NASCAR Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A day removed from the sad and alarming news of Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra testing positive for COVID-19, the race must go on without the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion for the first time since Loudon in November 2001. Filling in the prestigious role for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports, looking to make the absolute most out of driving the No. 48 Ally Financial Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after getting the call fromRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service In the days and months leading up to Saturday’s inaugural Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, Indiana’s own, Chase Briscoe left no doubt how important a victory would be to him. He sure had to earn this one. After holding off an aggressive late race charge from the field, the 25-year old Hoosier took the checkered flag, maneuvered out of his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and joined team members to climb the frontstretch fencingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will miss out on competing in Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after testing positive for COVID-19. After learning Friday morning that his wife Chandra had tested positive following allergy-like symptoms, Johnson, who has been asymptomatic, was tested as well, with the test returning a positive result. Per NASCAR’s guidelines, Johnson will not return to competition until being cleared by a doctor and will have to remain symptom-free and have two consecutive negative test resultsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor There have been many memorable moments in the history of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a native Hoosier capturing the checkered flag on his native soil, makes the 2005 running of the race one of the most special in the event’s history. In his first six starts at Indianapolis, Tony Stewart had come close to winning at the Brickyard, with two top-five finishes and a top-10 finish, but a win still eluded him. Stewart was on a roll when the 2005 edition ofRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Jesse Little’s rewarding top-10 finish from last Sunday’s Pocono Green 225 at Pocono Raceway still brightens up his day. Not only showcasing how much progress he’s made as a NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie, but finally allowing him to find his racing rhythm. “I’m comfortable with the cars,” Jesse told Motorsports Tribune. “I’ve had enough laps, even though I haven’t had a lot of practice. I’ve had enough laps in the races being week-to-week-to-week that I’m comfortable in myself.” Prior to surviving the mayhem that took outRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Two weeks ago, NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway announced the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race would be moving from Charlotte to Bristol for the first time in the history of the event. Now we know the format for the July 15 extravaganza under the lights. The 140-lap race will be divided into four stages, with lengths of 55 laps, 35 laps, 35 laps, and 15 laps. All of the laps will count in the first three stages, while the final stage will only count green flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers played the strategy game to perfection en route to the win Saturday at Pocono Raceway and came into Sunday looking to make it a clean sweep, but came up one spot short of making that a reality With 325 miles of experience from Saturday under his belt, Harvick started the day in 20th place due to the invert and the strategy game was once again afoot between him and Denny Hamlin, who finished runner-up in Saturday’s race. Harvick ledRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A 24-hour turnaround does come a long way in the NASCAR Cup Series. That was the case for Erik Jones who went from having a disastrous 38th place result Saturday to finishing a quiet yet strong third-place in Sunday’s Pocono 350 at Pocono Raceway. The man entering 17th in the regular season standings was six markers behind Tyler Reddick for the 16th and final playoff spot. However, Jones had his worked cut out for him due to running a backup car after crashing on Lap 71Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin turned the tables on Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Staying out on old tires and building a lead while Harvick battled traffic late in the Pocono 350, Hamlin won the second race of the historic NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader by 3.068 seconds over Harvick, reversing the finishing order of the two drivers from a day earlier. For the first time in its history, NASCAR ran two Cup events on the same weekend at the same track. Hamlin achieved several milestonesRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Ross Chastain’s bank account grew by $100,000 after winning a second straight Dash4Cash bonus in Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono, but it was a bittersweet day after coming so close to victory. After starting the day in fifth place, Chastain showed early he would be one of the cars to beat, leading five times for 31 laps and putting himself in position for his first win of the season when a late single-car crash pushed the race into overtime and setup a two lapRead More