Cup Category

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After running on a part-time basis since their inception in 2011, Leavine Family Racing announced on Thursday that the team would be running the complete season in 2017, with Michael McDowell and Todd Parrott returning as the driver/crew chief combo for the team’s No. 95 entry. McDowell and Parrott will run all 36 races this upcoming season, making the organization Chase eligible for the first time in its history. Along with Leavine Family Racing running full-time for the first time, the 2017 season will alsoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor In news that is not likely to have many fans throughout the NASCAR garage, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced on Tuesday that the 1.5 mile track will be resurfaced after the completion of its 2017 race weekend in March. The track was last repaved in 1997 when the facility underwent a reconfiguration from a true oval to the current quad-oval, making it the second oldest surface on the NASCAR circuit. A favorite among drivers and fans alike, the track’s aging surface had developed multiple racing groovesRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor To say the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season had a plethora of storylines would be a complete understatement. The past year was jam packed full of disappointment, excitement and utter unpredictability. Here are five of the top moments from the season: 5. Dale Jr.’s concussion Dale Earnhardt Jr. is always a big story, whether he is winning races and contending for championships or as was the case this year suffering injuries. Earnhardt had a hard accident at Michigan which jarred his head. He racedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into 2017, Richard Childress Racing is going all-in on their efforts for next season as they announced on Wednesday that they would be moving to eight full-time teams across the top two national NASCAR series for the first time since 2011. The organization will keep the same three driver lineup in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next year with Austin Dillon, Paul Menard, and Ryan Newman returning to the No. 3, No. 27, and No. 31 teams respectively. Slugger Labbe will be backRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Combining a history that stretches more than 65 years with a future infused with a new premier series entitlement sponsor and a next generation of stars, NASCAR unveiled a new brand identity Monday via its social and digital media platforms. In addition, NASCAR also unveiled the mark and name for its premier series, which will become the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series beginning in 2017. The new brand identity – which replaces the familiar bar mark that had been in place since 1976 – uses theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a successful first season behind the wheel for Front Row Motorsports in 2016, Landon Cassill will return to the team in 2017 to continue their work together, while his teammate for next season will be a familiar face in the FRM shop. Joining Cassill will be David Ragan, who drove for the team from 2012 through the 2015 Daytona 500 and earned the team’s first win at Talladega in May 2013. After Kyle Busch’s injury at the start of the 2015 season, Ragan movedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The news that the NASCAR community has been waiting for since the offseason began finally came down on Thursday as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was medically cleared to resume his racing career after successfully completing an on-track test to finalize his recovery from a concussion. Earnhardt and his No. 88 team performed the test at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday, where he completed 185 laps during a test session that lasted nearly five hours. Earnhardt was joined at the test by his crew chief Greg Ives asRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After months of rumblings about the future of HScott Motorsports at the conclusion of the 2016 season, official word came down on Monday that the team will indeed cease operations and will not field a team for the 2017 season. “Over the past several months I considered a number of options for moving forward with the team. Regrettably there are no viable sponsor/driver options immediately available to allow the team to participate in 2017,” said team owner Harry Scott, Jr. Both of the drivers thatRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor LAS VEGAS — For a person belonging to one of the most powerful families in sports, it would have been easy to accept the status quo and turn a blind eye to those in need. However, Betty Jane France just couldn’t sit by and watch people suffer. France spent her entire life trying to make the world a better place for children. That dedication to making the world, and the sport of auto racing, a better place to be led to France being posthumously named the 2016Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor LAS VEGAS — The news the NASCAR world had been anticipating for weeks finally came to fruition on Thursday, as Monster Energy was announced as the new entitlement sponsor for NASCAR’s Premier Series starting with the 2017 season. Terms of the deal were not discussed by Brian France in a last minute press conference, but the Chairman of the sport did say that the agreement is a multi-year deal. France was pleased in aligning the sport with a popular brand like Monster Energy. “Monster EnergyRead More