Shining with SYLVANIA's Sponsorship

The 2012 championship battle between Brad Keselowski (left)
and Jimmie Johnson shaped itself in the SYLVANIA 300.
(Photo: NHMS/HHP)

Today's announcement that OSRAM SYLVANIA has renewed its sponsorship of the September Cup race at NHMS continues a partnership that has become synonymous with racing in New England.  The partner first signed on to sponsor the then-Winston Cup Series race in 2003.

Since that first race on Sept. 14, 2003, a lot has changed:

- New Hampshire International Speedway was purchased by Speedway Motorsports Inc. in January 2008 and renamed to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  With it, came changes to the facility, a video board and scoring pylon, a more usable infield and a state-of-the-art bath house were a few noticeable improvements to NHMS.

It's a Winter Wondering-land

It may or may not be winter here at the "Magic Mile."

We like it up here in New Hampshire, most of the time at least.  We have a phrase: "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."

We're an outlier when it comes to NASCAR tracks.  We have full seasonal changes.  In the summer, we see the heat that breeds hot laps.  But in the winter, when NASCAR is out of sight, albeit never out of mind, we get to enjoy our snowsports.

Snowmobiling.  Skiing and riding.  Sledding, for the kid that still lives inside of us.  We have White Christmases, snow-capped mountains and frozen lakes.

At least, we did.

This year, it snowed just in time for Christmas. A few pre-New Year's storms later, and we were well on our way to the harsh winter, the kind that make the first roar of an engine in early spring just that much sweeter.

At least, that's what we thought.

Six Observations About Gen-6

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tested their brand new Generation-Six cars for the last two days and will continue to so on Saturday.

... At least, those with cars still in one piece will continue to test.

Here are a half dozen things that I noticed in the brief time I tuned in for the testing on SPEED via NASCAR.com.

1. New Cars, Same Pile-Ups

The Gen-6s wrecked in pack racing every bit as much as the five generations before them.  In an afternoon pack session, Marcos Ambrose got a little loose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. closed in too fast, causing Ambrose's No. 9 to go for a spin and set off "The Big One."