Cup

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Although he doesn’t have a ride lined up for the 2017 NASCAR season, Alex Bowman looks to have a role at Hendrick Motorsports again this year. Bowman, 23, will continue running the simulator program at HMS, and if unfortunate circumstances strike any of the four Hendrick drivers this season — Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne — Bowman should be first in line to relieve the drivers. Bowman split driving duties of the No. 88 Chevrolet with Jeff Gordon over the second-halfRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into February’s season opening Daytona 500, the drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will all be looking forward to their chance to win the “Great American Race” before embarking on the remainder of the 2017 season, but for two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, next month’s race will be his last behind the wheel. Waltrip notoriously went winless in the Cup Series for the first 16 years of his career before finally breaking through for his first win in the 2001 DaytonaRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 41 Years in Cup: 16 Career Wins: 35 Biggest Accomplishment: 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion For Kevin Harvick, 2016 fell short of expectations, but with one of the best teams in the garage area behind him, his worst points finish since 2012 will soon be a distant memory as he will be gunningRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor There were times over the past 18 years, where Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t necessarily want to be at a press conference to discuss the upcoming season. But since his rough and tumble days of being one of NASCAR’s young guns, Earnhardt has done some serious growing up. Wednesday at Charlotte Media Tour, Earnhardt explained that he is ready to get back to work after being on the shelf for an extended period of time due to a concussion sustained last season. “I’m excited to beRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 24 Years in Cup: 3 Career Wins: 1 Biggest Accomplishment: Cup win at Michigan (2016) Expectations are a hard thing to live up to sometimes. That was the case for Kyle Larson over the first two years of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. Although the California native showed flashes of living up to the hype heRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Change. Whether it’s in business or in your personal life, the one and only constant is change. On Monday evening at the Charlotte Convention Center, NASCAR executives announced a major change to the racing for all three of its national series. These changes come as attendance and ratings continue to decline and the sanctioning body looks for a way to keep fans engaged throughout the course of a race. The new format breaks down as follows: Each race will have three stages Stage 1 andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the start of the 2017 season, NASCAR announced competition and format changes that will be implemented across the three national series for the upcoming season and beyond. The new stage-based race format will roll out next month at Daytona in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and completely revamps the traditional race format that we have seen in years past. Each race will now be broken down into three stages, with drivers and crewRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the majority of the races for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season already sponsored, Chase Elliott and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team still had a few races to fill, but on Monday the team announced a new sponsor to join the fold for Elliott’s sophomore season. Hooters, which has sponsored a car in over 150 races in the Cup Series over the years, most notably for Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship season, returned to NASCAR last season after a long hiatus andRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 21 Years in Cup: 1 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion While many changes are occurring across the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage, for some teams there is little to no change. Chase Elliott will be one of several drivers that will not see any significant changes to his team between the 2016Read More