The Truth: Speed DOES Matter

When TracksideOnline nails it, they nail it. An except of a recent email received via their (fantastic) subscription service, talking about the Firestone Indylights Series:

"...there are 26 cars practicing for this year's Freedom 100 with JR Hildebrand the early leader in the session at 191.575 miles per hour. Not that it matters but the qualifying record for IMS in a Sprint Cup NASCAR stock car belongs to Casey Mears at 186.293 mph, 48.311 seconds, Aug. 7, 2004."

While many NASCAR fans smugly declare that even the second-tier Nationwide outdraws the Indycar Series, it's worth pointing out that on the track our second-tier series can flat-out demolish the Cup cars.

Those guys can have the crowds. We'll take the speed.