Friday, April 18, 2014

The NASCAR season so far

Since NASCAR is off this weekend for Easter, here's a summary of the eight very eventful Sprint Cup races that have been run so far.

Daytona, February 23: The race is red-flagged for more than six hours after 39 of 200 laps due to rain and severe thunderstorms. It restarts under the lights, there are several crashes, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. goes on to score a very popular win.
Phoenix, March 2: Kevin Harvick leads more than 200 laps en route to his first win with Stewart-Haas Racing in just his second race with them. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishes second but doesn't lead any laps.
Las Vegas, March 9: Dale Jr. leads late in the race but runs out of fuel on the final lap due to not having pitted in a while, and Brad Keselowski ends up winning, with Junior finishing second again.
Bristol, March 16: The race starts late due to rain, and then has a three-hour rain delay after 125 of 500 laps, forcing the rest of the race to be run at night. With three laps to go and Carl Edwards leading, the caution lights are accidentally triggered, and then it starts raining again. This causes the race to end under caution with Edwards winning.
California, March 23: Jimmie Johnson blows a tire while leading with ten laps to go, giving the lead to teammate Jeff Gordon. In the next few laps, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose and Clint Bowyer also have tire problems, bringing out a caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Landon Cassill chooses not to pit and leads a couple of laps. Kurt Busch gets the jump on the restart, but his brother Kyle Busch ends up winning, with rookie Kyle Larson finishing second.
Martinsville, March 30: Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch get into each other on pit road, with Keselowski flipping off Busch. Later, Jimmie Johnson leads several laps, but is passed by Busch, who goes on to win, much to Keselowski's frustration.
Texas, April 7: This race was supposed to be held on Sunday, but was postponed to Monday due to rain. The race starts under yellow, and just after it goes green Dale Earnhardt Jr. drifts into the infield and then hits the wall, ending his race. Later, Brad Keselowski dominates, but eventually loses the lead to teammate Joey Logano. With just over one lap to go Kurt Busch blows a tire bringing out a caution. Everyone pits and Jeff Gordon leads on the restart. Just after the white flag Logano gets the lead back and wins.
Darlington, April 12: Joey Logano dominates the first quarter of the race. Several rookies including Alex Bowman, Michael Annett and Cole Whitt hit the wall hard and produce "Darlington Stripes". Kevin Harvick once again leads over 200 laps. With 10 laps to go a caution comes out and Jimmie Johnson gets the lead. A few laps later another caution causes a green-white-checkered finish with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading at the restart. Kurt Busch then spins causing a second GWC attempt. Harvick ends up winning and becomes the first repeat winner in the series in 2014.

I have never seen a NASCAR season start off this wild. It does provide a lot of excitement but somewhere in here I'd like to see a normal race!  

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