Monster Energy Cup Category

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHICAGO, Ill. – All it took was a sly smile and an exaggerated wink to understand what Tony Stewart was really saying. “I’m wasting a spot here,” Stewart quipped, echoing the sentiment he expressed before the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. After downplaying his chances five years ago, however, Stewart proceeded to win the first two Chase races and ultimately beat Carl Edwards in a tiebreaker for his third Cup title. On Thursday afternoon in the Ready.Set.Chase Launch Event at the BridgeportRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – When rain forced cancellation of Friday’s knockout qualifying session for Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), Kyle Busch was the primary beneficiary. As the top seed in Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and with his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota seeded first in the corresponding owners’ standings, Busch will start on the pole at the 1.5-mile track for the first of the 10 playoff races that will decide the 2016 champion.Read More

SHOW #428 – Guest: Chris Buescher – We also have a BIG announcement, AJ gets a cat, Dale Jr. live Tweets, NASCAR ups the rules ante, Johnson on Corden, the Top 16 are reviewed, Fantasy Racing, and a ton of fun (always included for free) 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!Read More

It’s that time of the year again. After the 16 driver field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was set last weekend at Richmond, the intensity of the season is about to ramp up over the final 10 weeks of the season as we’ll whittle the championship field down to four at Homestead to see which driver will walk away with the title at season’s end. As a refresher, there will be three rounds of eliminations before the Championship Four is set. The Round of 16 will includeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicking off this weekend at Chicago, the time has come to take a look back at a race from the past for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” This week, we’ll go back to 2009, when Chicago was a mid-summer night race instead of the first race of the Chase and the wild finish of the Lifelock.com 400. Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Scott Speed would lead the field to green under the lightsRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor 2014 was a special season for Aric Almirola and Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola recorded his first career victory in a rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and as a result Richard Petty Motorsports had a driver in the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time in the organization’s history. Almirola started the Chase with a blown an engine at Chicago in the first round, which doomed his chances of advancing, but it honestly looked like the team and driver were on the verge of makingRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Over the last several weeks of the “regular season” many teams were busted for failing post-race inspection in the LIS (Laser Inspection Station). Going forward over the next 10 races, if those teams have the same infraction it will come at a much higher cost. Wednesday, NASCAR announced changes to the severity of penalties in the Chase for teams who fail LIS inspection and have loose or missing lug nuts after the race. Now NASCAR officials have the power to strip race winners of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Chase is on. After 26 regular season races to set the 16 driver field for the 2016 edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the opening salvo of the Chase and Sunday’s 16th annual running of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, having joined in 2001, the 1.5 mile Chicagoland Speedway finds itself front and center as the Chase begins. The track, which onlyRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor For a sport to run fairly there should be one set of rules, and every competitor should be required to abide by them. It sounds like a solid theory, but for the past 18 years, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart has seemingly been allowed to play by a separate set of rules than his fellow drivers. That reality continued this past Saturday night at Richmond International Speedway. Ryan Newman had raced for 25 weeks to put himself, his sponsor and his race teamRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Denny Hamlin won a wild race at his home track, and the top four Chase hopefuls entering Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 all held serve at Richmond International Raceway in an event that ended in overtime after a record 16 cautions. Jamie McMurray locked up a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a seventh-place finish, and Austin Dillon did likewise with a 13th-place run. Sunoco rookies Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher both weathered some tense momentsRead More