All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service There’s nothing like a championship to validate the efforts of a young driver — or a team owner, for that matter. When Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick take center stage as the opening act of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the spotlight will shine squarely on the two 19-year-olds, one of whom will become the youngest-ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, barring a Matt Crafton miracle. Just as the significant, however, is the battle between the owners of the two teams, KyleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – A serendipitous sequence of pit stops and a drizzle that turned into a downpour made a winner of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday night’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the start of which was delayed from day to night by rain in the afternoon. But the race that was halted by the rain 93 laps short of its scheduled distance of 312 laps was hardly the satisfying conclusion Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch or JoeyRead More

Nico Rosberg took a second consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix win with a controlled drive from pole position, beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the flag by 7.7 seconds. Sebastian Vettel took a relatively lonely third place, finishing 6.4s behind Hamilton and more than 30 seconds in front of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Last year Rosberg had put in a flawless performance to keep his title hopes alive until the final race of the season and while there was only pride and second place to battle for this year in Interlagos, RosbergRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – If Saturday’s DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans had been a court case, 39 NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers would have pleaded “no contest.” The exception was polesitter Kyle Busch, who led 190 of 200 laps in registering a dominating victory at Phoenix International Raceway, his eighth in 19 starts at the track. In a race that saw defending series champion and seventh-place finisher Chase Elliott trim XFINITY leader Chris Buescher’s margin in the standings from 24 to 18 points, Busch ran awayRead More

Nico Rosberg took his fifth consecutive pole position by beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the front of the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix. The German edged his team-mate by just 0.078s. Third place in the session went to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who qualified ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, Q1 saw Mercedes unusually opt for the option tyre in the first segment and it meant that their drivers dominated the session. Rosberg hit the top of the order after eight minutes with aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – After the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series battle changed dramatically with a wreck involving the two series leaders, Timothy Peters held off John Hunter Nemechek to win Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. Peters beat Nemechek to the checkered flag by .309 seconds to record his first victory at the one-mile speedway, his second of the season and the 10th of his career. But the real drama occurred 30 laps before Peters crossed the finish line in theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Jimmie Johnson played spoiler last Sunday at Texas, stealing a win from Brad Keselowski in the closing laps. On Friday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway – though “spoiler” is not a role he relishes – the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was at it again, winning the pole for Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) with a track-record lap at 143.158 mph (25.147 seconds). Johnson, who was bounced from the Chase for the NASCARRead More

By Jim Campbell, NASCAR Wire Service Jeff Gordon has been the consummate Chevy racer. He’s been a Chevy guy all the way through, and his record speaks for itself, between all the consecutive starts since 1992, the poles, the 93 wins, the championships, the Brickyard 400 championships, the Daytona 500 championships. For us, he’s a Chevy racer and champion … and as a Chevy dealer, he’s truly part of the family. It was an absolute thrill when he won at Martinsville, to know that he’s now locked into the finalRead More

Braselton, Ga.– The Claro/TracFone DeltaWing coupe will compete at the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the debut of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The DeltaWing Racing Cars team is looking forward to competing on the newly refurbished Daytona International Speedway where the coupe’s straight-line speed is highly advantageous. As a result, the DeltaWing team will participate in the upcoming test, November 17-18, and The Roar before the Rolex 24, January 8-10, both at the Daytona track. Drivers Katherine Legge and Andy Meyrick will take the DeltaWing coupe through its pacesRead More

Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas—For Jimmie Johnson, it was business as usual in Cowtown. On Sunday, the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion completed a sweep of this year’s Texas Motor Speedway races, powering past hapless Brad Keselowski with three laps left to win the AAA Texas 500 for the fourth straight year. Johnson kept his record perfect, winning a race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the 12th consecutive season. His fifth victory of the year was also his record sixth at Texas—includingRead More