By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – There’s something about Kyle Kirkwood and winning on street courses in 2023. For the second time this season, the newest member of the Andretti Autosport stable was cool, calm, and collected under pressure as he put on a masterclass in Nashville to win the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. After starting eighth, Kirkwood cycled to the lead a couple of different times as pit stop strategy played out, but once he cycled back to the top spot on lap 54, it was hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – Scott McLaughlin will have the best seat in the house when the green flag waves on Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix after scoring his second straight pole in Nashville. Emulating the “Thirsty 3’s to the Moon!” moniker that his No. 3 Team Penske has embraced this season, it was almost as if the New Zealander had strapped the RS-25 rocket engine on display in the fan zone to his Chevrolet as he blasted around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile street course in one minute,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Overcoming an early wreck, a late caution and an angry teammate, John Hunter Nemechek claimed a milestone victory in Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway.  The NASCAR Xfinity win was the 200th in the series for Joe Gibbs Racing. For Nemechek, it was the fifth victory of the season and the seventh of his career—all at different tracks.  After Patrick Emerling pounded the Turn 3 wall to cause the seventh and final caution of the race on Lap 112, NemechekRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Saving his best performance for the last round of qualifying, Christopher Bell sped to the pole position for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Bell covered the 2.0-mile distance in 37.232 seconds in Saturday’s money round, translating to a top speed of 193.82 mph—the fastest qualifying lap at any track since the 2020 Daytona 500.  Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was .027 secondsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – By his own admission, Ty Gibbs didn’t have his best race last Sunday at Richmond.   Nevertheless, he salvaged a 15th-place finish and gained both positions and points in the standings at the expense of other bubble drivers—Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger—who fared worse at the .75-mile short track.   Gibbs comes to Michigan International Speedway 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, 18 points behind McDowell for the final Playoff-eligible position.    There are potential good omens for Gibbs at Michigan. NotRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Noah Gragson’s actions on social media have landed him in hot water with both his team, Legacy Motor Club, and NASCAR, as he has been indefinitely suspended from the Cup Series starting with this weekend’s event in Michigan. On Saturday morning, it came to light that Gragson had liked an insensitive meme regarding the death of George Floyd and shortly thereafter Legacy Motor Club announced that Gragson had been suspended from the team and super-sub Josh Berry would take his place behind the wheel of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – As if the Nashville street course wasn’t challenging enough on its own, Mother Nature decided to up the ante for NTT IndyCar Series practice on Saturday morning, throwing rain and a wet track into the mix. The second practice of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix weekend was originally scheduled for 11:40 am ET and a planned hour-long session. However, with the rain causing standing water at certain points around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile course, the session was eventually shortened to just a half-hourRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASHVILLE – The NTT IndyCar Series is going into its third season racing in the Music City and while the focus is on this weekend’s running of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, all eyes will be on the series in 2024 when this race makes a big move downtown. With the impending construction of a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, the current 11-turn, 2.1-mile course will not be able to be used starting next season. Instead of making some minor changes as aRead More