By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

A ton of the pics I took today at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Nationwide Series TECH-NET 300 are now up for viewing in the Events Section. I haven’t yet found Charlotte’s best holes and perches, so the majority of the pics are from the pit lane and garage area. Take a look, and keep an eye out for my coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 tomorrow. I’m kind of psyched about shooting my first day-to-night race, though I’m at a complete loss for how to photograph 180 mph race cars in the dark!

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Anyone who watched the Tech Net 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway today could tell you it was wreck-riddled, but for me, the violence of that race didn’t hit home until I saw up close what a mess a lot of those cars had become. The Nationwide car, less fragile and aero-dependent than the Sprint Cup CoT, can take an absolute beating at tracks like Charlotte and still be basically driveable by the end. Below is the No 09 of Chad McCumbee, and just beyond it is Mike Wallace’s No. 01, which needed a little sawzall bodywork following its wreck and ran the rest of the race fenderless–a less common spectacle in Sprint cup these days, but still reasonably frequent in the beat-and-bang Nationwide series. More a few torn-up race cars after the jump.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Beat-Up Nationwide Cars On Pit Road Post-Race" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

In what’s getting to be a pretty repetitive storyline, Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in today’s Nationwide race. The last several laps were fast and furious, and the race ended up going to a green-white-checker finish–but Kyle’s No. 18 was fast, and he held off charges by Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, who respectively finished 2nd and 3rd.

As an aside, the crowd seems to be warming up a bit to Busch this season, his ongoing histrionics and hissy-fighting notwithstanding. People don’t seem to hate him like they used to, and you don’t hear that resonant “Boooooooo!” from the stands like you did when Busch was winning races, say, two years ago.  It’s been a long road for Kyle, though–this will be his 50th win across NASCAR’s three series. That’s a pretty long time to get race fans to the point where they barely tolerate him.

How about you? Do you still hate Kyle Busch?

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Kyle Busch Wins TECH-NET 300" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It’s kind of difficult to convey, even with pics, the hell-in-a-small-place that is Charlotte’s garage area. It’s in a geographically tight spot within the infield with no big wide runout like Dover has–and the concentration of cars, crew members, drivers, NASCAR officials, motorhomes, photographers, speeding golf carts, and even lollygagging fans lucky enough to score passes makes it surprising that there aren’t more impacts. Here, the cars are lined up double-wide as they waited to head out to practice this morning. Crew members put their hands out over cars’ exposed corners as they maneuver them around each other, kind of like you would if you were pushing a prized show car as if to ensure your extremities instead of its sheetmetal would get crushed if it bumps anything. And drivers seriously bomb in and out of those tiny cave-like stalls as if there are no throngs of fans milling around–I guess there’s always the faith that they’ll get out of the way! Advice: if you go to Charlotte, score a garage pass–but make sure you’ve got eyes in the back of your head.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The NASCAR infield camper is an art-car form unto itself, and the pageantry, functionality, and dirtball-appeal of these infield rigs are aspects that fans strive to outdo each other on. Hit the jump to check out highlights from the rugged rigs of the Charlotte infield.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Most Hilarious Infield Cruisers" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Brian Vickers, driver for the No. 83 Toyota, was in the garage at Charlotte during practice today advising his replacement driver, Casey Mears. Vickers is officially out for the remainder of the Sprint Cup season due to those blood clots he developed right before Dover. Since he’s now on blood thinners, he can drive but can’t crash, because of the potentially catastrophic nature of even minor injuries he could sustain. Mears will finish out the season in his place, and while that sucks for Vickers, it’s awesome that since being taken out he has been pretty much everywhere the 83 car is, talking with Mears about the car and helping out his team. The guy has been such a trooper that I’m sure he’s going to rebound just fine from what for anyone else could be a potentially career-ending setback.

Vickers has joined the abc broadcast team in the booth, where he’ll sit tight for the duration of the Nationwide race. Tune in now to watch!

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Ryan Newman was fastest in qualifying on Thursday, earning him the pole for NASCAR’s longest race, the Coke 600 on Sunday. It’ll be Newman’s 46th pole, which ties him with Junior Johnson for the 10th spot for number of career poles for a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver. Joining him in the first row will be last weekend’s All-Star Race winner, Kurt Busch. Starting third is Martin Truex Jr., alongside Kasey Kahne in 4th. Jimmie Johnson is lurking in 5th, with David Reutiman, last year’s rain-delay 600 winner, in 6th, tailed by all three of the Joe Gibbs drivers–Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch–with Clint Bowyer bringing up tail-end Charlie in the top ten. Track position is important in this race, but there’s still Sprint Cup practice tomorrow for the teams to get their cars dialed in.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

When I took our Challenger press car down the Oregon coast, I was scared to drive it out on the beach. The only car I’d ever driven out to the surf was my unstoppable AMC Eagle, and I was convinced that an overpowered rwd muscle car, by contrast, would just spin its wheels into a rut and then the tide would come in and take it away from me before I could get it unstuck. When you drive something like Mike’s Grand Cherokee, such fears need not occur to you. Check out more wheelin’ pics on his ride page!

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

If I was this dude, I’d have to make a pit stop to change my track suit after this close encounter. And just what the hell is happening with the guy who leaves the car? Did he nick this ride? That’s my guess… via Jalopnik

Near Miss!

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Yesterday I had a hell of a good time…until the moment when I had a hell of a bad time. Let’s start with the good: Some of the guys at the office and I decided to spend a day enjoying scenic Malibu and the amazing canyon roads that it offers. Mike in his Voltex aided S2000, me in my S2000 and Jason in his tuned Evo X met up at Neptunes Net on the PCH to start off the day. We then proceeded to have a hell of a time driving our native Malibu beach-side touge roads. I was loving it, I pulled the hardtop off and was enjoying the sun all while getting used to the feel of my new Recaro RS-G Super Stark seats and Keys Racing steering wheel that we installed two days earlier. Continue reading at the Real JDM…