Aric Almirola Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Christopher Bell won the Busch Light Pole for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap of 180.591 mph around the 2.66-mile oval on Saturday – a mere .075-mph faster than Chevrolet’s Kyle Larson – putting the NASCAR Cup Series championship contenders out front in the fifth Playoff race, second of this round. It’s the series-best fourth pole of the season for Bell, 27, driver of the No. 20 Joe GibbsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn.— A Ford driver hadn’t won a pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway in more than 10 years, but that changed radically on Friday afternoon when Aric Almirola snagged the top starting position for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In the final round of time trials, Almirola covered the .533-mile distance in 14.946 seconds (128.382 mph) to become the first NASCAR Cup Series pole winner at Thunder Valley since Greg Biffle claimedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After announcing his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series in January, Aric Almirola has decided against stepping away from the sport at season’s end and will return to Stewart-Haas Racing for at least the 2023 season. In a Friday press conference at Daytona International Speedway, the driver of the No. 10 Ford confirmed the rumors that have been swirling as of late by announcing his return to the cockpit. Almirola added that a phone call from long-time sponsor Smithfield was one ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Last Sunday at Michigan, Kevin Harvick broke a 65-race drought.  Now the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has a two-race winning streak.  Chased by runner-up Christopher Bell and third-place finisher Chris Buescher over the closing laps, Harvick threaded his way through traffic to win Sunday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway by .441 seconds.  The NASCAR Cup Series victory was Harvick’s fourth at the .75-mile short track—his first there since 2013—and the 60th of his career, tying himRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr., 42, earned his first pole position in four seasons, taking the top starting spot in Saturday qualifying with a lap of 127.113 mph at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He’ll start the No. 19 JGR Toyota in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter 301 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) alongside last week’s race winner, Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Truex last started on pole at Kentucky Speedway in 2018Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor New England here we come. A week removed from a thrilling showing on the high banks at Atlanta, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to a flat oval this weekend for Sunday’s running of the Ambetter 301, as the march to the end of the regular season continues on. First joining the Cup Series circuit in 1993, the 1.058-mile oval that has progressively banked turns from two to seven degrees is one of the more difficult tracks on the schedule as the flat nature of theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Chase Elliott is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion and currently the 2022 title leader. But finally scoring a dramatic victory Sunday afternoon at his home track – Atlanta Motor Speedway – in front of a vocal and adoring home crowd ranks right up there as far as he’s concerned. Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led a race best 96 of the 260 laps and held off a charging field to win Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart, ultimately securing the trophyRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor LEBANON, Tenn. — A year after debuting to a sold-out crowd, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend for the second running of the Ally 400 on Sunday. Prior to its Cup debut in 2021, the track located on the outskirts of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee, was no stranger to hosting NASCAR events with both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR camping World Truck Series running there from 2001 to 2011 before the track was shuttered. The Nashville tracks serves as an oddityRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill. – In front of packed grandstands at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Joey Logano beat Kyle Busch in an intense overtime battle, and Ross Chastain ate a gigantic piece of humble pie. After a brake rotor failure sent Kevin Harvick’s Ford rocketing into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 236 of a scheduled 240 in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, Busch, as the leader, picked the outside lane. Logano lined up beside Busch to the inside, with teammate Ryan Blaney behind him. Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill.—On a track similar to the one that gave him his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, Chase Briscoe achieved another career first—a Cup Series pole position.  In the final round of time trials on Saturday, Briscoe sped around 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 32.544 seconds (138.274 mph) to earn the top starting position for Sunday’s inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Even though he had a slight bobble on his money lap,Read More