Gearheads - this is the checkered flag of a new race about to begin.
When the checkered flag waves Sunday, the future of F1 in this country should become clearer.
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Late in last year's Nascar season Richard Petty was facing the final checkered flag of his legendary career.
Two corner from the checkered flag Glock slipped and allowed Hamilton to pass and return to fifth position.
Stoner took a lead he maintained to the checkered flag, closely followed home after a thrilling duel by Pedrosa.
But in the end, he hung on to take the checkered flag and win the championship with a tie-breaker.
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The last driver to earn the Daytona 500 pole and take the checkered flag was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
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The Daytona crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski.
But with the checkered flag in his sights, Clark's car ran out of fuel and he had to settle for third.
Clearly the checkered flag isn't all that is at stake in Austin.
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Were he to "accidentally" prevent Alonso from finishing the race, then he would be guaranteed to win the championship long before the checkered flag.
The Daytona 500 victory was the second for the driver, who edged out Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Greg Biffle to take the checkered flag.
He then hopped up on the wall in front of the grandstand, grabbed the checkered flag and waded into the crowd, trading high-fives with fans.
What a pleasure to see the superpopular, bizarrely doomed Dale Earnhardt take the checkered flag there in '98 after two decades of being a Daytona also-ran.
If Ms. Patrick is the first to see the checkered flag next Sunday in Daytona, she forever transforms the legitimacy of her brand as a professional auto racer.
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The race resumed with three laps to go, and the final accident occurred with Regan Smith leading as he headed out of the final turn to the checkered flag.
Hildebrand was driving to certain victory, he spun his car in the marbles on the very last turn of the last lap, giving Wheldon in the Reagan car the lead and the checkered flag.
When things start to slide for Shaw and her partner (Logan Marshall-Green) it's like watching a drag racer spinning its wheels, kicking up dust to hit the checkered flag at 90 miles per hour.
But the McLaren man came good in the end, overtaking Toyota's Timo Glock, who had stayed out on dry tires as the heavens opened, to snatch fifth with the checkered flag in sight.
Hamilton took the checkered flag ahead of Massa and Nick Heidfeld, only to be demoted to third when stewards punished his corner-cutting during his battle with Raikkonen by adding 25 seconds to his time.
The checkered flag is currently tied up in red tape: If ISC gets through the hoops of impact hearings on traffic and the environment, it could break ground in late 2008 and open by 2011.
It has given its fans countless thrills, ever since Lee Petty (daddy of Richard) sped to the checkered flag in his Olds simultaneously with Johnny Beauchamp's T-Bird in a photo finish that required three days to sort out.
However, three drivers lined up in last year's final race with a chance of winning the championship, with the Finn eventually grabbing the checkered flag to pip McLaren's odd couple team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by a point.
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