Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pole sitter Ryan Blaney had an up and down afternoon during Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Despite leading a race-high 143 of 312 laps, Blaney wound up fourth. When things appear to go well for the Penske driver, a few setbacks plagued the veteran from being a contender for the win. During the first 25 laps, Blaney was in control but once the competition caution came out, his day became challenging. Although Blaney had a solid pit stop, he was caught speeding on pitRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service There was no shortage of motivation as three drivers all vying for their first-career victory in the marquee NASCAR Cup Series decided the dramatic outcome at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe had to hold off the field on not one, not two, but three late race restarts on the one-mile desert oval, including the final restart with three laps remaining to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the Ruoff Mortgage 500. The 27-year-old Briscoe is the 200thRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney earned his third career Phoenix Raceway pole position on Saturday afternoon and will line up alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to lead the field to green in Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 (3:30 p.m., FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It is the best race start of the season for both drivers, who are eager to rebound after uncharacteristic tough luck in the opening three races of 2022. Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford has only aRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has seen the Next Gen car put through its paces on a variety of tracks, now it heads to Phoenix Raceway and Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 for what could be its most important race yet. The one-mile oval in the Arizona desert played host to a two-day test in late January, but there is still a cloud of uncertainty about how the car will race come Sunday, making the very limited track time available like gold forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Aric Almirola is off to his best season start of his NASCAR Cup Series career following a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He’s the only driver to finish in the top-10 in all three races this year which puts him sixth in the championship standings. In the closing laps, Almirola was barely hanging onto 10th place until the race went into overtime after Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace crashed on the frontstretch. When the race boiled down to a two-lapRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kyle Busch started the weekend in Las Vegas rolling a pair of snake eyes, with a crash in the opening minutes of practice forcing him to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend. Despite the setback, Busch nearly came back to win at his home track, but a late race caution while Busch was leading would ultimately see him end the day in fourth-place. Following his practice crash, Joe Gibbs Racing went to work on readying the backup car and after thrashing all nightRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Alex Bowman won in a dramatic overtime ending in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday – gambling on a two-tire final pit stop for his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and holding off the field in a two-lap sprint to decide the NASCAR Cup Series race. Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson made up the front row on the restart – the pair along with teammate William Byron took two tires on the final pit stop whileRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell won his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole position on Saturday and will lead the field in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota bested the 10 cars that advanced to second round qualifying at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a lap of 182.673 mph. Defending race winner Kyle Larson put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a thrilling race in Southern California last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will make the trip up Interstate 15 to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week, with Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 marking the second leg of the West Coast swing. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5-mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that saw progressive banking put in place with the new banking rangingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Erik Jones came out to play in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, finishing a hard fought third after leading six times for 18 of 200 laps. Thanks to two runner-up outings in the opening two stages, it was also a massive points day for Jones, who racked up 52 points. He equaled race winner Kyle Larson with the most points scored after the grueling 200-lap contest concluded. As several of the top contenders afternoon went south in Stage 3, notably Tyler Reddick whoRead More