All posts by Joey Barnes

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Fresh off his season-best finish of 14th at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night, Trevor Bayne sees a huge improvement in the Roush Fenway Racing organization only seven races into their 2016 campaign. Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, nearly pulled off an off-sequence pit strategy that would brought home his first win in over five years. Still, the Tennessee native was running solidly in the top 10 prior to surprise strategy call, mixing it up with teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on a couple of occasions forRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500 from Texas Motor Speedway is officially over and for the second consecutive week Kyle Busch is the victor. Here are the latest five takeaways from NASCAR’s trip to the 1.5-mile oval. 1) Kyle Busch Can someone seriously stop this man? ‘Rowdy’ is, without question, at the best place of his career both personally and professionally, and it shows both on the track and during interviews. The reigning 2015 Sprint Cup champion has rattled off four wins in eight days among allRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – After running in the top 10 for a majority of the race in the Duck Commander 500 on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. saw his great run dashed in a late accident on lap 294. The 28-year-old ran a clean race and kept his No. 6 Zest Ford Fusion out of trouble, running as high as fifth at the 1.5-mile oval. On the exit of Turn 2 Jimmie Johnson made contact with an already loose Austin Dillon, sendingRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Fate did not play in the hands of Trevor Bayne on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Bayne refused to pit during a sequence of green flag stops, inheriting the lead on lap 260 and throwing a strategic wrench in an otherwise uneventful race to that point. The Roush Fenway Racing driver led 12 laps before the relinquishing the lead to a race-dominant Martin Truex Jr. Tire wear was at a premium at the 1.5-mile oval, with many teams electing to pitRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – For many years, Kyle Busch hasn’t endeared himself to the NASCAR community, but the defending Sprint Cup Series champion now believes the tide has turned. Busch has been showered with boos ever since becoming a regular contender over the past decade. Unquestionably talented, the Nevada native showed promise, but his attitude and on-track persona never resonated well with fans. That is, until February 21, 2015. It was on that day Busch sustained injuries in an XFINITY Series race at Daytona International SpeedwayRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After scoring points in his debut Formula 1 race in the Bahrain Grand Prix, it is time for the McLaren-Honda F1 Team to explore the option to run Stoffel Vandoorne for the 2016 season. Vandoorne, 24, substituted for Fernando Alonso after the two-time F1 champion was not medically cleared to race at the Sakhir International Circuit. Alonso was the focal point following a horrific crash that saw his McLaren MP4-31 collided with Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez before flipping violently in the Australian Grand Prix. TheRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – With intense on-track battles taking place over the past few seasons, six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson admitted at Texas Motor Speedway on Thursday that Kevin Harvick is on his radar. Johnson, 40, has finished ahead of Harvick eight times since the 2014 season, the year Harvick moved to Stewart-Haas Racing and teamed with crew chief Rodney Childers. Although Harvick has scored nine wins and 53 top 10’s in 78 appearances with SHR, the 2014 Sprint Cup champion has had aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran Brian Vickers was recently linked to reports that he was in the running for an IndyCar seat for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, the 32-year-old touched on the topic at Texas Motor Speedway on Thursday. A few weeks ago, Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports were open to the idea of opening a third seat for Townsend Bell, Gabby Chaves, or Vickers. Since that time, Bell has been announced at Andretti Autosport for their fifth entry at the Brickyard.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief An eventful STP 500 from Martinsville Speedway has been settled and Kyle Busch is the man that grabbed the traditional grandfather clock after holding off AJ Allmendinger in the closing stages. Here are the key topics coming from Sunday’s race at NASCAR’s oldest track. 1) Impatience from start to finish The common theme is patience early and then to take everything late. That certainly wasn’t the case on Sunday, from the drop of the green flag bumpers found each other with drivers more than willing toRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Richard Childress Racing had a phenomenal effort in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, with their trio of drivers all securing top 10 finishes, led by Austin Dillon in fourth. The weekend began with Paul Menard qualifying fourth, Ryan Newman fifth and Dillon 29th. At the start, Menard pushed his No. 27 Libman/Menard’s Chevrolet SS to the front early, leading 10 laps and looking like a contender for the win. Newman also hung among the leaders, but as the race went on the No.Read More