Right rear tire on Paul Menard?s car explodes after he enters the pits

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- A fire in the right wheel well of Paul Menard's car meant bad news for his right-rear tire.

Contact on a restart jammed up the field, and Menard ended up with a cut tire, which compounded itself into a fire in the wheel well.

"I guess a bunch of rubber got wrapped up underneath around the axle I guess," Menard said. "Came in a couple of times trying to fix the damage and try to get the rubber off. We didn't get it all and I guess it just caught fire. I didn't really know it until there was a little bit of spark coming in the car and landed on the window net; thought that was kind of weird. About a lap later they said I was on fire, I lost my brakes and then the damn wheel blew right off."

That tire explosion happened as Menard's crew approached his car to inspect the issue. As team members encroached with an extinguisher and fresh tire, the hot fire expanded the air in the tire and it exploded, blowing the wheel off. (You can see in the video that the violence of the pop lifts Menard's car off the ground before it settles to rest.)

It was like the micro version of what happened to Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2012 Daytona 500.

While that lap 193 restart proved dangerous for Menard and crew, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth escaped. The field accordioned when Jeff Gordon couldn't get going and Kenseth and Johnson were in the morass of fender-bumping. However, Kenseth escaped without significant damage and Johnson's left-front fender wasn't dented enough to derail his quest for a sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/rear-tire-paul-menard-car-explodes-enters-pits-010716360--nascar.html

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Fast Facts: 2013 Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson

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Carl Edwards wins the pole at Texas while Jimmie Johnson is third and Matt Kenseth is sixth

Maybe Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are bound to be near each other at all times over the last three weeks?

The two drivers tied atop the Sprint Cup Series points standings shared a golf cart ride to the grid on Friday afternoon and qualified back-to-back. And there isn't much distance between them, as Johnson will start third and Kenseth will start sixth.

But it's Carl Edwards who is on the pole, beating Johnson by two hundredths of a second with a lap of 196.114 MPH, just ahead of Brad Keselowski. The gap between the two, according to ESPN based on their qualifying times? Seven seconds.

[Watch: Jimmie Johnson trivia]

Johnson went ahead of Kenseth and was so loose of off turn four that the back right rear corner of his car scraped the wall. But he stayed in the throttle and shot to the pole, two tenths of a second ahead of Joey Logano, who was the polesitter at the time.

Kenseth couldn't match Johnson but he came close, missing Johnson's time by five one-hundredths of a second.

The rest of the Chasers go like this: Kyle Busch starts fifth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts seventh, Jeff Gordon is eighth, Kasey Kahne is 11th, Logano is 12th, Ryan Newman is 13th, Greg Biffle is 18, Kevin Harvick starts 19th, Clint Bowyer starts 26th and Kurt Busch is 31st.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/carl-edwards-wins-pole-texas-while-jimmie-johnson-214230506--nascar.html

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That's the way the rookie crumbles

Danica Patrick isn't thrilled with her rookie year. Don't be fooled. By all measures that really count with Danica, it was a great year.

She dominated the NASCAR conversation early, especially when news broke that she was rubbing fenders with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. She won the celebrity competition on "Chopped." And she landed a co-host gig with Trace Adkins on the upcoming American Country Awards.

Not bad for someone who can't remember which is the accelerator and which is the brake.

Okay, that's a bit harsh. Patrick proved she can drive a stock car better driver than 99.9 percent of Earth's population. But her first full season in Sprint Cup proved she really has little business racing against the other 0.1 percent, which, sadly for her, comprises the weekly starting field.

She finished 27th in point standings and had one more top-10 finish than Lindsay Lohan. Patrick's marketing appeal allows her be held to a lower standard, but come on. She's starting to make Anna Ko

Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/nascar/article_external/thats_the_way_the_rookie_crumbles/15100976

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Daryl Harr (Photo Credit: Jeff Bottari / Getty Images North America)NEWTON, Iowa ? Daryl Harr scored his best finish of the Nationwide Series season with a 24th-place run in the JD Motorsports with Gary Keller No. 4 Chevrolet in the DuPont Pioneer 250 Sunday at Iowa Speedway. Harr started 39th and rolled home 24th in...more»

The article Daryl Harr Records Top-Finish of Season At Iowa Speedway is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/nationwide/06/10/daryl-harr-records-top-finish-of-season-at-iowa-speedway/

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Ford 2013 NNS DuPont Pioneer 250 Post Race Notes And Quotes

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The article Ford 2013 NNS DuPont Pioneer 250 Post Race Notes And Quotes is from Catchfence.

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Mike Bliss Beats Season Best Finish at Iowa Speedway

Mike Bliss (Photo Credit: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)Mooresville, NC (June 10, 2013) ? Before Sunday?s rain delayed DuPont Pioneer 250, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Mike Bliss emphasized how important car setup was at the 7/8-mile oval. ?Your car setup is crucial – if you?re in sync you?ll run great,? he said. Bliss? No. 19...more»

The article Mike Bliss Beats Season Best Finish at Iowa Speedway is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/nationwide/06/10/mike-bliss-beats-season-best-finish-at-iowa-speedway/

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Fantasy NASCAR Preview: Las Vegas - Kobalt Tools 400

This week, the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will be in Sin City for the Kobalt Tools 400. You can gamble on slots in Las Vegas, yes, but I feel like races here are also a good time to do a little gambling in fantasy leagues. Unlike last week in Phoenix, no active driver [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BenchRacingWithSteveAndCharlie/~3/Px5U2I0gqQs/fantasy-nascar-preview-las-vegas-kobalt-tools-400-2.html

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