FanHouse Nascar Tracks

Depending on your perspective, Ryan Newman either had the best seat in the house or the worst during NASCAR's last visit to the mighty and unpredictable Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Carl Edwards, Sprint Cup rookie Brad Keselowski and Newman were 100 yards in front of the checkered flag, set to decide the winner amongst themselves, when Keselowski and Edwards collided directly in front of Newman. Edwards' Ford went airborne, bounced off the hood and windshield of Newman's Chevy, then flew into the fencing along the front stretch grandstands in a horrific-looking accident that led the country's sports highlight reels.

If you haven't seen the video, you will. It'll be played over and over and over all weekend as the Sprint Cup Series makes its Chase for the Championship visit to Talladega this week.

INDIANAPOLIS -- For all the talk of problematic tires and empty seats, the rubber held up and an estimated crowd of 180,000 showed up Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for NASCAR's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Although a dominating performance by Juan Pablo Montoya made the race look like it might be a runaway, the former Indy 500 champ made a pit road mistake that allowed the dependable Hendrick Motorsports team to pounce with what turned into an exciting late-laps battle between 50-year-old pole-sitter Mark Martin and gracious but gritty Jimmie Johnson.

Just in case you hadn't heard, NASCAR has felt a little bit of impact from this whole downturn thing in the economy -- and this weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway certainly won't be any different.

In fact, the track is likely going to miss out on a sellout of the grandstand tickets for just the second time since the Sprint Cup Series started coming to the 1.5-miler in a suburb of Chicago some 45 miles away from downtown in 2001.

Fortunately, the track made a smart move a year ago by installing lights for nighttime racing and this week acknowledged an even better change might be made for 2010 concerning the currently idiotic way to buy tickets from the track.

If we celebrated David Reutimann's win at Charlotte last month and Matt Kenseth's February Daytona 500 victory -- both races called off early because of rain -- then no one can begrudge rookie Joey Logano his maiden win Sunday at rain-soaked New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

However, we can question NASCAR's schedule. And we're entitled to bristle just a bit at Sunday's finish.

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The rumor that wouldn't stop after the shuffling of Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George's job duties finally has some teeth.

Humpy Wheeler -- the longtime and now ex-President and General Manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway -- told the Indianapols Star this week that he and his company are in talks with IndyCar officials about promoting the American open-wheel series.

Humpy's name first entered the IndyCar fold after he attended the Indianapolis 500 instead of the 50th-running of the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

For those that question NASCAR's race shows -- the people who criticize white-checkered finishes, single file parades and races that are agonizingly too long -- the antidote comes Sunday on the beautiful 1.9-mile road course built into the winding, hills of Northern California wine country.

Road course racing is real racing, the true test of driver talent.

And NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series could stand a few more.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR has a "town hall meeting" scheduled with its drivers next week.

The sport's longtime rival, Bruton Smith, held one of his own Saturday.

Smith, the outspoken, multimillionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., ripped NASCAR for choosing not to disclose the banned substance involved in driver Jeremy Mayfield's suspension, for dropping record penalties on underfunded driver Carl Long and for the kind of racing created with the Car of Tomorrow.

This doesn't make up for a lack of NASCAR racing at the speedway over Labor Day weekend, but the new retro look at Darlington Raceway is certainly a good look.

Darlington, site of Saturday night's wannabe Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com -- don't forget that GoDaddy or Danica will go after you -- has drawn up an old-time logo and repainted its walls to commemorate the track's 60th anniversary.

And if I must say so myself, the alternating red-and-white paint job around the track [photos below] isn't such a bad idea for a track that with the history and character of Darlington.

Consider the effort to get NASCAR Sprint Cup racing in the Bluegrass State officially underway.

Monday, Speedway Motorsports Incorporated's Bruton Smith talked at Lowe's Motor Speedway about how he's revamping his recent Kentucky Speedway purchase, and more importantly, his plan to lobby NASCAR for a Sprint Cup date at the track in 2010.

But, come on, does NASCAR really need another 1.5-miler on its schedule -- even if it likely replaces another cookie-cutter track?

NASCAR's sister company, International Speedway Corporation (ISC), announced today that Jim France, 64, will step down as Chief Executive Officer on June 1 and that his niece, Lesa France Kennedy (pictured right), will secede him.

Kennedy, 47, daughter of the late NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. and sister to current NASCAR Chairman Brian France, is ISC President and has been a member of the board of directors since 1984.

Her uncle, the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., has been with the company for 50 years and will remain the Chairman of the Board of Directors in a non-executive capacity.

The announcement was made today during ISC's annual shareholder meeting.