Landmark victory in NASCAR round two

Weekend Racing Wrap

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While much of the motor racing world remains in hibernation, the second round of the 36-race NASCAR championship took place yesterday at Atlanta.

NASCAR

Round 2/36: Atlanta

Start, NASCAR, Atlanta, 2016
Jimmie Johnson came through to take the victory in a race that echoed that of last season as he battled Stewart-Haas driver Kevin Harvick for the win. Kurt Busch took pole position ahead of the race but could only manage fourth at the end.

Johnson was already the most successful active driver in terms of race wins following Jeff Gordon’s retirement. His victory saw him equal the 76 victories achieved by legend of the sport Dale Earnhardt which puts him seventh on the all-time winners’ list.

The outright record of 200 wins is held by Richard Petty.

Over to you

Did you find any other racing action to watch last weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Next weekend will see the Australian V8 Supercar championship begin with a triple-header event in Adelaide. Last year’s champion Mark Winterbottom is yet to win at the former home of the Australian Grand Prix. The third race of the NASCAR season will also be held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Away from the circuits, Sebastien Ogier will be hunting a third victory in as many events at the start of 2016 World Rally Championship from Mexico (above) as the series moves on to Mexico.

Let us know what you’ll be watching in the comments.

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8 comments on “Landmark victory in NASCAR round two”

  1. I’m trying to not only follow but watch more races of NASCAR this season. I think if they tried to get themselves out there more often and become more accessible for people outside the USA they could well become as succesful in Europe too. Especially the big races. Just try what IMSA did and I’m pretty sure their viewing figues would rocket.

    1. I’ve given up this year. The races are far too long even when you skip ad breaks, and there are just far too many of them! It became a real chore. I wish there was a decent highlights program available. Shame, because I like watching the racing given its so different to F1

  2. @keithcollantine any chance we could call the championship by it’s proper name? Saying the NASCAR championship is like saying F1 is the FIA championship, it’s meaningless! Surely we all know NASCAR is the governing body and the championship in question is the Sprint Cup?

    Sorry, but it’s a real bugbear of mine!

    1. FlyingLobster27
      29th February 2016, 13:46

      I know why – Sprint is a sponsor. We had this discussion about the SRO (Blancpain) GT Series last year, and I’m quite like him on this policy (and actually Bradley Downton wrote this), I’m not keen on citing sponsors.
      I see what you’re getting at though @valandil. Personally, I refer to the premier NASCAR championship as the NASCAR Cup. Then we have the NASCAR Series (I’m not quite fixed on what to call the second division, I admit) and the NASCAR Truck Series.

    2. @valandil Short answer: Because they’re paying NASCAR, not F1 Fanatic!

      Long answer: For the same reason we don’t call MSA Formula the ‘MSA Formula Certified by FIA, Powered by Ford EcoBoost’. Once you leave the marketing men in charge of naming things it gets cumbersome and convoluted.

      NASCAR is one of the less problematic examples from that point of view, but I prefer to have a consistent policy. Besides which I think when people refer to NASCAR it’s generally taken not as a reference to the minor series for trucks and so on but the main championship.

      Note that sponsors in F1 team names, race names and so on are also not cited, for all the same reasons above.

      1. @keithcollantine I think the best solution is to call it the “NASCAR Cup Series”. I think I’ve heard them use this term before.

  3. Fair enough, I like the suggestion above to call it the NASCAR Cup then

  4. I caught the last few laps of the World Superbikes which were really thrilling stuff. I vaguely recall we don’t use the B word here though…

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