All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Add another runner-up finish to the tally for Kyle Larson and his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team. After finishing second in three of the previous four races entering Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix, Larson finished as the runner-up once again for the third week in a row with another strong performance in the Valley of the Sun to come away as the points leader Starting the day in fourth place, Larson ran inside the top-10 for the majority of the day, even takingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor On a scorching hot day at Phoenix Raceway, temperatures in the mid 90’s wreaked havoc with brake heat and tire issues as a couple of big names had their days come to an early end as a result. The first of those drivers to have their day end short of the finish was Matt Kenseth, who qualified 12th for the Camping World 500 and ended final practice in second place, so there was hope that the team could score a third straight top-10 finish afterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets set to head to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for the second stop of the West Coast Swing and the Camping World 500, we’ll take a step back in time for this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater” to the 2007 running of the Subway Fresh Fit 500. This time last year, fans, drivers, and media alike were all talking about Jimmie Johnson winning at Atlanta, tying the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. at 76 wins on the all-time winsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After the kickoff to the West Coast swing last weekend in Las Vegas culminated in a victory by Martin Truex, Jr. to mark the third different winner in the first three races of the season and also featured a post-race pit road brawl, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Valley of the Sun this weekend to take on the Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely differentRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Following the aftermath of Sunday’s post-race fight between Joey Logano and Kyle Busch at the conclusion of the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, all eyes turned to NASCAR to see if they would levy any fines or penalties on the two drivers in the days ahead. On Monday morning, NASCAR Vice President Steve O’Donnell made an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to give the sanctioning body’s thoughts on the incident to this point and the possibility of penalties going forward. “It’s certainly underRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Kyle Busch looked to be on the way to a top-five finish in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but after last lap contact between Busch and Joey Logano, Busch went for a spin that not only left him with a bad finish at his home track, but with his tempers flaring. As Brad Keselowski was dropping back with a wounded car after losing the lead, Busch and Logano both dove low under Keselowski’s Ford entering Turn 3 on the last lap, nearlyRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets set to begin its West Coast swing in Las Vegas this weekend with the running of the Kobalt 400, it’s time once again to venture into the past in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”. This week we take it all the way back to 1998 and the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on the 1.5 mile speedway. Fans in that area of the country were ready for some NASCAR action in their hometownRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Since joining the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit in 1998, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has had just one race date on the calendar, but starting in 2018, that changes. On Wednesday afternoon, the track and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced a $2.5 million partnership that would bring a second Cup Series weekend to the facility starting next season. With the schedule already jam packed and NASCAR not looking to add any race dates, that would mean one of the other tracksRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Viva Las Vegas! After spending the first two weekends of the 2017 season on the East Coast, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads west for the first leg of “NASCAR Goes West” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Sunday’s running of the Kobalt 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 reconfiguration that sawRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor There is bad luck and then there is Kevin Harvick’s luck at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Heading into Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Harvick had been the dominant car in the three previous races at the track, leading the most laps in each of those events, but failing to capture the victory at the end of the day for various reasons, whether it be a bad restart, a bad pit stop, or something else. On Sunday, Harvick once again found himself in the catbird seatRead More