NASCAR Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, Calif. – There was no Sonoma Raceway three-peat for Martin Truex, Jr during Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. In fact, the three-time track winner didn’t even lead a lap at all. What he was able to do was finish third, behind Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling last year’s race, Truex entered as the defending race winner. Of course, the question was can he still get the job done in “Wine Country” despite a two-year gap? Truex feltRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Score another sweep for Kyle Larson, who dominated an action-filled Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. Through a spate of late accidents and restarts, Larson held off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott and three-time Sonoma winner Martin Truex Jr. to claim a second-straight race in which he also swept both the first and second stages. The victory was Larson’s first at the 2.52-mile road course, his third of the season and the ninth of hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After missing out on a trip to California wine country last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Sonoma Raceway this weekend for Sunday’s running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350. A 12-turn technical road course situated about 30 miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma is one of seven road courses on the 2021 schedule, with Sonoma first joining the circuit back in 1989. Over the years, the course at Sonoma Raceway has gone through a few configuration changes. When theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service With a remarkable run from the back of the field in the final stage at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, AJ Allmendinger charged to an overtime victory in Saturday’s B&L Transport 170 and tied Marcos Ambrose for the most NASCAR Xfinity Series road course wins all-time. The triumph at the home track of team owner Matt Kaulig was the fifth in the series on a road course for Allmendinger, the first two-time winner at the technical 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit. Allmendinger went to Victory Lane inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Of all the wins Jimmie Johnson was able to accrue during his illustrious NASCAR Cup Series career, one type of track eluded him for so long – road courses. Despite his impressive resume, winning a road course race would take some help to finally make the long-awaited trip to victory lane. Enter the 2010 running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Johnson would start on the outside of the front row and led 48 of the first 57 laps, but as the race playedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Hendrick Motorsports’ sprawling campus sits in the shadows of Charlotte Motor Speedway, so it was only fitting that Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 was the place that the four-car juggernaut surpassed Petty Enterprises to be the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. Petty Enterprises had been the gold standard in the Cup Series, with 268 wins over the course of a 50-year span from 1949 to 1999, including 10 championships, but the torch now passes to Hendrick Motorsports to be the standard bearer from now into theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – In dominating fashion, Kyle Larson won NASCAR’s longest race on Sunday night and in the process gave team owner Rick Hendrick a record 269th victory, most in NASCAR Cup Series history. Larson’s win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the eighth of his career and his second of the season, guaranteeing the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet a spot in the postseason Playoffs. By the time he crossed the finish line at the end of 400 laps,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Not bad for a part-timer. Ty Gibbs won his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in the sixth start of his career, recovering from a spin off Turn 4 to take the checkered flag in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs led the final 20 laps, surviving two eventful restarts during that stretch to beat series leader Austin Cindric to the finish line by .437 seconds. Gibbs, who won’t turn 19 until Oct. 4, is theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service With his third victory of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, John Hunter Nemechek reaffirmed Kyle Busch Motorsports’ mastery of 1.5-mile intermediate tracks on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Nemechek held off Sunoco rookie Carson Hocevar over a closing 10-lap green-flag run after a violent crash at the entrance to the tri-oval stripped the body off Johnny Sauter’s No. 13 Toyota and slowed the race for nine caution laps. The victory was Nemechek’s first at Charlotte and the ninth of his career.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a soggy debut at Circuit of The Americas last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to home base at Charlotte Motor Speedway for its traditional Memorial Day Weekend date and Sunday’s 62nd running of the Coca-Cola 600. While the usual Memorial Day Weekend slate features Formula 1, IndyCar, and NASCAR, a quirk in the schedule this year means only the Indianapolis 500 will precede NASCAR’s longest race. While some races may seem like a quick knockout, Sunday’s daylight to dusk to darkness marathon isRead More