Cup

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning in attendance on behalf of his sponsor Nationwide Insurance, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked to find his way back to Bristol’s victory lane for the first time in 12 years, but had his work cut out for him from the very start of the race. After qualifying 20th, the start of the Food City 500 had Earnhardt and his team wondering just what went wrong when Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet stumbled when the green flag flew, forcing him downRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – The record will show that polesitter Carl Edwards won Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in dominating fashion, leading 276 of 500 laps and beating runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the finish line by .766 seconds. But while Edwards cruised to victory with the fastest car in the eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season, drivers behind him suffered a litany of troubles, populating the top 10 with the most unlikely array of competitors this season. ConsiderRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Matt DiBenedetto’s day at Bristol Motor Speedway started comically as the driver of the No. 83 Toyota Camry was dressed as a member of ZZ Top with full beard, guitar and all during driver introductions. As the race concluded a few hours later, nobody was laughing as DiBenedetto drove to a career-best sixth place finish in the Food City 500. DiBenedetto rolled off the grid from the 30th position, but by lap 77, he was already inside the top-20, where he would remain virtually the rest ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After scoring his best career finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last weekend at Texas, Chase Elliott and the other Cup Series rookies headed into Bristol ready to get a crash course in racing on the half-mile bullring. All five rookies started outside of the top-15 and although Bristol seemed to have their number early on, most of them found a way to turn things around by the time the checkered flag flew. Leading the way once again was Elliott, who fell two lapsRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Landon Cassill may not have ended up with a career-best finish in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but he had arguably his best race of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. The 26-year old driver started the day from the 28th-position, but his car wasn’t handling to his liking as he didn’t make up much ground on the first run of the day. After the team’s first pit stop, Cassill radioed to crew chief Donnie Wingo, “You definitely helped me, but just a little bit. NeedRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Matt Kenseth’s season of consistent struggles continued Sunday in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. After looking a sure contender for the race win, Kenseth crashed just 187 laps into the 500 lap event. Kenseth confirmed that it was a tire failure that plagued his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, forcing hard contact with the wall and damaging the right side of his car. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver managed to work his way up to third after restarting 26th, but not long afterRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Kyle Busch came into Bristol Motor Speedway on a two-race winning streak in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and considering he’s a five-time winner at ‘The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,’ many expected another good day from Busch. However, Busch suffered a melted bead on his right front tire early in the race, and he endured cut tires all day long, which finally resulted in a hard accident on lap 257. Busch would wind up finishing 38th after retiring on lap 258 because of unrepairable damage to hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin had had their differences in the past, but what happened in Saturday morning’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway had nothing to do with old grudges. Nevertheless, contact between their two cars bent the sheet metal on both vehicles, Hamlin’s on the right front and Patrick’s on the left rear. Patrick, on new tires, was struggling with the handling of her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and had difficulty holding the bottom.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – When Carl Edwards wins the pole at Bristol, good things happen – for Edwards. So forgive the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing if he feels optimistic about Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX), the eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. With the only sub-15-second lap in the money round of Friday’s knockout qualifying at the .533-mile short track, Edwards won his second Coors Light Pole Award of theRead More