Cup Category

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway was the final chance for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to make the Playoffs. All five of the ROTY contenders have had previous experience at Richmond. Erik Jones was the best rookie for the fourth week in a row, narrowly beating out Daniel Suarez for sixth in the No. 77 SiriusXM Toyota Camry after running inside the top-five all night long. A missed shift on theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Like a strange scene out of a ‘B-Rated’ Comedy movie, Matt Kenseth’s Federated Auto Parts 400 ended because of an ambulance. Kenseth, who had been battling for a much-needed victory, came close to seeing his title chances evaporate after 257 laps. No one could have predicted the chain of events that would befall Kenseth’s No. 20 Hurricane Harvey Relief Toyota Camry. It started when Austin Dillon punted Danica Patrick entering turn one. Patrick went for a long, lazy spin that brought out a caution, however,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After 500 miles around the historic Darlington Raceway last Sunday, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway for the final regular season race that will set the 16 driver field for the playoffs with Saturday night’s running of the Federated Auto Parts 400. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75 mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side by sideRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor This weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway for the regular season finale to cement which 16 drivers will head into the playoffs with a chance at the championship, but four years ago, this race and NASCAR as a whole was rocked by a race manipulation scheme dubbed as “Spingate.” Entering the race in September 2013, there were 10 drivers vying for the final five Chase spots, four of which would go to the drivers in the top-10 in points andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Penalty day in NASCAR has come following the race weekend at Darlington Raceway and this week’s penalty announcement is a doozy, with drivers from both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series feeling the wrath of the sanctioning body. Denny Hamlin made headlines across the sport with his sweep of both races on the historic track, including a monster comeback in Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500, but now both of those wins have been ruled as encumbered by NASCAR due to issuesRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With his rookie season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed toward its finale in a couple of months, Ty Dillon’s future just got much brighter as he and Germain Racing announced a multi-year contract extension to keep him behind the wheel of the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet for the foreseeable future. Along with Dillon and Germain announcing their deal, GEICO, which has sponsored the team since 2008, also announced that they will be a permanent fixture on the livery of Dillon’s car forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Each week NASCAR Editor David Morgan will break down the top storylines from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This week, we break down the Bojangles’ Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway. Comeback of the Year? After winning Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Darlington with a last lap pass on Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin headed into Sunday night’s main event looking for the weekend sweep, but despite having one of the fastest cars on track, he almost gave the win away. Hamlin would lead 121Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For the third year in a row, NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway was a resounding success. Some could argue that the Throwback Weekend idea saved Darlington Raceway from a fate similar to North Wilkesboro and Rockingham Speedway. The Throwback Weekend is just one of three ‘theme’ weekends NASCAR has. On Memorial Day Weekend, NASCAR pays tribute to members of the military with the 600 Miles of Remembrance in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Coke 600. July 4th weekend, NASCAR pays tribute to the history of theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin made a huge mistake on Sunday night. Then the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made an even bigger comeback to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious races. Running down race leader Martin Truex Jr. from 20 seconds back after missing the entrance to pit road on Lap 313 of 367, Hamlin won the Bojangles’ Southern 500 for the second time, finishing off a sweep of the throwback Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series/NASCAR XFINITY Series weekend atRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Despite suffering a flat right-front tire with two laps to go at Darlington, taking him out of contention for his second straight Southern 500 win, Martin Truex, Jr. will leave the track “Too Tough to Tame” with the consolation prize of the regular season points championship, giving him an all-important 15-point bonus for the playoffs. “It was definitely a bittersweet night for us, to come up just two laps short there, blow a tire at the end after having no issues with tires all nightRead More