All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – What a difference a day makes. After struggling throughout the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, including a dismal 16th place qualifying effort, Josef Newgarden was back to his typical form in Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, though it took a “creative” effort from the Hendersonville, Tennessee native to make it a reality. “I’m happy about it,” said the driver of the Fitzgerald USA Team Penske Chevrolet. “It’s really good for points. Without the caution, we would have finished eighth, so weRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – “It’s tough out there,” Graham Rahal said after making his second-place qualifying run for Sunday’s running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Those four words can sum up just how treacherous the challenging 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course has been this weekend for almost every driver in the field. From drivers making off-track excursions into the gravel traps and tire barriers in nearly every practice session to the major teams stumbling in qualifying on Saturday, theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Last season was a struggle for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as both Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal will admit, but after sweeping the front row for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, the team served notice that they are well into the midst of a comeback. Sato, driver of the No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Honda for the team, blitzed the Fast Six with a lap of one minute, 8.5934 seconds (120.711 mph) to score his first poleRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The opening day of NTT IndyCar Series practice for this weekend’s running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park was a bit treacherous, to say the least. With overcast skies and rain threatening during the first of two scheduled practice sessions, several drivers found themselves making off track excursions on the mix of wet and dry pavement around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course, bringing out a number of red flags in the process. When all was said andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a visit to the Lone Star State, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to a short track with this weekend’s stop at Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500. Bristol always brings out the excitement from fans and competitors alike as packing 40 cars into the half-mile high banked bullring can only be explained by the phrase “flying fighter jets in a gymnasium”, which is more accurate than it would seem. Drivers race two and sometimes three wide throughoutRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The bump and run. A move that we all know and love and one that is ubiquitous with the racing at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the mid-1990’s, Bristol was a race track with the preferred groove right around the bottom, often leaving drivers with one option to pass their opponent…you guessed it, the bump and run. Add in two titans of the half-mile bullring fighting for the victory and an instant classic is born. Entering the 1997 season, Rusty Wallace was gunning for his sixth winRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Throughout the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch has been a man on a mission, winning both the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races, with a chance at the weekend sweep in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event. Unfortunately for Busch, late race contact with the Turn 2 wall while leading the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 would be the speed bump that would keep him from making it back to back spring race wins in the Lone Star State. TheRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Now that the checkered flag has fallen at Texas Motor Speedway, the four top NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers in the field can turn their attention to next week’s opening race of the annual Dash4Cash at Bristol. While Kyle Busch was celebrating in Victory Lane, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, and Michael Annett qualified themselves for a possible $100,000 payday should they win on the half-mile, high banked bullring next Saturday. Reddick looked to be in the hunt for the win throughout the afternoon, starting theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following last weekend’s first short track race of the season at Martinsville, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to a 1.5-mile track with Sunday’s visit to Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5-mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the surface wore down as each season passed before being repaved and reconfigured prior to its 2017 race dates. As a refresher, the reconfiguration affected Turns 1 andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AUSTIN, Texas – If Sunday’s IndyCar Classic at Circuit of The Americas is any indication, it’s going to be a fun season ahead with the stout crop of rookies that are in the NTT IndyCar Series field. Two of the five rookies finished in the top-10, but at portions of the race all of them were fighting for a spot on the top half of the leaderboard. Colton Herta, the 18-year old standout for Harding Stenbrenner Racing, won the day by capturing his first career IndyCarRead More