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By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Brian Vickers did an incredible job substituting for the injured Tony Stewart Sunday at Martinsville, and recorded the best finish for the No. 14 team so far this year. Vickers not only recorded the best finish of 2016 for the team, but his seventh place finish Sunday is actually the best finish for this race team since Stewart finished sixth at Bristol 35 races ago. Vickers is happy with the outcome, but he yearns for more. “I was pleased but not satisfied. We had suchRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Busch came to Martinsville Speedway this weekend with no grandfather clock trophies from the shortest and tightest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series short tracks. He left with two clocks after completing an unprecedented Martinsville sweep in Sunday’s STP 500, and, appropriately, the first question he radioed to his crew after his celebratory burnouts dealt with telling time. “What time is it?” crowed the reigning series champion, who a day earlier had won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series raceRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After some impressive driving from the 2016 rookie class in the first five races of the season, their biggest challenge thus far would be Sunday’s trip to Martinsville Speedway for the STP 500. As the smallest track on the circuit, Martinsville is one of the toughest tracks, with the long straightaways and flat hairpin turns making for a long, grueling day with 39 of your closest friends.  The half-mile track is tough for even the most seasoned veterans, but for rookies making their first startRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Going into Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville, it looked like Kyle Larson was in the middle of a lost season. Through the first five races of the season, Larson had just one top-10 finish and sat 24th in the championship standings. There wasn’t much reason for optimism heading into this week’s race either, as Larson had struggled through four previous starts at the half-mile paper clip track. His best finish at the shortest and oldest track in NASCAR was 19th in the fall of 2015.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Denny Hamlin headed into Martinsville Speedway with high hopes to overcome mistakes from recent visits at the half-mile oval, but Sunday’s STP 500 proved no different for the defending Daytona 500 champion. Hamlin, 35, had five wins in 20 previous races at Martinsville, including 16 top 10 finishes, but he acknowledged earlier in the week that recent mistakes have hurt his chances to secure wins. Sunday proved to be no different. From the start of the race Hamlin was a man on the move, but itRead More

Nico Rosberg’s dream start to the 2016 season continued as the German took his second consecutive victory and his first in Bahrain and his first at the Gulf circuit. Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth second place with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third after a first-corner collision. Before the start there was disappointment for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel, set to start from third, slowed on the formation lap with smoke billowing from the back of his car. His failure to start, the first of his career, meant a space opened onRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon IndyCar Series ran their second event on the schedule, and the first oval event of the year last night. Target Chip Ganassi driver, Scott Dixon, won the race in a dominating fashion leading the final 155 laps at Phoenix International Raceway. Allow me to share some observations of what we witnessed on Saturday Night. 1 ) The Aero Package isn’t quite right    As a few drivers and team owners predicted, the racing became largely processional with the cars becoming strung out. DriversRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Heading into Saturday night’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, Mikhail Aleshin appeared to have a top 10 within reach, until mistimed strategy and a spin coming to pit road ended the Russian’s chances and left him with an ill-fated result of 17th. Aleshin, 28, was out to prove early on that his No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda could keep up with the daunting pace Chevrolet teams set in qualifying at the Desert Mile. The Russian started 13th and was one ofRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief In his Verizon IndyCar Series oval debut, Max Chilton hung with some of the best in the business en route to a stellar seventh place finish in the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night. Chilton’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, soared to his 39th series win, but it was the former Formula 1 driver that had other drivers, notably Graham Rahal, impressed by his performance. “I was just happy Chilton didn’t get me because, my God, ChiltonRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer Earlier this evening, the Verizon IndyCar Series made its much-anticipated return to Phoenix International Raceway. When all was said and done, it was Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon standing tall in victory lane at the Diamond Desert West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. “It was tough, definitely one of the toughest races on these short ovals.” said Dixon, a four-time series champion, “The car was super-fast. I think we had the best car out there on strategies and pit stops.” Dixon was followed to theRead More