Athlon Sports Preseason Sports Magazine's provide in-depth analysis of the upcoming seasons and events. Each preview includes great feature stories, team previews, depth charts, predictions, schedules and more.
NASCAR lost a legend and arguably the most talented driver in its history with the passing of the Silver Fox, who won 105 Cup races during his brilliant career and visited Victory Lane in a higher percentage of his starts (18.3 percent) than even his chief rival and the sport’s all-time wins leader, Richard Petty (16.9). “I have always been asked who my toughest competitor in my career was. The answer has always been David Pearson,” Petty said. “David and I raced together throughout our careers and battled each other for wins — most of the time finishing first or second to each other. It wasn’t a rivalry, but more mutual respect. David is a Hall of Fame driver who made me better. He pushed me just as much as…
February 15, 2018 Another season revved into action as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams raced through the turns during the Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway. February 15, 2018 Chase Elliott won the second of the two Can-Am Duels at Daytona, earning a starting spot on the second row for the 60th running of the Daytona 500. February 18, 2018 Danica Patrick staged an abbreviated farewell tour with the “Danica Double,” running the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. A seven-car crash on lap 102 left her 35th in her final Daytona 500. February 18, 2018 Austin Dillon took the No. 3 to Victory Lane at the Daytona 500 two decades after Dale Earnhardt finally broke through at the Great American Race. And like Dale Sr. before him, Dillon…
INSIDE THE NUMBERS 4▶ Number of Cup series races won by Chevrolet, its fewest since 1982. The sport’s winningest manufacturer in history was badly beaten by Ford, which captured its first manufacturer’s championship since 2002. 16▶ Wins by single-car team Furniture Row Racing since the start of the 2016 season. The team, which closed up shop in December due to a lack of sponsorship, had more victories during that span than multi-car powerhouse owners Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing or Chip Ganassi. 18▶ Wins by Joey Logano in five years with Team Penske, including the 2018 Cup series championship. He had just three wins with Joe Gibbs Racing in his first five years running Cup. 20▶ Number of races won by three drivers: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex…
The Cup series has endured a rash of retirements in recent years as drivers who came on the scene during the sport’s peak years, from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s, hit their 40s. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Danica Patrick, Matt Kenseth and NASCAR’s perennial Most Popular Driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., are just a few to step away from full-time competition prior to 2018. This season, the hits keep coming; the only difference is that none in this group has an argument to make for inclusion in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be celebrated; each one made an impact on the sport for well over a decade. Let’s take a closer look. JAMIE McMURRAY STAT LINE: 582 Cup starts, seven wins,…
BEST: Charlotte Roval This race truly lived up to the hype. Heading into the event, concerns mounted that turning this 1.5-mile oval into a street course would make it a crashfest. Testing crunched up plenty of sheet metal, indeed, but the race itself was relatively clean and highly competitive until the end. A wild wreck on a late restart wiped out contenders Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski after Keselowski flat out drove straight into the wall. That opened the door for Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson to battle tooth and nail for a victory that would have extended Johnson’s streak of winning one Cup race every year since 2002. Sensing the moment, Johnson nosedived under Truex in the final two turns, a move that backfired as contact spun…
In 2018, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stopped driving — but he was busier than ever. He started his broadcasting career with NBC, wrote a book about his struggles with concussions (Racing to the Finish) and became a first-time father — his wife Amy gave birth to Isla Rose last April. He talked with Athlon Sports’ Matt Crossman about his transition to the booth, the exercises he used to get healthy and racing again. From the first time you were in the NBC TV booth in the fall of 2016 at Talladega, you seemed both comfortable and good at it. Looking back, it seems obvious that was going to be what you did in the second half of your career. Were you already thinking that then? I never thought about doing broadcasting…
