All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven drivers. Three transfer spots into the Championship 4. One race. The Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs all comes down to Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, a half-mile bullring in southern Virginia where bent sheet metal and hurt feelings are all but inevitable. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic track, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. The track has basically one groove, meaning the only wayRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor It all comes down to Martinsville. Leaving Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead, three spots remain to be claimed in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 among the seven drivers still eligible for the title. Only Joey Logano has punched his ticket to the season finale at Phoenix, with the remaining title contenders will have varying plans of attack heading into the final elimination race of the Playoffs. Here’s how they all stack up with one race to go. Ross Chastain – No. 1 Trackhouse RacingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After spending the past two seasons bouncing around to different dates on the schedule, Homestead-Miami Speedway is back in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the Dixie Vodka 400. From 2002 to 2019, Homestead served as the season finale and once again this season, it will serve a pivotal role in the championship as the midway point of the Round of 8. Should any of the seven drivers not yet locked into the Championship 4 win on Sunday, they will claim their chanceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Three laps. That was all Ross Chastain needed to punch his ticket to the championship race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet was unable to hold off Joey Logano down the stretch and had to settle for a second-place finish in the South Point 400. Chastain was quick all day long, starting from 11th place and leading on four different occasions for a race-high 68 laps led. On the final restart with 16 laps to go, Chastain ascendedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. — Eight drivers down, eight to go. Round two of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is now complete, with four more drivers getting the boot when the checkered flag waved on Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte. Up until the closing stint of the race, it looked as if the four drivers that came into the race under the cut-off line would stay there when the checkered flag flew, but when a caution came out on lap 105, the race for theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – NTT IndyCar Series regular Conor Daly can now add NASCAR Cup Series driver to his resume after completing his debut race in the series Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. While the Bank of America ROVAL 400 weekend started inauspiciously with an encounter with the wall, which left his team scrambling to get the car repaired for race day, Daly held his own once the green flag dropped on Sunday, gaining confidence with each passing lap in his No. 50 Bitnile-sponsored Chevrolet. Even afterRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Defending champion Daniel Hemric gave it a run Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but in the end, he just didn’t have enough to stay alive in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and was eliminated from championship contention. Starting the Drive for the Cure 250 on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course in third place, things were looking up for Hemric to be able to advance on to the Round of 8 by the time the checkered flag waved, but everything went awry early onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Marco Andretti just wanted to log laps and finish his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start in one piece, but unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go his way Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 48 Chevrolet for Big Machine Racing, Andretti rolled off from deep in the field, but held his own against the stock car regulars, climbing up the leaderboard as he gained confidence around the 17-turn road course. Andretti broke into the top-20 at the start of the final stage, butRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Safety has been the big keyword in the NASCAR Cup Series this season with all of the issues surrounding the Next Gen car and on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the sanctioning body sat down with the driving corps to try and carve out a path forward. Earlier this week, NASCAR tested proposed changes to problematic areas of the Next Gen car, namely the rear end of the vehicle, in a crash test in Ohio and on Saturday, they explained that the testRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. One thing is for sure, Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 is going to be a hell of a ride, with four drivers getting cut from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs when the checkered flag waves. In an effort to spice things up back in 2018, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mileRead More