All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor On the outside looking in heading into Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega, Austin Dillon needed strong runs or a win to be able to advance onto the next round of the Chase, but when the checkered flag flew, he found himself still in the bottom four and eliminated from championship contention. Dillon started the day tied with eventual winner Joey Logano in the points, with Logano having the tiebreaker as a result of a higher finish in the three races of the Round of 12,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie class, all eyes were on Chase Elliott to see if he would be able to advance onto the next round of the Chase, but when the checkered flag flew, it was another rookie that took home top billing from Talladega. So, which rookie was it that finished the best at NASCAR’s biggest track? That would be Brian Scott and his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports team. Entering the day, Scott’s previous best finish was a 12th place resultRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor In the late 1980’s, Bill Elliott and his Harry Melling owned Ford Thunderbird was a dominant force at the restrictor place tracks, with his brother Ernie Elliott serving as engine builder and supplying a powertrain that was unmatched throughout the NASCAR Winston Cup Series garage. Elliott had won the season opening Daytona 500 in 1985 and tacked on additional wins at Atlanta and Darlington in the weeks that followed, but when the series rolled into Talladega in May, Elliott and his team would leave everyoneRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the NASCAR Xfinity Series taking a couple of weeks off before getting back in action at Texas in November, Roush-Fenway Racing driver Ryan Reed will be taking the opportunity to test the waters in the Sprint Cup Series this weekend as he will be making his debut in NASCAR’s premier series by attempting to make the field for Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Reed will bring the No. 99 car back to the Sprint Cup Series for the first time since Carl EdwardsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Round of 12 all comes down to this. After races at Charlotte and Kansas to set the stage for Sunday’s elimination race, the 10 drivers not locked into the next round will battle the massive 2.66 mile superspeedway for the right to be able to advance to the Round of Eight when the checkered flag falls on Sunday. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that ledRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a weekend at home in Charlotte for the Bank of America 500 that left some Chase contenders scrambling, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to America’s Heartland to take on the fast, treacherous 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for this Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the second race of the Round of 12 in the Chase. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for this weekend’s running of the Hollywood Casino 400, it’s time again for another edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” researching a race from the track’s past. With Kansas only being on the schedule since 2001, the track hasn’t built up the numerous memorable races like other tracks have, but in 2004, Joe Nemechek provided one of the more memorable moments in the track’s short history. Much like he did for a good portion of hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The days of Martinsville Speedway fighting daylight to get their races to completion will be a thing of the past in the near future. On Wednesday, the track announced that they would be installing lights around the historic short track following the completion of the October 30th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. The $5 million dollar project, which will be the first use of LED lighting at a NASCAR facility, will be complete well in advance of the track’s 2017 dates, which will be theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After being shut out in the win department in the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Team Penske’s two drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, will be looking to make a splash as the second round of the playoffs kick off at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Logano will be looking for back-to-back Bank of America 500 wins after winning last season’s rain-delayed race, while Keselowski will be looking for his first Charlotte win since the fall race in 2013. Beginning with theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With persistent rain from Hurricane Matthew churning just off of the Carolina coastline, NASCAR cancelled all on track activities on both Friday and Saturday, moving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series to Sunday for a doubleheader, where weather is expected to be much more favorable. The Bank of America 500 will kick off at Noon ET, with Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman leading the field to green, while the Xfinity Series race, the Drive for the Cure 300, will take place 45Read More