NASCAR Category

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Can Hendrick Motorsports really be better without Jeff Gordon? From a global perspective, to suggest such a thing would be pure heresy. But from a year-over-year performance perspective, it’s well within the realm of possibility that the 2016 version of Hendrick Motorsports could outshine the 2015 edition, even with rookie Chase Elliott taking Gordon’s place behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet. In fact, team owner Rick Hendrick said as much. Even though Gordon advanced to the Championship Round of the Chase andRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. –Tony Stewart might be in the best shape of his life, and just in time. At 44, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has declared this to be his final Sprint Cup season as a driver, and he’s doing everything in his power to make it memorable. “I’m eating better, drinking better, working out, doing stuff I swore I would never do – and I’m doing it in my last year,” said Stewart, facing Thursday’s a media during the Charlotte MotorRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Richard Childress Racing drivers Ryan Newman and Paul Menard qualified for last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Austin Dillon didn’t make NASCAR’s playoff in his sophomore season at the sport’s highest level, but this year, he’s determined to change that scenario and put his No. 3 Chevrolet “where it deserves to be.” Dillon’s Chevy got a jump-start after the 15th race of the 2015 season, when veteran crew chief Richard “Slugger” Labbe took over the pit box. Four ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service With former RCR partner Furniture Row Racing switching from Chevrolet to Toyota this season, Childress has taken on a new alliance as a technical partner and engine supplier to Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. That team, in turn, is a new partnership between Circle Sport Racing owner Joe Falk and Leavine Family Racing owner Bob Leavine, who last year fielded Fords for Michael McDowell in 16 of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races. Circle Sport-Leavine will run the full schedule in 2016, with McDowellRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Kyle Larson knows that his career is on the clock. At 23 years young, the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates isn’t outwardly expressing complete urgency to win his next race. But that pressure to not only win, but make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is building. “There were really no expectations when I first got into Cup,” said Larson, speaking at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. “Then,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two floors down from the red carpet that would serve as the staging area for Team Penske’s 50th anniversary gala at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, defending Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano fielded questions from reporters. There were two thrusts to the conversation: a promising 2015 season that ended badly and a 2016 campaign that holds great promise for Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford. For practical purposes, Logano’s run at a possible first championship came to a brutal end lastRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It was difficult to tell who was more excited on Wednesday when the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour wheeled into the Ford Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina. Take your pick: There were the legendary Wood Brothers, returning to full-time racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Ford Racing, unveiling its new version of the No. 21 Fusion, and driver Ryan Blaney, preparing to continue his own family’s racing tradition by running a full rookie season in the NSCS. It’s bigRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Roush Fenway Racing President Steve Newmark concedes that, in January, every executive of every organization competing in the NASCAR Spring Cup Series will be singing the same tune. In other words, in January, before any cars actually hit the race track, everyone is excited and optimistic about the coming season. This year, however, to hear the drivers and principals of Roush Fenway tell it, the happy talk isn’t just lip service. To be sure, Newmark’s attitude stood in stark contrast toRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Brian Scott knows he’s in a pretty good place. In 2016, the 28-year-old Idaho native will compete in a loaded field for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors with the logo of Richard Petty Motorsports emblazoned on his chest. “It’s pretty cool,” said Scott, speaking Wednesday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “Richard Petty: Just when you say his name you think of so many things. You think 200 wins.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Change is in the air. At the 2016 Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, NASCAR announced several changes and perhaps none bigger than adding a playoff system to the XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series. The system will be identical to the Chase for the Sprint Cup format NASCAR has used the last two seasons. To be honest it is surprising that it took this long for NASCAR to add a playoff format to its two lower divisions and that it didn’t elect toRead More