Monster Energy Cup Category

FONTANA, Calif.—One week removed from his return from a three-race suspension, Kurt Busch rewarded the unwavering support from Stewart-Haas Racing team co-owner Gene Haas by putting his No. 41 Chevrolet on the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX). “It’s amazing to do this in Gene Haas’ back yard,” said Busch, who streaked around two-mile Auto Club Speedway in 38.889 seconds (185.142 mph) during the third and final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying for the fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. A dayRead More

AVONDALE, Ariz.—Yes, the best car won Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway — but one-man juggernaut Kevin Harvick had to hold off charging Jamie McMurray on the final restart with 12 laps left to notch his fourth straight victory at the one-mile track. The box score will show that the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ led 224 of 312 laps, but McMurray took his best shot on the Lap 301 restart, driving hard to the inside of the race winner and, for the briefest of moments, clearing Harvick’sRead More

AVONDALE, Ariz.—The most surprising thing about Kevin Harvick’s pole at Phoenix International Raceway was that it was his first one. Riding a tidal wave that carried him to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title last year and continued with two runner-up finishes and a victory in the first three races of the current season, Harvick toured the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert in 25.577 seconds (140.751 mph) during the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying to win his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season and theRead More

 LAS VEGAS, Nev.— Kevin Harvick must have been tired of finishing second, because on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion did something about it. Once Harvick got to the front of the field from his 18th-place starting spot in the Kobalt 400, he was untouchable. Even with a disquieting vibration on the final green-flag run—and a left-rear tire that shredded during his celebratory burnout—Harvick had enough of a working margin to hold off runner-up Martin Truex Jr. by 1.640 seconds. Harvick, who ran secondRead More

HAMPTON, Ga.—Coors Light Polesitter Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick dominated the early and middle stages of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway—before Jimmie Johnson decided to crash the party. Johnson didn’t take the lead in the second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season until Lap 198 of 325, but from then on, his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field, leading six times for 92 laps in winning for the fourth time at Atlanta and for the 71st time inRead More

Newly crowned Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The front of the field will look similar to last week’s Daytona 500 finish, with runner-up Kevin Harvick starting alongside the Team Penske driver. For Logano, it is the ninth pole of his Sprint Cup Series career, but his first at the 1.54-mile track. “I really want to win here,” said Logano. “I lived here for six years. I used to race on the quarter-mile (track)Read More

Team Xtreme confirmed that its No. 44 Chevrolet, driven by Travis Kvapil, was stolen early Friday morning outside of the team’s hotel and that the team will not compete in this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The small budget team reported the stolen truck and trailer just before 6 a.m. ET to local authorities. Sunday was set to be Kvapil’s first Sprint Cup start of the 2015 season at the 1.54-mile track. The Team Xtreme hauler left its Mooresville, NC headquarters ahead of schedule to avoid theRead More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—The record will reflect that Joey Logano won Sunday’s 57th Daytona 500 under caution, when a multicar wreck on the backstretch forced NASCAR to wave the yellow flag as Logano led the field into the final corner on the second lap of a green-white-checkered-flag finish. But the notation of that final caution does no justice to the memory of a race that produced some of the most scintillating restrictor-plate racing in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. From a restart on Lap 182 of a scheduledRead More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kurt Busch’s indefinite suspension is upheld after going through his second appeals process in less than 12 hours, confirming that the former Sprint Cup champion will not race in the Daytona 500. After a three member board did not rule in favor of Busch, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver sought a second appeal Saturday evening. Bryan Moss, the National Motorsports Finals Appeals Officer, had the final decision on the ruling and ruled in favor of the sanctioning body. In a statement Moss said “the penalty was withinRead More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After a vicious crash left Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch with a right lower leg compound fracture and a left mid-foot fracture, the team has decided to put defending Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton in the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for the Daytona 500. The source is a person close to the team and wished to keep their anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation. Crafton and Busch have familiarity among the Toyota Racing family in the Truck Series, Busch withRead More