The new NASCAR season is fast approaching, and a lot has happened since Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Johnny Benson were crowned champions in the sport's top three series last year. But where does a fan go to catch up on all the news and play a little fantasy racing? Here's a rundown of some of the best sites to go to and bookmark for later use:
NASCAR.com
Several years ago I wasn't a big fan of this site. It was clumsy and cumbersome and hard to navigate. The plentiful ads got in the way of the real information. Well, nascar.com has gone through another redesign, and so far the new look seems to be more user-friendly. Schedules, stats and old results for all three series are easy to find. However, the drivers pages haven't been updated to reflect all the changes for 2009. The site has plenty of original content from a trustworthy group of writers and a wide range of videos. There is an extensive fan community section were you can customize your profile, post photos, blog your opinions and interact with other fans. You can buy race tickets and plenty of NASCAR driver merchandise. But perhaps the coolest thing nascar.com offers fans is Trackpass, where every weekend you can listen to your favorite driver's in-car race radio chatter through your computer at home. Trackpass also offers a live running order and stats and 3-D graphics. Plans run from $29.95 to $79.95 for the season.
Thatsracin.com
Thatsracin.com, based out of Charlotte, N.C., is a sister site to the Charlotte Observer and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's also one of the first places I go each day to keep up with NASCAR news. They feature two of my favorite bloggers/writers on the web: Observer staff writer David Poole and Penske Racing crew member Trent Cherry. Poole blogs almost every day, while Cherry's ramblings are a little less frequent, but just as worth the read. The site has a very active fan forum and some videos, which are usually just narrated photo slideshows. The stats and schedules on this site are easy to find. No fantasy racing here.
Yahoo Sports NASCAR site
I used to really like this site. I still go here because it has a great free Fantasy NASCAR format and really easy to use stats. But the story content has been lacking lately because Yahoo Sports lost two really good writers in Bob Margolis and Jerry Bonkowski. Both veteran journalists left after the 2008 season was over. Jay Hart has picked up some of the slack and Jay Busbee writes and maintains a very entertaining blog, From the Marbles. The site features lots of videos, but the most fun ones are from the guys at Rowdy.com, which by the way is a really cool site. Plug away.
ESPN.com
Here's another site that has gone through a redesign for the better. The fine folks at ESPN.com know how to deliver on the Web, and this NASCAR portal is often the first to get the scoop on breaking news in the garage and beyond. ESPN has been able to hire some highly experienced writing talent in the past few years, with Terry Blount (Dallas Morning News) and Ed Hinton (Tribune Company) coming from the newspaper ranks and David Newton and Marty Smith from chief rival nascar.com. ESPN.com is also able to tap its TV personalities like Dale Jarrett for videos. Stats and schedules are easy to find, but here's another site that has not updated its driver lists. You can buy tickets on this site and its message board is pretty active.
Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season site
OK, admit it. You go to Jayski much more than you'll admit. Come on, where else are you going to find all the latest rumors and gossip, even if it's not quite factual? Not yet, at least. Every great NASCAR rumor has appeared in some form on Jayski.com since 1996 and it's still the place to go to find out what paper or web site wrote a story about Dale Earnhardt Jr. today. This site is kind of info overkill. You could win some great bar bets by studying all the obscure stats Jayski has compiled. It's a great place to see car paint schemes, read team press releases, and find info on driver appearances at the next race you're attending. This site is owned by ESPN.com, but is still run by it's creator, Jay Adamczyk. About the only thing Jayski.com doesn't offer is fantasy racing.
FoxSports.com
You would think since Fox does a good job with its TV broadcasts of NASCAR races, then they would do a bang-up job with NASCAR on the Web. Right you are. This Fox Sports site is easy to navigate, with logical places for stats and schedules. They have plentiful videos, most featuring Fox NASCAR personalities Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond, Darrell Waltrip and Mike Joy. McReynolds, Hammond and Waltrip all write opinion pieces for the site. Their driver list was updated, but nothing fancy. A unique feature for this site is RaceTrax, with gives fans everything you need for a race weekend.
SpeedTV.com
Fox's little brother is the definitive place to find all things racing. They feature a decent NASCAR section, with a schedule, but no stats. While they pick up much of their news material from SceneDaily.com (see below), SpeedTV.com does offer up the opinions of some of its TV personalities like Jimmy Spencer, Bob Dillner, John Roberts and Hermie Sadler. This site features a very active forum for fans and lots of videos, courtesy of the Speed TV studios.
SceneDaily.com
SceneDaily (and its cousin SportingNews.com) is a great place to find a lot of original NASCAR content and breaking news for all three series. Much like ESPN.com, this place breaks the big stuff a lot. This isn't the greatest place to find old race results and stats, however. Where they lack in stats, they make up with videos featuring mildly entertaining round-table discussion sessions with their staff writers.
RacingOne.com
This site tries really hard and its one of the better places to go for all the racing series, especially NHRA. It's also a great place to buy NASCAR merchandise and tickets to ISC racetracks. The site's stats section is going through an update, so hopefully it will be up and running when the cars hit the track for real next week. In the past, RacingOne.com has had a really good live qualifying grid for Sprint Cup. They have an active fan forum and plenty of staff and fan blogs. Their original content is pretty good and their videos are actually podcasts from MRN Radio and the One Cast Channel. The site has a limited number of historical NASCAR podcasts, including footage from the 1979 Daytona 500.
-- Michele Vincze
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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