Cup Category

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer JOLIET, Ill. — The finish on Sunday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway is exactly the finish that the sport needs in a day and age when declines in ratings and attendance have become a significant concern. The fans that braved the hot, humid and muggy conditions got their money’s worth as Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson put on a fantastic final lap that resulted in beat-up sheet metal and a respectful handshake between two of the best competitors in the sport today. With 20 laps to goRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Everything seemed to be going Clint Bowyer’s way in Stage 1 during Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, leading 21 of the first 38 laps, but multiple pit road penalties halted his aspirations of scoring his third win of the season. While the recovery was slow, he went from two laps down to back on the lead lap by staying out longer than the leaders, and clawed his way back to a fifth-place finish for his sixth top-five this season. “Yeah, weRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Like two boxers in the final round of a closely-contested slugfest, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson traded hard shots on the last lap of Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Moments later, it was Kyle Busch who was still standing—with his car parked on the finish line and his fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in his pocket. In the closing three laps, Larson gained on Busch, who had led from a restart on Lap 213 of 267.Read More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer JOLIET, Ill. — The stars and cars of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will take to the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday to do battle in the Overtons’ 400. The intermediate tracks that dominate the schedule sometimes seem one and the same, but the track 50 miles outside of Chicago has begun to take on a character all of its own as the racing surface ages and bumps develop aided by the harsh Midwest winters. The 2017 MENCS Champion and defending Chicagoland race-winner Martin TruexRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Paul Menard had the hottest shoe on the hottest day of the NASCAR season. Torching Chicagoland Speedway with a lap at 180.102 mph (29.998 seconds) in the final round of Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Menard won the pole for Sunday’s Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Nearly 10 years had passed since Menard last claimed a Busch Pole Award. His only previous top qualifying effort cameRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After spending the past seven years as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener, Chicagoland returns to its mid-summer roots this weekend as they get set to host Sunday’s Overton’s 400. The track, which joined the circuit in 2001, only hosts the Cup Series once each season, boasting banking of 18 degrees as well as a curved back straightaway that allows drivers to carry their momentum around the entirety of the track. Having not been repaved in its 18-year history, the track also allows forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — For the second time in his career, Martin Truex, Jr. scored a win at Sonoma Raceway, ending the streak of nine different winners in nine years. After being heartbroken last year, Truex spoke about his two wins during the press conference, saying how he still recalls winning in 2013 for at the time, Michael Waltrip Racing, and treats each win as if it’ll be his last. “I remember that win like it was yesterday. It was huge,” said Truex. “I really feelRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Banking on a late race caution to score his second straight win at Sonoma Raceway, Kevin Harvick didn’t get one and finished second in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, leading 35 of 110 laps. “We all make mistakes, and we all do things for a split second that you might be right after it all happens,” said Harvick. “These guys do a great job. Everyone on our Mobil 1 team has done a great job the last five years now.” Harvick said ratherRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For third-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott, Sonoma Raceway has been one of his worst tracks throughout his career, but on Sunday, that all changed with a fourth-place finish on the 12-turn, 1.990-mile road course. “It was a lot more fun, this trip out here, than it was the last two times,” Elliott said. “I made a lot of gains, personally, I think, for me at this track. It’s been one of my worst. To come here and have pace on Friday andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Using a contrarian strategy that included bluffing Kevin Harvick onto pit road earlier than planned in the final stage of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a convincing victory in the 16th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. On Lap 73, during the final stage of the race, Truex’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, ordered the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to pit road. On the spur of the moment, Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, optedRead More