Cup Category

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor One of the most prolific partnerships in NASCAR history is sticking together for a little while longer. On Friday, Hendrick Motorsports announced that seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson had signed a contract extension with the team to keep him behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet through the 2020 season. Johnson’s long-time sponsor, Lowe’s also re-upped their contract for another year as their colors will adorn the side of Johnson’s car for all 38 races through 2018. “My relationship withRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Entering the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan in June 2012, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had gone four long years since his last trip to victory lane, which came in the same race on Father’s Day in 2008. With the weight of the world on his shoulders and his rabid fan base willing him to victory, Earnhardt silenced the doubters with a dominating win on the two-mile oval. With a freshly repaved track greeting the drivers as they arrived at Michigan, speeds immediately began to skyrocket onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a barn burner of a finish at Pocono last weekend that culminated in Ryan Blaney taking the Wood Brothers back to victory lane, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan to race on one of the biggest and fastest tracks on the circuit, Michigan International Speedway and Sunday’s running of the FireKeepers Casino 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning this race for bragging rights.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Sunday’s Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway provided one of the more memorable races at the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped track in recent memory, with Ryan Blaney scoring his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win for the legendary Wood Brothers. To go along with Blaney’s win, here are five of the top storylines leaving the Tricky Triangle. The Young Guns are Taking Over 2017 has been the year of the young gun. Though drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, and Martin Truex, Jr. haveRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Dogged by Kevin Harvick for the final eight laps of Sunday’s Axalta presents the Pocono 400, Ryan Blaney held off the 2014 series champion in a breathtaking battle to claim the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career. After a restart on Lap 148 of 160, Blaney grabbed the lead from polesitter Kyle Busch on Lap 151, with Busch on older tires, doing everything he could to block Blaney’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Racing sideRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor So close, yet so far for Kevin Harvick. Still looking for his first win of the 2017 season, Harvick entered Pocono looking to not only score his first win at the 2.5 mile triangle-shaped track, but to finally get in the winner’s column this year. Unfortunately for the 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, his visit to victory lane will have to wait after coming up just short on Sunday afternoon, as he finished second on the day behind winner Ryan Blaney. Starting theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Even without crew chief Adam Stevens on top of the pit box at Pocono, Kyle Busch looked to be well on his way to his first win of the season, but with an interim crew chief at the helm, it would be a late race pit call that would be the downfall of the No. 18 team on Sunday. Starting on pole after a blistering qualifying run on Friday afternoon, Busch and his team showed they weren’t going to let Stevens four-race suspension hinder theirRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the low downforce package for 2017 leading to higher corner entry speeds this season, drivers have been having to use more brake than ever to be able to slow their cars down to be able to make the corner and on Sunday at Pocono, brake issues came to the forefront early and often. As speeds at the end of Pocono’s long frontstretch were in the 205 mph range, the brakes were getting a big workout as drivers had to slow down nearly 40 mphRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Running his fastest lap of the day in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying, Kyle Busch won the pole position for Sunday’s Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FS1) by a comfortable margin. The only driver to top 179 mph in three rounds of time trials, Busch covered the 2.5-mile distance at the triangular track in 50.237 seconds (179.151 mph) to earn his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his thirdRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. was in limbo. He knew his NASCAR XFINITY Series ride in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was ending because sponsorship dollars weren’t available to sustain it. And though Wallace had reached out to Richard Petty Motorsports about filling in for injured Aric Almirola, there was a brief period in which Wallace didn’t know if he’d be racing beyond this weekend at Pocono Raceway, his last scheduled ride in the No. 6 Mustang. “There were a lot of sleeplessRead More