In NASCAR, the Secret Weapon Is Motor Oil

Wreck on final lap allows him to cruise to first win at super speedway

(NEWSER) - Kyle Busch, the kid who couldn't conquer Talladega, finally won at the harrowing track Sunday, and in this, his breakout season, it was only fitting that he coasted to the victory. Busch came back from a lap down for his first win there, which came under caution when a 13-car accident brought out the yellow flag on the final lap. More»

It was a crazy night involving lots of Tide laundry detergent

(AP) - Well, NASCAR certainly knows how to make a prime-time impression. Rain, fire, and Tide laundry detergent all factored into a Daytona 500 that will go down as the most bizarre in NASCAR history. And oh, yeah, Matt Kenseth picked up his second Daytona 500 title. The first Daytona 500 to be postponed took more than 36 hours to complete after rain pushed it from its scheduled Sunday afternoon start to yesterday at lunch, and ultimately turned it into the first ever NASCAR race run in prime-time television. More»

IndyCar had purposely been upping danger to add excitement

(NEWSER) - In a June interview that seems eerily prescient in light of Dan Wheldon’s death , IndyCar Chief Executive Randy Bernard promised more “carnage and wrecks” in the upcoming races. IndyCar, struggling to compete with the more popular NASCAR, was attempting to make its races more exciting by increasing the risks: more drivers, pushed closer together via side-by-side racing, meaning a heightened possibility of collisions. The Las Vegas race, in particular, was promised to be “wild” due to a fast and smooth track, the Wall Street Journal reports. Also increasing the buzz was a dangerous publicity stunt Wheldon was taking part in, in which he would win $5 million if he could win after starting in last place. More»

(AP) - Rain that had threatened today's season-opening race finally rolled in moments after Matt Kenseth slid past Elliott Sadler for the lead, the AP reports. Then the former NASCAR champion was forced to sit out a 20-minute delay before claiming victory in the Daytona 500 after 152 of 200 laps. It was just the fourth rain-shortened 500 in the race's 51-year history, and first since Michael Waltrip's 2003 victory. More»

Tanking economy likely to hit NASCAR harder than most

(NEWSER) - The gloomy economic outlook is putting the brakes on sporting sponsorships everywhere and NASCAR is one of the hardest-hit, the Washington Post reports. Sponsorship cash makes up around 80% of the average racing team's budget, but long-standing partnerships with Detroit’s auto giants and other major backers are running out of gas as budgets get cut to the bone. More»