All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As Aric Almirola continues to heal from his back injuries sustained last month at Kansas, the seat of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford has been filled by Regan Smith, but starting this weekend at Pocono, a new face will be in the cockpit until Almirola returns. That driver will be Darrell Wallace, Jr., who has been racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Roush-Fenway Racing this season. Sunday’s start for legendary car owner Richard Petty will be Wallace’s first start in the MonsterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, the regular season of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is now halfway over. The 400-lap event on the one-mile concrete oval once again provided some of the best racing of the year, so without further ado, here are five of the top storylines leaving the Monster Mile. Jimmie Johnson Just Keeps Rewriting the Record Books Though Kyle Larson and Martin Truex, Jr. dominated the majority of the race at Dover, it was Johnson that came outRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In this race one year ago, Kyle Larson was in contention for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win after leading 85 laps, but had to settle for second place after a late race battle with eventual race winner Matt Kenseth. With a win already under his belt in 2017, Larson headed into Dover looking for some redemption and the weekend sweep after handily winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the one-mile concrete oval. Starting the day in fifth place, Larson bided hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash4Cash program has belonged to JR Motorsports this season, with the organization winning two of the first three races heading into Saturday’s OneMain Financial 200 at Dover, the final race in the program for the 2017 season. While Justin Allgaier had scored the two Dash4Cash wins for the team at Phoenix and Richmond, it was rookie William Byron that brought home the $100,000 bonus at the Monster Mile with his sixth-place finish. “Credit this race team,” said Byron. “Hopefully we canRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Though the NASCAR Xfinity Series races have been dominated by Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regulars more often than not this season, rookie Cole Custer has been making some noise by finishing as the top Xfinity regular over the past two weeks. Custer’s seventh place finish at Charlotte last week ranked as the top among Xfinity Series regulars and with several of the heavy hitters from the Cup Series ineligible to race in Saturday’s race at Dover, Custer would be looking to repeat that performanceRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor 1997 Miller 500 – Dover Downs International Speedway For the first 55 races held at Dover from 1969 to 1997, the “Monster Mile” had been a 500-mile affair with attrition being the name of the game, but starting with the fall race in 1997 the race length was shortened to 400 miles, leaving one last 500 mile hurrah in June of that year that certainly did not disappoint. Starting on pole, Bobby Labonte took command of the race for the first 30 laps before disasterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After two weeks back home in Charlotte, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hits the road again for a trip to Dover International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism, marking the halfway point in the regular season. Dover began its life as an asphalt track back in 1969, but in 1995 the track was converted to concrete, making it one of only two on the circuit. As one of the two concrete tracks on the NASCAR schedule, the one mileRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After winning his first Cup race at Charlotte last weekend with a victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team had high hopes of pulling off the All-Star/Coca-Cola 600 sweep, but would have to settle for a second-place finish on Sunday night instead. Busch started on the outside of the front row alongside Kevin Harvick and was quick to take over the lead at lap two for a 22-lap stint at the front of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In a reversal of the sponsorship upheaval at the start of the 2017 season between Stewart-Haas Racing and Nature’s Bakery, the organization announced on Friday that the health food company, which had served as primary sponsor for Danica Patrick in 2016, would return as a sponsor for both Patrick and Clint Bowyer for four races later this season. The four races that Nature’s Bakery will serve as sponsor will be announced at a later date. After their logos were plastered on Patrick’s car throughout theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Memorial Day weekend in the motorsports world means one thing, racing’s greatest day beginning with F1 at Monaco, the Indianapolis 500, and ending with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a step back a decade to look at a win by a member of a family known more for their open wheel exploits than those in stock cars. Of course, we’re talking about Casey Mears’ upset win in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. Mears hadRead More