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Events and Attractions

NASCAR Returns To Dirt Track Racing With Rave Reviews; More To Come?

Last night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series CarCash Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway gave fans "raised on asphalt and stock cars a taste of the slides and wall-banging that are staples" of dirt track racing, and it "looks like NASCAR will have to come back," according to Dan Gelston of the AP. The speedway was "absolutely packed," with about 20,000 fans "spread out on the grassy hills or creaky wooden bleachers; most seats with a hand-painted number." They also "camped out along the street entering the track." The fans "got quite a show," as the trucks "skidded and slid around the track, mashed and bashed against the wall and doors, living up to the hype of one of the most anticipated races of the season in any NASCAR series." Driver Ryan Newman said, "I think our sport really needed something different. I think it's a monumental day. It's something special. It's over tonight, but hopefully it happens again." Gelston wrote there "sure seemed to be more excitement for the Truck Series race" than for this Sunday's Sprint Cup Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (AP, 7/24). SPORTING NEWS' Bob Pockrass wrote the trucks were "slower than what fans were used to at the banked half-mile track, which was virtually rock-hard for most of the race." But the speed "didn't matter as much as just trying something new -- something different but in a historic venue in front of passionate fans" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 7/24).

CATCH ME RIDIN' DIRTY: USA TODAY's Jeff Gluck writes the race "should be the catalyst for change in the sport, the kind of moment that lays the groundwork for the future." The trucks were "heavy, clumsy and painfully slow." It featured "only one wreck." and "no side-by-side finish." But the race "was still 10 times better than many of the events held on 1.5-mile cookie cutter tracks used by the Sprint Cup Series." There was "entertainment from start to finish -- something that can't be said about many NASCAR races these days" (USATODAY.com, 7/25). YAHOO SPORTS' Nick Bromberg writes the race "went from novelty to mainstay in the span of three hours." Bromberg: "If you watched and weren't entertained, I don't know what to tell you" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/25). NASCAR President Mike Helton said of the event, "It not only gives up a Wednesday night level of excitement, it also gives us, NASCAR, and motorsports in general, an opportunity to show dirt track racing to the world." He added, "What the future holds? We'll see, but I know tonight is something everybody is going to check off and say that was a historic moment" ("NCWTS Setup with Krista Voda," Speed, 7/24). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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