SPORTS SHORTS

5 Dumbest Mistakes that cost drivers wins By Brian Cotnoir In the handful of NASCAR races run in 2020, we’ve seen two drivers—Ryan Blaney & Chase Elliott—lose out on races on questionable late pit strategies.   A late race caution with 2-3 laps left led to the tough decision to forfeit their track position to pit for fresh tires and splash of fuel to avoid being left out as a “sitting duck”, but in both of these instances, they did not work out. On Social Media the calls were called everything from unnecessary to risky , to just plain dumb .   However; that’s just racing.    There is no risk without reward, sure I think Elliott could have won if he had stayed out in the Coca Cola 600, but I’m just a fan, I don’t work for the racing team, I have no clue what goes into the logic of on track decisions or race strategy, I just watch the races and comment with my thoughts.   It probably wasn’t the best decision to pit that late in the race, but it’s far ...

5 of the Weirdest Debuts in Motorsports By Brian Cotnoir All athletes in all sports take time and development to mature before they’re ready for their professional debuts.   It can be as simple as playing for a college team, or going through the ranks of a minor league/farm system, or in the case of Auto Racing a gradual progression through various racing series.   It is a dream come true to finally be there at the top, to know all your hard work and training are about to finally pay off; you hope that everything goes perfectly, but sometimes the absolute bizarre occur during a race season, and you can’t always count on things to go according to plan.   These are the 5 weirdest debuts in Motorsports 1.)   Michael Schumacher (F1) Who could have known at the start of the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, the world was about to witness the debut of the one of the Greatest Drivers the World has ever seen.   Michael Schumacher made his debut in F1 for the brand new Jo...

The 5 Most Surprising Winners in the NASCAR Cup Series By Brian Cotnoir NASCAR has had its fair number of upset winners in the past; drivers like David Reutimann, Ron Bouchard, Greg Sacks and AJ Allmendinger are just a few.   They didn’t have the most successful careers, but they were competitive, and did manage to achieve some success.   Then there are other drivers, whose careers were brief, but in that short-time period managed to shock the racing world and steal a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. 5.)   Johnny Mantz Johnny Mantz was a young up & coming driver in the USAC (now IndyCar) series back in the late 1940’s.    In 1950, Mantz entered the first ever Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.   Mantz fitted his racecar with truck tires, because he knew they would not wear out or blow out as easily.    Doing this helped Johnny Mantz would help put Mantz in the History books as the winner of the first Southern 50...

Top 5 Injury Comebacks in NASCAR By Brian Cotnoir With NASCAR set to return later this month following a drawn out hiatus due to COVID-19, one of the biggest story lines has to be the return of driver Ryan Newman following his horrific wreck coming to the finish line of the 2020 Daytona 500.    I’m sure the grand stands are going to erupt with joy when Newman makes his first laps on the track, and hopefully he finds success and can return to Victory Lane, but that got me thinking about, what are some of the other greatest injury recoveries in NASCAR.   Here is my pick for the Top 5 Injury Comebacks in NASCAR 5.) Brian Vickers Vickers didn’t suffer an injury per say, but he did have an unfortunate incident that put his racing career in limbo.   The 2003 Busch Series Champion and 2-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner had a lot going for him during the 2009 season.    He led his team Red Bull Racing to their first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Mi...