All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Rookie Chandler Smith earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon at Richmond (Va.) Raceway holding off John Hunter Nemechek on a final race restart with six laps remaining to hoist the ToyotaCare 250 trophy. Smith’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet led a race best 83 of the 250 laps – the bulk of that early in the race. But the 20-year year old Georgia native was able to run among the top five for most of the day and ultimately driveRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN, Texas – Tyler Reddick prevailed in three overtime re-starts to claim his first trophy of the year – and first with his new team, 23XI Racing, with a 1.411-second victory over two-time series champion Kyle Busch in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix – the NASCAR Cup Series’ first road course race of the season. It was a field of international champions and NASCAR’s very best at the famed Circuit of The Americas course but for most of the race the outcome looked toRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN, Texas – A.J. Allmendinger started on pole position and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Pit Boss 250 presented by USA Today on Saturday afternoon on the world-renowned Circuit of The Americas road course. The 46 laps in between the green and checkered flags, however, were dramatic and full of emotional highs and lows for the veteran Allmendinger, who led 14 laps to start the race and the final 14 laps to close it out. The series’ all-time road course winner earned his 11thRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN, Texas – Zane Smith became the first repeat NASCAR winner at the famed Circuit of The Americas road course, the reigning series champion holding off veteran Kyle Busch to claim his second straight victory in Saturday’s XPEL 225 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. The 23-year-old Californian’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford led the final 15 laps – a race best 16 of the 42 laps in all – and crossed the finish line an impressive 5.451-seconds ahead of the two-time NASCAR CupRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – In a race that started in chaos and ended in bedlam on the last lap, Austin Hill won his third NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season, beating Daniel Hemric to the checkered flag in Saturday’s RAPTOR King of the Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With his family in attendance, the Winston, Ga., native, led three times for a race-high 103 laps and dominated an event that featured a record 12 cautions for 68 laps.  NASCAR called the final yellowRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway—with a lot of turmoil in between.  Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and front-row position for a restart on lap 136 of 137.   After leading the first 30-lap stage of the race wire-to-wire, however, Eckes sped on pit road and lost track position. He spent the rest of the event working his way backRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Joey Logano added another memory at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, and seven other Ford drivers followed behind him.  Covering the 1.540-mile distance in 31.256 seconds (177.374 mph), Logano won the pole for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and led a parade of eight Ford drivers into the top eight starting positions.  That’s the first time since 1965 at Beltsville (Md.) that Fords have qualified for the top eight spots on theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick hate late-race cautions.  William Byron loves them.  After a two-tire call under the fourth caution flag in Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Byron surged past Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in overtime to win his second straight NASCAR Cup Series race.  Byron can thank Ford drivers Aric Almirola and Harrison Burton, who on successive weekends spun with a handful of laps left—at Las Vegas and Phoenix, respectively—and gave Byron a chance toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  AVONDALE, Ariz. — High school senior Sammy Smith made the most of the fastest car in Saturday’s United Rentals 200, becoming the youngest NASCAR Xfinity Series winner Phoenix Raceway at age 18.  In a race that featured 11 cautions for 69 laps, Smith held off teammate Ryan Truex after a restart with 15 of 200 laps left to give Joe Gibbs Racing its 16th victory at the 1.0-mile track.  Smith led a race-high 92 laps, including the last 52, taking the lead from KyleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Larson continued his dominance at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday with a pole-winning run for Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Larson topped the speed chart in Friday’s 50-minute NASCAR Cup Series practice session and posted the fastest lap of the weekend in the first round of time trials, covering the 1.0-mile distance in 27.324 seconds (131.752 mph).  In the final round of qualifying, Larson was the only driver to topRead More