Cup Category

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the first time since 1989, the NASCAR Cup Series is racing on Easter weekend as it makes its return to the dirt on Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday night’s running of the Food City Dirt Race. A year after the Cup cars made their dirt debut at Bristol on a sunny Monday afternoon, the 2022 version of the event will see the Next Gen car make its dirt debut under the lights on Easter Sunday. The car was put through its paces on the dirtRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The first night race for the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway was a cakewalk for Hendrick Motorsports—until a late caution sent the race to overtime, that is.  But William Byron survived a final restart and a mistake on the white-flag lap to win Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at the .526-mile short track.  Byron led 212 of the 403 laps. Teammate and pole winner Chase Elliott led the first 185 circuits, as Hendrick Motorsports surpassed 10,000 laps ledRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second week in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series stays in the State of Virginia, as it heads down to Martinsville Speedway for Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over the course of the evening. Martinsville marks the smallest track the Next Gen car has raced on since the exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to kickRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since his last win in the NASCAR Cup Series back in September 2020, Kevin Harvick has had a handful of chances to break his winless streak only to fall short and Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway was another one of those occasions. After starting the day in seventh place, Harvick was a constant fixture in the top-10 throughout the 400-lap duration of the Toyota Owners 400. Harvick would pilot his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing to a 10th place finish in the first stage and a seventh-placeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 will be remembered as the one that got away for William Byron. After owning the competition throughout Stage 3, Byron led 122 of 400 laps. However, the No. 24 Chevrolet began regressing once the race reached its final 15 laps. That’s when the long-time veterans hunted the 24-year-old down with Martin Truex, Jr. being the first one attempting to conquer him. Once Truex began cutting the gap, both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick also took a crack at Byron’s race lead.Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Perhaps there was no better place for Denny Hamlin to finally notch his first win of 2022. Much to the pleasure of the fans at Richmond Raceway, the hometown favorite from Chesterfield, Virginia took the lead of the Toyota Owners 400 from William Byron with five laps remaining and held off the field for a .552-second victory over Kevin Harvick and Byron. It was amazingly Hamlin’s first top 10 of the 2022 season, though it marked his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory at theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service For the second consecutive race and third time of the seven-race old season, Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney will start from the Busch Light Pole – earning the top position Saturday in qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney’s No. 12 Penske Racing Racing Ford Mustang turned in a lap of 119.782 mph to take the top position by only .20 over William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Blaney – who,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Fresh off a thrilling race at the Circuit of the Americas and the road course debut of the Next Gen car, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the short tracks starting with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Richmond kicksRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Toyota haven’t had many positives to start off the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series campaign. Although the Busch Brothers (Kurt and Kyle) and Bubba Wallace have scored top-fives, the rest of the drivers from the camp have struggled. Whether it’s luck, shortcomings, pure pace or all of the above, Toyota remain winless after six races. For Christopher Bell, just finishing third in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas was rewarding. More so when he drove without power steering for most of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AUSTIN, Texas – The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Once again, the old adage rang true at the end of a NASCAR Cup Series race as Ross Chastain scored his first career win at NASCAR’s highest level on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas while AJ Allmendinger was left to wonder what if after getting spun on the last lap of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. A day before Sunday’s main event, Chastain and Allmendinger went to battle in the NASCAR XfinityRead More