NASCAR NEEDS TO GO WILD (CARD).Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK MOTOR SPORTS The NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Nextel Cup The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCAR's top racing series. It was formerly known as the Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (1950-1971), and the Winston Cup Series (1972-2003). Series Chase for the Championship has brought out the best in Tony Stewart For other persons named Tony Stewart, see Tony Stewart (disambiguation). Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart (born May 20, 1971) is an auto racing driver who was born in Columbus, Indiana. He has won championships in sprint cars, Indy cars, and stock cars. . The winner of last year's Chase did not qualify for this year's version. Good thing for the rest of the Chase field. Not so good for NASCAR. This is why the Chase needs wild-card entries. Stewart won the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a superspeedway in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5 mile standard oval. , his second win in the Chase, and has scored more points than any driver since the Chase started seven races ago at New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058 mile (1703 m) oval track which has hosted NASCAR racing since the 1990s. It is commonly referred to by its location, Loudon. . Not that any of it matters. Stewart has been relegated to racing for 11th place. But being out of the Chase has given Stewart the freedom to take chances, while drivers with a chance to win the championship have to play it safe. Talladega has been the only exception. Stewart was able to have a more aggressive strategy than Chase drivers Dale Earnhardt This article is about the elder Dale Earnhardt. For his son, see Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. For the racing team he founded, see Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Jr. and Jimmie Johnson at the end of the Atlanta race. After a caution late in the race made it an 11-lap shootout Shootout Venture capital jargon. Refers to two or more venture capital firms fighting for the startup. , Stewart took a low line and bulled his way into the lead. ``I pretty much knew all day where (Earnhardt) was going to go on the restarts, so I knew he was going to give me the bottom,'' Stewart said about the final 11 laps of the Atlanta race. ``I got a really good run through turns one and two and got underneath him on the backstretch back·stretch n. The part of an oval racecourse farthest from the spectators and opposite the homestretch. . From there, it was just a matter of making sure I could get clear of him before we got to turn three, because if he tucked down on the right rear, it was going to make us really loose. ``So I just drove it in really hard for one lap because I knew I had to clear him, even if I sacrificed the tires.'' That was the difference in the race. Stewart had little to lose by racing hard, and he won the race. NASCAR has it right when it comes to granting its provisional starting positions in races. Past champions have an automatic provisional starting position in every 43-car field that starts a race. The same rule should be in place for the Chase. Past Chase champions should have automatic entries into the Chase. That means Stewart, Kurt Busch and whoever wins this year's Chase would be in the future Chases no matter what. Wild cards in other sports don't always work. There's something hollow about a World Series winner that gets into the playoffs as the wild card. It's not like the team won anything. It was just the best team in its league that didn't win its division. With three divisions in each baseball league, some with only four teams, it shouldn't be that hard to win a division title. The wild-card system in baseball does make for some interesting games in September. But a team that wins the wild card is like the boxer who wins the bronze medal in the Olympics. Sure it's a medal, but all it means is that the boxer wasn't good enough to fight for the gold. At least a wild-card entry in the NASCAR Chase, one that is a past Chase champion, can say he's won something. Not that this Chase needs any more drama. The top five drivers are separated by 84 points with three races to go. If Stewart was in the Chase, and able to defend his championship from a year ago, imagine the drama that would be added. Stewart, a driver who wouldn't have made the Chase unless he was a previous champion, would be in the lead with three races to go. Instead, Stewart is racing for 11th. And the Chase drivers are playing it safe and hoping to win a championship by finishing races without wrecking. Labonte: Part-time driving a drag Terry Labonte is making the final start of his NASCAR Nextel Cup Series career Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a superspeedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas -- the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track layout is very similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor . The two-time Cup champion and Texas native will be making the 848th Cup start of his career. ``It's going to be a little bit different, I think, going out there knowing it's your last race,'' Labonte said. ``I've been doing this for a long time, been very fortunate over the years to be with some good teams and win some races and a couple of championships. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. , I just felt like it was the right place for me to run my last race was in Texas.'' Terry Labonte, who made a then-record 655straight Cup starts, has been running a limited schedule for the past two years and said he wouldn't recommend it for other drivers. ``It's a little bit tougher than I thought it was going to be,'' Labonte said. ``I think it wouldn't be so bad if your team ran every week and you just drove it occasionally, that would probably be OK. ``But running a limited schedule when you have a team that doesn't have any points, you know, you're one of the last cars on the track, last cars through inspection. Sometimes you don't have the full practice sessions. You don't learn things from week to week.'' NASCAR on ESPN NASCAR on ESPN is a series of NASCAR races that were broadcasted by the ESPN Broadcast (formerly ABC) and Cable networks from the early 1960s until 2000. ESPN resumed coverage of NASCAR with the Busch Series race at Daytona in February 2007. Deportes: ESPN Deportes Radio and Motor Racing Network The Motor Racing Network (MRN) is the radio broadcasting operation of NASCAR. It broadcasts coverage of most major NASCAR races at the top three levels of NASCAR: the NEXTEL Cup, the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. Radio announced a five-year deal this week that makes ESPN Deportes Radio the exclusive Spanish-language radio home of NASCAR's premier events. ``This agreement clearly underscores ESPN's leadership in bringing NASCAR racing to the Hispanic community,'' said Traug Keller, senior vice president, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio. ``Our current television agreement grants ESPN Deportes TV exclusive rights to NASCAR programming and it was a natural next step to expand the relationship to radio. With the growing popularity of NASCAR racing in the Hispanic community, we look forward to becoming the primary destination for the Spanish-speaking fans.'' ESPN Deportes plans on covering the three national touring divisions of NASCAR: the Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series. Montoya joins Busch Series: Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (born September 20 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a race car driver in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing and a former Formula One and Indycar driver. He was born in Bogotá where he was taught the techniques of karting from an early age by his father Pablo, an , the former Formula One driver from Columbia who will be driving in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for owner Chip Ganassi next year, will race the final three events of the Busch Series. He will attempt to qualify for the race at Texas Motor Speedway. Races at Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix International Raceway, or just PIR, is a one mile tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It opened in 1964, as the new home of major open-wheel racing in the Phoenix area, replacing the track at the Arizona State Fairgrounds as an automobile racing venue. and Homestead-Miami Speedway follow. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1) Tony Stewart, last year's Nextel Cup champion and winner of Sunday's race, did not qualify for this season's Chase for the Championship. Rusty Jarrett/Associated Press (2) no caption (DLP (Digital Light Processing) A data projection technology from TI that produces clear, readable images on screens in lit rooms. DLP is used in all types of projection devices, from data projectors that weigh only a few pounds to large rear-projection TVs to electronic car) Box: (1) Etc. (2) THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE |
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