All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a return to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last season, Regan Smith found himself without a ride for the 2017 season, but on Thursday, the 33-year old New York native was able to land a part-time entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Ricky Benton Racing. Starting with the season opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona, Smith and RBR will have a 12 race schedule for the 2017 season. The team will run the first six races of the season,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Safety in NASCAR just took another step forward. On Wednesday, the sanctioning body announced a partnership with American Medical Response to move toward a dedicated traveling safety team for the first time in their history. While not quite as big the Holmatro Safety Team that the IndyCar Series uses, NASCAR will now have a dedicated safety chase vehicle that will roll out to any accident scene along with the other safety vehicles that have been used previously. AMR will provide a state-licensed doctor and paramedicRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into the 2017 season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Thorsport Racing will be featuring a revamped driver lineup that will include some familiar faces in the team’s Toyota Tundras and some new ones to the team as well. Two-time Truck Series champion Matt Crafton and second year driver Ben Rhodes will make their return to the Sandusky, Ohio based team in 2017 to pilot the No. 88 and No. 27 trucks, respectively. Crafton scored two wins, eight top-five finishes, 16 top-10 finishes,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 31 Years in Cup: 13 Career Wins: 38 Biggest Accomplishment: 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion After winning the championship in storybook fashion in 2015 with the epic comeback after suffering a broken leg to start the season, Kyle Busch looked to make it back-to-back titles in 2016 as he would be competing inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Phoenix International Raceway has been a staple on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule since 1988 and now the 1-mile oval in the Arizona desert will be given a modern look after the track and International Speedway Corporation announced a $178 million revitalization project on Monday afternoon. The track underwent a reconfiguration in 2011, which provided fresh asphalt for the track and added the dogleg on the backstretch, but now the rest of the facility will be getting a much needed upgrade. “This isRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into February’s season opening Daytona 500, the drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will all be looking forward to their chance to win the “Great American Race” before embarking on the remainder of the 2017 season, but for two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, next month’s race will be his last behind the wheel. Waltrip notoriously went winless in the Cup Series for the first 16 years of his career before finally breaking through for his first win in the 2001 DaytonaRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 41 Years in Cup: 16 Career Wins: 35 Biggest Accomplishment: 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion For Kevin Harvick, 2016 fell short of expectations, but with one of the best teams in the garage area behind him, his worst points finish since 2012 will soon be a distant memory as he will be gunningRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the start of the 2017 season, NASCAR announced competition and format changes that will be implemented across the three national series for the upcoming season and beyond. The new stage-based race format will roll out next month at Daytona in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and completely revamps the traditional race format that we have seen in years past. Each race will now be broken down into three stages, with drivers and crewRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Back in August of 2016, Hendrick Motorsports signed William Byron to a multi-year agreement, which would bring him to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports for the 2017 season. At the time of the announcement, no other details were made available about Byron’s move to JRM, but on Monday, the team shed some light on that information. Liberty University, which sponsored Byron during his time with JR Motorsports’ late model team in 2014 and 2015, as well as his time in the NASCAR CampingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the majority of the races for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season already sponsored, Chase Elliott and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team still had a few races to fill, but on Monday the team announced a new sponsor to join the fold for Elliott’s sophomore season. Hooters, which has sponsored a car in over 150 races in the Cup Series over the years, most notably for Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship season, returned to NASCAR last season after a long hiatus andRead More