Cup Category

RICHMOND, Va.—NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France couldn’t have been more emphatic when he met with the Associated Press Sports Editors on Thursday in New York City. Safety remains the sanctioning body’s number one priority, France said, and with that assertion came a ray of hope for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch, who was sidelined at Daytona International Speedway in February after a crash that broke his right leg and left foot. Busch’s No. 54 Toyota slammed nose-first into a concrete wall unprotected by SAFER barriers during a NASCARRead More

RICHMOND, Va.—Sometimes it pays to go for broke—particularly when you have little to lose. That was the case for Joey Logano in Friday’s time trials for Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway (7 p.m. ET on FOX). Logano’s crew made significant adjustments to his No. 22 Team Penske Ford between the second and final rounds of knockout qualifying, and the changes paid off with Logano’s third Coors Light Pole Award and fifth front-row start of the season. Logano earned the top spot on the grid for SaturdayRead More

In what has become an annual tradition of recognizing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions, President Barack Obama honored 2014 title-winner Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team at the White House Tuesday afternoon. Accompanied at the podium in front of the White House by Harvick, crew chief Rodney Childers and SHR owner Tony Stewart, Obama began his speech by congratulating Harvick and offering his condolences to the NASCAR community on the passing of FOX Sports broadcaster Steve Byrnes. Obama discussed Harvick progressing to championship form while getting usedRead More

BRISTOL, Tenn.—In a race delayed and interrupted by rain, and ended in overtime, Matt Kenseth broke a drought of more than a year’s standing in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes at Bristol Motor Speedway. In a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that went 11 laps past its scheduled distance of 500 laps—making it the longest race in the history of the .533-mile short track—Kenseth crossed the finish line .287 seconds ahead of Jimmie Johnson, who recovered from a succession of issues to claim the runner-up finish.Read More

BRISTOL, Tenn.—If history repeats itself on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth won’t have a problem with it. The last time Kenseth won a pole at the high-banked .533-mile short track—back in 2005—he followed with a victory in the race. In Friday’s time trials at Thunder Valley, with a lap at 128.632 mph (14.917 seconds) Kenseth earned the 14th Coors Light Pole Award of his career, his second at Bristol and his first of the season. And that’s a good omen for a driver who hasn’t won a NASCARRead More

BRISTOL, Tenn.—If you’re Richard Childress, and you’re looking for an interim crew chief, you’d be hard pressed to find a more experienced candidate than Todd Parrott. Fortunately for Childress, Parrott already is part of the RCR organization, as competition director for the NASCAR XFINITY Series effort, but he’ll make a quick transition to crew chief for Ryan Newman this weekend at Bristol while Newman’s regular pit boss, Luke Lambert, serves a six-race suspension. Lambert’s mandated exile was held in abeyance while RCR appealed NASCAR penalties for altering tires during theRead More

A split second before his No. 54 Toyota slammed nose-first into a concrete wall inside Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch recalls saying to himself, “Oh, no, it’s not slowing down, it’s not slowing down—this is going to hurt, this is going to hurt.” That was an understatement. Busch has been sidelined with a broken right leg and broken left foot since his crash Feb. 21 in the Alert Today Florida 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona. On Wednesday at Joe Gibbs Racing’s headquarters in Huntersville, NorthRead More

FORT WORTH, Texas – Entering Texas Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500, the season has seen a rise of unlikely faces at the top of the Sprint Cup championship standings. The relatively quiet and forgotten man at Richard Childress Racing that has been the one leading the banner this year is none other than Paul Menard. Heading into Saturday night’s race Menard was sixth in the standings, with his best finish this season coming at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The Wisconsin native qualified a solid eighth,Read More

Fort Worth, Texas – In the midst of rumors that his run as a substitute driver at Joe Gibbs Racing could be near its end, David Ragan delivered with 13th place finish at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night. Ragan ran as high as eighth before a consistency of late cautions halted a potential top ten result. “I think we were really good the middle part of the race and then whatever happened, these short runs at the end, we just weren’t that great,” said Ragan. “Track position is very important.Read More

FORT WORTH, Texas—Jimmie Johnson continued his recent domination of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night, rallying after a late pit stop for a victory in the 19th annual Duck Commander 500. Johnson, the six-time NSCS champion, took the lead on Lap 321 of the scheduled 334 when he drove under and past Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick exiting the dogleg of TMS’ high-banked, 1.5-mile quad-oval. The final 14 laps featured a battle between Johnson and Harvick, the reigning NSCS champion, who finished second despite scrapingRead More