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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Singed eyelashes were the least of Jimmie
Johnson's problems after a fiery crash knocked him out of the race
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The race roared on without the defending Nextel Cup champion, and
if his luck doesn't change real soon, so will the Chase for the
championship.
It was the second consecutive DNF for Johnson, who has dropped
from fourth to ninth in the season standings the past three races.
With only six ...
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Former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton landed a full Nextel Cup ride Wednesday, signing a deal to drive the State Industries-sponsored No. 4 Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure Motorsports.
Burton, the 2002 Daytona winner, competed in three races last season for Morgan-McClure _ his first Nextel Cup action since 2004.
``There's finally a light at the end of the tunnel,'' Burton said. ``I am committed to a season of success for State ...
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Nextel Cup driver Greg Biffle was in a fiery crash Thursday while testing tires at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and was helped from his burning race car by Kyle Busch.
The two drivers were helping Goodyear test tires on the remodelled speedway when Biffle apparently blew a tire, causing him to hit the wall between the first and second turns. The accident broke the fuel pump and caused his Ford ...
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Jimmie Johnson's racing goals were a bit different before being stranded in 1994 in the Baja desert.
Until then, the Southern California 19-year-old, was content to run off-road races and, maybe some day, win the Baja 1000 or an off-road title.
Stuck for a day and a half in the rocky no-man's-land after driving off a ridge, Johnson revised his plans.
``I decided to go a different direction, maybe see ...
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Jimmie Johnson's California cool turned to euphoria when he won the Daytona 500. At Indianapolis, his emotions were overwhelmed again after a win he never expected.
Still, Johnson had won races before.
A first NASCAR championship? For the driver who had everything but, nothing could have come as a bigger relief.
``It's going to take a little bit of time for this to soak in, just to think what this ...
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The Nextel Cup title is Jimmie Johnson's
to lose. Unfortunately for Johnson, he knows how easy that is to do.
Three years in a row, he's gotten off to a miserable start in the
Chase for the championship. Had he simply started the post-season
the way he ran the rest of the year, he'd be closing in on his third
title right now.
Instead, he needed frantic rallies to climb back into contention
_ only to still ...
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When Jimmie Johnson whacked the wall at
New Hampshire, his crew chief slumped in his seat atop the pit box.
Another season had just been wrecked, this time in Round 1 of the
Chase for the championship, and it would probably cost the most
dominant team in NASCAR the Nextel Cup title.
Chad Knaus took a deep breath, composed himself and told his
driver to meet him back in the garage. He wasn't giving up that
easily, ...
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Cameras followed Juan Pablo Montoya all
across the NASCAR circuit the past three weeks.
On Friday, he gave everyone something to watch.
The Formula One defector qualified for his first Nextel Cup race,
placing him on NASCAR's biggest stage in Sunday's season finale at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The former open-wheel star could have had a guaranteed spot in
the field in Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 42 Dodge, which Casey Mears
has been racing all season. But Ganassi decided to ...
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Robert Yates doesn't know who will drive one of his cars and who will be the primary sponsor for the No. 88, but he insists it's full speed ahead with two NASCAR Nextel Cup cars for Robert Yates Racing in 2007.
``It's wonderful,'' Yates said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the 2006 Cup season will end Sunday with the Ford 400. ``We're going to run our three cars _ our ...
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Jeff Burton couldn't do anything right for five long seasons. Now he can't do anything wrong.
Burton has overcome late-race problems the past two weeks to widen his lead in the Chase for the championship standings, leading his rivals to wonder openly if the Nextel Cup title is his to lose.
``You can't break him, he's just there every week doing a great job,'' Dale Earnhardt Jr. lamented.
``If he ...
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Mark Martin is the most pessimistic driver in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage.
Through a career that has seen many successes, including four runner-up finishes but no championships, Martin always has been quick to bemoan his fate and accept the downside of the sport.
Last Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Martin was taken out by rookie J.J. Yeley, who suddenly darted from the middle of the track toward pit ...
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If a list was made of the best NASCAR drivers who had yet to win a Nextel Cup race, Scott Riggs believes he'd be very near the top of it.
``We should be counting on one hand `This race we won, and this race we won,' '' Riggs said. ``But instead we are still trying to get that first one.''
Riggs will try for career victory No. 1 when he ...
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Juan Pablo Montoya's introduction to stock cars will include the former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One star taking part in a Nextel Cup open test next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The test, scheduled Oct. 16-18, is an important one for the Colombian driver, expected to make his Cup debut Nov. 19 in the season-finale at the Homestead track.
``I'm excited to get some more laps in the Nextel Cup ...
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. can do no wrong at
Talladega _ at least as far as the fans are concerned.
It seems most of the 150,000 or so NASCAR aficionados who show up
twice a year for Nextel Cup races at the big Alabama track are rabid
Junior fans.
Each time their hero's red-clad No. 8 Chevrolet whizzes by,
thousands rise to their feet like a mini-wave, throw their hands in
the air, pump their fists and exult. ...
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Only three races into the NASCAR's post-season-style Chase for the Nextel Cup championship format, Kyle Petty says it's possible that only five of the 10 eligible drivers still have a realistic shot at winning the title.
That's why Petty would like to see NASCAR establish a separate points system for the championship-eligible drivers in the final 10 races.
Petty proposes that beginning with the first race of the Chase at ...
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