NASCAR seems to be throwing up more than its fair share of pretty ladies who are inexplicably attracted to slightly overweight unspectacular-looking men, and today we reveal one more: Tara Roquemore. When she met Tony Stewart in 2006 at Home Depot (who sponsor his team), they were dubbed ‘TNT’ by the media, and their relationship justifiably explosive, as they split in 2007. However, it seems a reconciliation may be on the cards, as they were spotted together again earlier this year.
Don’t let the handlebar moustaches and toothless grins fool you - the likes of Ingrid Vandebosch and Athena Barber have made the modern NASCAR track a thoroughly sexy place to be. Joining this tour-de-force of hotness is Samantha Sarcinella, who has been seeing Kyle ‘Wild Thing’ Busch since 2007.
Nascar’s driver of the year blows his whole season in three races
In a recent poll in Sports Illustrated, Kyle Busch’s fellow Nascar pros voted him as the most talented driver on the circuit. Had the same drivers been polled on the more subjective issue of popularity, Busch would have finished bottom of the heap. He has earned a reputation as a sulky, surly, cocky asshat, albeit a sulky, surly, cocky asshat who has won more races this year than anyone else.
At the start of the Nascar Sprint Cup Chase (Nascar’s play-off system, essentially), Busch held a big lead over his rivals, thanks to a stellar regular season. Three disastrous races into the Chase, Busch finds himself more than 300 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, with virtually no chance of winning the title.
The NASCAR drivers who voted yesterday’s Grid Girl of the Day Athena Barber as the sexiest WAG on the track may have missed a trick by denying Ingrid Vandebosch top spot. She is a Belgian model who married wheel jockey Jeff Gordon in 2006, and thoroughly earned a centerpiece position in the ‘Athelete’s Wives’ section of the Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit Issue.
The hottest WAG in NASCAR has abdicated from her throne
In 2007, Sports Illustratedsurveyed NASCAR drivers on the questions that really matter. Somehow, the optimum length of a handlebar moustache was never discussed, but the hottest WAG on the circuit was declared as Athena Barber, meaning there were many pairs of envious eyes staring at Clint Bowyer come race day.
Enjoy two thrilling finishes from the weekend’s Stateside racing
Great action from Nascar this weekend, when Jimmie Johnson held off Tony Stewart to win the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 by less than a second. Johnson’s win secured him third seeding in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, behind leader Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.
Sunday’s IndyCar event saw an even closer finish, and a new champion for 2008. Watch it after the jump…
The supermodel who loves NASCAR and strategically-placed iPods
Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Is one of the biggest names in NASCAR, so it’s not surprising that he caught the attention of one of America’s greatest bikini wearing ladies. Marissa is a former surfer and current Sports Illustrated model, who dated Dale briefly after she divorced her first husband in 2002. More staggering pictures of Miss Miller after the jump…
A driver like Tony Stewart makes us realise just how dull most modern F1 drivers are. In a recent, must-read interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the two-time Nascar champ revealed what motivates him: “Pussy, money and race cars. That’s pretty much all I care about.”
No F1 driver has the balls to come out with such a line. They’d be too worried about upsetting sponsors or besmirching the F1 global brand - fair enough, F1 is a very different environment to Nascar. But we can’t even think of an F1 driver who has a similarly brazen philosophy to Stewart’s. Kimi likes a drink and Lewis loves the ladies but neither comes close to matching the sheer fuck-youness of the man they call Smoke.
Other amazing stuff we learned from the interview:
American prodigy prepares for first race in the big time
When 18-year-old Joey Logano won the Nationwide Meijer 300 in June, he became Nascar’s youngest ever winner. At the time, Logano’s team owner Joe Gibbs said Joey might start in NASCAR’s senior Sprint Cup series before the season was over.
Gibbs was right. Logano is entered for this weekend’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400, the main event at the Richmond International Speedway. He’ll have to qualify for the event first though, as Gibbs’s team doesn’t rank in the top 35 in owner points.
