| Upcoming Events in the World of NASCAR | | | | seeing drivers in evenly matched hotrods |
| | | | beating and banging to the finish line! |
| After an eventful, weather challenging week, | | | | |
| the Nextel Cup and Craftsman Truck teams head | | | | Who's Not? |
| to Martinsville Speedway while the Busch | | | | |
| Series teams take the week off. | | | | There were high expectations this year for |
| | | | Jamie McMurray has he made his move to one of |
| Of the current Nextel Cup drivers, Jeff | | | | NASCAR's elite teams, Roush Racing. Many |
| Gordon has held the key to Martinsville. In | | | | thought Jamie would excel with the superior |
| 26 starts, Gordon has won 7 times. | | | | equipment Roush puts out on the tracks week |
| | | | in and week out. So far, McMurray is in 24th |
| Gordon will need to continue his domination | | | | place in the Nextel Cup Championship Points |
| of Martinsville if he wishes to stay in the | | | | standings, and 113 points out of the |
| chase for the Nextel Cup championship. After | | | | championship qualifying 10th position. |
| Kenseth's bump in the last lap at Bristol, | | | | |
| Gordon fell to 7th place in the standings. | | | | Thus far Jamie's results have been as |
| | | | follows: |
| Other drivers to note: | | | | |
| | | | Daytona 500 - 37th |
| Jimmie Johnson | | | | |
| | | | Auto Club 500 - 6th |
| Mark Martin | | | | |
| | | | UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 - 23rd |
| Kasey Kahne | | | | |
| | | | Golden Corral 500 - 14th |
| Jeff Burton | | | | |
| | | | Food City 500 - 35th |
| Next Week's Schedule: | | | | |
| | | | Through the first 5 races, Jamie's average |
| (all times EST) | | | | finish is 23rd. |
| | | | |
| Nextel Cup | | | | Hopefully, Jamie can rebound next week in |
| | | | Martinsville where his average finish is |
| 3/31/06 - 12:05pm DIRECTV 500 Practice | | | | 14th. |
| | | | |
| 3/31/06 - 3:40pm DIRECTV 500 Qualifying | | | | Last Week's Headlines |
| | | | |
| 4/01/06 - 10:35am Happy Hour Practice | | | | Recap of the 2006 Food City 500: |
| | | | |
| 4/02/06 - 2:00pm DIRECTV 500 | | | | I love Bristol! After watching a race at |
| | | | Bristol Motor Speedway, I'm always left |
| Busch Series | | | | sitting in a pool of my own sweat and my |
| | | | heart racing almost as fast as the cars |
| Off till the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor | | | | shot-gunning around the track! I'm not sure |
| Speedway on April 8th. | | | | if the drivers enjoy Bristol as much as the |
| | | | fans. |
| Craftsman Truck Series | | | | |
| | | | No matter how high the talent level of the |
| 3/31/06 - 1:45pm Kroger 250 Practice | | | | driver, or the horsepower his team gives him, |
| | | | a team's day can be ruined in a second as 43 |
| 4/01/06 - 12:05pm Kroger 250 Qualifying | | | | cars cram on a 1/2-mile speedway and bang it |
| | | | out for 500 laps. Case in point, Jimmie |
| 4/01/06 - 3:15pm Kroger 250 | | | | Johnson. After maintaining first place in the |
| | | | Nextel Cup standings through the first 4 |
| Who's Hot? | | | | races of 2006, the celebrated return of Chad |
| | | | Knaus was clouded over by a disappointing |
| Earlier this year, I wrote an article | | | | 30th place finish. |
| claiming Dodge drivers had their work cut out | | | | |
| for them in 2006. | | | | I think the marketing gurus of NASCAR should |
| | | | approach ESPN or HBO to provide a "Friday |
| So far, I think they have responded. In the 5 | | | | Night Fights" kind of production to showcase |
| races this season, they have posted 2 wins | | | | angry drivers pushing and punching each other |
| (Kasey Kahne at Atlanta, and Kurt Busch in | | | | as they climb out of the cars immediately |
| Bristol). | | | | after a Bristol race. For Gordon to be such a |
| | | | small guy, he shoved Matt Kenseth pretty |
| Currently, there are 2 drivers in the top | | | | good. Gordon was rightfully upset at Kenseth |
| five in Nextel Cup Points, Kasey Kahne and | | | | when Matt turned Gordon sideways on the |
| Casey Mears. | | | | backstretch of the final lap. The only thing |
| | | | missing was Michael Buffer's introduction and |
| Let's hope their success carries throughout | | | | Judge Mill Lane officiating. |
| 2006. There is nothing more captivating than | | | | |