NASCAR Category

By Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR Wire Service I feel very fortunate to have been a fan of Jeff Gordon from the very beginning. He was somebody that I aspired to be. I watched him from his Midget and Sprint Car days all the way through, and when he hopped in that DuPont 24, it was much easier to follow him. When you look at the doors that he has opened after his success, and owners thinking that drivers don’t have to come from the South or come from stock cars, youRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Joe Gibbs Racing announced that it has finalized a multi-year extension with Mars, Inc. to remain as the primary sponsor on the No. 18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Several Mars brands, such as Snickers, Skittles, Double Mint, Pedigree and M&M will be featured on Busch’s Toyota. The combination of JGR and Mars have grabbed 29 wins, 142 top 10’s and 15 poles since the two began its relationship in 2008. “Representing Mars, Inc’s family of brands on the No.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service There’s nothing like a championship to validate the efforts of a young driver — or a team owner, for that matter. When Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick take center stage as the opening act of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the spotlight will shine squarely on the two 19-year-olds, one of whom will become the youngest-ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, barring a Matt Crafton miracle. Just as the significant, however, is the battle between the owners of the two teams, KyleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – A serendipitous sequence of pit stops and a drizzle that turned into a downpour made a winner of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday night’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the start of which was delayed from day to night by rain in the afternoon. But the race that was halted by the rain 93 laps short of its scheduled distance of 312 laps was hardly the satisfying conclusion Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch or JoeyRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – If Saturday’s DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans had been a court case, 39 NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers would have pleaded “no contest.” The exception was polesitter Kyle Busch, who led 190 of 200 laps in registering a dominating victory at Phoenix International Raceway, his eighth in 19 starts at the track. In a race that saw defending series champion and seventh-place finisher Chase Elliott trim XFINITY leader Chris Buescher’s margin in the standings from 24 to 18 points, Busch ran awayRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – After the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series battle changed dramatically with a wreck involving the two series leaders, Timothy Peters held off John Hunter Nemechek to win Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. Peters beat Nemechek to the checkered flag by .309 seconds to record his first victory at the one-mile speedway, his second of the season and the 10th of his career. But the real drama occurred 30 laps before Peters crossed the finish line in theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Jimmie Johnson played spoiler last Sunday at Texas, stealing a win from Brad Keselowski in the closing laps. On Friday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway – though “spoiler” is not a role he relishes – the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was at it again, winning the pole for Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) with a track-record lap at 143.158 mph (25.147 seconds). Johnson, who was bounced from the Chase for the NASCARRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Alex Bowman has signed a deal with JR Motorsports to pilot the No. 88 Chevrolet in the XFINITY Series for the 2016 season. Bowman, 22, is currently running in his second full season at NASCAR’s top level in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Jr. The Tuscon, Arizona native ran two races with JR Motorsports last season, finishing 12th at Charlotte and 17th at Phoenix. Bowman also jumped on with JR Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, finishing 11thRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After being announced as the replacement driver for a suspended Matt Kenseth, rookie Erik Jones finished 12th at Texas, but eyes the ultimate upset with a win in the desert as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix. Jones, currently the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship leader, has sat on the front row in both NCWTS starts (second in 2013, pole in 2014) and grabbed victory in each. Phoenix was the site of his first Truck Series victory and it came in just hisRead More

By Jim Campbell, NASCAR Wire Service Jeff Gordon has been the consummate Chevy racer. He’s been a Chevy guy all the way through, and his record speaks for itself, between all the consecutive starts since 1992, the poles, the 93 wins, the championships, the Brickyard 400 championships, the Daytona 500 championships. For us, he’s a Chevy racer and champion … and as a Chevy dealer, he’s truly part of the family. It was an absolute thrill when he won at Martinsville, to know that he’s now locked into the finalRead More