Cup Category

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Starting next weekend at Watkins Glen, seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will have a new crew chief atop the pit box. Hendrick Motorsports announced Monday that Cliff Daniels will take over the role that had been held by Kevin Meendering. “We have an opportunity to win an eighth championship and a lot more races with Jimmie,” Daniels said. “I’m proud to be in this position and have total faith in the team and our ability to perform at the level everyoneRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent In a back-up car, Kyle Larson climbed from the back to a top-five finish in the Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway. In Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series overtime, Larson’s No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was one of several cars in the top-10 not questioning the fuel mileage. On the restart, he was stuck behind Erik Jones. Larson cleared Martin Truex, Jr. as he battled Jones into turn one. However, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver had to back out of the throttleRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer An extremely bad month by Chase Elliott is an understatement. Sunday’s Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway capped off a not just a forgettable month, but the entire weekend. After crashing his primary car in practice, Elliott and the entire No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet team pulled out the backup car. While it slowed them down drastically, Elliott was able to work his way inside the top-10, a feat he hasn’t since a fourth-place finish at Pocono in June. Since the last stop at the “Tricky Triangle,”Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Thanks to a fast No. 11 Toyota, a feel for fuel economy and a first-ever application of traction compound to the asphalt at Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin rediscovered the magic at the Tricky Triangle that marked his spectacular debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2006. Leading a 1-2-3 finish by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers—none of whom, surprisingly, was Kyle Busch—Hamlin passed teammate and race runner-up Erik Jones on Lap 144 and saved enough fuel to last through an overtime that carriedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service No practice made perfect on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. Without benefit a mock qualifying run in practice, Kevin Harvick nevertheless made a decisive run to the pole for Sunday’s Gander RV 400 at the Tricky Triangle (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Qualifying near the end of the session, Harvick navigated the 2.5-mile distance in 51.707 seconds (174.058 mph) in beating out second-place qualifier Joey Logano (173.377 mph) by a whopping .203 seconds to secure his first Busch Pole AwardRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The 2020 NASCAR season symbols a season of change with tracks such as ISM Raceway and Iowa Speedway announcing their plans over the past few days. This time, it’s Pocono Raceway who took center stage as the track announced Saturday morning their preliminary and tentative game plan, months removed from being affected by the big schedule realignment. No longer they’ll host two separate 400-mile races in the months of June and July. Instead, they’ll have a doubleheader weekend from June 25-28, 2020. In a span ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven weeks after their first trip to the “Tricky Triangle,” the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s running of the Gander RV 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When looking at Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s career in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on a year by year basis, there are certain seasons that stick out among the rest and the 2014 campaign was one of those for the 15-time Most Popular Driver. After winning the season-opening Daytona 500 for the second time in his career, Earnhardt maintained a spot in the top-six in the points standings through the first 13 races of the year. Then came the first event at Pocono Raceway, whereRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Not too surprisingly, as NASCAR heads into the final contests to set the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, the races have been high on drama – both on the track and for the championship implications. Weekly shake-ups in the standings are becoming the norm, and that most favored of old sports clichés, “one race at a time,’’ may actually have found its legitimacy as drivers close out the regular season. In the past four weeks, three drivers – AlexRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer No quitting from both Ryan Newman and his entire No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing squad, settling for seventh in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after overcoming a coil wiring issue. “Honestly, it was the most fun I’ve had all year in a race car, and that’s mostly because we had a good, competitive Oscar Mayer Ford. I slid through the box,” Newman on his stellar top-10 performance. “We had a bad coil wire. We had a bunch of things that setRead More