NASCAR Category

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – NASCAR. Fourth of July weekend. A first ever street course race. Expect fireworks. Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has been able to experience street course racing in other forms of motorsports throughout his career, but even he is unsure of what will happen when the green flag drops for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 220 on the Chicago Street Course. “It’s so cool – racing within a city,” Button said. “There aren’t many racing drivers that get that opportunity. I’veRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO — The NASCAR Cup Series is heading into the unknown this weekend in Chicago. While other racing series have had street course races in their lineup for years, NASCAR is taking its first crack at racing on a non-purpose-built course on Sunday with the running of the Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago, Illinois. The 2.2-mile, 12-turn course will wind its way around Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan as the series hopes to capture the imagination of a whole newRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain capped off a “perfect” race weekend, hitting all the right notes in Music City to earn the winner’s guitar trophy in Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway – his first NASCAR Cup Series race victory of the season, a day after claiming his first career pole position. But before hoisting his new guitar, the 30-year old Chastain had a watermelon to smash – his trademark victory celebration – a nod to his family’s multi-generation watermelon farm in rural Alva,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger held off an especially spirited field in double overtime to claim his first oval race victory of the season in a dramatic Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday afternoon. The popular veteran led the final 20 laps and got an impressive final restart to launch his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet from the pack and drive off to a 1.323-second win over runner-up Riley Herbst in a race that included a record-tying 11 caution periods andRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain smiled and conceded, he had no idea how having the No. 1 pit box selection would be for Sunday’s Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. “I’d never had it before,’’ he said smiling. Chastain certainly earned it with honors on Saturday, claiming the Busch Light Pole in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet with a blazing fast 160.687 mph lap in qualifying – a full 1 mph better than the field – earning the right toRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Carson Hocevar took the lead with 40 laps remaining in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway and held off every challenge necessary in the closing laps – including a frantic push from his competitors on a re-start with three laps remaining – to earn his second career victory. Hocevar held off reigning series champion, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith and Friday’s polesitter Nick Sanchez by a slight .271-second margin in a tightly-contested final push towardRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The NASCAR Cup Series is back in Music City for the third straight year to take on Nashville Superspeedway and Sunday’s running of the Ally 400. Prior to its Cup debut in 2021, the track located on the outskirts of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee, was no stranger to hosting NASCAR events with both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series running there from 2001 to 2011 before the track was shuttered. The Nashville track serves as an oddity on the Cup Series schedule, aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – What a difference a year makes.  After struggling mightily last year at Sonoma Raceway in the debut season for NASCAR’s Next Gen car, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a dominating 180-degree turnaround in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.  Overcoming an inopportune caution and leading a race-high 51 of 110 laps, Truex scored his second victory of the season and his fourth at the 1.99-mile road course, most among active drivers and second only to Jeff Gordon’s five in track history.  Truex’s 33rd careerRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Aric Almirola knew Sonoma Raceway is a track that wouldn’t make him look like a “wanker.” Far from it. Holding off the dominant car of Kyle Larson—until Larson made a critical mistake—and then outrunning road course ace AJ Allmendinger over the final laps, Almirola won Saturday’s DoorDash 250 at the 1.99-mile road course. The victory was Almirola’s fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first since 2017, when he won at Talladega for owner Fred Biagi. The win also was the first-everRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Denny Hamlin made the most of a second lap in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying to edge Tyler Reddick for the pole position for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Running the fastest lap of the day, Hamlin toured the 1.99-mile road course in 77.719 seconds (92.178 mph) to earn his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Sonoma and the 38th of his career. Reddick hadRead More