All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, it looked as if Noah Gragson would be walking away with another $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus following his fourth-place finish in the Steakhouse Elite 200. That is, until his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet failed post-race inspection, leading to a disqualification and ruining his streak of winning the first three Dash4Cash bonuses. Per NASCAR Xfinity Series Managing Director Wayne Auton, Gragson’s car failed Section 20.14.c of the rulebook, which states: “All suspension mounts and mounting hardware must notRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Like Doc Brown and Marty McFly in Back to the Future, the NASCAR Cup Series is time traveling this week, making the jump from the future with the unveiling of the Next Gen cars to celebrating the past with Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway. A staple of the Cup Series since 1950, there are many elements to Darlington that make it a special track. From the egg-shape of the track that features one end narrower than the other as a result of building the track aroundRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Darlington, March 1988. Proving that persistence pays off, Lake Speed finally made good on his last name that seemed destined for a racing greatness by dominating at one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit to capture what would be his one and only win at NASCAR’s highest level. Before getting his start in NASCAR in 1980, Speed’s greatest claim to fame was winning the World Karting Championship in LeMans, France two years prior, defeating a future three-time Formula 1 champion, the lateRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor They say things are bigger in Texas. As witnessed at the start of Sunday’s XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway, so are the wrecks. Coming to the green for the second race of an NTT IndyCar Series doubleheader in the Lone Star State, chaos erupted in the back half of the field, when Pietro Fittipaldi made contact with Sebastien Bourdais, sending him for a spin and collecting several other cars in the process. Among those involved were Fittipaldi, Bourdais, Dalton Kellett, Ed Jones, Alexander Rossi, TonyRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Coming into Saturday’s Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, rookie driver Scott McLaughlin had never made an NTT IndyCar Series start on an oval, but he sure didn’t drive like one en route to a runner-up finish. The three-time V8 Supercars champion and newest member of the Team Penske stable is a part of a star-studded rookie lineup in IndyCar this season, along with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Formula 1 veteran Romain Grosjean, but McLaughlin is the only one of the threeRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor There have been some interesting race sponsorship names in the past, but Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway certainly tops them all – and will no doubt garner many laughs along the way. A result of a contest by Busch Beer to support American farmers, fans that donated to the cause were able to put in a name for the race, which would eventually be whittled down to four finalists. The choices came down to The Busch Latte 400, Nectar of the Cobs 400,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega was déjà vu all over again for Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team. In a repeat of the race last Fall at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, DiBenedetto was leading on the final lap in overtime only to see another driver snatch victory from his grasp, leaving him wondering what else he could have done to turn the tide in his favor to finally break through and win a NASCAR Cup Series race. DiBenedetto was a constant fixture atRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the NASCAR Cup Series goes superspeedway racing at Talladega, it’s not a matter of if someone is going to get turned and sent for a ride, it’s just a matter of when. In the closing laps of the first stage of Sunday’s GEICO 500, the inevitable crash broke out, with Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford getting the worst of it with an airborne tumble in Turn 3. Running in third place behind leader Matt DiBenedetto and teammate Ryan Blaney, Logano was biding hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a three-race stretch of short tracks, the second quarter of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule begins with a visit to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500. The first nine races of the season have embodied unpredictability, with eight different winners in the first quarter of the season. That trend is likely to continue this weekend as superspeedway racing, especially at Talladega, is all about unpredictability. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Eastern AlabamaRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor As the Beatles’ song goes, “I get by with a little help from my friends.” If there was one line from a song that illustrated the final laps of the 1991 Winston 500 at Talladega, it would be that one after a controversial push from teammate Rick Mast helped ensure teammate Harry Gant had enough fuel to make it to the finish and claim the victory. As the second half of the 188-lap race played itself out, fuel mileage would be the name of the gameRead More