoenix, but it’s likely not enough for him to get him back into real competition against Jimmie Johnson for the Sprint Cup. Martin was leading the way for much of the summer but Johnson flew right back into consideration once again during September and October. It’s disappointing for Martin, but he says that he has lost to the best, like Earnhardt, Gordon and others, so this isn’t anything big and new. He’s not being booed anymore during races, and in fact gets a good reception. He’s racing against much younger folks now, but he’s surprisingly successful at the moment. He will probably come in 2nd in the Sprint Cup, which isn’t bad, but he would have of course hoped to get the championship finally. Especially since he probably only has a couple more chances at it. But Johnson wont let up and will most likely win it all.

As we move closer to the end of the Sprint Cup this season, we find that Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin are still at it. Last weekend, Martin gained some ground on Johnson by getting a 4th place finish and ending up in a good spot. He still trails by over a hundred points with two races left. Martin will have to race smart and have a bit of luck to catch Johnson. If Johnson doesn’t finish again this week and possibly also next, Martin might be able to take the victory. This seems less likely with each passing week and I think most commentators find that to be improbable. But this weekend, they are racing at Phoenix, which was Martin’s first location victory this season, so it might have extra meaning for that reason. Keep watching, because it’s going to be exciting!

The Talladega race has been a source of controversy for the last several years and there are good reasons for that. The restrictor plate issue is still brewing and the drivers are not happy with it. There are safety reasons to have them in place, as well as for the purpose of making each race more interesting. At the same time, they seem to keep drivers all bunched up, creating more chance for mistakes along the way. For this race, Nascar introduced a ban on cars bumping each other on the steep banks of Talladega. As a result, we thought it was going to be a boring race. The cars went around in single file for most of the race. But then, during the last part of the race, there were more than 50 lead changes. But there was also a 13 car pileup. The drivers aren’t happy that they got wrecked, even with all these rules in place, and it’s getting harder for them to do their job. Mark Martin fell out of contention after he was wrecked. So after watching a boring race, people got to see their favorite drivers go airborne for the last quarter of the race.

Nascar comes back to Talladega this weekend, but there are many controversies around the race and people will be having trouble focusing on the race itself. Allmendinger was arrested for drunk driving earlier this week, so that’s going to be one of the big headlines throughout the day. Meanwhile, the race will be a big deal for some racers. But it’s hard to imagine Johnson losing his lead unless something extra weird happens. So he’s going to take the race a little bit easier, we think, than some of the previous races. So lots of other racers have a chance to win, with the top racers sitting back a little bit. Will Earnhardt Jr try his luck? How about Jeff Gordon? Racers that haven’t won in awhile might actually get their chance this weekend. It’ll give them some good confidence moving into the final weeks and into the offseason.