Friday May 11th, 2012   The Lady in Black, the track, to tough to tame.  The next challange for the N4Nites series drivers to tackle.  How would it play out, how many Darlington stripes would the lady hand out by the end of the night.  We would all find out, under the lights for some Friday night racing.  Drivers took to the track during practice, getting their cars tuned to the handle of the track.  Speeds were fast, and tire wear was high.

Qualifying got underway, and you could feel the tension in the air.  Speeds were quick, as Eric Monaco, returning after a couple race break, took the pole with a blistering time of 27.67, followed by Shoemaker, with a 27.71, Porter with a 27.83, Boneske with a 27.99, and Jeff Prutzman rounded out the top 5 with a 28.37.

As the race got underway, Monaco took off, opening up a small lead, but not really being able to run away with it.  But the first caution would happen on lap lap, when Moore, got into turn three to hot, hit the wall, collecting the 43 of Webb and 21 of Rob Rainville.  Pitstops would then come on lap 4 as Shoemaker led them down, some drivers took only fuel, some took two tires.  Shoemaker, in an effort to lead a lap, sped down pitroad and beat Monaco to the line, giving himself an EOLL, but getting the lap led bonus point that he needed.

The green flag would fly, and this time they would get some green flag racing in, but just a handfull of laps after the green, Monaco would have electrical issues and fall four laps down, giving the lead to Boneske, followed by Porter, Shoemaker, and Prutzman.  Green flag pit stops would happen on lap 28, as Boneske started them.  The next yellow flag flew on lap 51 when Moore, already one lap down, decided to make a boneheaded move that dumped Shoemaker.   Pitstops would happen again, as drivers fueled up and got fresh tires.

The yellow flag, getting it's workout tonight, flew again not even a lap later when Shoemaker, drove Moore into the wall, ending his night and showing his frustration with the Moore.   Overall, the race saw a bunch of torn up racecars, a ton of Darlington stripes, and Monaco coming back from four laps down and overcoming electrical issues, putting all but Prutzman a lap down, leading the most laps, and winning for his 100th time in online racing.



Friday May 4th, 2012   Talladega Superspeedway, a monsterous 2.66 mile, 33 degree banked track.  The next challenge for the stars of the N4Nites series to take on.  Speeds were fast around the track, with Jeff Prutzman posting the fastest speed in practice, an amazing 196.87 miles per hour, 48.652 second lap.  He was closely followed by Bob Moore, only 0.09 seconds off his lap, running 196.427 or 48.751. Glenn Webb took the third spot, running a 48.766, 196.367 miles per hour.

As qualifying got underway, unsure of what they would run, the drivers went out to hopefully put down a fast two laps.  As the smoke settled, a surprise was shown atop the pylon, Bob Moore took the pole with a lap of 50.173, closely followed by Glenn Webb with a 50.176, Dave Porter with a 50.228, John Boneske with a 50.270, and Shoemaker with a 50.281 rounding out the top five.

The field lined up on pit road, excitment was in the air.  As the drivers filed out onto the track, team-mates talked about when and where they'd go to get together.  As the green flag flew, Moore and Glenn didn't get the starts they wanted, giving way to Porter, Shoemaker, and Boneske.  Porter, Boneske, and Shoemaker would get out front until lap 5 when everyone else caught up, and by the 6th lap, the rookie, Dan Minear was up front and showing that he can be a contender for the win.

Green flag pit stops would come on lap 11, as the field came in for fuel and some teams elected to take no tires.  Lap 12 would be the first caution of the night, as a slower car on the bottom, choked the field, Moore and Porter collided sending both of them up the track, flipping into the air, and ending both their nights.  That trend would continue, as motors would expire, and by lap 32, there were only three drivers left, Boneske, Shoemaker, and Dan Minear.

Boneske and Shoemaker had some serious damage after incidents earlier in the race, proving that they could only be as fast as Dan with Boneske leading Shoemaker, and Shoemaker pushing.   The last caution of the night would prove to be costly, as Boneske's motor expired on lap 48.   Leaving Minear and Shoemaker the only two drivers on the track.

Minear, paying more attention then Shoemaker, got smart and topped off before they went green, being able to make it on one more pitstop.  As the green flag waved, Shoemaker pulled out to a 0.7 second gap, but Minear quickly closed, passing Shoemaker, and pulling away.   Minear survived the chaos, leading 24 laps, keeping his fenders straight, and coming from laps down to win the race.

Next week, the stars move onto Darlington in what should be another action packed race weekend.



Friday April 27th, 2012   The stars and car's of N4Nites rolled into Richmond, Virginia for a race under the lights.   The track was fast as practice times were hot.  Shoemaker paced the field with an untouchable 20.58, followed by Billy Squier with a 20.80, and Bob Moore rounded out the top three with a 20.93.  The whole field was close, only separated by a couple thousandths of a second.

After a quick break, Qualifying would begin.  Shoemaker took the pole for the third week in a row with a 20.74, followed by Squier, backing up his practice speed, with a 20.77.   Third was taken by Geoff Kincade, who ran a 20.80, followed by Dave Porter with a 20.84, and Jeff Prutzman rounded out the top five with a lap of 20.90.  As happy hour got underway, fuel strategy was the talk between the teams, some having to make 5 stops, some only having to make four or less depending on if and how the caution flags came out.

The race would start out clean, with Shoemaker taking a 1.2 second lead over Squier, and the field jumping into single file.  The first troubles of the night would be had by John Boneske, getting into turn 1 alittle hot, bumping into Bob Moore, but instead of Moore going for a loop, it upset Boneske's car, sending him into the wall.

On lap 12, the number 2 of Jim Ramos decided to be a bonehead, instead of letting the faster traffic go by, he blocked them down the front straight, and got a good piece of Shoemaker's car, sending him into the wall, ruining his night, and Shoemaker claimed the caution.   Shoemaker had come over the radio, stating that if he got back out there, the next caution would also be his.  NASCAR officials were now keeping a close eye on the #5 and #2.

Shoemaker told his spotter to go over to the 2's spotter and tell him Shoemaker had a message ..."You better run, and run hard. Cause I'm coming."

Glenn Webb would also have problems when the 88 and he, going for the same spot as the caution was coming out, knocked him up into the wall, blowing his motor and ending his night.

The race would go green flag on lap 18, the field quickly got single file, and was able to run two laps, until lap 20 when the 97 of Bob Moore lost it in turn 1.  Spinning out and taking Boneske and the 88 of Dan Minear.  Both Boneske and Moore went for a wild ride, flipping down the back stretch and ending their nights.

The green flag flew once again on lap 23, and this time it would stay out for green flag pitstops, coming on lap 57, with Squier coming in first.  He would quickly grab four fresh tires, and 2 can's of fuel and get back out there.  Shoemaker, stayed out for another 9 laps, taking the lead back with his beat to hell race car.  Everyone would get the break they needed, when right before everyone else was going to have to pit on lap 62/63, the 88's motor expired on the backstretch, in front of Shoemaker.  Shoemaker quickly radioed to his teammate Porter and told him caution was going to fly, 88 blew up on back.

Green flag would fly on lap 68, with Squier getting the lucky dog, putting him back on the lead lap.  Shoemaker would pull out to a 1.1 second lead, but Squier quickly closed after 10 or so laps.  The race would go green from there, Squier, taking the win, leading 109/160 laps.   Once again, Shoemaker had the fastest car, Squier lead the most laps, and took home the win.



Friday April 20th, 2012   The stars of the N4Nites Cup series rolled into Kansas Speedway for their 8th points event of the season.  After last week at Texas, some hope their luck will turn around here at Kansas and some hope their luck continues.  Speeds were fast through out the pratice session, Shoemaker showing the way with a time of 29.76, followed by Squier with a 29.86 and Jeff Prutzman rounded out the top three with a 30.102.  After practice wrapped up, and a quick intermission to allow cars to cool, qualifying would start.

What an excitement.  Shoemaker ran a blistering time of 29.79, taking the pole for the second week in a row, followed by Jeff Prutzman with a 30.03, Billy Squier with a 30.05, Bob Moore with a 30.404, and John Boneske rounded out the top 5 with at time of 30.44.

After a quick happy hour, the drivers took to the track, in what was going to be an exicting, fast paced race.  As the field took the green, Shoemaker got a good start, jumping out in front of the field and leading the field for the first 3 laps.  On Lap 4 Shoemaker got up high to allow his team-mate by low and as he did, Squier tried to push it alittle to hard and used the Chrome Horn to move Shoemaker out of the way, ending Shoemaker's hopes at being competitive and making up points that he had lost last week.  Shoemaker would later spin off turn 2 and slide down into the grass, frustrated, he called it a night.

The race would go on to have two more yellows, one for Bob Moore spinning out and hitting the wall, ending his night and he retired.  The other yellow was for debris.  The race went green after that, Prutzman having little luck, had his hopes end with a mishap in turns 1 and 2 where he tried to let a car go by low and an impatient 24 car rewarded him with a trip into the outside wall.  An adjustment on pitroad couldn't provide any help for the 52 and while trying to get his car up to speed coming out of the pits, Prutman took a trip through the grass on the front stretch and rolled his car over trying to avoid skidding out onto the pavement and bringing out a yellow.  The 52's motor was silent.

John Boneske and Billy Squier would then go on to be the only two contenders left, with the final stops ahead, Boneske and Squier pit, but Squier making a wrong move, and looping it on the apron giving valuable time to Boneske and it ended up being the race losing move for Squier, and the race winning break for Boneske, taking home his second win in a row, padding his point's lead more, and showing that he will be a threat for the championship.



Friday April 13th, 2012   The driver's of the N4Nites Cup series rolled into Fort Worth, Texas, for the seventh race of the season.  Shoemaker, hot off the win at Watkin's Glenn paced practice times with a 28.29, followed by John Boneske, 29.42, Jeff Prutzman, 28.48, Glenn Webb, 28.49, and Dave Porter rounded out the top 5 with a speed of 28.50.  As team's worked on their cars, word could be heard threw the garage area about how fast the tires wore down here, and that teams would be watching that right front.  Qualifying followed the fast Practice session, in witch Shoemaker took the top spot, running a 28.153, followed by Jeff Prutzman, 28.24, and Dave Porter with a 28.30 rounding out the top three starting spots.

After a quick Happy Hour, the drivers got settled into their machines to run the race at Texas Motor Speedway.  The excitment from the drivers could be felt threw the area, as the pace car paced the field coming to the green flag.  Shoemaker led the field coming to the green flag, and would hold that spot until Lap 2 when he started to fall back, Dave Porter, John Boneske, and Jim Thorndike.  Dave porter would lead lap 2 and moved out of the way to let John Boneske lead lap 3.

On lap 7, Jim Thorndike and Jeff Prutzman would rub some paint, but both walked away with little to no damage.  Lap 9 would see another lead change, when Thorndike got by Boneske to take the lead, showing that his car was still fast and was a threat to win the race.   Geoff Kincade would start green flag pit stops on lap 20.  Thorndike, Boneske, Shoemaker, and Porter all made stops on lap 21.  Glenn Webb, and Chuck Hoskins would come to pit lane on lap 22, making all but one driver, Prutzman, to have made green flag pitstops.  And Prutzman staying out would pay off for the 52 team.

Shoemaker would then loop it around on lap 23, bringing out the nights first caution.   Totally destroying his car, and ending his chance at winning the race tonight.  Almost everyone came back down pitroad to top off and get fresh rubber.  The top three at the green flag on lap 26 was Dave Porter, 1st Glenn Webb, 2nd Chuck Hoskins in 3rd Now the old saying cautions breed cautions came into effect right as the drivers went into turn one.   Boneske got loose, came down into the 52 of Prutzman which sent Thorndike and Kincade flipping over and even Prutzman got alittle air.  Shoemaker was also involved, but took little damage besides flat spotting his tires.

After pitstops were done, the field lined up to take the green flag on lap 31.  Glenn Webb had the number one spot, followed by Shoemaker, and Chuck Hoskins.  Shoemaker then would bring out the next caution, on lap 32.  He looped it the same way he did on lap 23, prompting his crew chief to make some major changes to get the car to handle correctly with all the damage.  The green flag would stay out, until lap 100 when the car just got away from Prutzman and spun it around in turn 4.  The green flag would wave on lap 106, as Webb lead them to the start, followed by Boneske, and Hoskins.  The money stops would happen on lap 122 as Boneske dove to pit road first.  One mistake here would cost you the race, and he came down for just enough fuel and a fresh set of tires to make it to the end of the race.   Webb came on lap 123 for fuel and tires but his pit crew made a fatal mistake, repairing damage to his car with 10 laps to go.  Boneske would then take the lead and never look back.

Overall, Shoemaker had the fastest car, Webb lead the most laps, but John Boneske took the top spot of the night, leading 27/134 laps and taking the trophy home in his second win of the season.  Friday, the stars head to Kansas and some hope that the track will treat them better then Texas did.



Friday April 6, 2012   The stars of N4Nites rolled into Watkins Glen, New York, for their first road course of the season and the sixth race of the N4Nites season.  Practice times were fast, with Eric Monaco running a 1:12:416, followed by Alex Shoemaker, with a 1:12:662.  Dave Porter, Jeff Prutzman, Chuck Hoskins, and John Bonseke, all ran times that were within a few hundreds of a second apart from each other.

After practice, there was a quick intermission and then the drivers got going for a fast qualifying sesson.  Eric Monaco pulled off the pole with a time of 1:12:85, followed by Shoemaker, with a lap of 1:13:21, and Bob Moore rounded out the top three with a time of 1:15:07.

The green flag waved, and everyone got single file quick except for Shoemaker and Monaco who raced down into turn 1, side by side.  Shoemaker got off the corner quick, and Monaco fell in behind Shoemaker as the field went up through the esses.

Right front tires wore, as the field screamed through Watkins Glen.  Bob Moore was the first to make green flag pit stops on lap, followed by Monaco on lap 9.  While green flag pit stops were happening the 88 of Dan Minear found out the hard way, blowing his tire out and getting caught in the gravel trap outside turn 11.  The tow truck was called to get his car and the green flag stayed out.  Lap 10 saw John Boneske pit, as Shoemaker pit on lap 11, followed by the 52 of Jeff Prutzman, and the 67 of Chuck Hoskins.  Porter rounded out the green flag pit stops on lap 12, and as he pit, it looked like he would get to lead a lap, and was denied by Shoemaker.

After the pit stops, Monaco proved he had a car to win, staying on Shoemaker's tail and not letting him pull out to a lead like he had during the first green flag run.  Shoemaker's crew got him out after green flag pit stops, an amazing 0.5 seconds ahead of Monaco.   Shoemaker reported back to his crew saying, "Nice job guys, I think I see steam coming out of his ears."  The roof camera's caught some amazing views, as Monaco and Shoemaker raced as hard as they could.

Overall the race stayed green, as the yellow flag sat idle in the flagstand.  There were only two major accidents of the race, by the dominant cars, Shoemaker and Monaco.   Shoemaker's troubles would come first, as he and Moore tangled going into turn 1, causing moderate damage.  Shoemaker reported that he thought his engine, or tranmission was a little damaged after the accident.

Monaco's unluckly break would come on lap 27, as he blew a right front tire, and hit both the inside, and outside walls of the esses.  He'd limped back to pit road, take fuel and tires, and got back out on the track.

Shoemaker would hold onto the lead for the rest of the race, leading 30 of the 36 laps.   Showing once again showed that he is like the Marcos Ambrose of the road courses, as long as he can keep the car fired on an upward slope.

Jamie Little caught up with Shoemaker in victory lane at Watkin's Glen.

Jamie:  Alex you just won the race, how does it feel?
Alex:  It feels great Jamie.  I love this place...heck I love all the road courses we've been to.  We had what I felt like the car to beat, Eric proved he could stay with me and put the heat on me at times.  My pit crew did an awesome job getting me out of pit road, I think we beat him off by 0.5 seconds on the one pit stop.  I do want to apologize for running him down going into the bus stop, I didn't mean to get that close, I don't think we touched, but it was close.

Jamie:  You're having your best season ever like you said earlier, do you think you can keep up the momentum and run for the championship?
Alex:  Honestly, I don't know.  I'm trying to take it race by race, week by week.  Racing here, I've learned a ton.  I think since I started here, my patience level has gone threw the roof, and my teamates have provided me with an extreme amount of help, and support.  We'll move onto Texas and see what happens.



Monday January 16, 2012   It's time to get those new paintjobs going and those setups dialed in!  The start of the 2012 N4Nites Cup season is rapidly closing in on us, beginning with the Bud Pole Shootout on Friday, February 17th.

Returning drivers and new drivers are urged to get yourselves ready for another great season of door to door action from start to finish!

This year the season will be split into 2 segments.  3X pitting will still be in play and we will once again be running open setups.

Switching over to the BRcup mod means new paint jobs will be necessary and time is passing fast for drivers to get those done.  The mod and painting templates are available for download on the 'toolbox' page.

The segment 1 schedule is complete and can be viewed from the link on the left hand side of the page.  The tracks will be linked to soon.  This season we will be using mostly Safer Barrier tracks.

As always, new drivers are welcome anytime!

Below is what N4Nites & CARS has to offer for this season of racing.

N4Nites and CARS 2012 Online Racing Series