All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning in attendance on behalf of his sponsor Nationwide Insurance, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked to find his way back to Bristol’s victory lane for the first time in 12 years, but had his work cut out for him from the very start of the race. After qualifying 20th, the start of the Food City 500 had Earnhardt and his team wondering just what went wrong when Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet stumbled when the green flag flew, forcing him downRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After scoring his best career finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last weekend at Texas, Chase Elliott and the other Cup Series rookies headed into Bristol ready to get a crash course in racing on the half-mile bullring. All five rookies started outside of the top-15 and although Bristol seemed to have their number early on, most of them found a way to turn things around by the time the checkered flag flew. Leading the way once again was Elliott, who fell two lapsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Bristol for this weekend’s Food City 500, it’s that time of the week again when we take a step back in history to look at a significant race from Bristol’s past. On the docket for this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater” is the 1990 Valleydale Meats 500, which came down to a photo finish to determine the winner. Ahead of the spring race weekend at Bristol that year, the track had put down a sealer on the thenRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With Darlington Raceway hosting another throwback themed Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend this season, teams and drivers have been working feverishly on their throwback schemes for this year’s race. After coming to Darlington with a Neil Bonnett throwback last season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his Nationwide team had bigger plans for their 2016 unveil and they did not disappoint. For the 2016 Southern 500, Earnhardt will be piloting a No. 88 Chevrolet with Buddy Baker’s “Gray Ghost” livery that Baker took to victoryRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After the wildly successful throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway for the return of the Southern 500 to Labor Day last season, the track and teams are joining forces once again with a plethora of throwback schemes set to grace the track’s high banks in September. On Monday, the No. 17 Roush-Fenway Racing team, piloted by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., unveiled their entry into the throwback race, electing to honor another legend of the sport. Last season, Stenhouse and Roush-Fenway ran a blue and gold David PearsonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heading to the Lone Star State this weekend, it is time for another edition of Throwback Thursday Theater, and in this week’s edition we’ll take a look back at the race that started it all at Texas Motor Speedway, the 1997 Interstate Batteries 500 that took place on April 6, 1997. Before the race even started, there were issues with the opening of the track. For the track to find its way onto the NASCAR Cup schedule, another trackRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After some impressive driving from the 2016 rookie class in the first five races of the season, their biggest challenge thus far would be Sunday’s trip to Martinsville Speedway for the STP 500. As the smallest track on the circuit, Martinsville is one of the toughest tracks, with the long straightaways and flat hairpin turns making for a long, grueling day with 39 of your closest friends.  The half-mile track is tough for even the most seasoned veterans, but for rookies making their first startRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After having Grant Enfinger behind the wheel for the first two races of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, a new face will be piloting the No. 33 Chevrolet for GMS Racing this weekend at Martinsville. Enter 17-year old Kaz Grala from Westborough, Mass., who will be making his first start in a NASCAR national series race in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 on the treacherous half-mile in southern Virginia. “I am looking forward to my NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with GMSRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After four days of deliberations, NASCAR handed down their penalties stemming from the race weekend at Auto Club Speedway on Thursday. For his failure to fulfill his media obligations at the conclusion of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Kyle Busch was fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four championship races through April 27th. Danica Patrick also earned a behavioral penalty from NASCAR for leaving her car and walking onto a hot track after her incident with Kasey Kahne inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With one of the best rookie classes in recent memory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series occurring during the 2016 season, each week we’ll take a look at the five rookies battling for Rookie of the Year and track their progress throughout the season. In this Auto Club Speedway edition of the “Rookie Report,” Chase Elliott finds himself at the top of the rookie mountain once again. With his sixth place finish in the Auto Club 400, Elliott posted his best finish of the seasonRead More