All posts by David Morgan

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since taking a step back for medical reasons five weeks ago, Kasey Kahne and the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing team had held out hope that their driver could return to the cockpit to finish out the remainder of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on his own terms, but alas, it was not to be. News came down Tuesday that Kahne was not medically cleared to return to the racecar following his battle with severe dehydration that left him in bad shape at theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Both Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola had a shot at the win Sunday at Dover, but by the time the checkered flag flew, the two drivers were left with nothing but heartbreak. All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars were strong throughout the day, with Kevin Harvick dominating and the remainder right behind him, but when Harvick had to make an extra trip down pit road late in the race, it looked as if Almirola was in the catbird seat to finally be able to break through forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Monster Mile. Bristol on steroids. No matter the nickname, Dover International Speedway lives up to the hype as being one of the most physically demanding racetracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit and plays host to Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400, which kicks off the second round of the playoffs. One of the only two concrete tracks currently in use by NASCAR’s top division, drivers have likened a lap around the one-mile oval to riding a rollercoaster, as they drop off the straightaways intoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The always treacherous Dover International Speedway lived up to its “Monster Mile” nickname back in May 2016, as a multi-car pileup with 45 laps to go changed the entire complexion of the race and left many of the contenders with junked race cars One of the drivers who was able to survive that lap 355 melee was Matt Kenseth, who had his hands full over the closing laps of the race, battling with Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for the race win. Kenseth was able toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The times they are a-changin’. On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR made the 2019 rules package for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series official, laying out specific aerodynamic and engine configuration changes geared toward improving the competition on tracks of all shapes and sizes. Building off the package that was used in the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this season and in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the basic package will be split into two groups depending on track size, with specific features for each. Every raceRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor One is the loneliest number for Joe Gibbs Racing after Sunday’s running of the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The powerhouse organization entered the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with three legitimate shots at a title run with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones, but as the first round of the playoffs reached its conclusion this past weekend, both Jones and Hamlin met an early end to their postseason. With subpar runs in the first two races of the roundRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Survive and advance. For Kyle Larson, never were those three words more meaningful than Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway when a late race crash seemed to doom his chances to move on in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but he wound up advancing on by the skin of his teeth when all was said and done. Larson entered the day with a healthy 17-point lead over the cut-off line having finished second and seventh in the first two races ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season started with so much promise for Austin Dillon after winning the Daytona 500, but his hopes of contending for a championship to go along with that triumph came to a screeching halt Sunday on the new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. Entering the Bank of America ROVAL 400, Dillon had a 10-point advantage over the cut line and just needed a clean weekend to be able to advance on to the second round of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Daniel Hemric has been at or near the top of the leaderboard all weekend long at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 200 looked to be the day he’d finally break through for his elusive first win. If not for a late-race mistake that saw him miss the frontstretch chicane, Hemric very well could have been sitting in Victory Lane at the end of the day. Despite the issues, Hemric still showed that he had a car capable of runningRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Final practice seemed to be going exactly as planned for 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, but things went awry for him just minutes after blazing around Charlotte Motor Speedway with the fastest lap of the session. Keselowski toured around the Charlotte road course with a lap of 1 minute, 17.730 seconds at 105.596 mph, but as the session neared its final moments, the frontstretch chicane became the bane of his existence. The lap looked to be going just fineRead More