All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By INDYCAR PORTLAND, Ore. – Josef Newgarden made yet another statement of intent about winning his third Astor Challenge Cup as he led practice for the Grand Prix of Portland on Friday at Portland International Raceway. 2017 and 2019 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden was quickest with a lap of 58.5769 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. The top lap continued a recent resurgence for Newgarden, who pulled to second in the championship standings – within three points of leader and teammate Will Power – after winningRead More

By Holly Cain and Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A quarter of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series 16-driver Playoff field will be competing for the season prize for the first time—Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, Phoenix winner Chase Briscoe, two-race winner Ross Chastain and Sonoma victor Daniel Suarez. No first-time Playoff driver has ever advanced to the final round of the Playoffs (with the obvious exception of the inaugural year of the elimination format in 2014) but many say it would be no surprise to find oneRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With a huge assist from Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick after a rain delay of more than three hours, Austin Dillon forced his way into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff and broke Martin Truex Jr.’s heart. Dillon’s victory in Sunday’s rain-delayed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway—his first of the season and his second at the track—needed the convergence of several different circumstances to fall into place.  After avoiding serious damage in a wreck off Turn 4Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Friday night’s bizarre, attrition-filled, rain-delayed NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway produced an appropriately unexpected outcome when Jeremy Clements took the checkered flag under caution at the end of the third attempt at overtime.  Clements’ victory in the Wawa 250, a race that started roughly three hours late and ended shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, was his first at Daytona and the second of his career. Both of Clements victories have come on August 27, his firstRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service For the second-consecutive day Kyle Larson took his first lead of the race with five laps remaining and held off road course ace and fellow Californian A.J. Allmendinger for a trophy. Larson completed the rare weekend sweep at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International Sunday afternoon with a clutch win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Go Bowling at the Glen. Larson made a dramatic pass on his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go on the historic road course. As the race leader, Elliott gotRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service In the moments after claiming the checkered flag for the Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at the Glen Saturday afternoon, Kyle Larson smiled and conceded he was a bit fortunate. “I got lucky,’’ he told the USA Network television audience. Or perhaps more accurately, he was in the right place at the right time. Running third on a restart with five laps remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.)  International, he shot to the front when his Hendrick Motorsports teammateRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Chase Elliott won the pole position for Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Wakins Glen (N.Y.) International (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) making a strong statement for his championship chases as the regular season winds down. Elliott turned a lap of 125.147 mph around the 3.377-mile road course in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet besting his teammate, reigning series champion Kyle Larson by a slight .015-seconds to claim his third pole position ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Last Sunday at Michigan, Kevin Harvick broke a 65-race drought.  Now the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has a two-race winning streak.  Chased by runner-up Christopher Bell and third-place finisher Chris Buescher over the closing laps, Harvick threaded his way through traffic to win Sunday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway by .441 seconds.  The NASCAR Cup Series victory was Harvick’s fourth at the .75-mile short track—his first there since 2013—and the 60th of his career, tying himRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – The first truck off pit road controlled the race.  That was the story of Chandler Smith’s dominating victory in Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway.  Smith took charge of the second event in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff when he won the race off pit road under caution on lap 75—during the break between the first and second stages.  That was the ballgame. Smith led the final 175 laps through two cautions, one for the second stageRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  RICHMOND, Va. – Kyle Larson was a man on the move on Saturday at Richmond Raceway.  First off, he won the pole position for Sunday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Shortly thereafter, Larson left on a plane for Knoxville, Iowa, where he was locked into the main event in the prestigious Knoxville Nationals for winged sprint cars.  But before he was set to run the 1,425-pound sprint car, he navigated the .75-mile Richmond short trackRead More