Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For 248 laps, Saturday’s KC Masterpiece 400 was stage winners Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson’s playground, leading a combined total of 154 laps. That all changed with 20 laps to go after the two battled door-to-door for second until Blaney’s car collided with Larson at the entry of Turn 1, damaging both cars and their chance of winning. While Larson rallied back to a fourth-place finish for his fourth top-5 this season, Blaney wasn’t as fortunate as he brought his battered No. 12 Fleetwood RVRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Harvick, nicknamed NASCAR’s “Closer,” earned his moniker on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, passing reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. on the next-to-last lap to add the KC Masterpiece 400 to his collection of victories this season. Charging from sixth place and chasing race leader Martin Truex Jr. after a restart on Lap 259 of 267, Harvick found speed in the top lane with five laps left and passed Truex on the outside through Turns 3Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a stirring duel for the win in the spring 2012 race at Kansas Speedway, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that was completed by the time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returned to the track in October. With the facelift, the track turned from a tame 1.5 miler to a treacherous beast that did its best to chew up and spit out as many race cars as possible in its opening weekend. Mark Martin and Aric Almirola would be the two cars to getRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a visit to the Monster Mile last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series sets up shop at Kansas Speedway for Mother’s Day weekend and Saturday night’s running of the KC Masterpiece 400. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into a much more treacherous track with variable banking ranging from 17 to 20 degrees in the turns. Since then, the track hasRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Judging by the reaction and the general vibe, it’s hard to tell who is more excited about former champion Matt Kenseth’s return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition this week driving the No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Fusion at Kansas Speedway for Roush Fenway Racing. The team? Fans? Kenseth? Roush? It’s been a delicate situation, but all concerned are hopeful that the new team dynamic results in better days ahead. Kenseth is going to share the driver’s seat withRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s penalty day again in the world of NASCAR and Wednesday was a doozy, with the sanctioning body handing down a wide range of penalties to teams across all three national series. The first teams to be hit by the NASCAR penalty hammer were those of Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon. Bowyer and Suarez, who finished second and third in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism, were found to have violated rules surrounding the rear window of their respective cars. Bowyer’s car didRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Ever since Clint Bowyer moved to Stewart-Haas Racing last year, he has been undergoing a career renaissance and Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway was just another example of that as he brought home a runner-up finish behind teammate Kevin Harvick. With one win already under his belt this year, Bowyer was looking for more when his No. 14 team rolled into the Monster Mile. Starting the day in 12th, Bowyer quickly climbed into the top-10, where he would remain for the majority of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s been an up and down few days for Kyle Larson and his Chip Ganassi Racing team at Dover, but when the checkered flag flew on Sunday, Larson brought home a top-10 despite all of the setbacks. On Friday, Larson rocketed to the pole with a lap of 22.770 seconds, 158.103 mph, and things were looking up for the No. 42 team heading into race day. However, multiple pre-race inspection failures would put the team behind the eight-ball to start the race. Due to theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The “Monster Mile” is unforgiving, no matter who much experience a driver has in NASCAR. For sophomore Daniel Suarez, it has treated him exceptionally well, scoring a sixth and eighth-place finish in his two previous trips. During Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, Suarez embodied a solid performance, equaling his career-best finish from Watkins Glen last season of third-place. It’s Suarez’s first career top-5 on an oval, and second overall in his young career. Not only he accomplishedRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – The only thing that could have stopped Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Dover International Speedway was a sudden rainstorm. And even that failed. Eight laps after Sunday’s AAA 400 restarted from a rain delay of more than 40 minutes, Harvick passed Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead and pulled away to win his fourth race of the season by a whopping 7.450 seconds. All told, Harvick led 201 of the 400 laps, swept all three stages and reestablished hisRead More