Cup

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain won his first pole position of the 2024 season – and second of his career – Saturday afternoon at the historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course. Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet turned in a fast lap of 122.279 mph around the 2.45-mile, seven-turn course in upstate New York to edge former race winner Martin Truex Jr. for the top position by a mere .134-second. Ranked 15th of the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers, it was an importantRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – The first ticket to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs has been punched. Joey Logano, with a helping hand from his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in the closing laps of regulation, advanced to the front of the field, set to square off against the Trackhouse Racing duo of Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain in a battle to the finish. However, the caution flag would fly with two laps remaining, pushing the race into overtime, with Logano able to keepRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Entering the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, nearly every driver was wary of the Playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the unpredictability the track brings. And rightly so. Just 57 laps in, two contenders in the postseason saw their race go up in smoke after points leader Kyle Larson had an apparent tire issue in Turn 2, causing his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to get loose and then make a beeline for the outside wall, where he made heavy impact and ricochetedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Ryan Blaney’s defense of his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title starts in earnest this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with hopes of returning to the championship podium 10 weeks from now at Phoenix. Having made the run through the postseason to capture his first Cup championship a year ago, Blaney and his No. 12 Team Penske group have a blueprint of what it takes to get it done, but explained they won’t be able to use a carbon copy for the 2024 Playoffs,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Charters have been the word of the season with the negotiations between NASCAR and the teams in the Cup Series dragging on and on in a constant back and forth between the two entities. Entering the start of the Cup Series Playoffs at Atlanta Motor Speedway, those talks have taken a turn with the majority of teams electing to sign the new deal put in place by the sanctioning body and two teams – 23XI Racing co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Michael McDowell continued his superspeedway qualifying dominance on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, capturing his fifth pole of the season with a lap of 30.926 seconds, 179.267 to lead the field to green in Sunday’s Quaker State 400. “I don’t think you ever go into it like, ‘Oh, we’ve got this.’ I knew that we would have a shot at it, but I knew when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths, you knowRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – NASCAR Cup Series Playoff time is here again and the 2024 edition of the postseason is in for a doozy of a start. With the 16-driver field set in stone a week ago after a barn burner of a finish at Darlington in the Southern 500, the points standings have been reset as the series rolls right into a wild card race to kick off the 10-race march to the championship courtesy of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Atlanta’s agingRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Basketball great Michael Jordan sat on the Darlington (S.C.) Raceway pit wall Sunday night watching his 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace contend for a 2024 Playoff position in the late laps of the regular season finale, Cook Out Southern 500. Jordan had offered philosophical advice for the all-important evening and shown his support for the 30-year-old talent all year. A little farther down pit road, Chris Buescher’s Roush Fenway Keselowski team was equally on edge having rallied and delivered all night for its driver – despite tryingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C.—Chase Briscoe took the checkered flag in Sunday Night’s Cook Out Southern 500 and simultaneously broke three hearts. Ending a 73-race winless streak for moribund Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe foiled Kyle Larson, who led 263 of 367 laps and won the first two stages but finished fourth and lost the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season title to Tyler Reddick by a single point. With the second victory of his career and his first since March 2022 at Phoenix, Briscoe eliminated Chris Buescher from the Playoffs. In aRead More