Cup

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Even without crew chief Adam Stevens on top of the pit box at Pocono, Kyle Busch looked to be well on his way to his first win of the season, but with an interim crew chief at the helm, it would be a late race pit call that would be the downfall of the No. 18 team on Sunday. Starting on pole after a blistering qualifying run on Friday afternoon, Busch and his team showed they weren’t going to let Stevens four-race suspension hinder theirRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway was relatively quiet for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Of the five official ROTY contenders, both BK Racing drivers, Corey LaJoie and Gray Gaulding, have no experience at the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle.’ Erik Jones started 15th in his No. 77 GameStop / Cars 3 – Driven to Win Toyota Camry. Jones’ Furniture Row Racing team elected to pit late in the stage, allowing Jones to lead 17 laps.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the low downforce package for 2017 leading to higher corner entry speeds this season, drivers have been having to use more brake than ever to be able to slow their cars down to be able to make the corner and on Sunday at Pocono, brake issues came to the forefront early and often. As speeds at the end of Pocono’s long frontstretch were in the 205 mph range, the brakes were getting a big workout as drivers had to slow down nearly 40 mphRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Running his fastest lap of the day in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying, Kyle Busch won the pole position for Sunday’s Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FS1) by a comfortable margin. The only driver to top 179 mph in three rounds of time trials, Busch covered the 2.5-mile distance at the triangular track in 50.237 seconds (179.151 mph) to earn his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his thirdRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. was in limbo. He knew his NASCAR XFINITY Series ride in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was ending because sponsorship dollars weren’t available to sustain it. And though Wallace had reached out to Richard Petty Motorsports about filling in for injured Aric Almirola, there was a brief period in which Wallace didn’t know if he’d be racing beyond this weekend at Pocono Raceway, his last scheduled ride in the No. 6 Mustang. “There were a lot of sleeplessRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 1998 Pocono 500 was a big day for Owensboro, Kentucky with not one, but two of their native sons in the field at the Tricky Triangle an in contention for the win. When the checkered flag flew, Jeremy Mayfield would come out on top, while his boyhood idol and fellow Owensboro native, Darrell Waltrip, continued a career resurgence by coming away with the final top-10 finish of his career after battling for the win with Mayfield. The 200 lap race would get off toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After losing a left rear wheel in last Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 team was handed a stiff penalty from NASCAR on Wednesday, which will leave Busch without his crew chief and two pit crew members for the next four races. Just 19 laps into the AAA 400 at Dover, Busch made his way down pit road for routine service under caution, but that’s when everything went wrong for his Joe Gibbs Racing team. Before any ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After taking on the Monster Mile last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads north to Pennsylvania this weekend for the first of two 2017 dates at Pocono Raceway and Sunday’s running of the Pocono 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14 degree banking modeled after the now-defunct TrentonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As Aric Almirola continues to heal from his back injuries sustained last month at Kansas, the seat of his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford has been filled by Regan Smith, but starting this weekend at Pocono, a new face will be in the cockpit until Almirola returns. That driver will be Darrell Wallace, Jr., who has been racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Roush-Fenway Racing this season. Sunday’s start for legendary car owner Richard Petty will be Wallace’s first start in the MonsterRead More