FORT WORTH, Texas — David Reutimann recently dubbed himself “The Franchise” at Michael Waltrip Racing, a tongue-in-cheek reference to his growing confidence and improving performance in NASCAR’s Cup Series.
On Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Reutimann backed up the franchise tag with a pole-winning performance at the 1.5-mile high-speed intermediate track, turning a lap in 28.344 seconds (190.517 mph) to edge Cup points leader Jeff Gordon (190.194 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Samsung 500… Details
The exchange on the radio between frustrated Kurt Busch and car owner Roger Penske was far from cordial.
While neither resorted to yelling, their back-and-forth made it clear neither was too pleased with the other at that moment. But that was last week, during another long day on a short track.
“Roger and I are definitely on the same page, and I have the utmost respect for him,†Busch said Friday. “In the heat of battle, sometimes things are said that aren’t exactly the right thing to say. … That’s behind us.  Details
There’s a big monopoly on NASCAR’s Victory Lane. Current occupants include Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Roush-Fenway Racing.
Smaller Sprint Cup teams need to step up their game before they’re phased out of the series under the cloud of a harsh economic climate.
This isn’t a call for stock car racing’s power teams to scale back, but rather a justification for why the Car of Tomorrow isn’t doing what NASCAR promised from a competition perspective… Details