NASCAR Category

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer JGL Racing has been developing their “Young Guns” program for the past several seasons. For this program, they use their No. 24 Toyota Camry to showcase various drivers throughout the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule. One of the drivers that can now add their name to this program is Dylan Lupton. Lupton joins Corey LaJoie, Drew Herring, Jeb Burton, and Scott Lagasse Jr. as drivers of JGL’s No. 24 Toyota Camry. Lupton’s first race for JGL Racing will be at Richmond International Raceway on April 29Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After seven races have been completed in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, there are definitely some teams that have stepped up their performance from last season, while others have stumbled out of the gate thus far in the season. As the series takes their first off-weekend of the year before embarking on a marathon run into late August, we’ll take a look at performance of the top teams in NASCAR’s premier division up to this point and how they rank amongst their peersRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the 2017 running of the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race just weeks away, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway gathered on Tuesday afternoon to unveil the format for this year’s race, which differs a bit from years past. This year, the race will consist of 70 laps, broken down into four stages, with the first three stages running 20 laps each and a final 10 lap dash for the $1 million prize. Winners of the first three stages will automatically advance to the final stageRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed to the newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott was riding a wave of momentum. Elliott has yet to finish worse than 14th all season, and earned his fourth Top 10 of the season last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. In the first practice for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Elliott placed his No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS 20th on the charts. He improved to fifth fastest in the second practice. However, Elliott drifted wide offRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas -– Jimmie Johnson proved on Sunday that you can’t keep a good driver, a good car and a good team down for long—even if you change the playing field at one of his favorite race tracks. The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion passed Joey Logano for the lead on Lap 318 of 334 and pulled away for his first victory of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway. The winRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — For the first 170 laps of Sunday’s 334 lap O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, it was all Ryan Blaney. The 23-year old driver for the Wood Brothers Racing Team had led 148 laps — the first time that the No. 21 team has led more than 100 laps in an event since October of 1982 — But a caution near the end of Stage 2 set up a disappointing conclusion to the race for Blaney. While Blaney optedRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to his old form in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Being mired deep in the starting lineup didn’t faze him, neither did a new track configuration. The only obstacle that really challenged Earnhardt all day was the intense Texas heat. During the race, on a bright sunny 81 degree day, Earnhardt’s helmet cooling fan malfunctioned. A gassed Earnhardt talked about his boiling day after climbing from his racecar. “It was warm. I thought the carRead More

By Beth Lunkenheimer, Contributing Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — The offseason brought about some pretty major changes to Texas Motor Speedway. While many drivers were quite fond of the rough surface at the 1.5-mile oval, nestled just north of Fort Worth, Texas, something had to give after the porous surface held rainwater through multiple race weekends last season. The speedway announced a major improvement project back in January that brought a fully repaved surface. Additional drainage was added, and the surface was reconfigured. The banking in Turns 1 and 2Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — It had been a rocky start to the season for NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contender Cole Custer. Through the first five races of 2017, the 19-year-old driver had already crashed out twice (Daytona and Fontana), and had finished 21st-or-worse in three races. In Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Custer flipped the script and had one of the best races of his brief Xfinity Series career. Custer rolled from the grid in the sixth position toRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The beginning of the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season has not brought the results that Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Tifft had been expecting. After opening the season with an 11th at Daytona, Tifft has been hovering just outside of the top 10. In comparison, Tifft’s various Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have recorded one win, five top fives and six Top 10s between themselves. The newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway presented a new opportunity for Tifft and his No. 19 SiriusXM Toyota CamryRead More