Tag Archives: Richard Petty

Gordon Driving the No. 88 Doesn’t Change his Legacy

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Photo - Daniel Shirey/Getty Images

Photo – Daniel Shirey/Getty Images

For the first time in his 23-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Jeff Gordon drove a different number than his iconic No. 24 last Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gordon came out of retirement and filled in for an ailing Dale Earnhardt Jr. and wheeled the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet to a 13th-place finish in the 400-mile race. He hadn’t raced since last November and got the call from Rick Hendrick to sub for the second-generation driver who was dealing with concussion-like symptoms.

Does this change Jeff Gordon’s legendary presence in NASCAR’s top-series?

Not one bit. Continue reading →

Don’t Blame Kyle Busch for Winning

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Photo - Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images

You may not like that Busch dips down and dominates in the XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series. You may not even like that Rowdy sometimes says things at times that can come off as arrogant or off-putting.

But here’s the point: You can’t blame Busch for winning. Continue reading →

#NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover Preview

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are preparing for 400 laps of racing action in the AAA 400 Driver for Autism at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, May 15th. FOX Sports 1 begins their pre-race coverage at 11:30 am ET with a green flag around 1 pm ET and radio coverage is available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

MonStar: No One Better at Dover than Jimmie Johnson

Last season, Jimmie Johnson notched his tenth career win at Dover International Speedway – aka the Monster Mile – to become just the fifth driver to visit Victory Lane at least ten times at a single track. 

If he takes the checkered flag in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover, Johnson will join Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip as the only drivers to win 11 or more races at single track. Continue reading →

Throwback Thursday: A Dover Race Lost Because of a Lug Nut

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Photo - Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing

Photo – Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing

The Motorcraft/Quick Lane team, with rookie driver Ryan Blaney now at the wheel, will be back on the track at Dover International Speedway this weekend for the first time since 2008, when the team cut back to a partial Sprint Cup schedule.

For the Wood Brothers, it’s a return to one of the tracks where they had great success in years past.

The Woods won seven times at Dover over the years, beginning with their first trip there in the fall of 1972.

David Pearson led 350 of that race’s 500 laps to win by three laps over second-place Richard Petty. Pearson swept the Dover races in 1973, beating Cale Yarborough in the spring and Bobby Allison in the fall.

Pearson won two more, in the spring of 1975 and the spring of 1978. Continue reading →

#FordRacing has a Rich #NASCAR History at #Martinsville Speedway

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After having a week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action for the first of two races this season at Martinsville Speedway.  This marks the beginning of a stretch that will see two of the next three events take place on half-mile tracks.  Here’s a look at Ford’s history at Martinsville.

A FIRST FOR FRED
The first time Ford won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway also marked the first career victory for 2015 NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen.  The date was April 9, 1961 and Lorenzen battled Rex White, who led the first 118 laps after starting on the pole.  Lorenzen, was driving for Holman-Moody when he grabbed the lead on lap 119 and held it until rain came ending the race prematurely after 149 circuits.  Little did anyone know that 54 years later both men would be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the same induction class.  Martinsville was a place Lorenzen dominated, winning six times, including four straight from 1963-65.  He was absolutely unbeatable in 1964 as he led 990 out of a possible 1,000 laps (487 in the first and 493 in the second) in winning both races. Continue reading →