Cup Category

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 1998 Pocono 500 was a big day for Owensboro, Kentucky with not one, but two of their native sons in the field at the Tricky Triangle an in contention for the win. When the checkered flag flew, Jeremy Mayfield would come out on top, while his boyhood idol and fellow Owensboro native, Darrell Waltrip, continued a career resurgence by coming away with the final top-10 finish of his career after battling for the win with Mayfield. The 200 lap race would get off toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After losing a left rear wheel in last Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 team was handed a stiff penalty from NASCAR on Wednesday, which will leave Busch without his crew chief and two pit crew members for the next four races. Just 19 laps into the AAA 400 at Dover, Busch made his way down pit road for routine service under caution, but that’s when everything went wrong for his Joe Gibbs Racing team. Before any ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After taking on the Monster Mile last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads north to Pennsylvania this weekend for the first of two 2017 dates at Pocono Raceway and Sunday’s running of the Pocono 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 TrentonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As Aric Almirola continues to heal from his back injuries sustained last month at Kansas, the seat of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford has been filled by Regan Smith, but starting this weekend at Pocono, a new face will be in the cockpit until Almirola returns. That driver will be Darrell Wallace, Jr., who has been racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Roush-Fenway Racing this season. Sunday’s start for legendary car owner Richard Petty will be Wallace’s first start in the MonsterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, the regular season of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is now halfway over. The 400-lap event on the one-mile concrete oval once again provided some of the best racing of the year, so without further ado, here are five of the top storylines leaving the Monster Mile. Jimmie Johnson Just Keeps Rewriting the Record Books Though Kyle Larson and Martin Truex, Jr. dominated the majority of the race at Dover, it was Johnson that came outRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – The man who once made his parents stop at Hardee’s because he thought it was Cale Yarborough’s race shop pulled even with his childhood hero in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway. Getting the jump on Kyle Larson on an overtime restart at the Monster Mile, Johnson crossed the overtime line on the backstretch moments before a multi-car wreck brought out the 15th caution of the race and froze the field with Johnson in the lead and aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In this race one year ago, Kyle Larson was in contention for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win after leading 85 laps, but had to settle for second place after a late race battle with eventual race winner Matt Kenseth. With a win already under his belt in 2017, Larson headed into Dover looking for some redemption and the weekend sweep after handily winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the one-mile concrete oval. Starting the day in fifth place, Larson bided hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor 1997 Miller 500 – Dover Downs International Speedway For the first 55 races held at Dover from 1969 to 1997, the “Monster Mile” had been a 500-mile affair with attrition being the name of the game, but starting with the fall race in 1997 the race length was shortened to 400 miles, leaving one last 500 mile hurrah in June of that year that certainly did not disappoint. Starting on pole, Bobby Labonte took command of the race for the first 30 laps before disasterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After two weeks back home in Charlotte, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hits the road again for a trip to Dover International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism, marking the halfway point in the regular season. Dover began its life as an asphalt track back in 1969, but in 1995 the track was converted to concrete, making it one of only two on the circuit. As one of the two concrete tracks on the NASCAR schedule, the one mileRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Armed with a new crew chief and a gas tank that held just enough fuel to get him to the end of 600 miles with less than a second to spare, Austin Dillon won the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series of his career and put the vaunted No. 3 Chevrolet back in Victory Lane for the first time since 2000. Working for the first time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with crew chief Justin Alexander, Dillon was one ofRead More