After a full season with the new points system in action in 2011, it is apparent that the system is pretty good. It's easy to understand, and contributed to an unprecedented tie atop the championship standings last season.However, the system could still be improved significantly. Most criticisms of the new points system claim that it punishes poor finishes too severely (finishes often due to factors entirely beyond a driver’s control). However, I don't have a problem with that objection.Everyone plays under the same rules. If you blow an engine and finish last in one race, you can always hope that the points leader will do the same the next week. Finishing poorly has always led to a bad points day. What’s wrong with fal...

With less than a month until the start of the season, it's safe to say that the short offseason we had this year is officially done. And like always, with the offseason (and late season), comes driver changes.While most of these changes aren't done quietly, it's hard to keep track of who will be in what car come 2012. So in the interest of making it easier for everyone, here are some of the driver changes for this year.Most on here are high profile, and I'm sure I have missed some so feel free to add any driver changes you may know of in the comment section below.Begin Slideshow...

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, amongst many others, did not just jump in a 900-horsepower stock car one day and decide to make it a career.Rather, they started racing go-karts at a young age. Gordon's family even moved from California to Indiana to pursue his future endeavors as a youth.The environment today is quite similar, and perhaps even more intense than before NASCAR exploded into the American mainstream. The World Karting Association is serious business, and these kids know it.It is Little League for youngsters who dream of driving stock cars for a living.Marshall Curry's documentary Racing Dreams, executive produced by Duane "The Rock" Johnson, follows three aspiring youngsters as they attempt to pursue racing as a profession, rathe...

Polarizing personalities who wheel race cars in NASCAR's top series sometimes end up being the most respected and accomplished drivers as history unfolds. Controversial drivers make racing fun. When it comes to controversy, Kyle Busch is perhaps the chart-topper in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing. He is a driver fans either love or love to hate. He and his older brother, Kurt Busch, come from a racing family, with both sharing abundant talent to drive a race car—but both may be genetically predisposed to arrogance tempered by immaturity and unharnessed emotions. The younger Busch faced the reality of using poor judgment when he was parked at Texas Motor Speedway after a dangerous racing incident in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Ra...

NASCAR's top series has raced at many different racetracks countrywide. There are currently 24 different tracks that are active on the Sprint Cup schedule.The top NASCAR series formed in 1949, and has run races at 168 different tracks. Many of these tracks have been leveled and housing developments are in their places, but these tracks should not be forgotten. Some of these tracks played an integral part in what made the sport of auto racing what it is today.Lets take a look back at some of these tracks and why they are so infamous in the NASCAR history books. Begin Slideshow...

The Grand-Am Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January was a golden moment for the 50th anniversary, with almost golden Florida weather, cool nights and warm days, too. Over 200 race car drivers from around the world swapped seat time so their car could finish the grueling race. The 1440-minute, 761-lap (or 2709.16 miles) race was a dog fight during the last hour and an intense chase the last few minutes.It appeared for many late-hour laps that Scott Pruett in the No. 01 BMW Riley machine was the car to beat, but the loss of first and second gears sent him to pit road. Pruett faded upon his return to the track. Then A.J. Allmendinger bumped the No. 8 Starworks Motorsports Ford Riley, and once his No. 60 got around the No. 8, the margin of...

The best part about winning the NASCAR championship is that you are the top driver in the sport for a year. The bad part about winning the championship is that every other team is trying to take away your title.Winning a championship in NASCAR is very difficult. Many great drivers raced for years and never won the championship (see Mark Martin). As difficult it is to win one championship, winning back-to-back championships is even harder (unless your name is Jimmie Johnson).This year Tony Stewart will try to defend his NASCAR championship. During the offseason Stewart made changes in his organization to help him stay on top of the sport. Stewart added Steve Addington as his new crew chief and his old crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, Greg Zip...

A collaborative partnership has been announced by Stewart-Haas Racing that will have Tommy Baldwin Racing field the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for all 10 of Danica Patrick's NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2012. The alliance will guarantee a starting spot for Patrick's Cup racing debut in the 54th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 26. Dave Blaney drove the TBR No. 36 Chevrolet to 33rd place in the points during the 2011 season and that car will become the No. 10 car with David Reutimann driving the remaining 26 races that Patrick is not driving. Matt Borland, vice president of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing said, "It's a Chevrolet team led by a racer who knows every inch of a racecar. That kind of technical expertise, along...

In late 2004 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, two big drivers and two big sponsors missed out on the race. Scott Wimmer, driver of the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, and Scott Riggs, driver of the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac, missed the race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. This Atlanta race was the 34th of the season. The numbers 22, 10 and 4, which were being driven by Mike Wallace at this time, all missed the Atlanta race. However, they had attempted the previous 33 races of the then Nextel Cup Series schedule. NASCAR took issue with the big sponsors of Caterpillar and Valvoline missing races. So in order to "protect" these sponsors, NASCAR makes sure the sponsors make races.NASCAR decided to institute a new rule which went into effect at the start ...

Adrian Sutil has been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to Lotus (then Renault) director Eric Lux in a Shanghai nightclub last April. The incident involving a champagne glass left Lux bleeding from a neck wound which required  24 stitches.  The German driver was handed an 18-month suspended sentence and fined €200,000 (£167,224; $264,092) by a Munich court. Sutil had admitted to unintentionally injuring Lux—saying he had meant to simply throw his drink over him and accidentally released the glass.   But the court decided he had intentionally caused the injury to Lux. GBH (or the German equivalent) is a serious offence, and Sutil can consider himself lucky to have received a "celebrity sentence" o...