Cup Category

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Two wild card races down, one to go. The finish line of the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is in sight now that the Yellawood 500 at Talladega is complete and only the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL remains to determine which eight drivers will be moving on to the next round with their title hopes still intact. Chase Elliott is the only driver that is truly safe in the Queen City next weekend, having won Sunday at Talladega to secureRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Always the unquestionable fan favorite at NASCAR’s famed Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Georgia-native Chase Elliott made a last-lap pass to claim the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 victory Sunday afternoon – having to better one of his best friends, Ryan Blaney, to earn the first automatic bid into the next round of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. With a lap to go, Elliott pulled his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the bottom lane to the top lane and got aRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Noah Gragson’s astounding win streak in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was bound to come to an end at some point and on Saturday at Talladega, it did just that as he finished 10th in the Sparks 300. Charging from the back of the field to start the race, Gragson finished the first two stages in the top-10. He was making his move late in the race on leader Austin Hill before a block from Hill slowed his momentum and he was unable toRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Christopher Bell won the Busch Light Pole for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap of 180.591 mph around the 2.66-mile oval on Saturday – a mere .075-mph faster than Chevrolet’s Kyle Larson – putting the NASCAR Cup Series championship contenders out front in the fifth Playoff race, second of this round. It’s the series-best fourth pole of the season for Bell, 27, driver of the No. 20 Joe GibbsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Since the Next Gen car made its debut in the NASCAR Cup Series earlier this year, drivers have been concerned with the severity of the impacts they have been feeling in the cockpit. This week, those concerns were amplified even further when it was announced that Alex Bowman would have to sit out of Sunday’s Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway while he recovers from concussion-like symptoms following a crash last weekend at Texas. Bowman’s absence marks the second driver in the last 10Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – It appears the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will be full of wild card races. Following a chaotic race at Texas last week, the gauntlet continues this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway with Sunday’s running of the Yellawood 500. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Alabama has been a wild card on the schedule with the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing on full display over the past half-century, leading to some of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Alex Bowman will not be driving his No. 48 Chevrolet on Sunday at Talladega after Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that he has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms since a crash at Texas last weekend. In the closing laps of the second stage in last Sunday’s race, Bowman cut a tire and spun into the Turn 4 wall. Despite the damage sustained by the impact, he was able to limp the car to pit road, where his crew got it repaired enough to get him back inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The temperatures in Texas weren’t the only things that were heated after Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, so were Denny Hamlin and William Byron after their run-in during the marathon race. It all started as the two were battling off Turn 2 with 73 laps to go, when they touched coming off the corner, causing Byron to sideswipe the wall. Hamlin took the position as a result, while Byron was able to recover quickly to slot in behindRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas — They say everything is “bigger” in Texas and certainly NASCAR’s Round of 12 Playoff opener at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the billing. From Playoff consequences to a red flag delay to bumper-banging aggression, tire fall-off and record statistical marks, there was no shortage of competitive drama in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Ultimately Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick prevailed as race winner – taking the green flag by 1.190-seconds over Penske Racing’s Joey Logano in a final 24-lap green flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Out of the three races in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Texas Motor Speedway was supposed to be the least chaotic, but it was anything but for those still in the title fight. Drivers had hoped to bank a good finish in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 to kick off this stretch of races on a high note, but for some of them, they will have a hole to dig out of over the course of the nextRead More