Cup Category

TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a knockout qualifying session dominated by Hendrick Motorsports on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, the outgoing king of restrictor-plate time trials—Jeff Gordon—won the pole position for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500, the final race in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Gordon toured the 2.66-mile oval in 49.234 seconds (194.500 mph) to earn his fourth Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his fifth at Talladega and the 81st of his career. Gordon has claimed the top starting spotRead More

Kansas City, Kan. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. used to own Talladega Superspeedway. After a disappointing run at Kansas Speedway in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, he’ll need to re-ascend to the throne next Sunday if he is to keep his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship hopes intact. Can do, Earnhardt, who finished 21st at Kansas and two laps off the pace at Kansas, said after exiting his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on pit road. “Don’t count us out,” he said. “We got confidence and we definitely have the car to do it…andRead More

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Block me once, and I’ll cut you some slack. Block me twice — and it’s “Gotcha.” That, in essence, was the conversation on Joey Logano’s team radio after Logano spun race leader Matt Kenseth in Turn 1 with less than five laps left in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Logano went on to win the race after a green-white-checkered-flag restart that sent the race two laps past its scheduled distance of 267 laps. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has monopolizedRead More

JOLIET, Ill. – In the theater, using the expression “Break a leg” is a way to wish an actor good luck on opening night. Twelve days before Sunday’s opening Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, Denny Hamlin tore the ACL in his right leg playing basketball. Late in the myAFibRisk.com 400 at the 1.5-mile track, Hamlin found his good fortune in the form of a serendipitous pit call on the part of crew chief Dave Rogers. Staying out on old tires, Hamlin grabbed the lead momentsRead More

RICHMOND, Va. – Joe Gibbs Racing brought guns to a knife fight on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. But JGR’s Matt Kenseth did his teammates one better — he brought a howitzer. Leading 352 of 400 laps in a race he owned from the outset, Kenseth pulled away from Kyle Busch after a restart with 18 laps left and won the Federated Auto Parts 400 by .951 seconds over his teammate. Kenseth’s fourth victory of the season, tying him for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lead with Jimmie JohnsonRead More

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Denny Hamlin tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, but is expected to race the remainder of the season and postpone the surgery until after the season finale in Homestead. Hamlin suffered the injury playing basketball Tuesday night, with confirmation coming following an MRI Wednesday morning. The 34-year-old previously tore his ACL in his left knee January 2010, also while playing basketball. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond this weekend for the final race before the Chase for theRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – On a night when throwback paint schemes recalled NASCAR’s past in vivid color, and a low-downforce aerodynamic package suggested the future direction of the sport, Carl Edwards overcame early misfortune to win an exhilarating race at the Lady in Black. Grabbing the lead thanks to a blisteringly fast pit stop under the track-record 18th caution of Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Edwards pulled away after a restart with eight laps left and beat polesitter Brad Keselowski to the finish line by .902 seconds toRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – You could call polesitter Denny Hamlin’s victory in Saturday’s VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway “dominating,” but the NASCAR XFINITY Series event wasn’t without its share of drama—courtesy of a fuel shortage and Hamlin’s own Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Daniel Suarez. Hamlin Led 117 of 147 laps at the 1.366-mile speedway, but he didn’t make the winning pass until Lap 145, when he surged past Suarez, who was stretching fuel after foregoing a final pit stop in hopes of stealing the victory. TheRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – With two races left before the start of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski got the momentum builder he needed with Saturday’s pole-winning effort at Darlington Raceway. “Boy, this feels good,” said Keselowski, who toured the treacherous 1.366-mile Lady in Black in 27.492 seconds (178.874 mph) to edge Kurt Busch for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET on NBC). The Coors Light Pole Award was Keselowski’s first of the season, his first at Darlington and the ninthRead More

Four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon is enjoying the race package at Darlington ahead of the Bojangles’ Southern 500. On a weekend when NASCAR is celebrating the days of old with retro-themed throwbacks to the 1970’s, Gordon is more focused on breaking into Victory Lane for his first win of the year and securing a spot in the Chase for the Championship. Gordon has seven wins at the historic ‘Lady in Black’ with the last one coming in 2007. Through much of the season (or the last several) GordonRead More