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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Matt Kenseth won’t have to come from the middle of nowhere, as he did last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started 22nd, charged toward the front in the closing laps and finished fourth. Quite the contrary. In Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (on FOX at 2 p.m. ET) at Richmond International Raceway, Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag in the ninth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season after winning the pole during Friday’s knockoutRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When looking through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage area, the number of drivers that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has had an impact on throughout his career is countless. Martin Truex, Jr. is a prime example of that, as Truex may have never gotten his shot to make it to the Cup Series contending for wins and championships if not for the connection between himself and Earnhardt. Having made only a handful of starts for his family team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series between lateRead More

Ferrari continued to set the pace at the Sochi Autodrom with Sebastian Vettel heading up a Maranello one-two ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen in second practice ahead of Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix. The Finn had been quickest in the morning session beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by four hundredths of a second on supersoft tyres. However, when the teams moved to the qualifying simulations and the ultrasoft compound in the afternoon, Vettel, who had finished in P5 in a scrappy opening session, made an emphatic step putting almost three tenths betweenRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway brought Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr.’s streak of sixth place finishes in his No. 6 Ford Mustang to an abrupt end. Late in the race, he spun to avoid one accident and was nailed by the No. 0 of Garrett Smithley who had nowhere to go. As the NASCAR Xfinity Series moves on to Richmond International Raceway for the ToyotaCare 250, Wallace’s Roush-Fenway Racing Ford Mustang will have a new look. For the first time thisRead More

Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen set the pace in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix, beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by 0.045 at the Sochi Autodrom. Bottas’ team-mate Lewis Hamilton was third, more than half a second off the pace. After running on soft tyres early on, Räikkönen’s time of 1:36.074 came midway through the session, with the Finn bolting on a set of supersofts to better the earlier efforts of the Mercedes drivers on the same compounds. Hamilton had made the early running but it was Bottas whoRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer  The last time the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited Richmond International Raceway, Kyle Busch took home the victory in dominant fashion, beating Erik Jones by 6.453 seconds. The last time a NASCAR Xfinity Series regular won at Richmond was Chase Elliott in the Fall race in 2015. There are no former winners in this weekend’s race, guaranteeing a different winner for the fifth Richmond race in a row. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers in the field this weekend include Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heading back to another short track this weekend at Richmond International Raceway after a rain-delayed Monday race at Bristol, we’re set for another edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” to take a look back at the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond, which showcased racing at Richmond at its finest. Heading into the race weekend, there were several storylines that were the talk of the sport, including Denny Hamlin seeking his first win at hisRead More

By Aaron Bearden, NASCAR Contributor Like many in the NASCAR world, I was left with a torrid mixture of happiness and sadness amid Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s retirement release on Tuesday morning. There was shock to the suddenness of the announcement, one of the few news stories in recent years to not be leaked (looking at you, Stewart-Haas Racing to Ford announcement). But at the same time, Earnhardt’s retirement – coming in his 18th year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and following a season marred by concussion-like symptoms – was expected sooner ratherRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer In the 2017 Daytona 500, D.J. Kennington and Gaunt Brothers Racing (GBR) made an impressive run before getting wiped out in ‘The Big One’ just passed the end of Stage 2. Now, both Kennington and GBR will team up once again for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Daytona 500 marked the first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race for GBR. For Kennington, a native of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, his start also marked the first start in the Daytona 500 for a CanadianRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a rain delayed race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend produced one of the best races of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads to another short track, the third in the last four races, with Sunday’s running of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75 mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of aRead More