By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Rookie Chandler Smith earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon at Richmond (Va.) Raceway holding off John Hunter Nemechek on a final race restart with six laps remaining to hoist the ToyotaCare 250 trophy. Smith’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet led a race best 83 of the 250 laps – the bulk of that early in the race. But the 20-year year old Georgia native was able to run among the top five for most of the day and ultimately driveRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Tex. — A busy Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway ended with six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon topping the board in final practice for Sunday’s running of the PPG 375. The Chip Ganassi Racing ace, who has won five times previously at the 1.5-mile track, put down his fast lap of 223.378 mph with less than 10 minutes left in the session to give him a boost of momentum heading into Sunday. Josef Newgarden, the defending winner at Texas, led the way forRead More

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Tex. – For the second straight year, Felix Rosenqvist will lead the field to green in the NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after scoring the pole for the PPG 375 on Saturday afternoon. The driver of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet set the fast time early in the session and held off all comers with his two lap average of 220.264 mph ahead of six-time series champion Scott Dixon, who joins him on the front row. “Arrow McLaren just gaveRead More

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Tex. — Team Penske’s Scott McLaughln went fastest in opening practice for the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway with a 223.747 mph average lap. The New Zealand native was followed by the Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi on the speed charts. “A little bit bamboozled at the start of the run,” McLaughlin said of practice. “She was slipperier than a pocket full of pudding, you know, on the outside of Turn 1 there. We got through all that kerfuffleRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The future of Texas Motor Speedway has become the focal point of the INDYCAR paddock, press and fans alike over the past few years. With the second round of the championship trail drawing near, there’s still such an unknown about the once revered 1.5-mile oval’s future. However, there’s some buzz going into this weekend’s PPG 375. Among the positives is a promising crowd showing up to support Pato O’Ward, who captured his maiden INDYCAR win in Texas two years ago. In fact, O’Ward bought an entireRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following a marathon Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the short tracks starting with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Though the track has lost some of its luster in recentRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor The NASCAR industry is an especially reactive one. For ways both good and bad, it knee jerks to everything from safety matters (generally good) to the (mixed results) endless competition related conversations across the ether on a weekly basis. This season alone has seen the last-minute knee-jerk to a lower downforce configuration for short tracks and road courses, following a winter banning the ‘Hail Melon’ and incorporating a universal choose rule. No motorsports sanctioning body in the world is as reactive to its competitors and audienceRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor The official box score will show that Tyler Reddick earned one victory on Sunday in the EchoPark Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, but the case can be made that he earned three victories and a runner-up by the end of the day. First, the obvious reference. In surviving three overtime finishes, Reddick was made to have defended a race he had already effectively won, having outdueled William Byron in a spirited old-school classic by the end of regulation. Then came 45 minutes of repeatedRead More