Cup Category

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After scoring his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega on Saturday afternoon, Aric Almirola parlayed the momentum from the day before into Sunday’s GEICO 500 as Almirola tied his best finish of the season with a fourth-place run, matching his finish from the season opening Daytona 500. “I thought I was right where I wanted to be,” said Almirola.  “My car was really good through the middle of the pack and I didn’t want to get shuffled to the bottom.  I was adamant aboutRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Anytime the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visits the restrictor plate tracks of Talladega and Daytona, Jamie McMurray is always a threat and in Sunday’s GEICO 500, McMurray was once again a threat, but came up just short with a runner-up finish. Even though he didn’t get the win, McMurray’s second place run at Talladega marks his best finish of the season. Starting the day in 23rd, McMurray had his work cut out for him when the green flag flew, but as he has alwaysRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season marked a return to Front Row Motorsports for David Ragan, who last drove for the organization in the 2015 Daytona 500. Entering the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Ragan had yet to finish better than 19th this season. In the abbreviated first practice, Ragan and his No. 38 Camping World/Good Sam team elected to make single car runs. He placed his No. 38 Ford Fusion 30th on the speed charts of the 31 teams that took time.Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was an adventure for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Of the five ROTY contenders, two drivers, Corey LaJoie and Gray Gaulding, have no previous experience at Talladega. Gaulding has no previous experience at any restrictor plate track. Ty Dillon placed his No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS 28th on the starting grid. A caution midway through Stage 2 allowed Dillon to take an alternate strategy. he moved up toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega, two fan favorites will make up the front row, with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. scoring his first pole since Atlanta in September 2013 by beating out Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who will join him on the front row. Stenhouse and Earnhardt set the fastest times in the first round of qualifying and when the final round began, Earnhardt went out and backed up his first round time to scores of cheers from the Talladega faithful. As the last car on track,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For a multitude of reasons, the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway has been one of those race weekends that has lived in NASCAR lore for the past 30 years and will continue to be one for the history books far into the future. First, Bill Elliott crushed the NASCAR qualifying record by going out and laying down and monster lap of 212.809 mph, besting the previous best of 210.364 mph that he had set at Daytona International Speedway a few months prior. The otherRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Needless to say, the past week has been a rollercoaster ride for Joey Logano and his No. 22 team after winning at Richmond only to have a mid-week penalty strip the benefits of the win from the driver and team and set them back to square one heading into Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega, where Logano looks to score his second win in a row at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Despite losing all of the benefits of the win from last weekend, the always positive LoganoRead More

By Aaron Bearden, NASCAR Contributor It took only one instance of a race-winner suffering an “encumbered” finish for this writer to reach a significant conclusion regarding the ruling: it, or at the minimum the name it’s been given, needs altered. One thing’s been confirmed with relative consistency regarding NASCAR’s latest buzzword – it doesn’t seem a good fit. Don’t believe me? Look no further than NASCAR’s most popular (and soon to be retired) driver. Never used the word “encumbered” to describe anything. Don’t plan on ever using it. Can weRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Drivers always remember their first win. For Brad Keselowski, his first win in the 2009 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega will be one that him, Carl Edwards, and NASCAR as a whole will never forget. Eight years later, the sight of Edwards’ car taking flight toward the catchfence with the finish line in sight as Keselowski captured his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win is one that is still seared into the minds of NASCAR nation. To this day, the finish is one that isRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After winning last weekend at Richmond International Raceway, Joey Logano and his No. 22 team received some unwelcome news on Thursday morning as NASCAR penalized the team for a violation discovered in post-race teardown at the NASCAR R&D Center. The violation that NASCAR found was in the rear suspension area of the car and was an infraction against Section 20.14.2 of the NASCAR Rule Book: “The Truck trailing arm spacer / pinion angle shim mating surfaces must be planar and must be in complete contactRead More