SPORTS SHORTS

  5 NASCAR drivers who don’t get enough credit By Brian Cotnoir I’ll be honest; I don’t really know how to start this article off.   Throughout its history NASCAR has never been short on star power.  They’ve always had several drivers who compete week in and week out for wins and titles.   NASCAR has also had many drivers who showed potential early on, but then fizzled out (think Casey Atwood and Dylan Kwazneski).  Then there are the drivers, who made ripples in the sport, but did not make big splashes.  Some of them were quite successful in the lower-tier series, but as far as the Cup Series they had few accomplishments to show.   Some drivers made big careers out of being big fish in small ponds , others had everything going for them, but then it all got taken away from them.    Let’s look at 5 NASCAR drivers who don’t get enough credit. 1.) David Green David Green’s most notable accomplishments in racing were wi...

  5 of the Most Iconic Sponsors in Auto Racing By Brian Cotnoir Without sponsorship, racing would probably not be as recognized globally as it is today.    From Tobacco to Petroleum, Big box stores and energy drinks & sodas, all have made some impact in racing or another.   Some have been around for decades, while others are relatively new to the sport.   Some sponsor one driver or team, others sponsor multiple drivers, teams and even whole racing series, but no matter how much or how little they choose to sponsor, they have been integral to the sports.   Now just a disclaimer, I am NOT being paid by any of these companies or brands to promote them, this all just merely my own personal opinion. 1.)   Marlboro Auto Racing wouldn’t be where it is today without sponsorship from Big Tobacco.    Tobacco brands like Camel, Gitanes, Copenhagen, and Rothman’s sponsored teams in Formula 1 & IndyCar/CART.    NASCAR was sponso...

  5 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers in the Hot Seat for 2021 By Brian Cotnoir Silly season is in full swing in the NASCAR Cup Series.   We’ve heard lots of driver moves for drivers such as Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, and Daniel Suarez will be racing for new teams in 2021 season, but as for the rest of the field there are certain drivers who I feel are under more pressure than others.   Here are 5 Cup Series drivers who are going to be in the Hot Seat during the 2021 season. 1.) Aric Almirola Aric Almirola is definitely a driver I feel is in the Hot Seat for the 2021 season.   While he has run decently making the playoffs in his 1 st two seasons at Stewart Haas Racing—including a career high 5 th in the final points standings in 2018—he has yet to show signs of improvements.   Almirola’s saving grace this season is that he still has sponsorship from Smithfield Foods and he finished in the Top 5 in five consecutive races, but he is c...

  Top 5 Substitute Performances in Formula 1 By: Brian Cotnoir In one of the most memorable seasons in Formula 1 History, Nico Hulkenberg has made his 2 nd substitute start (and 3 rd appearance of the season) for the Racing Point team.   In both of his starts—the 70 th Anniversary GP at Silverstone and the Eiffel GP at the Nurburgring—Hulkenberg has finished both races in the points scoring 10 total so far.   He has proven to be a valuable and reliable asset to the Racing Point team’s hopes in the Constructors Championship, and well that got me thinking; what are some of the other great substitute driving performances in F1 History? Now, I just wanted to put a disclaimer before you continue reading: I am only considering drivers who replaced an injured or ill driver and then left the seat once the sick or injured driver returned or was replaced by another driver. I am omitting drivers who replaced drivers who were either fired or died during a race or season as t...

  4 of the Most Anticipated Wins in Auto Racing History By Brian Cotnoir Lewis Hamilton is one win away from tying F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s record for most career wins in Formula One.   No doubt that the next two race victories in Hamilton’s career will be the most anticipated wins in racing history.   That got me thinking what were some of the other most anticipated wins in racing history?   I’ve compiled a list of 4 other anticipated race victories (in chronological order) 1.) Ayrton Senna wins the Brazilian Grand Prix Ayrton Senna had won just about everything in Formula 1 by the start of the 1991 season.   He was coming off his 2 nd career drivers’ championship and a race win at the opening round on the Phoenix Street Circuit before heading to his home race in Brazil.   In his seven prior attempts Senna had never won his home race in front of his adoring home crowd. 1991 seemed like it might be his year; Senna started on his pole he was l...

  5 Sports Stars who crossed over into NASCAR By Brian Cotnoir So this past week we had one of the biggest new team announcement’s in decades when Bubba Wallace that he will be joining a new team started by fellow NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and NBA Legend Michael Jordan!    Now Hamlin has had a long professional relationship with Jordan for years, but the fact that the two of them are starting a racing team together is just so bizarre and so very interesting!    Michael Jordan isn’t the first star from another sport to enter NASCAR.   Former NBA All-Star and current NBA analyst Brad Daugherty is a part-owner of both the #37 & #47 cars in the NASCAR Cup Series, and probably most famously there is NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs who in addition to winning the Super Bowl has one multiple drivers/owners championships and some of the biggest races in the world as a team owner in NASCAR.    That got me thinking what are some of the other interesting...

  5 of the Most Dominant Performances in Auto Racing History By Brian Cotnoir To some people Auto Racing isn’t much of an exciting sport .   To most it’s just driver (or rider) presses the accelerator and they go fast, but it’s much more than that.   A successful racing team not only needs a great driver, but a great crew, engineers, strategy, sponsors, and even a little bit of luck.   All these factors combined can lead to unprecedented dominance in the sport.   Just look at the recent success of the Mercedes team in Formula 1 or rider Marc Marquez’s dominance in MotoGP, or Steve Kinser in the World of Outlaws, and even NASCAR drivers like Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Brad Keselowski have been dominating in NASCAR.   It takes a lot to dominate in any form of Auto Racing, but for a brief while these teams and drivers were absolutely dominantand—darn near—unbeatable! 1.) Frank Kimmel, 8 Straight ARCA Championships The ARCA Racing Seri...