Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer William Byron was among the many NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers who were tamed by “The Lady in Black.” Not once, but twice in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500, becoming the third competitor crashing out at Darlington Raceway. Following a late-race crash in last Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, Byron hoped Darlington would be a turnaround weekend. Especially, that it’s the playoff opener and having a career season. However, it wasn’t in the cards the from the very beginning. On Lap 15, Byron couldn’t avoidRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the 16 drivers battling it out in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the pressure is already immense. Add in a tough Playoff opener in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington and that pressure has the tendency to boil over. For Kyle Busch, that came just 10 laps into Stage 2 when contact between him and Austin Dillon in Turn 2 sent Busch’s car for a four-wheel slide into the outside wall, causing heavy damage to his No. 18 Camry. The damage was too muchRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Sunday’s opening stage of the Cook Out Southern 500 had chaotic moments involving NASCAR playoff drivers. One negatively impacted by the madness was Michael McDowell, the first to have a mulligan in the Round of 16. Entering the backstretch on Lap 31, McDowell went from gaining track position to losing everything in front of the competition. Consequently, his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang slammed the Turn 2 wall. It was already game over for the Daytona 500 champion as he’ll leave Darlington RacewayRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a wild weekend in Daytona to wrap up the regular season and set the 16-driver field for the Playoffs, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of the crown jewels on the circuit, Darlington Raceway, for this weekend’s running of the Cook Out Southern 500. A staple of the Cup Series since 1950, there are many elements to Darlington that make it a special track. From the egg-shape of the track that features one end narrower than the other as a result of building theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Tyler Reddick came into Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona as the 16th driver in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings with his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon on the outside looking in. After a wild night at the World Center of Racing, Reddick will leave right where he came in, with the final spot in the Cup Series Playoffs after finishing sixth, while Dillon fell just short of unseatingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –  The Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway unfolded as billed with dramatic action all Saturday night that included 45 lead changes, a 14-minute Red Flag period and a wild final lap of overtime to decide the championship Playoff picture. Ultimately, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney managed it all and took his second NASCAR Cup Series victory in as many weeks as a huge multi-car accident happened behind him in the last corners ofRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 17 team began the day with optimism, but it initially ended with a crushing runner-up finish by Chris Buescher. Nearly two hours later, their entire day went under as Buescher’s team was disqualified for an illegal track bar mounting assembly as specified in Rule 20.3.3.3.b REAR SUB-FRAME ASSEMBLY; I-4 Track Bar Mounting Assembly “The track bar mounting assembly must conform to the following drawing:  FRAME-TRACK BAR MOUNTING ASSEMBLY A-002-01171D-19 REV. A” Thus, Buescher will be credited with a 40th place result forRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In its first year of existence, 23XI Racing is wasting no time in making big moves as the team announced Friday it would be expanding to a two-car team in 2022, signing veteran Kurt Busch to pilot the team’s second car – the No. 45 Monster Energy sponsored Toyota. The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion will be heading into his 23rd season at NASCAR’s top level when he joins the team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin – the seventh differentRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Cup Series regular season comes to an end right where it all began back in February as Daytona International Speedway is set to host Saturday night’s running of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. Two battles will be taking place on Saturday as Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are set to duke it out for the regular season championship, while just one spot remains up for grabs in the Playoffs. Of the drivers still looking to race their way in, TylerRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Richard Childress Racing’s stress levels were already chaotic entering Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Especially for one Austin Dillon, who was 28 points behind teammate Tyler Reddick for the 16th and final playoff spot. With just a single race left in the regular season, the stress levels reached the summit after Dillon’s hard crash at the end of Stage 2. After holding off Brad Keselowski for the sixth spot to collect five stage points, Dillon would get clipped by Keselowski and sentRead More