NASCAR Category

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 18, 2016) – Fresh off a 10-race schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) with JR Motorsports (JRM), Cole Custer will embark on a full 23-race slate in JRM’s No. 00 Chevy Silverado in 2016. The soon-to-be-18-year-old California native has 19 career starts in parts of two seasons in the series, all with Haas Automation sponsorship. Last season, Custer showed flashes of brilliance from the start, qualifying second at Martinsville in his debut before finishing 16th. His third start of the season, at Gateway InternationalRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Some label Terry Labonte the NASCAR premier series’ least flamboyant champion. Perhaps it just seemed that way, when measuring Labonte alongside such colorful contemporaries as NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. His calm, quiet demeanor at least partially explains why Labonte became known as “The Iceman.” The Corpus Christi, Texas driver may not have personified flash, but Labonte got the job done. Labonte won his first of two championships in 1984 and figuratively fell off theRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Curtis Turner lived life and stock car racing in the same manner – at full throttle. A bootlegger at age nine, the Virginia native was a self-proclaimed millionaire at 20 and made and lost several fortunes while becoming one of the greatest drivers – and most colorful characters – of NASCAR’s pioneer era. He won a lot but also wrecked just as often. His parties were legendary and lengthy, as were Turner’s on and off-track antics in rental carsRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service In a different era, in which stock cars driven to and past their limits didn’t break with frequency, there’s no telling how many races or championships Bobby Isaac might have won. Isaac, the 1970 NASCAR premier series champion, won 37 of his 309 starts. But he was a DNF – did not finish – 129 times. His 49 poles rank 10th all-time, with 19 – a still-standing, single-season mark – coming in 1969. Only 38 drivers have won 19 or more poles inRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service There’s a possibility, albeit remote, that O. Bruton Smith could be entering the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a race car driver instead of a race promoter extraordinaire. Smith, at age 17, bought a race car and decided to be a professional driver. “One time, I actually beat (NASCAR Hall of Famers) Buck Baker and Joe Weatherly,” Smith said in a May 7, 2005 interview with Motorsport.com. “So I knew when I beat them I could be a contender, right?” Smith’s mother, however,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – It was a chance internet search that led jackman Mike Russell to NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and, ultimately, to a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship with driver Chris Buescher. “I was on the internet searching pit crew development stuff, and I came across coach Phil Horton,” said Russell, who on Saturday became the first African-American D4D alumnus to win a NASCAR national series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “So I called him and talked to him, and thatRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—At age 30, Kyle Busch completed the transformation from rowdy rebel to deserving champion on Sunday, securing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in a campaign which defied all odds. The season, which began disastrously with a crash at Daytona in February, ended in victory lane at Homestead-Miami Speedway with his wife, newborn son, and a cascade of M&Ms, courtesy of his primary sponsor. “It’s pretty unbelievable—a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true,” Busch said. “I just can’t believe it withRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – I first saw Jeff Gordon race in November of 1992, but I barely noticed him. My eyes were glued to the television for the final race of the season, but my interest had nothing to do with Gordon’s debut in NASCAR’s premier series. No, the primary focus was the three-way battle for the championship between Bill Elliott, Davey Allison and privateer Alan Kulwicki. And, oh, yes, there was the small matter of King Richard Petty taking the green flag in aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Finishing off one of the most remarkable comebacks in NASCAR history—indeed, in the annals of sport—Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and, with it, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Absent from the first 11 races of the season because of a broken right leg and left foot sustained in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona in February, Busch pulled away from fellow Championship Round driver Kevin Harvick after a restart with seven laps left and crossedRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Team owner Joe Gibbs sees Daniel Suárez as a big part of the future – not only for NASCAR but for his team. Part of the equation is about the 23-year-old’s talents as the driver who just earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Suárez moved up to fifth in the final series standings with his sixth-place effort in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But a lot of it is about howRead More