By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

As you probably know, the racecars that compete in NASCAR’s top series are subject to ongoing, nearly constant inspections from the moment they roll off the trailer at any given track. When I was in Dover last weekend, one of the things I was especially curious about was the post-race teardown, where inspectors nab the winning car and a handful of randoms and then break them down into nothing but a heap of components, going through the car with a fine-toothed comb to rule out cheating. So as soon as the race was won and the Victory Lane celebrations were over, I high-tailed it over to the garage area to watch Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford, still sticky with Gatorade and confetti, get transformed from a race-winning Sprint Cup car to a rolling shell and a rubble of car parts. Read more…

Continue reading "NASCAR Post-Race Teardown" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today was huge for the Roush-Fenway Fords, with Greg Biffle scoring the win at Dover following a harrowing battle with Roush teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Those two finished second and third, respectively, but not before spending the final 25 laps trading paint and nearly giving team owner Jack Roush a heart attack. As Greg Biffle reflected after the race on what it must’ve been like for his boss to witness his Fords’ kamikaze three-wide antics, "I would have crapped my pants watching those three cars run into each other." But all the beatin’ and bangin’ paid off, of course, with a 1-2-3 finish for the Roush Fords, a sweep that some speculated might’ve even been 1-2-3-4 if Jamie McMurray hadn’t been caught up in a wreck after leading the race early on. The win seemed to come as a bit astonishing to Biffle, who said his car had been off and on all day and who had been second-guessing his suspension setup until well into the race. Biffle hadn’t scored a win all season prior to his back-to-back victories in these first two races of the Chase for the Cup. Congratulations!

See a few of my pics from today’s finish.

Continue reading "Somewhere Under All That Confetti Is Greg Biffle" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The battle for the Sprint Cup championship kicked off with today’s race in rainy New Hampshire. Who would’ve known that Kyle Busch, who’s led in the points all season, would sink like a stone in the standings after broken sway-bar bolt led to a severely squirrelly vehicle condition, finally spinning him out in a wreck that he’d never quite manage to come back from—at his worst, he was 11 laps down, and slid from first to eighth in the final points standings. Clint Bowyer, as a result of a bad decision not to pit for tires, similarly lost a lot of track positions late in the race and was unable to claw his way back into the top ten. Matt Kenseth’s string of rotten luck continued as he was caught up in a hard wreck with a bunch of noobs near the back of the pack. The real winners of the day were Roush Ford driver Greg Biffle, who blew by defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson for the win of the first Chase race—and Carl Edwards, who finished a solid third and bubbled to number one in the points standings as a result of Kyle Busch’s fail.

Next week, CarDomain will be heading to Dover to bring you trackside coverage of the second race in the Chase for the Cup. Get the inside scoop on practice, qualifying, and both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at the Monster Mile, starting on Thursday!

I ran across this bunch of furniture made out of stock cars on Born Rich, but digging a little deeper, found that the manufacturer also produces running street-legal NASCARs built to customer specifications. Rock! Mike Burkhardt of American RaceCars and Furniture confirmed over the phone that he picks up old cars from Sprint Cup teams and refurbishes them with all-NASCAR internals, including brand-new 100K-warrantied 358 cubic-inch V8s tuned to Late-Model specifications, which translates to about 600 hp and much greater durability than the hard-running 850+ hp mills used in the Sprint Cup series. The cars can be fitted with either automatic or standard transmissions, and as many distinctly non-racecar-like creature comforts as the customer can stand (such as a stereo system, or doors that actually open). Some companies have them built as "rolling billboards," allowing them to plaster a stock car with their logo without actually having to sponsor a stock car. Others are hobbyists and professionals who run the cars in local racing series. Either way, I think I need one—and just in time for $4-a-gallon gas! See more pics below the jump.

Continue reading "Awesome: Street-Legal NASCARs, Starting at $50K" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

In the hopes of bringing a few race-fans into the donor pool, the American Red Cross is teaming up with Roush-Fenway Racing in a national program to encourage NASCAR fans to give blood. It’s unclear from the press release whether donation drives will be held at NASCAR events, where blood-alcohol levels might become an issue, but one pretty awesome aspect of the program is a points system that rewards "frequent donors" with credits toward Red Cross Racing merchandise. Blood for racing swag—now that’s an arrangement that truly benefits everyone involved. You can sign up at the Red Cross Racing website beginning April 24. Expect to see Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford Fusion decked out in its special Red Cross paint scheme for the Aarons 499 in Talladega, and check out the Red Cross website for details.

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