AAA 400 Drive for Autism Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, the regular season of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is now halfway over. The 400-lap event on the one-mile concrete oval once again provided some of the best racing of the year, so without further ado, here are five of the top storylines leaving the Monster Mile. Jimmie Johnson Just Keeps Rewriting the Record Books Though Kyle Larson and Martin Truex, Jr. dominated the majority of the race at Dover, it was Johnson that came outRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – The man who once made his parents stop at Hardee’s because he thought it was Cale Yarborough’s race shop pulled even with his childhood hero in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway. Getting the jump on Kyle Larson on an overtime restart at the Monster Mile, Johnson crossed the overtime line on the backstretch moments before a multi-car wreck brought out the 15th caution of the race and froze the field with Johnson in the lead and aRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The past two seasons have been a struggle for Stewart Haas Racing’s Danica Patrick. The last time she scored a Top 10 finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the Spring race at Bristol in 2015. After showing some speed in recent races, Patrick was looking to turn her luck around in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway. In the first practice, it was clear that Patrick’s No. 10 Aspen Dental team was still looking for speed after endingRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway was hit and miss for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. All four of the ROTY contenders have experience on the 1-mile oval. Daniel Suarez started a career best third in his No. 19 STANLEY Toyota Camry. Suarez narrowly avoided an early accident between Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Suarez finished Stage 1 in 10th, earning one extra Championship Point. Stage 2 was quiet forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In this race one year ago, Kyle Larson was in contention for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win after leading 85 laps, but had to settle for second place after a late race battle with eventual race winner Matt Kenseth. With a win already under his belt in 2017, Larson headed into Dover looking for some redemption and the weekend sweep after handily winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the one-mile concrete oval. Starting the day in fifth place, Larson bided hisRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Sponsorship for smaller and often underfunded teams has often decided whether some compete for a full race or ‘start and park.’ One team that can now proudly say that they have a multi-race sponsorship is Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group. Hulu will sponsor Jeffrey Earnhardt’s No. 33 Chervolet SS in 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races. This begins with Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Austim. The announcement comes on the heels of the announcement of Hulu’s new live TV service and premium streamingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After two weeks back home in Charlotte, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hits the road again for a trip to Dover International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism, marking the halfway point in the regular season. Dover began its life as an asphalt track back in 1969, but in 1995 the track was converted to concrete, making it one of only two on the circuit. As one of the two concrete tracks on the NASCAR schedule, the one mileRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – Matt Kenseth’s luck took a turn for the better, after Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet took a turn that wrecked half the field in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway. In a thrilling 35-lap run to the finish that featured Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in hot pursuit of Kenseth – and of each other – Kenseth manhandled a loose race car to the stripe, arriving .187 seconds ahead of Larson to win his first NASCAR SprintRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On a day that saw several of the contenders suffer issues throughout the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies saw the opportunity to pounce and came close to claiming victory, only to fall just short. Leading the way for the rookie class was Chase Elliott, who had his work cut out for him to start the day, but found himself hunting for the race lead and the win in the closing laps. Elliott started 13th after qualifying wasRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – With the threat of rain on Friday at Dover International Speedway, there was an urgency to opening practice and a need for speed in the session. Strong runs in qualifying trim paid off for Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will start first and second, respectively, in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at the Monster Mile (1 p.m. ET on FS1), with positions on the grid set according to practice speeds. “I think (the weather) definitely changes the approach,”Read More