NASCAR Category

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the start of the 2017 NASCAR season next weekend at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR took the opportunity to unveil the stage lengths for not only the season openers for all three national series, but also for the remainder of the season. The new format, which was unveiled with much pomp and circumstance last month in Charlotte is geared toward making the racing more exciting throughout each event in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of their 2017 race dates, Dover International Speedway has announced that they will be adding additional SAFER barriers to the one-mile concrete oval. The facility will gain approximately 1,800 feet of SAFER barriers, which will place the barriers along the outside walls on the frontstretch and backstretch, as those areas are currently unprotected. With the new SAFER barriers, the outside walls around the entire track will now be protected by the energy absorbing walls. “Continued improvements to our facility, particularly in the areas ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a return to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last season, Regan Smith found himself without a ride for the 2017 season, but on Thursday, the 33-year old New York native was able to land a part-time entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Ricky Benton Racing. Starting with the season opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona, Smith and RBR will have a 12 race schedule for the 2017 season. The team will run the first six races of the season,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Safety in NASCAR just took another step forward. On Wednesday, the sanctioning body announced a partnership with American Medical Response to move toward a dedicated traveling safety team for the first time in their history. While not quite as big the Holmatro Safety Team that the IndyCar Series uses, NASCAR will now have a dedicated safety chase vehicle that will roll out to any accident scene along with the other safety vehicles that have been used previously. AMR will provide a state-licensed doctor and paramedicRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 36 Years in Cup: 11 Career Wins: 7 Biggest Accomplishment: 4 wins in 2016 A stellar 2016 season saw Martin Truex Jr. tie a career best with eight top-five finishes and set career bests with four wins, five poles and 1,809 laps led. The four wins included two of the sport’s crown jewels, the Coca-ColaRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into the 2017 season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Thorsport Racing will be featuring a revamped driver lineup that will include some familiar faces in the team’s Toyota Tundras and some new ones to the team as well. Two-time Truck Series champion Matt Crafton and second year driver Ben Rhodes will make their return to the Sandusky, Ohio based team in 2017 to pilot the No. 88 and No. 27 trucks, respectively. Crafton scored two wins, eight top-five finishes, 16 top-10 finishes,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 31 Years in Cup: 13 Career Wins: 38 Biggest Accomplishment: 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion After winning the championship in storybook fashion in 2015 with the epic comeback after suffering a broken leg to start the season, Kyle Busch looked to make it back-to-back titles in 2016 as he would be competing inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Phoenix International Raceway has been a staple on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule since 1988 and now the 1-mile oval in the Arizona desert will be given a modern look after the track and International Speedway Corporation announced a $178 million revitalization project on Monday afternoon. The track underwent a reconfiguration in 2011, which provided fresh asphalt for the track and added the dogleg on the backstretch, but now the rest of the facility will be getting a much needed upgrade. “This isRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 44 Years in Cup: 19 Career Wins: 38 Biggest Accomplishment: 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship (Then Winston Cup Series) While change is common in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage, one driver that was not expecting a lot of change is Matt Kenseth. The only expected change for the 2017 season for Kenseth was theRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 38 Years in Cup: 16 Career Wins: 28 Biggest Accomplishment: 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (then Nextel Cup Series) champion Fresh off of a season that saw him break an all-time record for consistency and an offseason that brought a wedding with wife Ashley, Kurt Busch appears to be in a good position heading into aRead More