Latest Headlines

Comments

J.C. McKinney on Dave Marcis vs Terry Labonte: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up
Earl Stoudt on NASCAR Pictures from Pocono Raceway Saturday
Pauline on NASCAR Transporters
C5Speed on Would You Rather be NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch or Dale Earnhardt Jr?
steve schloz on NASCAR! Danica Patrick and Tissot Watches are Giving it Away

Sections

NASCAR Pictures: Victory Lane at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

November 19, 2012 12:14 am UTC No Comments

Exclusive NASCAR photos from the victory lane celebration for Jeff Gordon’s win in the Ford ecoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Hendrick Motorsports, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Ford EcoBoost 400, NASCAR pictures

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

NASCAR Chase: Jeff Gordon’s Geico 400 Ends Like 2012 Began

by Charlie Turner

September 16, 2012 2:06 pm UTC No Comments

The throttle on the #24 Dupont Chevy stuck going into turn one with about 80 laps to go. Gordon hit the wall hard, while running fourth, and running strong all day in the Geico 400.

The end was reminiscent of the beginning – in fact most of – the 2012 season for Gordon’s team. Running strong. Something bad happens. Finish less than what could have been.

Not the way to start the Chase.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Chicagoland Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: GEICO 400

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

NASCAR and The Kez: It’s Only Cheating if you get Caught

by Charlie Turner

August 24, 2012 10:13 am UTC No Comments

After the spring race at Bristol, track owner Bruton Smith, claiming that he was responding to complaints about the “New Bristol” racing experience, altered the racing surface by, basically scraping the top two grooves out of the track. Nobody knows for sure how the new pave will affect the racing. We just know that it will. There was a Wednesday modified race and the Camping Word Trucks ran that night too. There will be 2 and a half hours of Cup practice on Friday that might be critical to fantasy pickers. See what the experts think below.

The other big story this week was Brad Keselowski’s comments about what some of the fast teams – namely Hendrick Motorsports and Roush-Fenway – are doing with their suspension setups. He alluded to cheating. Jack Roush and others say they are within the rules. We talked to Tommy Baldwin Racing car chief Patrick Donahue On Pit Row Tuesday. He says it may be both. Called it a “light gray” area. Watch the interview below. Photo credit – Glenn Bure for OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bruton Smith, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, NASCAR Rumors, NASCAR Tech, NASCAR video, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Patrick Donahue, Tommy Baldwin Racing

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Whataya think? Brad Keselowski outs Hendrick setups?

by Charlie Turner

August 23, 2012 5:36 pm UTC No Comments

At the Michigan Speedway post-race presser, runner-up finisher The Kez did everything but call Hendrick Motor Sports, RCR and Roush-Fenway, a bunch of dirty cheaters.

How do you feel about that Junior fan? Ford Fan? Here’s how Steve and I feel about it. Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Penske Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rusty Wallace, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Pure Michigan 400

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Hendrick Motorsports Pure Michigan Day Went Up in Smoke

by Charlie Turner

August 19, 2012 3:02 pm UTC No Comments

Jimmie Johnson was cruisin to his first ever win at Michigan International Speedway then the motor let go with 5 laps to go.

Jeff Gordon suffered all day with a sour power plant. So did Hendrick-powered Tony Stewart. Johnson had to start from the back Sunday after and engine change. Not enough. HMS obviously tried something. It didn’t work.

On the final re-start Greg Biffle held off Brad Keselowski for the win.

This one went to Ford.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, jimmie johnson, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Stewart Haas Racing, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: MIS, Pure Michigan 400

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Early Season Struggles Threaten Kahne’s Hendrick Debut

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2012 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

March 30, 2012 10:07 am UTC No Comments

What do you do when your season ends before it really starts?

That’s what Kasey Kahne might be asking himself after a difficult start to the 2012 Sprint Cup season that sees him a mediocre 27th in points, worst among the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in his first year with the team. Last week’s 14th place finish at Fontana was his best run of the year, and before that, the team was scarily close to the top-35 owners’ points cutoff that could have enabled them to miss a race.

It’s not what Kahne was hoping for after contract issues forced him to spend an up and down year in a holding pattern at Team Red Bull last season. A gutsy win in that organization’s second-to-last race at Phoenix in November suggested that good times were ahead for the Washington native. But what had been expected to be a winning, Chase-contending combination at the onset of the year now looks every bit like the team that Mark Martin took to 22nd place in points in 2011.

Granted, stranger things – and greater comebacks – have happened in NASCAR’s premier series. Jimmie Johnson went from last in the world (even I had more than -23 points coming out of Daytona) in the standings to ninth coming into this weekend’s race at Martinsville. In this same car, Martin went from 34th place through four races in 2009 to make the Chase and finish second overall. All hope is not lost.

But Kahne has shown an incredible ability this season to beat the one driver that no driver should ever beat – himself. He crashed out at Daytona, walled it in Phoenix, and made an overly aggressive move early at Bristol to effectively end his race before it could even start. At Las Vegas, he qualified on pole, but couldn’t even manage to lead a lap; despite spending over 95% of the race in the top 15, he drifted back to a disappointing 19th at the finish.

That doesn’t do too much to inspire hope in the legions of Kahne-iacs who expected the move from Red Bull to Hendrick to take his career to the next level.

For his part, Kahne is doing whatever it takes to turn this season around. It may seem counter-intuitive to enter the Camping World Truck race at Rockingham on April 15, the day after a night race at Texas for the Sprint Cup boys, but for Kahne, it could serve as a major confidence builder. He’ll be with Turner Motorsports, which qualified its three trucks 1-2-3 at Daytona and fields Kahne in a handful of Nationwide races every year. Kahne has never finished worse than second in four career Truck starts. The combination has every shot at success.

But if Kahne really wants to get it together quickly, he may have no better opportunity than Sunday’s race at Martinsville. In 174 combined starts, Hendrick Motorsports cars have taken 18 wins, most recently in spring 2009 with Jimmie Johnson, and 100 top-10s, including six of eight possible last year.

It would be a great way for Kahne to establish himself at the track, where a pedestrian 20.7 average finish makes the paper clip-shaped short track his fifth-worst track on the schedule. It would also be a great way for Kahne to make his mark at Hendrick; the team has been stuck at 199 wins since October 9, and scoring the organization’s 200th would help build momentum for the rest of the season.

It’s not too late for Kahne to turn his season around. If he can contend for race wins and climb into the top 20, he has a shot at making the Chase as a wild card driver. But the time to turn it around is now, not later. And if Kahne can’t put together a string of strong finishes by Memorial Day, last year’s motto – “wait ’til next year” – may be the phrase of the hour once again.

Filed under: Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne

Tagged with: Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

« Previous Articles