"The Track Too Tough To Tame" will feature a new look this weekend. A fresh coat of pavement since we last visited has provided a smoother racing surface, more grip and higher speeds.

What happens when you take an already demanding oval and turn up the speeds? We will all find out together this weekend as the Sprint Cup series visits Darlington Raceway for the 2008 Dodge Challenger 500.

We are less than two weeks away from the May 17th NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. 21 Sprint Cup drivers are already locked in. They earned their spots by winning a race in the last year, winning a Championship within the last ten years or by being a previous All-Star race winner. Two more drivers will race their way in by finishing first and second in the Sprint Showdown qualifying race.

Once again the final All-Star starting position will be determined by you. Race fans can go to this page and vote one deserving driver into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

This year I am voting for Kenny Schrader! There is no nicer guy in the Sprint Cup garage and that team could make good use of some extra cash. This race pays over $1,000,000 to the winner but even the last place finisher will get a nice $80,000 payday. Who are you voting into the Sprint All-Star Race this year?

The 2008 Dan Lowry 400 just may go down in history as one of the best ever at the historic Richmond International Raceway. Denny Hamlin dominated but couldn't close the deal. Then two of NASCAR's best battled for the win and wrecked each other allowing third place Clint Bowyer to slip past and claim victory.

Before Junior Nation gets all excited I want to go on the record here as saying this was just a hard racing incident. Dale Earnhardt Jr didn't give Kyle Busch any extra room, and at that point in the race he shouldn't. But, when Busch got a little loose underneath him there was no room for him to correct and he moved up into Junior.

Busch has a reputation for being over aggressive. I don't believe that was the case in this incident. This was just two drivers racing inches apart for the win with less than three laps to go.

This weekend Richmond International Raceway will host the NASCAR Sprint Cup series on Saturday night. Richmond has a long history of great racing on its fast and wide short track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn't won a race since he rolled into Victory Lane in Richmond two years ago this weekend. Hendrick Motorsports drivers swept both poles and both races here in 2007. Now that he has Hendrick horsepower and know-how behind him can Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally return to Victory Lane?

Tony Stewart stirred up the NASCAR world recently when word slipped out that he was exploring the idea of leaving Joe Gibbs Racing. Among the rumored issues is that Stewart wants to be a NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner and that opportunity is not available to him with Gibbs.

What are Stewart's current options for the future? Which ones make the most sense? The answer varies depending on what Stewart really wants for his future.

The 2008 Aaron's 499 from Talladega was a pretty typical Talladega race. The Sprint Cup stars kept their cool for much of the race and we saw a safe first 100 laps. Then they turned up the intensity as the end was in sight.

Drivers stopped giving and taking as the battle intensified near the end of the race. This lead to two big wrecks in the closing laps including a last lap pileup which unfortunately caused a premature end to the race. Kyle Busch was out front in his Joe Gibbs Toyota Camry when the final crash unfolded. The running order was frozen instantly and Busch was awarded the win midway up the backstretch.

Chevrolet drivers have dominated Talladega Superspeedway since 1999. The "Bowtie Brigade" have won an incredible sixteen of the last seventeen Talladega races. The only non-Chevy winner in this millennium was Dale Jarrett's October 2005 Talladega score.

What will this Sunday's 2008 Aaron's 499 bring? Talladega races are always a crap shoot. Fans should expect 499 miles of door-to-door battles, at least one multi-car wreck known as "The Big One," and a margin of victory well under a quarter of a second. Whether you love restrictor plate racing or hate it Talladega races usually leave fans with something to talk about.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers have swept the last four races. Will Jimmie Johnson win his second in a row or can Dale Earnhardt Jr. return to Victory Lane at a race track he used to dominate?

Danica Patrick made history this weekend when she won the Japan 300 at the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval. Danica is not only the first woman to ever win an IndyCar Series race she is the first woman to ever win any major auto racing event.

Danica is truly one in a million. A talented racer who happens to be an attractive, intelligent woman. NASCAR needs someone like Danica, or maybe Danica herself, to be successful in Sprint Cup racing. She would be great for the sport.

This weekend the road course at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez near Mexico City will host the Nationwide series stars. Since the Sprint Cup series has the weekend off we can expect a bunch of Sprint Cup regulars to crash the party to try and gain some valuable road racing experience.

This will mark the fourth anniversary of this Mexico City event. There are large portions of the United States that are still without a NASCAR event within easy reach. Should NASCAR be spending its precious race weekends outside of the country?

NASCAR has a long tradition of being a family sport. Famous names like Petty, Earnhardt, Waltrip and Wallace tie the past to the present and help make NASCAR the great sport that we love today. How well do you know about NASCAR's family ties? Here is a quiz to test your knowledge of some famous NASCAR families.