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These superstitions aren’t as widespread as they used to be but Dale Earnhardt faces Race Threatening
These superstitions aren’t as widespread as they used to be but Dale Earnhardt faces Race
In the adrenaline-fueled world of NASCAR, where speed is king and victory is elusive, drivers often turn to superstitions as their secret weapon on the track. From avoiding peanuts to embracing lucky charms, these rituals play a significant role in shaping the narratives of racing legends. In this article, we delve into the intriguing world of NASCAR superstitions, from historic jinxes to heartwarming tales of luck.
Dale Earnhardt and the Quirks of a Legend
Even the legendary Dale Earnhardt, with his intimidating presence on the track, had his share of quirks. He believed in leaving a building the same way he entered, a ritual aimed at maintaining an aura of invincibility. Earnhardt’s superstitions were not isolated; the entire NASCAR community is steeped in these peculiar beliefs.
Peanuts and the 1930s Jinx
In the 1930s, peanuts earned a notorious reputation on the NASCAR circuit. Two crashes, one at Langhorne Speedway and another at Nashville State Fair, both involving peanut shells, instilled fear in drivers. The superstition persists, with drivers avoiding peanuts not for their messiness but for the bad luck associated with them.
Dale Earnhardt faces Race Threatening
The Dreaded Number 13 and the Color Green
In a sport fueled by speed and precision, the number 13 is deemed the black cat of NASCAR. With only one win in over 650 races, the superstition surrounding this number is real. Similarly, the color green carries a dark past, with tragic crashes involving green cars influencing drivers to steer clear of this supposedly unlucky hue.
Racing Charms and Rituals
Beyond avoiding jinxes, NASCAR drivers actively seek good fortune through charms and rituals. Pete Depaolo raced with his son’s shoes tied beneath his car, swearing by the luck it brought. However, not all drivers find solace in charms; Mark Martin had a negative experience with a four-leaf clover, leading him to eschew good luck symbols.
Shaving, $50 Bills, and Other Race Day Taboos
In NASCAR, shaving on race day is considered a taboo, tracing back to the tragic fate of racer George “Doc” Mackenzie, who shaved off his “lucky” goatee and met a fatal end in 1936. The superstition extends to avoiding $50 bills on race day, with champions like Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Tony Stewart steering clear of the supposedly jinxed currency.
READ: Kyle Larson Rules Out a Kevin Harvick-Type NASCAR Career for Himself
Luck Takes the Wheel: Heartwarming Superstitions
Superstitions in NASCAR aren’t merely about dodging bad luck; they also serve as beacons of hope for drivers seeking good fortune. One poignant story involves Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 win. A six-year-old fan, Wessa Miller, gifted Earnhardt a penny, which he glued to his dashboard. The result? A victorious race, immortalizing the lucky penny in the Richard Childress Racing Museum.
In the 2016 season finale, Martin Truex Jr. received a lucky rabbit’s foot from Hall of Fame drag racer Darrell Gwynn. Truex went on to lead 78 laps and clinch his first championship, attributing his success to the charm.
Racing Beyond Logic
In the high-speed, high-stakes world of NASCAR, superstitions are more than just rituals; they are the unwritten rules that drivers abide by to gain that extra edge. Whether avoiding peanuts or embracing lucky charms, these superstitions add a layer of mystique to the race track, turning a sport rooted in logic and precision into a realm where belief in the unseen can make all the difference. As the engines roar and the checkered flag waves, one thing is clear – in NASCAR, superstitions ride shotgun with speed.
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Max Verstappen has once again claimed that he is the target of ‘British bias’ in the media after watching the fallout from his battle with Lando Norris. The three-time world champion’s defending was criticised by a number of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen and Norris shared a titanic battle at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, but the flashpoint came at Turn 12 as the Dutchman deployed a signature tactic, lunging deep into the corner to get to the apex first before running both himself and his title rival off the road.
Norris opted to keep his foot in and overtook the Red Bull driver around the outside, although this decision landed him a five-second time penalty that dropped him back behind Verstappen in the general classification. This sparked a major debate with other drivers – Hamilton included – calling for the FIA to take action and outlaw this style of defending.
Verstappen has been frustrated by this debate. Quizzed by Viaplay in Mexico on whether he’d like to see the rules changed, he replied: “No, not really. But I have the wrong passport.” Asked if he was referring to a British passport, he confirmed as much.
“Yeah, it’s the wrong country, on that aspect… with complaining” he replied. “I love my passport but on that aspect, I should have had a different passport, actually.” The Dutchman also complained of ‘British bias’ earlier this season following comments made by Adrian Newey.
When asked about the debate surrounding Verstappen’s on-track conduct, former title rival Hamilton was quick to point out that the Dutchman has been employing these tactics for some time, dating back to their no-punches-pulled fight in 2021.
“It’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton explained ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix. “They probably need to make some adjustments for sure.
“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which years it is. I mean, as a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.
“I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”
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$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon teamed up with Chase Elliott and other HMS drivers in a lighthearted fun exercise for fans where they attempted to solve the mystery behind an old tweet from their current driver.
The anonymous tweet reads, “Don’t judge me, but I can’t wait to see the new twilight movie haha,” and it’s believed to belong to one of the HMS’s driver lineups, which includes Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Jeff Gordan, who has a net worth of $200 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth), and HMS drivers tried to guess, but none of them were correct. Bowman and Elliott named Byron, while Byron went with Elliott, but it was Larson. He accepted that it was his tweet in 2011 and revealed that he likes Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight movie.
HMS shared the video of the fun investigative activity on Instagram with a caption:
“Hold on tight, spider monkey”
Watch the Jeff Gordon and HMS’s guesses below:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBjQ7EzP3A7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e5182e01-3688-440a-ae00-0bf669973e15&ig_mid=01331E07-1F15-4C86-B3DB-7587302F0125
Three out of four HMS drivers are still in contention for the 2024 NASCAR Cup championship. Larson and Byron are in good position in the playoffs points table, with 35 and 27 points above the cutline.
However, 2020 Cup champion Elliott is in danger of getting eliminated from title contention, as he’s 53 points behind the cutline heading to this weekend’s Homestead-Miami race.
In an interview with NBC Sports earlier this season, Jeff Gordon spoke about the competition between their two best drivers, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, for the regular season championship. Gordan wanted to see both top drivers perform well and race aggressively against each other while maintaining sportsmanship in their chase for the regular season title.
However, neither Larson nor Elliott won the championship; it was Tyler Reddick who clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship. Speaking to NBC Sports, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon said:
“I think it’s pretty clear at Hendrick how we expect teams and drivers to race against one another and how they’ve got to go and compete not only against their competitors but against one another.
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“Kyle Busch is an a**”: Brad Keselowski publicly chastised his fierce NASCAR rival in front of over 150,000 spectators
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski birthed one of the fiercest rivalries in NASCAR. The duo had multiple run-ins throughout their careers, but the seed of their feud was sown at the 2010 Xfinity Series race hosted by the Bristol Motor Speedway. In the aftermath, Keselowski publicly castigated Busch in front of over 150,000 fans during driver introductions.
Busch kicked off his Food City 250 from third place in his #18 Toyota while Keselowski began in 13th. However, as the 250-lap battle inched closer to its conclusion, the then-Penske Racing driver held the domination while the former #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver fought hard for the lead.
After struggling to overtake for nearly a dozen laps, Busch, with 31 laps until the checkered flag dropped, lunged ahead of Keselowski, only to be wrecked from behind and lose the spot again.
However, the JGR driver quickly retaliated and spun out Keselowski’s #22 Dodge. The move propelled the #18 Toyota to the victory lane while the Penske driver fell from a potential win to settling in 14th place.
The bitter feeling inside Brad Keselowski surfaced during the Bristol Cup Series race driver introductions the following day. After Kyle Busch introduced himself, his fierce rival took the mic and blasted Busch with his “a**’ comment.
“Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing Dodge. Kyle Busch is an a**,” he said.
However, when asked why he slammed Busch, Keselowski said that Juan Pablo Montoya challenged that he can’t call the JGR driver an “a**”. It’s worth mentioning that the crowd’s roar on the Penske driver’s introduction notched 104.2 decibels.
“Sometimes you just don’t like a guy”: Kyle Busch publicly slams Brad Keselowski during their 2017 title fight
The bitter rivalry between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski was such that both made unapologetic comments about the other from time to time. Despite the latter publicly extending an olive branch to the former in 2015, their relationship remained sour.
Max Verstappen addresses ‘British bias’ at Mexican GP after Lewis Hamilton put-down
$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
