Subscribe164MPH is the best of: Danica Patrick | MMA | 50 Cent | 164mph | Babes | Combat Sports | WWE SmackDown | Best of MMA | Angelina Jolie | UFC | WWE | Hulk Hogan | Strikeforce | John Cena | PRIDE | Best of WWE | Tito Ortiz | Megan Fox | Grand Theft Auto | Halo 3 | and more... (What is 164mph?)
# 5 Blogger
Trouble in Turn2
Trouble in Turn2 (troubleinturn2.mikemaruska.com) has great NASCAR news, photos, videos and more
Thursday, Aug 14
Michigan II Preview
Tony Stewart is entered in this weekend’s Nationwide race and he will sport a special paint scheme publicizing the “Give the Kids the Wolrd view-A-Thon”. Chump: Kyle Busch Yeah I said it! He wasn’t great at Indy and was decent at Pocono. I think he’s due for a crash this weekend.
Wednesday, Aug 13
Reviewing the Rookie Classes: 2006
JJ Yeley had an impressive resume in sprint cars, winning the USAC triple crown. He moved to the Busch Series and then landed a Cup ride with Joe Gibbs Racing thanks in part to a personal recommendation from Tony Stewart. The general scouting report on Yeley was that he was talented but raw. He d...
Tuesday, Aug 5
How to Speak NASCAR: A Translation Guide
Fortunately there is a way to cut through the PR-speak and understand what a driver is really saying. It’s also a helpful guide to help new fans know when to use common phrases.[Note: It’s unlikely to see any Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya or Tony Stewart quotes listed below.]
Friday, Aug 1
NASCAR Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes
How to Piss off a Cup Driver: Part II To the likely bemusement of the Diecast Dude, ESPN.com’s NASCAR crew made someone mad again. This time it was Martin Truex Jr when David Newton tried to report that Truex had signed a new contract with DEI. Truex’s frank, “That’s bullsh*t” response left lit...
Sunday, Feb 3
View From the Couch: NASCAR’s Coming!
Finally, a quick update on a few housekeeping things. It is hitting crunch time for my driver previews. This week will feature previews for Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Casey Mears and Greg Biffle, among others. In an attempt to cram them all in before the Daytona 500, I’ve started to po...
Wednesday, Jan 30
Juan Pablo Montoya 2008 Sprint Cup Preview
Juan Pablo Montoya entered NASCAR in 2007 with an accomplished racing resume, but only one Cup start and a handful of other scattered stock car races. It was considered a great experiment by Chip Ganassi. Could an open wheel driver succeed in the less precise, more grueling world of stock ca...
Sunday, Jan 27
View From the Couch: Nationwide’s Big Ideas
Fans should plan on logging onto ESPN.com before Daytona to test their smarts and get “Up to Speed” on their favorite NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers throughout the season. Additional details and complete official rules will be available soon at ESPN.com.
Thursday, Jan 24
David Ragan 2008 Driver Preview
In his short time, Ragan has already proven a quality restrictor plate race. Beyond his 5th and 12th places runs at Daytona, he also had a 17th at Talladega, plus a 4th place in the Talladega Busch race. While some people will say plate racing is a lot of luck, it is a pretty unique discipline tha...
Tuesday, Jan 22
Robby Gordon 2008 Sprint Cup Preview
While Gordon the racer is often controversial and inconsistent, Gordon the owner has enjoyed an impressive run. The move to Ford worked well. He went from an also-ran in the Chevy pecking order to one of four teams at Ford that all get support from Roush Racing. He only suffered one engine fail...
Sunday, Jan 20
NASCAR: How I got it bad
I would watch the occasional race or see highlights on Sportscenter, but I didn’t pursue the sport much beyond that. I do remember watching the Brickyard 400 when Earnhardt Sr won. I also watched the finish and emotional celebration of the 2001 Pepsi 400 when Dale Earnhardt Jr won his first r...
Tuesday, Jan 15
Opinion: Newcomer/Rookie Report
Patrick Carpentier-Carpentier is not as well-known or accomplished as his fellow open-wheel mates, but Carpentier has already made a quick adjustment to stock cars. He won the pole for the Busch race at Montreal and finished 2nd in his debut. Obviously a road course is the easiest transit...
Sunday, Jan 13
View From the Couch: Preseason Thunder
Red Bull announced two personnel moves this week. First they hired Kevin Hamlin as crew chief for Brian Vickers’ #83 car. After letting Doug Richert go after the season, Hamlin will try to get Vickers into more races and subsuquently the top 35. Richert and Vickers appeared like a good fit aft...
Wednesday, Jan 9
The Sponsor Drain and Other News
By my very unofficial count, both Haas cars, both Yates cars, Dario Franchitti, and Regan Smith all lack primary sponsors. Franchitti is an Indy 500 winner and reigning IRL champion. Franchitti and Smith both drive for high profile teams, Chip Ganassi and DEI respectively. The others can –...
Sunday, Jan 6
View From the Couch: 5 Simple Tweaks to Improve NASCAR
Creating separate points would reward avoiding trouble more than creating incentive towards winning. A great example is the 2004 fall race at Atlanta. The point leaders Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon all experienced problems while Jimmie Johnson won the race in dramatic f...
Wednesday, Jan 2
What Makes a NASCAR Race Exciting?
It’s that memory factor that brings me back to my race at Phoenix. In an otherwise uneventful evening from the stands, Gordon took the checkered flag and in the process tied Dale Earnhardt for most career Cup wins. It took a boring race and transformed it into something I’ll remember. “Huh.”
Wednesday, Dec 19
Chip Ganassi Team Recap (insert catchy title)
For Chip Ganassi/Felix Sabates Racing 2007 was a pretty nice season. After years of running in the background, the team returned to the spotlight primarily because of a 31 year old “rookie” Juan Pablo Montoya. In the summer of 2006 Ganassi surprised not just the NASACAR world, but the racin...
Monday, Dec 17
HMS Winamore: Hendrick Recap
Jeff Gordon’s season was one of the most spectacular seasons in recent history. He set a record with 30 top tens, passed Dale Earnhardt Sr for sixth all time, and also broke Earnhardt’s record for restrictor plate wins (12). The most amazing thing is that Gordon finished 2nd in the Chase.
View From the Couch: Straightening out the Penske Points
NASCAR needs to make a stand. Penske Racing officially moved their owners points from the #2 car to the new #77 car over the weekend. It solved one problem for Penske Racing, but opens a handful of problems for other teams and NASCAR’s integrity as well.
Tuesday, Dec 11
Joe Gibbs Racing:An off-year in NASCAR still beats the Redskins
Stewart had his standard outbursts. He took on NASCAR, the FCC, Juan Pablo-Montoya (who didn’t?), Kurt Busch and at one point even threatened retirement. At times it seemed like Hamlin was trying to outdo Stewart in the attitude category. With Kyle Busch joining the team for 2008, suddenly...
Tuesday, Dec 4
How not to Debut in Nextel Cup: Michael Waltrip Racing Recap
It was not a soft landing for the newly formed Michael Walrip Racing. After using his team essentially for his personal Busch ride over the past seven years, Michael Waltrip partnered with Toyota to form a new Cup team with the new manufacturer. As soon as the cake from their welcome party was...
Sunday, Dec 2
NASCAR News, Notes and Trivia
The more things change… 2007 was a year filled with change, transition and uncertainty, so leave it to Dale Earnhardt Jr to restore a little normalcy. Last week he was voted most popular driver for the 5th straight season. And NASCAR order is restored. If anyone was still wondering, nothing c...
Wednesday, Nov 28
2007 NASCAR in Review: The Year in Penalties
During the Chase race at Dover, Carl Edwards won the race but failed post race inspection because his car was too low. A similar thing happened to Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch in 2005, except they had a trick shock package that was immediately ruled illegal by NASCAR. As a result he was fined 2...
Sunday, Nov 25
View From the Couch
Let teams run a couple of races at every track with the new car. Let the tweaks made to the Chase before 2007 run another year. Allow the major changes, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing switching from Chevrolet to Toyota, play themselves out.
Tuesday, Nov 20
2007 NASCAR Awards
Driver of the Year: Jeff Gordon. Gordon showed up every week with a chance to win. Jimmie Johnson won a lot of races but also had 4 DNF’s and poor finishes. Not only was Gordon consistent, but he was running in the front pack on a weekly basis. The fact that three mediocre races came in the last month...
Monday, Nov 19
The Other 31: Homestead
15. Juan Pablo Montoya When Montoya and Newman were running 4th and 5th, who else was waiting for a wreck? Alas. 36. Dale Earnhardt Jr Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and say whatever. 42. Brian Vickers Checked up to avoid Sauter and wound up in Carpentier’s nose.
Sunday, Nov 18
View From the Couch: Homestead
It was neat to see how excited Robbie Reiser was after the race. In his last with Matt Kenseth, he built a bullet. Now Reiser can focus all of his time and energy on the Car of Tomorrow for all of the Roush/Fenway(Yates) cars. It’s too bad Kenseth won’t be able to use his bullet next year.
Wednesday, Nov 7
Thursday NASCAR Notes
Petty Enterprises are making like the Jeffersons and moving on up to the eastside. After nearly 60 years in Level Cross, NC, the Pettys are moving their shop closer to Charlotte in Mooresville. The positives are obvious. A bigger shop can better accommodate the newer technology that is now a...
Monday, Nov 5
Opinion: Ricky Rudd: The Prince of Tide
For many NASCAR fans, Ricky Rudd and Tide are tied together. It was such a noticeable paint scheme with the orange, yellow and white with the large Tide letters bursting off the hood. Even after Rudd left for Yates Racing leaving the scheme for others to drive it, the Tide car still felt like Ru...
Sunday, Oct 28
View From the Couch: Atlanta
This race had too many stories to try and cram in one post. I’ll have more tomorrow in my recap of the non-Chasers called The Other 31 The final pit stop. It’s cliche to say it means everything in NASCAR, but at Atlanta it was true. The top five entering the pits were Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Marti...
Thursday, Oct 25
Nextel Cup Chase Preview: Atlanta
Jeremy Mayfield will replace Jeff Green in the #66 Chevrolet. Mayfield is the third driver to race in all four current Cup manufactuers in his career. He drove a Ford for Penske, a Dodge for Evernham, a Toyota (yes, he did actually make some races) for Bill Davis and now the Chevy for Haas-CNC M...
Sunday, Oct 21
View From the Couch: Martinsville II
So, another race, and more of the same. A Hendrick driver won (the 15th time this season), caution flags rained down again, and Dale Earnhardt Jr lost an engine. Just another NASCAR Sunday in 2007. Jimmie Johnson wins his third straight Martinsville race, but only gains 15 points on 3rd place...
Wednesday, Oct 17
Attack of the Open-Wheel Drivers
While the number of open-wheel drivers moving to stock cars has increased, other drivers have come to NASCAR for decades. Two of the greatest drivers ever, Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt both won Daytona 500’s. Tony Stewart won an IRL championship before switching to NASCAR. Stock car racing ha...
Tuesday, Oct 2
Welcome to NASCAR, can I take your (team) order?
Now that the Chase is here, that is apparently no longer true. At Dover Casey Mears moved out of the way to allow Kyle Busch to gain a position, not from Mears’ generosity but from someone at Hendrick Motorsports’ request. It’s an unintended byproduct of the Chase. 5 points during a 36 race seas...
Friday, Sep 7
Richmond II Preview
Some drivers just fit certain tracks. Jeff Gordon to Martinsville, Kurt Busch to Bristol and now Kyle Busch to Richmond. Busch has 5 top 5’s in 5 starts, including two straight second place finishes. He dominated last fall, leading 248 laps before Harvick squeezed by late.
Sunday, Aug 26
Opinion: View From the Couch: Bristol II
It’s not how Dale Earnhardt Jr races, but when he was running near Kurt Busch did anyone else think about how interesting the race to the Chase would be if he punted the #2 car? Earnhardt Jr runs well at both California and Richmond, but so does Busch. It will be really tough to make up 158 points...
