Cup Category

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Austin Dillon earned his third Busch Pole Award of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season Saturday evening at Chicagoland Speedway, his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet posting a speed of 176.263 mph around the 1.5-mile track. Kevin Harvick will start second, his fifth front row start of the season in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Dillon’s RCR teammate Daniel Hemric was third fastest, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth and KurtRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. have had their share of battles in NASCAR, dating back to 15 years ago when both were championship contenders in the Busch Series (now known as Xfinity). The duo combined for 11 wins and 12 poles in 2004, with Truex winning his first of two championships that season. Meanwhile, Busch ended up second in the final standings, but dominated the Rookie of the Year battle by winning top honors. Fast forward to 2019, they’re now both champions in the MonsterRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent After he sat on the sidelines for much of the last year, Austin Theriault will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Theriault will join Andy Seuss, who is also making his Cup debut at NHMS with Rick Ware Racing, as a teammate. The Fort Kent, ME native will drive the No. 52 Bangor Savings Bank / Cross Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the team. To date, Theriault has 19 starts in NASCAR’s National Series, his most recent inRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Rick Ware Racing adds another driver to their fold as Andy Seuss will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in their No. 51 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. RWR most recently helped Bayley Currey make his premier series debut earlier this season. Ray Black Jr., Josh Bilicki, Cole Custer, Harrison Rhodes, and Kyle Weatherman also made their debuts for the organization. Seuss will follow in the footsteps of fellow NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour alum Ryan Preece, who made his debut at NHMS inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The countdown to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is on, with just 10 races remaining in the regular season to set the field of contenders that will fight for the championship later this fall. Kicking off the summer stretch will be Chicagoland Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Camping World 400, which returns to its mid-summer roots for the second year in a row after several years as the Playoff opener. The track, which joined the circuit in 2001, only hosts the CupRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones was among those who passed the most cars in the Toyota Save Mart 350. The third-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver moved far up the running order in the final caution-free stage. Jones’ No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry made quick work of Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer as they faded on worn tires. He had been mid-pack before his late-race surge forward. Jones picked up a couple more positions at Sonoma Raceway after Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and JoeyRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — In 223 NASCAR national touring starts, with 155 in the Cup Series, Matt DiBenedetto has never scored a top-five. That all changed Sunday as a fourth-place result in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway capped off a career-defining afternoon. Through tremendous strategy and a solid all around car, DiBenedetto and the entire Leavine Family Racing kept working on the No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry all afternoon, and it paid off as he’s now 25th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standingsRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Hungry for his second Toyota/Save Mart 350 victory, Kyle Busch was a man on a mission to beat Martin Truex, Jr., but the bid fell 1.861 seconds short Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. With fresher tires, Busch’s caved-in No. 18 M&Ms Hazelnut Toyota Camry kept cutting down his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s 8.3 second lead with 20 laps remaining. Several laps later, Busch’s deficit just kept decreasing and the question would now become can he pass Truex? Lapped traffic would also play a pivotalRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Dominant in defense of last year’s victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. held off Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to win Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway. With three-lap fresher tires after the final set of green-flag pit stops at the 2.52-mile road course—which for the first time since 1997 featured use of the carousel connecting Turns 4 and 7—Busch closed an 8.269-second gap to slightly more than a second over theRead More