All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The pressure that comes with competing for the championship in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is immense for the drivers that make the cut into the postseason to be one of the few to have a shot at the title and sometimes that pressure can be too much to bear. In the 2005 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, tempers flaring among the drivers, those in the playoffs and on the outside looking in, nearly overshadowed a stellar finish between Ryan NewmanRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Chase Elliott finished second at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday to give his No. 24 team a strong start to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but the momentum from the runner-up result was dampered on Tuesday as the team was hit with an L1 penalty from the sanctioning body for an improper modification to the rear spoiler. NASCAR noted in their penalty announcement that the team violated Section 20.20 of the rule book (Modification of components to affect the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle).Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With his tenure at Hendrick Motorsports coming to a close at the end of the season, Kasey Kahne had to look for a new home for the 2018 season and beyond and on Tuesday, it was announced that Kahne will move over to Leavine Family Racing and their No. 95 Chevrolet next year. “I want to thank Leavine Family Racing for this opportunity and will work as hard as possible to help them continue improving,” said Kahne. “I am ready for this challenge and lookRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a dismal 21st place finish at Chicagoland Speedway to kick off the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, there will be a bit of a shake-up on top of the pit box for Kasey Kahne and his No. 5 team for the remainder of the season. Darian Grubb, who served as the crew chief for Tony Stewart during his 2011 championship season and is the current director of competition systems for Hendrick Motorsports, will assume the crew chief role for Kahne’s team starting nextRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Each week NASCAR Editor David Morgan will break down the top storylines from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This week, we break down the Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Truex Shreds the Competition Martin Truex, Jr. entered the playoff opener at Chicago with four wins in his pocket, the regular season championship, and a boatload of playoff points at his disposal. Things couldn’t possibly get any better for the driver of the No. 78 Toyota, right? Well, it did. For theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Prior to Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, the first race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Joe Gibbs Racing elected to swap the pit crews between the No. 18 and No. 19 cars, giving Kyle Busch the crew that had been working with Daniel Suarez and vice versa for the crew that was working with Busch, as they moved over to service Suarez’s car for the playoffs. The swap was supposed to help Busch in his efforts to beRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For the second year in a row, the opening race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Chicagoland Speedway has been just what the doctor ordered for Chase Elliott and his No. 24 team. Heading into Chicago, just one point separated Elliott from the bottom four in the playoff standings, but when all was said and done in Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400, the 21-year old would be in a much more comfortable spot, scoring a runner-up finish when the checkered flagRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the regular season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series drawing to a close at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday afternoon, the standings show one thing, the championship is likely to go through JR Motorsports before it is all said and done. Three of the four drivers for the team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, and Rick Hendrick, lead the re-seeded standings and the fourth team driver is also in the playoff field, leaving open the possibility that the season finale at Homestead in NovemberRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After 16 races, the final spot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs would come down to a tiebreaker, with the best finish of the season determining who moved on and who would be left on the outside looking in. Coming into Friday night’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, that final spot was down to two drivers, Ben Rhodes and Ryan Truex, with just seven points separating the two when the green flag flew. Though Truex had a better night overall, it was Rhodes thatRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for this weekend’s opening round of the playoffs, it’s time again for another edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”. Since Chicago has only been on the schedule since 2001, there are few races that really stick out in the track’s history, but one in particular sticks out above the rest. That race is the 2010 Lifelock.com 400, which saw a multi-time champion get bested by an underdog. Jimmie Johnson started on the outside of theRead More