By Jared Turner With last Sunday’s Brickyard 400 now in the proverbial rear-view mirror, the drivers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series won’t face Indianapolis Motor Speedway for almost another full year. The track up next on the 2016 schedule bears a striking resemblance to IMS, however. In fact, depending on whom you ask, it’s quite possible that a strong run at Indianapolis could bode well for a driver in Sunday’s Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono. While the two tracks certainly have their differences – seen most vividly in their respective shapes –  Pocono and Indy also possess some notable similarities. Both are…

NASCAR Has Lost Its Shine At Indianapolis There was a time when the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was considered one of NASCAR’s “crown-jewel” events. One would now be hard-pressed to make a case for this, however. How can Indy be a crown jewel when the empty seats at the track far outnumber the seats that are filled? If you watched Sunday’s race, it was impossible to overlook how egregiously uninhabited whole sections of the grandstands were at the fabled 2.5-mile speedway. Hard to believe there was hardly an empty seat in the house when NASCAR first visited Indy in 1994…

Over Labor Day weekend, NASCAR fans will be transported back in time to an era when life was simpler and the sport was experiencing an unprecedented amount of growth. With drivers like Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker and Darrell Waltrip in the prime of their careers and Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd just starting out, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw NASCAR’s popularity soar with intense on-track competition and iconic paint schemes. On Sunday, September 4, Darlington Raceway will channel the excitement and energy from that era by bringing back its wildly popular throwback campaign after its successful debut last season. With…