Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Chase Elliott was just two laps away from doing something his father Bill never accomplished in his NASCAR Hall of Fame career — winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron happened. Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE had his eye on a seventh career Cup Series triumph set in stone with a comfortable 1+ second lead over Brad Keselowski. That was until Byron’s left rear tire cut down and spun in Turn 2, bringingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The Bowtie Brigade showed up during Sunday’s Busch Pole Qualifying for tonight’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as they occupy the first three rows with Kurt Busch being the top Chevrolet driver. Busch earned his 28th NASCAR Cup Series pole after clocking in at 29.790 seconds (181.269 mph) to dethrone eight-time Charlotte winner Jimmie Johnson off the top spot. Not only it’s the 2004 Cup Series champion’s first pole with Chip Ganassi Racing, it’s also his first since the 2018 fall race at Talladega. FollowingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a successful week to reopen the 2020 season at Darlington, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to home base at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 61st running of the Coca-Cola 600. Sunday should have been a day full of racing with the Formula 1 race at Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 preceding Sunday night’s race, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only NASCAR will be in the spotlight, with both qualifying (2:00 pm ET) and the race (6:00 pm ET) taking place in oneRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin became the season’s second multi-time winner, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earning the rain-abbreviated Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway. This year’s Daytona 500 winner Hamlin took the lead during a late race caution – opting to stay on track while most of the other front-runners pitted for fresh tires. Hamlin held off the field on the ensuing restart with 29 laps remaining and was out front when the final yellow flagRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Wednesday night madness struck at Darlington Raceway between NASCAR’s biggest figures in terms of popularity. Kyle Busch ended up finishing second in the Toyota 500K, but it was far from the biggest story after a miscalculated game of clearing a competitor backfired, costing Chase Elliott a shot of a win. In what would be the final green flag action, Busch and Elliott were chasing down Denny Hamlin, who was running on older tires, for the race lead with 29 laps remaining. Coming to the frontstretch, ElliottRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor A staple of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule since 1950, Darlington Raceway has served as a lifeline to help the sport get back on its feet in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Just three days after the 2020 season restarted with the running of the Real Heroes 400 at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval, the stars of NASCAR’s top division head back to South Carolina for another dance with the Lady in Black in Wednesday night’s Toyota 500. With no practice or qualifying heading intoRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Mother Nature reared its ugly head once again on the already enduring 2020 NASCAR season as the weekday races at Darlington Raceway have already taken a hit. Notably, the Xfinity Series race as the Toyota 200 will now commence Thursday at Noon EST on FS1. Prior to NASCAR pulling the plug on the 200-miler Tuesday evening, they’ve already made changes on the weekday schedule as the original time slot was supposed to be at 8 pm EST. However, the sport made the decision of moving theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Darlington Raceway is typically mean on Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders, especially when a driver starts deep in the field. John Hunter Nemechek wasn’t one of those rookies as he worked from the 34th starting position to scoring a ninth-place result for his maiden NASCAR Cup Series top-10 in Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400. Although he was two spots behind the highest finishing rookie Tyler Reddick, Nemechek’s eighth career Cup race was a tremendous surprise as Front Row Motorsports hasn’t scored a top-10 on aRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer If there was a driver that improved throughout Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway, it would be Martin Truex, Jr. as he brought home a season-high sixth in the sport’s return to competition. At the start of the race, it appeared for a period of time that it would’ve been another rough outing for the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion as he punched a hole on the right front of his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats & ATVs Toyota Camry. It was believedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Arguably the two most talked about drivers of the 2003 NASCAR Cup Series season made their racing returns in Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 and showcased they’re far from reaching their career climax. Those two were the series champion Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman, the winningest driver that season. Kenseth made his debut with Chip Ganassi Racing and had a consistently solid top-10 car throughout the 293-lap race. Racing rust was non-existent as Kenseth brought home a 10th place finish, marking his second straight top-10 finishRead More