All posts by David Morgan

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

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor To say that Kurt Busch’s NASCAR career has been a rollercoaster of a ride would be an understatement. From the moment the Las Vegas native entered the sport, he has endured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows throughout his 18 year career, but after winning the Daytona 500 last Sunday, Busch is still riding the high of winning NASCAR’s biggest race. Following his win, Busch not only celebrated with his team into the wee hours of the morning, but also went onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Entering the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, Carl Edwards was not yet a household name, but after a weekend for the ages at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he was well on his way to becoming one. The Missouri native burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2003, winning three races in the No. 99 truck for Roush Racing and backing it up the following season with another three wins to bring home top-10 points finishes in his first two full-time seasons in NASCAR. When Jeff BurtonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After last Sunday’s barn burner of a finish in the Daytona 500, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads to Georgia for this weekend’s running of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With Atlanta being the first non-restrictor plate track on the 2017 schedule, the track will be the first to employ the new lower downforce rules package, which includes a few reductions from last season’s low downforce package, namely with a smaller rear spoiler, front splitter, asRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Close, but no cigar….again. After a stellar rookie season in 2016, Ryan Blaney and the Wood Brothers entered the 2017 season looking to improve on last season’s results as well as getting Blaney his first career win. In Sunday’s Daytona 500, the team nearly accomplished that feat, but fell just short as they had to settle for a runner-up finish instead. Although it wasn’t a win, the second-place finish for Blaney marks the best career finish for the 23-year old, besting his three fourth placeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Throughout the season-opening race weekend at Daytona, the winners of the earlier stages have failed to finish their respective events. It happened to Johnny Sauter in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and it happened to Elliott Sadler in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, and in Sunday’s Daytona 500, it happened yet again. Kyle Busch, who was still seeking his first Daytona 500 win, was able to drive his No. 18 Toyota to the front of the field at lap 42, taking overRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the second day in a row, the winner of the first two stages of a race has failed to finish the event after getting caught up in a wreck in the closing laps. After Johnny Sauter won the first two stages in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night only to get wrecked on the final lap, the winner of the first two stages in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Elliott Sadler, would suffer the same fate. Sadler started the eventRead More