By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 1998 Pepsi 400 was scheduled to be a monumental mark for NASCAR’s crown jewel track, Daytona International Speedway, as the track’s July 4th weekend race would be run under the lights for the very first time. However, a devastating wildfire that had swept through Central Florida around that weekend, destroying 126 homes and charring 500,000 acres, forced the race to be postponed to mid-October, making it one of the final races of the season. In addition to the race being run under the lightsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s not often that NASCAR takes away a win from a driver that crossed the finish line first. In NASCAR’s Modern Era, the sanctioning body has only taken that step twice: Back in 2008 at Talladega, when Regan Smith passed Tony Stewart below the yellow line to win and 26 years ago at Sonoma Raceway, site of this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. With that in mind, the 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 and the controversial finish that ensued will be the focus of this week’sRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Entering the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan in June 2012, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had gone four long years since his last trip to victory lane, which came in the same race on Father’s Day in 2008. With the weight of the world on his shoulders and his rabid fan base willing him to victory, Earnhardt silenced the doubters with a dominating win on the two-mile oval. With a freshly repaved track greeting the drivers as they arrived at Michigan, speeds immediately began to skyrocket onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 1998 Pocono 500 was a big day for Owensboro, Kentucky with not one, but two of their native sons in the field at the Tricky Triangle an in contention for the win. When the checkered flag flew, Jeremy Mayfield would come out on top, while his boyhood idol and fellow Owensboro native, Darrell Waltrip, continued a career resurgence by coming away with the final top-10 finish of his career after battling for the win with Mayfield. The 200 lap race would get off toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor 1997 Miller 500 – Dover Downs International Speedway For the first 55 races held at Dover from 1969 to 1997, the “Monster Mile” had been a 500-mile affair with attrition being the name of the game, but starting with the fall race in 1997 the race length was shortened to 400 miles, leaving one last 500 mile hurrah in June of that year that certainly did not disappoint. Starting on pole, Bobby Labonte took command of the race for the first 30 laps before disasterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Memorial Day weekend in the motorsports world means one thing, racing’s greatest day beginning with F1 at Monaco, the Indianapolis 500, and ending with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a step back a decade to look at a win by a member of a family known more for their open wheel exploits than those in stock cars. Of course, we’re talking about Casey Mears’ upset win in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. Mears hadRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The All-Star Race, originally called “The Winston” when it began in 1985, was ran on Saturday afternoon in its inception, but when Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler decided to put lights up at the track in 1992 and move the race to the nighttime, business really picked up from there. With the installation of the $1.7 million, 1.2 billion candlepower lighting system, ingeniously devised by Iowa lighting company Musco Lighting, Charlotte became the largest track to have lights installed, behind the short tracks ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Despite the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series being NASCAR’s third tier series, there are times that the Trucks put on one of the best races of the weekend. The 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway was one of those instances and as such, will be the focus of this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” Much like this weekend’s race on the 1.5-mile track, the Trucks entered Kansas after a month off from racing and the drivers were ready to get back toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Drivers always remember their first win. For Brad Keselowski, his first win in the 2009 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega will be one that him, Carl Edwards, and NASCAR as a whole will never forget. Eight years later, the sight of Edwards’ car taking flight toward the catchfence with the finish line in sight as Keselowski captured his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win is one that is still seared into the minds of NASCAR nation. To this day, the finish is one that isRead More