By Jared Turner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Friday at Pocono that he and first-year crew chief Greg Ives still don’t have the close, personal friendship that the driver enjoyed with Steve Letarte, his crew chief of the past four seasons. Calling Ives, an engineer, “super, super-serious,” Junior admitted that the new guy atop the No. 88 pit box this season doesn’t joke around much and that there’s not a lot of small talk that goes on between the driver and crew chief. While it’s certainly commendable that Ives doesn’t take his responsibilities lightly, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt for the rookie crew…

By Jared Turner As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues headlong into its busy summer stretch, up next is the Axalta We Paint Winners 400 at Pocono Raceway – a track commonly known as the “Tricky Triangle.” Rest assured, the nickname is not a misnomer. With three straightaways and three distinct corners, all featuring various degrees of banking, Pocono is one of the hardest tracks to master on the schedule from both a driver and setup standpoint. Getting a car to handle reasonably well in all three corners usually means a bit of compromise on at least one end of the track.…

By Aaron Burns Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover Int’l Speedway marked the first time I’ve been reminded of a 60-year-old television show while watching a live NASCAR race. But it happened, and it wasn’t because Darrell Waltrip mentioned it. Martin Truex Jr.’s name was atop the standings for 131 laps on Sunday, but for the 59th straight race, he didn’t end up the winner. Seeing Truex come so close again, I couldn’t help but think of Ralph Kramden’s iconic character from The Honeymooners. He’d often yell to his wife, “One of these days Alice, one of these days!” Kramden meant it as…

By Jerry Bonkowski He’s baaaack. Then again, he never really left in the first place. But if Jimmie Johnson continues winning races like he did in this past Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway, NASCAR might as well put Johnson’s name on the 2015 championship trophy ahead of time. Given the storylines of 2015 thus far, so much attention has been paid to Jeff Gordon’s final year, Kyle Busch’s comeback, Kurt Busch’s personal life woes, as well as the performance of drivers like Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., who each have 12 top-10 finishes in the first…

By Aaron Burns Trevor Bayne’s introduction to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing was about as good as it could be: A respectable run at Texas Motor Speedway in 2010, and then a Daytona 500 victory in 2011. His introduction to full-time racing in Sprint Cup, though, has been anything but good. Bayne’s first full season with Roush Fenway Racing has been full of frustration. RFR has underachieved as an organization, but things took a real nosedive for Bayne on Sunday. He crashed and finished last at Dover Int’l Speedway. If there’s a reset button available somewhere, Bayne’s No. 6 team is probably…