Monster Energy Cup Category

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Six drivers vying for two spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship 4 Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway just might be a recipe for bad blood – particularly since three of the six drive for the same organization. “There’s an opportunity for two or three of us to be disappointed – or one of us,” says Denny Hamlin, who is battling his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, along with Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and KurtRead More

SHOW #436 – Guest: Alex Bowman – We recap the Texas weekend, run down the Chase scenarios, Dale Jr. made of wax, Dale Jr. pulled over, plus a full Phoenix preview. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie DOWNLOAD HERE CREDITS: Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Toby Christie Executive Producer: Kerry Murphey Music: Russell Nash Audio Director Voice Over: Thomas Moog SUBSCRIBE FREE HERE RSS FEED RADIO STATIONS CLICK HERE SUBSCRIBE FROM iTUNES: Take us with you! Subscribe to our audio shows from iTunes, and they will automatically show up on yourRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie Brian Scott has been competing in the top three NASCAR series for nearly a decade, but on Thursday morning, Scott and Richard Petty Motorsports announced that he would be retiring from NASCAR competition at the conclusion of the 2016 season to focus on his family and other opportunities outside of the sport. “This was a difficult decision, but one that I made myself for my family. Racing and specifically NASCAR has been and will always be in my heart, butRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into this weekend’s trip to the Arizona desert for the running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, a visit to the past is in order for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”. This week, we’ll take a look back at the 1996 Dura Lube 500, which saw quite a few interesting storylines coming into the event and most certainly leaving it. Back in 1996, Phoenix hosted just one race on the Cup Series schedule, the penultimate raceRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup recently endured one of its most trying days last Sunday in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The event, delayed by rain, was also ended prematurely due to the same. However, that isn’t where the problem sits. Not entirely. You see, there is a massive amount of buildup for Chase races and perhaps no place more so than the 1.5-mile oval track – the site where many fans have witnessed raw emotion from drivers and teams asRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Round of 8 all comes down to this. After last week’s rain delayed race at Texas, the stage is set for the final race of the round to determine which drivers will move onto Homestead and which drivers will see their championship hopes vanish in the Valley of the Sun. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely different than it did 28 years ago, having undergone a reconfiguration back in 2011. The reconfiguration added progressive bankingRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson was the only driver locked into the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. One driver that was hoping to earn his own guaranteed shot at a Championship was Denny Hamlin. As the cars were unloaded at the beginning of the race weekend, Hamlin had just a six-point gap over the Chase cut-off. In the first practice, Hamlin was 15th fastest. He was then mired back on the speed charts in the secondRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — With one race left before the Chase for the Sprint Cup Round of 8 is cut down to four, Kurt Busch finds himself in a not-so-favorable spot — last in the Chase Grid. After finishing 15th-or-better in every Chase event through the Rounds of 16 and 12, Busch has now racked up back to back finishes of 20th-or-worse to start the Round of 8. After his latest finish, a 20th place effort in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway,Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor FORT WORTH, Texas — Chase Elliott ended up not needing a substitute driver for tonight’s rain-shortened AAA Texas 500 and ended with a strong fourth place finish. Elliott started tonight’s 334 lap race just outside the top 10 in eleventh place but started working his way forward early in his No. 24 Kelly Blue Book Chevrolet. Elliot ran near the bottom of the top ten for much of the race’s opening half. As the race settled into a rhythm, Elliot began to pickRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor FORT WORTH, Texas — Austin Dillon’s chances for a possible win from pole in tonight’s rain-delayed AAA Texas 500 came to a screeching halt following a crash on lap 264. Dillon ran inside the top five for much of the race’s opening 250 laps and managed to lead a total of six laps in his No. 3 Realtree/Bad Boy Chevrolet, although five of those were scored when the race started under green/yellow conditions. Following a routing green flag pitstop for tires and fuel, DillonRead More