All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Showing speed throughout the day, Carl Edwards looked to be primed to capture his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship on Sunday, but it was not to be for Edwards and the No. 19 team after a crash on a restart with 10 laps to go brought their championship hopes to a screeching halt. Falling short of the championship in 2008 and 2011, Edwards was one of the fastest cars throughout the race weekend and had the confidence to try and redeem himself in theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Entering Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Erik Jones looked to become one of the few drivers to win a championship in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but for the 20-year old Joe Gibbs Racing driver, a championship in NASCAR’s second tier series was just not meant to be. “It was a valiant effort. Just didn’t come with a big reward again. The GameStop Camry wasn’t very good to start. We worked hard to get it good byRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor It all comes down to this. After 35 race weekends, the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season comes down to one final race to determine the champion. Four drivers head into Homestead-Miami Speedway and the Ford Ecoboost 400 with an equal shot at the championship, while the other 36 drivers in the field are simply looking for a win to cap off the season. Since its reconfiguration in 2003, Homestead has provided some great racing on its progressive banking on one of the true ovalsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Five years ago, Carl Edwards entered Homestead with a chance at his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship only to lose in a heartbreaking tiebreaker to Tony Stewart. After winning at Texas two weeks ago, Edwards will now have his shot at redemption as one of the four drivers in the mix for the championship. Entering the final three races of the 2011 season, Edwards had built an eight point lead over Stewart, only to have Stewart’s herculean effort of winning two of the lastRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor When looking at the four drivers in the Championship 4 at Homestead, each of the drivers has just as good of a shot at claiming the title, but upon further inspection, Carl Edwards could have the upper hand in the season finale. That is if the statistics are to be believed. Not only is Edwards in the midst of his best season since joining Joe Gibbs Racing, he is also having his best season since falling just short of the title as a result ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for the championship finale, so with the 2016 season coming to a close, we’ll take a look back at a race from Homestead’s past in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” This week, the focus will be on the 2005 Ford 400, a race that featured a championship battle still up for grabs, drivers making their last starts, and the closest finish ever at the 1.5 mile track. Entering the 36th race ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Anytime the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway, one driver immediately comes to mind and that driver is Kevin Harvick. As the perennial favorite to win on the desert mile, Harvick was a big favorite to win Sunday’s Can-Am 500 and advance to the Championship Four. However, Harvick and his No. 4 team fell short of that goal and were eliminated from the Chase for the first time since the elimination format was implemented. A 20th place finish at Martinsville followed upRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After being thrust into the spotlight as the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman has impressed in his nine starts for the team, but took it to a new level at Phoenix, scoring a sixth place finish. As a native of Tucson, Arizona, Phoenix serves as Bowman’s home track and in Bowman’s own words is a track that has “always been a place that’s been close to my heart,” so running well on the desertRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the duration of the 2016 season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, two organizations, Joe Gibbs Racing and JR Motorsports, have stood out above the rest and with Saturday night’s penultimate race of the season at Phoenix complete, both of those teams will go head to head in next weekend’s championship finale at Homestead. The two organizations have combined for 22 wins in the first 32 races of the season, with Joe Gibbs Racing taking 17 of those wins and JR Motorsports taking the otherRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Entering the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series Chase, not many gave underdog Blake Koch and his first-year Kaulig Racing team much of a chance to make any noise in the playoffs, but the team made a strong run to Phoenix and came up just short of being able to make it into the Championship Four at Homestead. With three top-10 finishes in the first 26 races of the season, Koch earned his way into the Xfinity Series Chase, but many had the driver of the No.Read More