Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What felt like the Royal Rumble, the 42nd Busch Clash will go down as the ultimate attrition fest as only six out of the 18 drivers survived the mayhem at Daytona International Speedway. It seemed fitting that the race winning car was a total wrecked machine as Erik Jones got the assist of a lifetime from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin (who was a lap down) to win the crash fest that saw three overtimes, resulting the total laps goingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was a relatively calm but unmistakably race-y start to Sunday’s Busch Clash at Daytona International Speedway, but by the last of three overtimes were complete, the garage area was littered with bent-and-dent race cars and some equally banged-up feelings. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones led only the last lap to claim his first Busch Clash win in a finish that echoed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory – also at Daytona when he led only the last lapRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Denny Hamlin couldn’t win the Busch Clash at Daytona for himself, but he made sure his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate did. For nearly the entire final lap in the third attempt at overtime, Hamlin pushed the mangled Toyota of Erik Jones all the way to finish line in a race that saw only six of 18 cars running at the finish. With the nose of his car caved in and held together with tape, Jones led only the final lap—theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The youngest and the oldest driver on the grid have made “The Great American Race.” Both Justin Haley (age 20) and Brendan Gaughan (age 44) were not only the first two cars out to qualify, but they were fastest among the open cars during Sunday’s Daytona 500 qualifying and to each story is their own. For Haley, he was 31st fastest at 190.018 mph and the most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner at Daytona. Not only that, Haley making the field willRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With a blistering lap at 194.582 mph on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. broke the Hendrick Motorsports monopoly on Daytona 500 pole positions—sort of. In his first competitive trip in the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, Stenhouse covered the 2.5-mile distance in 46.253 mph to lock himself into the top starting spot for next Sunday’s Great American Race (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Admittedly, Stenhouse had a Hendrick engine under theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick won’t be going anywhere in the foreseeable future as the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion confirmed Saturday that he’ll be staying with Stewart-Haas Racing through 2023. This came to be after earlier this week that he would be stepping down from doing television and radio broadcasting this season to focus on family, his own agency (KHI Management) and racing. “There are a number of things that went into those decisions. First and foremost, Wednesday’s just don’t work very well forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The boys of NASCAR are back in full sound at Daytona International Speedway. Saturday saw a possible indication which cars look poised of capturing the Busch Pole Award for next Sunday’s 62nd Daytona 500 and who can work together in the draft, but as the saying goes – it’s too early to tell who’s the heavy favorite right now as Daytona is an ultimate crap shoot where anything can happen and it usually does. Before qualifying practice, there was one 50-minute sessionRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The NASCAR Hall of Fame induction process will go through a massive overhaul as NASCAR announced Wednesday that starting with the 2021 class, there will only be three inductees. Since 2010, five members have been inducted into the Hall of Fame each year and with the latest inductees last Friday (Buddy Baker, Joe Gibbs, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, and Waddell Wilson), the total is now up to 55. NASCAR President Steve Phelps said that now it’s the time to make changes in its process by recognizingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 34 Years in Cup: 16 Career Wins: 56 Biggest Accomplishment: Two-time Cup Series Champion (2015 & 2019) Rolling into Speedweeks as the top dog of the NASCAR Cup Series is Kyle Busch. What can be described as a roller coaster championship campaign, Busch continued building his legendary career. Like going undefeated (5-0) in the Gander RV & OutdoorsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 39 Years in Cup: 15 Career Wins: 26 Biggest Accomplishment: 2017 Cup Series champion, Two-time Xfinity Series champion (2004, 2005) Nearly equaling his win total from his 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship season, Martin Truex, Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn were a force to be reckoned with last season, racking up seven wins in their first season in-house atRead More