All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After the lug nut rule was changed two weeks ago, teams and drivers all wondered which team would fall victim to the new rule first. On Wednesday, NASCAR gave us our answer. Kyle Busch’s No. 18 team, which won Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 at Kansas, was penalized by NASCAR for violating the lug nut rule. The specific rules noted by NASCAR in their penalty report were Sections 12:1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 10.11.3.4 (pit road equipment); 12.5.3.4.1 g, o (Parts or systemRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Saturday night in America’s Heartland, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies had their hands full with the treacherous 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway, but when the night ended, all four found themselves within the top-25, one of the best races overall for the rookies this season. Leading the way for the 2016 rookie class was Ryan Blaney, who started the night in seventh place and only found himself outside the top-10 once during a round of green flag pit stops during the middle of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, Kansas Speedway has had its share of races that have both been exciting and those that have been, well, not so exciting. The 1.5 mile track, which boasted 15 degree banking in its turns when added to the Sprint Cup Series schedule in 2001, underwent a facelift in 2012 to increase the banking to progressive banking ranging from 18 to 20 degrees. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a look back atRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Thursday, NASCAR unveiled the schedules for the 2017 season for all three national series months earlier than normal thanks to the five-year sanctioning agreements that NASCAR and the tracks entered into starting in 2016. For the most part, the schedules do not vary much from the current 2016 slate to the schedule for the 2017 season, but there are a few notable changes on the docket for next season. Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway will swap their fall race dates next season, making KansasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Talladega always is a mayhem filled race, with rookies and veterans alike not immune to the carnage that could await any of them at any point in the race. On Sunday afternoon in the GEICO 500, two of the four rookies entered in the race would come away with top-10 finishes, while the others wouldn’t be as fortunate. Chase Elliott started on pole and showed that he would be a force to be reckoned with for much of the race, putting his No. 24 ChevroletRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Talladega Superspeedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500, we’ll take a step back in time to the 1981 Talladega 500 for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” to showcase one of the most infamous finishes in Talladega history. For the first 13 years of the Talladega 500, no driver had ever repeated, paving the way for longshots and underdogs to make their way to victory lane. In the 1981 running of the race, that very thing wouldRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer There must be something in the water in Virginia. Just like Martinsville three weeks ago, the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies all struggled at some point in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond. With the spring Richmond race reverting to a day race for the first time since 1997, the bright sunshine beating down on the 0.75 mile short track created handling difficulties for all of those in the field, rookies and veterans alike. Falling a lap down early with an ill-handling car, ChaseRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After missing the first eight races of the season following an off-season back injury in which he suffered a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra, Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Thursday that Stewart will be back behind the wheel of his No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend in Richmond for the Toyota Owners 400. “As soon as the doctors said they were happy with my scans, I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get back in my racecar,” said Stewart. “I want toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway this weekend for the Toyota Owners 400, we’ll take a step back in time in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” to look back at one of the most memorable races to ever take place at Richmond, the 1986 Miller High Life 400. Throughout the 1980’s, the feud between Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip continued to grow and by the time the series made their visit to Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway for the secondRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer For Virginia native Denny Hamlin, a trip to Richmond is like coming home. Hamlin grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia, less than 25 miles from Richmond International Raceway, and has taken to his hometown track like a duck to water. Despite early season success of winning the Daytona 500 and two additional top-five finishes in the first five races of 2016, Hamlin and his No. 11 team have been struggling through the month of April, having yet to score a finish higher than 12th in theRead More