All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor This weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads into Phoenix for the second race of the West Coast swing. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we take a look back to the race that started it all in the Valley of the Sun, the 1988 Checker 500. As the series headed into Phoenix in November of 1988, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace were locked in a championship battle that had seen Wallace gaining on Elliott’s lead over the last quarter of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The NASCAR penalty hammer has dropped on Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 team at Stewart-Haas Racing after the team’s dominating win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday. The team was found to be in violation of Sections 20.4.8.1 (Rear Window Support and Structure) and 20.4.18 (Rocker Panel Extensions) in post-race teardown at the NASCAR R&D Center. A rear window support brace was found to have failed and did not meet NASCAR specifications for keeping the rear window glass rigid at all times. Also,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Go Fas Racing and Matt DiBenedetto have found themselves in sponsorship trouble heading into Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway, but the NASCAR community has banded together to make sure they will make it to the grid for the TicketGuardian 500. Starting with a tweet from DiBenedetto on Tuesday morning, alerting the world of their predicament, the effort started picking up steam, with fellow drivers and others in the sport pitching in to help out the small team make it to the track. Though Go FasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For all of those who participate in NASCAR, from drivers to car owners, crew chiefs, and media members, the upper echelon of the sport is earning a place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On Tuesday, the nominating committee for the Hall of Fame announced the 20 names of those who will get their chance to be enshrined among the legends of the sport. Fifteen of the nominees are those who were carried over from last season, but there were also five new nominees lookingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team, but the seven-time champion was able to rebound to a 12th place finish. After qualifying 14th, pre-race inspection issues, which saw the team fail inspection three times, led to the ejection of car chief Jesse Saunders and forced Johnson to start the race at the back of the field. “I’ve never been in this situation,” Johnson said. “Last weekend, there wereRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Viva Las Vegas! After spending the first two weekends of the 2018 season in the southeastern United States, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads west for the first leg of the West Coast swing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Sunday’s running of the Pennzoil 400. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5 mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfigurationRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Las Vegas is a city built on gamblers, so a bit of gambling would only be natural when NASCAR rolled into town back in March 2014. Except this time, the gamble didn’t quite work out for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as his fuel tank ran dry a half a lap from the finish, allowing Brad Keselowski to streak by for the win. “Sorry buddy, I tried,” Earnhardt’s crew chief Steve Letarte said over the team radio. “Good job, man,” Earnhardt replied. “That’s a tough loss there.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For the third time in as many weeks, the famous No. 43 car piloted by Darrell Wallace, Jr. will have a new sponsor adorning the quarter-panels after Richard Petty Motorsports announced that The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will come on board for this weekend’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “The Cosmopolitan is one of the coolest places on the Strip,” said Wallace Jr. “Everything that is a part of the resort is the best of the best of Vegas. I enjoy going toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Had it not been for the dominating day by Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski could have been celebrating two wins in a row at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, it was still a successful day for the No. 2 team in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 as they ended the day with a runner-up finish, along with a stage win. “I had a blast today,” said Keselowski. “Just really, really working your tail off in the car. It’s kind of old school. “We were good, butRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s been a rough afternoon for Martin Truex, Jr. and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team, the defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champions, as pre-qualifying inspection at Atlanta Motor Speedway went from bad to worse for the Denver, Colorado based team. Failing inspection after three separate trips through NASCAR’s new Optical Scanning Station, the team was penalized with the loss of car chief Blake Harris for the weekend, as well as being docked 30 minutes of practice time. Fearing a fourth failure andRead More