Cup Category

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Pearn have started the season off with a second place finish in the Daytona 500, but many were wondering how severe penalties would be for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team, after they failed pre-qualifying inspection, and were unable to make it back to the grid in time to take a qualifying lap because of a roof flap issue. Wednesday afternoon, NASCAR released the post-race penalty report for Daytona, and the No. 78 team has received a P2 penalty. As a result, PearnRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After last Sunday’s barn burner of a finish in the Daytona 500, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series packs up and heads to Georgia for this weekend’s running of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. As we head to Atlanta, we’ll take a statistical look at the track and which drivers should perform the best based on their past finishes in this edition of “Crunching the Numbers.” Track Facts Track Size: 1.54-mile quad-oval Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 24 degrees Banking/Turn 3 & 4:Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor The Daytona 500 is in the books, and if you’re a fan of one of the big-named drivers in the sport then chances are you know everything about how your driver did this past Sunday. Unfortunately, television and social media accounts don’t always follow the little guys working their tails off in the back of the pack. This all new Tribute Racing series, ‘Keeping up with the underdogs’ is for you: the fans of the underdogs. Regan Smith, driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing, had aRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A huge domino has just fallen for the 2017 season, and beyond. Stewart-Haas Racing, which has been one of the most dominant team in recent year, and has always been a Chevrolet team, will swap to Ford cars and engines for next season according to a Ford press release. The release states that the Stewart-Haas Racing team has a multi-year agreement with Ford. Stewart-Haas Racing currently fields the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars for Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick. Stewart, the teamsRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor What has been rumored for weeks, is now confirmed to be true. Ty Dillon will pilot the No. 14 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Stewart-Haas Racing made the announcement via Twitter Tuesday afternoon. CONFIRMED: @tydillon in No. 14 @amsupdates & @BrianLVickers in No. 14 @LVMotorSpeedway. Future races remain TBD. — Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) February 23, 2016 After Atlanta, Brian Vickers will slip back behind the wheel for the next race at Las Vegas. Reports of anyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 58th annual Daytona 500 is in the books and with it a new champion crowned in Denny Hamlin. With ‘The Great American Race’ now over, it’s time to revisit some of the big takeaways from the Sprint Cup season opener. 1) Hendrick Motorsports fell flat Our NASCAR Editor, Toby Christie, pointed out that this was the first time since 2009 that a driver from Hendrick Motorsports has failed to grab a top 10 finish – see that story here. With that said, the performance, orRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After a rough start to the beginning of Speedweeks, Martin Truex, Jr. and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team appeared to be snake bitten, but on Sunday, both Truex and his team earned some redemption with their runner-up finish in the Daytona 500. Starting at the rear of the field in a backup car, Truex methodically worked his way through the field, moving into the top-five by lap 30, where he would remain for the remainder of the race. Falling in behind his adopted teammatesRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service If he had to do it over again, Matt Kenseth might have stayed in line in front of Martin Truex Jr., rather than moving up the track to try to block Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. But Kenseth had to make a split-second decision, and he moved into the outside lane in the final corner of Sunday’s Daytona 500. But Hamlin dived to the inside, and Kenseth nearly wrecked before regaining control of his car. Hamlin went on to win the race, andRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Toyota has spent nine long years trying to notch the manufacturer’s first Daytona 500 victory in NASCAR. It wasn’t an easy road after starting their NASCAR program from scratch in 2007. In their first Daytona 500 outing, Toyota’s highest finisher was Dale Jarrett who finished in 22nd position. Toyota’s other finishers that day were: Michael Waltrip (30th), Dave Blaney (34th), and David Reutimann (40th). It was a humbling day, but Toyota Racing Development stuck with improving their program and now in 2016, the monkey is officially off ofRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After a solid Speedweeks, the 2016 Sprint Cup rookie class struggled to live up to expectations in this year’s Daytona 500. Chase Elliott replaced retired four-time series champion Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 at Hendrick Motorsports, and started off with a bang by winning the pole for ‘The Great American Race’. However, after leading the opening three laps, the second-generation driver and 2014 XFINITY Series champion quickly ran into trouble, wrecking off Turn 4 before ultimately finishing 37th. Chris Buescher, last season’s XFINITY Series champion,Read More