Latest Headlines

Comments

Live Cams on NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Bracket Tournament
Live Cams on THA TOAD DUZ VEGAS…”VIVA LOST WAGES” !
Live Cams on Jeff Gordon defames Senior’s memory
Live Cams on The Return of Loose in Turn Three
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Emory Healthcare 500 (Redux) : NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Emory Healthcare 500

Sections

IndyCar Race Review: Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

August 30, 2010 12:02 pm CDT No Comments

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

If Saturday’s Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 will go down in history as the final IZOD IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, the fans in attendance and watching on television certainly got everything they hoped for in a finale.

Dario Franchitti held off a hard-charging Dan Wheldon after a daring call in the pits gave him the late-race lead, producing the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. His victory closed some of the gap on points leader Will Power, who had been leading late in the race but ran out of fuel with five laps to go to finish way down the running order.

All in all, the race featured a record-breaking 25 lead changes among 11 drivers. Ryan Briscoe dominated the early stages of the event, battling side-by-side with Marco Andretti for a good chunk of the race’s early stages. Briscoe, the polesitter and defending race winner, led 113 of the race’s 200 laps, though he could only muster an 11th place finish.

Meanwhile, the top four drivers in the finishing order - Franchitti, Wheldon, Andretti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay - all led at least two laps, with Franchitti’s 28 tops among them. Franchitti actually did not lead until the very end of the race, when his team gambled by not taking tires under the final caution. While Briscoe could not keep others from leading laps while he was out in front, Franchitti managed to do just that

Some of the drivers who spent time up front were surprising, to say the least. Wheldon, Vitor Meira, and Alex Lloyd all led a handful of laps. Even the part-time entries of Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher spent time up front; Fisher stayed out under the race’s second caution to gain the point, but managed to hold a top-three position for many laps after the green flag dropped.

Unfortunately for the little guys, nobody was really there at the end besides Wheldon. Meira salvaged a ninth place finish, but Fisher was the first car a lap down in 15th, Carpenter pulled out after 179 laps when his team couldn’t get fuel into the car, and Lloyd crashed out to finish 21st.

Heartbreak was no stranger to the series’ top team, either. Power nearly lost control of his car in the early laps of the race, making a fantastic save, a feat he would have to replicate a couple of other times before the night was over. Power drove his heart out all night, showing a level of talent we had previously only witnessed from him on the road and street courses, and was a contender for victory until the very end.

Unfortunately, Chicagoland left Power and his Team Penske crew with Indianapolis 500 deja vu: a fueler error ended all hope for a strong finish. At Indy, it was Power driving off with part of his fuel assembly; at Chicago, the team didn’t quite get enough in the car to make it. To his credit, Power was surprisingly upbeat in post-race interviews, looking forward to the challenge of maintaining his points lead over the final three races.

With three races to go and Kentucky up next on the schedule, Power’s points lead has shrunk from 59 to 23 over Franchitti. It may be a race between those two alone; third-place Scott Dixon is 85 points out, while no other driver is within 100.

For more on the IZOD IndyCar Series from Christopher Leone, go to OpenWheelAmerica.com.

Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Chicagoland Speedway, Indy Cars

Tagged with: Chip Ganassi Racing, Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti, IZOD IndyCar Series, Marco Andretti, Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, Will Power

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

NASCAR Racing Pictures from the LifeLock.com 400

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

July 14, 2010 11:18 am CDT No Comments

Photos of your favorite NASCAR drivers on the track at Chicagoland Speedway

Photos of NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart, Jimmy Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya and more from the LifeLock.com 400 night race at Chicago. This gallery has some nice exclusive pics of Dale Earnhardt Jr on the track too. Check it out.

: Jimmie Johnson at Chicagoland Speedway

: Ryan Newman leads Junior and Harvick

: Turn 4 at dusk in Chicago

: Dale Earnhardt jr on track at Chicagoland

: Kurt Busch Chicagoland Speedway

: LifeLock.com 400 Race action

: Turn 3 at Chicagoland Speedway

: Dusk Chicagoland Speedway

: Chicagoland Speedway under the lights

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - OnpitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: LifeLock.com 400, NASCAR pictures, racing pictures

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

More NASCAR Racing Pictures from Chicagoland Speedway

by Charlie Turner

July 12, 2010 6:17 pm CDT No Comments

Photos of NASCAR pit stop action during the LifeLock.com 400

On Pit Row’s BethAnne Heisler was everywhere Saturday night for the Sprint Cup Series night race at Chicagoland Speedway. This gallery has pitstop sequences for Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano. If you need a great shot for something, help yourself, just please give proper photo credit to BethAnne.

: Junior pitting at Chicagoland

: Dale Jr pitstop at Chicago

: Earnhardt Jr pitstop at LifeLock.com 400

: Dale Earnhardt Jr exiting the pits at Chicagoland

: Joey Logano pitstop during LifeLock.com 400

: Kyle Busch pitting at LifeLock.com 400

: Matt Kenseth and the #17 pit at Chicago

: On Pit Row at Chicagoland Speedway

: Chicagoland pitstops

: Pit lane action during the LifeLock.com 400

: Chicagoland Speedway pit road action

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - On Pit Row

Filed under: Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: LifeLock.com 400, NASCAR pictures, pit stop photos

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

No Such Thing as a Win without Honor?

by Charlie Turner

July 11, 2010 11:33 pm CDT No Comments

Which is harder; to not have won a Cup race at all, or living with your only win questioned by your peers for having come in a rain shortened race?

I don’t know. I’ve asked plenty of racers the “Is there such a thing as a win without honor” question. They have all said that there is no such thing. Every single one of them told me the same thing. Maybe they lied.

David Reutimann doesn’t care anymore. He won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway convincingly, decisively. Honorably.

The voices will stop now. No more whispers about the way he won the 2009 Coke 600 while sitting in pit lane with MWR team owner Michael Waltrip, praying for rain. No more asterisks.

That all goes for the #00 Michael Waltrip Racing team too. While Reutimann passed the resurgent Jeff Gordon twice for the lead, on the track, the Tums team was near flawless all night in the pits. A late race, green flag pit stop, from the lead, went perfectly.

And David Reutimann drove away to another win. Sounds good doesn’t it Beak?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc

Filed under: Chicagoland Speedway, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, Michael Waltrip Racing, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Beak, LifeLock.com 400, MWR

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

NASCAR Driver Pictures from Chicagoland Speedway Saturday

by Charlie Turner

July 11, 2010 10:04 pm CDT No Comments

Exclusive Photos of NASCAR drivers from the LifeLock.com 400

Pre-race candid shots of Kyle and Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr and even Bill Elliott on his Blackberry.

: Is Bill Elliott tweeting?

: Dale Earnhardt Jr pre-race for the LifeLock.com 400

: A loose Kyle Busch pre-race at Chicagoland

: Kurt Busch at Chicagoland Speedway

: Jeff Gordon's pit crew bonding before the LifeLock.com 400

: Max Papis relaxing before the LifeLock.com 400

: Matt Kenseth and Jimmy Fennig at Chicagoland

: Mark Martin pre-race for the LifeLock.com 400

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Bill Elliott, Brad Kesolowski, Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, NASCAR, NASCAR photos

Tagged with: Jimmy Fennig, LifeLock.com 400, NASCAR pictures

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

NASCAR Pictures from Chicagoland Speedway Saturday Night

by Charlie Turner

July 11, 2010 11:26 am CDT No Comments

NASCAR photos of action at the LifeLock.com 400

Race winner David Reutimann photos and the #00 team’s final pit stop pictures plus a few more NASCAR racing photos of the atmosphere of night racing at Chigagoland Speedway. More to come.