2016 Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A race team with a once sterling reputation on the track, is now fledgling. Richard Childress Racing hasn’t won a race since Kevin Harvick packed his bags for greener pastures at Stewart-Haas Racing more than two years ago. For a team that housed cars for the legendary Dale Earnhardt for nearly 20 seasons, and for years was a championship contender with drivers like Kevkn Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton turning the wheel, this is absolutely unacceptable. While Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Joe Gibbs RacingRead More

SHOW #402 – Guest: Aric Almirola – We recap all things Phoenix, drivers love their stickers, preventing suspended crew members, race car shuffle in the desert, closest finishes in NASCAR history, Batman Vs. Superman, and a Fontana preview. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie. ( Roughly 48:00 mins) DOWNLOAD HERE CREDITS: Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Toby Christie Executive Producer: Kerry Murphey Music: Russell Nash Audio Director Voice Over: Thomas Moog SUBSCRIBE FREE HERE RSS FEED RADIO STATIONS CLICK HERE SUBSCRIBE FROM iTUNES: Take us with you! Subscribe to our audioRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor The West Coast swing is just about complete for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Auto Club Speedway in Fonatana, California is on tap for this weekend, and is the final stop of the swing. The Cup series heads into the track on the high of a photo finish in Phoenix. Overall, four different drivers have won the four races to start the season, and I fully expect there to be a fifth driver claiming their spot in this year’s Chase this weekend. To beRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Heading into this past Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Matt DiBenedetto, who drives the No. 83 Toyota Camry for BK Racing, had only recorded one top-20 in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event (Talladega 2015). DiBenedetto put himself in great position to nab a good finish this week by securing the 23rd starting spot in qualifying early in the weekend, but when the race started his racecar was on the tight side of the handling spectrum. DiBenedetto’s crew chief, Gene Nead wouldRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Through four races in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season we have already witnessed some outstanding moments. Among those moments have been two incredible photo finishes. Denny Hamlin edged Martin Truex Jr. to the line by one-one hundredth of a second in Daytona. This week in Phoenix, Kevin Harvick bested Carl Edwards by the same razor-thin margin. But throughout the entire four races we’ve seen so far, the finishes haven’t been the only exciting aspect. We have had the pleasure of watching breathtaking racingRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – The Verizon IndyCar Series held its season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg seeing Juan Pablo Montoya take victory in the Penske Chevrolet. The win was Montoya’s second consecutive win at the track, and the eighth overall for Team Penske at the venue. Allow me to share some observations from the weekend. 1)Aleshin is for real Almost lost in the shuffle of the weekend’s headlines was the solid performance from Schmidt-Peterson driver, Mikhail Aleshin. The Russian driver qualified his Honda-powered machineRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor On a bright, sunny day at Phoenix International Raceway, brake heat altered the day for several drivers and teams. Two drivers — Ryan Newman and Paul Menard — who are looking at returning to the playoffs after making the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2015, took big hits to their 2016 post-season hopes Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. Both drivers, who are teammates at Richard Childress Racing, slammed into the outside wall hard in separate accidents in the Good Sam 500. Newman, who entered the day 17th inRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Deep down you can feel a shift of power occurring among the manufacturers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ranks. Chevrolet has long had it’s foot on the throat of the competition, but weeks ago, one of the manufacturer’s strongest teams, Stewart-Haas Racing, announced that they are jumping ship after the 2016 season. But what kind of an impact will Stewart-Haas have on Ford’s attempt at catching Chevrolet as the Series’ top car brand? Ryan Blaney, who drives a Ford for the iconic Wood Brothers RacingRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer Heading into qualifying this afternoon, Penske Racing’s Will Power set the fastest time in the final practice session for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the opening round of the 2016 season for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Power, a two-time winner of the event, crashed heavily in Friday morning’s practice, and came back to lead the afternoon session which was interrupted for track repairs. Today’s session went forward without incident, save for a brief red-flag to retrieve the Andretti Autosport Honda entry of RyanRead More

SHOW #401 – Guests: Cole Pearn (78 Crew Chief)/Greg Ives (88 Crew Chief) – We break down the Las Vegas weekend, Hendrick plane news, Goodyear Tire Test, Payton Manning is NASCAR news somehow, plus we preview Phoenix and do a video version for the first time, check us out on YouTube, keyword finallapradio. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie. ( Roughly 48:00 mins) DOWNLOAD HERE SEE KERRY AND TOBY IN STUDIO RECORDING THIS EPISODE [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_oF5oRNA8Q] CREDITS: Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Toby Christie Executive Producer: Kerry Murphey Music: RussellRead More