Cup Category

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas—As a driver who likely must win one of the next two races to keep his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title prospects alive, Brad Keselowski took a giant step in the right direction during Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway. The 2012 series champion covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.929 seconds (196.929 mph) in the money round to win the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC), the second of three races in the Eliminator RoundRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Following what has been a stellar rookie year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Daniel Hemric prepares to move to Brad Keselowski Racing for his sophomore campaign in 2016. The 24-year-old from Kannapolis, North Carolina has spent 2015 with NTS Motorsports, currently sitting seventh in the championship heading into this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Hemric will team with current BKR driver Tyler Reddick to give the organization a solid 1-2 punch for the championship next year, with Hemric takingRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The National Motorsports Appeals Panel has decided to uphold the two race suspension levied by NASCAR to Matt Kenseth following a hearing earlier today. The first appeal panel consisted of Ken Clapp, Bill Mullis and Dale Pinilis, heard the testimony but came to the following decisions: The Appellant violated the rules set forth in the Penalty notice; The Panel affirms and upholds the original Penalty levied by NASCAR. The second and final appeal was heard by National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss and came toRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A day after NASCAR announced the suspension of Matt Kenseth for two races following his collision with Joey Logano at Martinsville, I’m left wondering if Brian France and company made the right call. The decision to suspend the former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion has sent a message to fans and drivers alike, but also created division on the severity of the punishment. Many look to the Kevin Harvick incident during the green-white-checkered finish at Talladega as intentional and point to the fact that the sanctioning bodyRead More

By Ray Evernham, NASCAR Wire Service I don’t think you ever really know when you’re going to grow into a relationship and end up really close to a person. I think that just happens. I think, in some ways, Jeff’s and my friendship is strengthening as we go through time. But I knew from the first time I met him that I liked him and I was going to get along with him. We thought about things the same way, and he had that kind of personality, and he had thatRead More

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Yes, Jeff Gordon celebrated his 93rd career victory in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Yes, Gordon will compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Yes, there were tears of joy in Victory Lane for Gordon, who’s at the tail end of his final season in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But Sunday’s race at Martinsville had so much more — most notably, “Matt Kenseth’s Revenge.” Long before Gordon held off Jamie McMurray in aRead More

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – At NASCAR Sprint Cup racing’s shortest track, Joey Logano’s torrid run just got longer. The winner of three straight races—constituting a sweep of the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—Logano toured .526-mile Martinsville Speedway in 19.215 seconds (98.548 mph) in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session to win the pole for Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 (1:15 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Logano edged fellow Chase driver Martin Truex Jr. (98.487 mph) by .012Read More

At what point does a restart take place? This is the question running through my mind as I attempted to digest what has taken place at Talladega Superspeedway at the end of NASCAR’s Camping World 500. A caution came out for Jamie McMurray blowing an engine and the field was lined up for a green/white/checkered finish. The difference was that NASCAR had stated heading into the week leading up to Talladega that there would only be one attempt while other races had three, due to the nature of restrictor-plate racing.Read More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – The roof came open and the bottom fell out. That was Denny Hamlin’s day in a nutshell. Hamlin was second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings coming into Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, but a disastrous 37th-place finish left him on the outside looking in as the Eliminator Round begins with eight surviving drivers. The No. 11 FedEx Toyota suffered a fluky mechanical issue early, then was victimized on a last-lap restart when he was caught up in a massive pileup that left Hamlin irate withRead More

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Through no fault of his own, Joey Logano may have achieved the most unpopular sweep in NASCAR history on Sunday afternoon. Why? Because his victory in the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—by a matter of inches. When NASCAR threw the third caution of the race moments after the first bona fide attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 195—with Kevin Harvick’s engine turning sour and cars wrecking behind him—Logano was inches ahead Earnhardt. ThatRead More