Aric Almirola Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – For Kevin Harvick, Texas is the new Phoenix. Overcoming a pit road penalty for a tire placed in his pit box too early, Harvick took control of the AAA Texas 500 as the sun set on Texas Motor Speedway and won his third straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at the 1.5-mile track in Cowtown. Locked into the Championship 4 race two weeks hence at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Harvick can now breathe easy heading into the final Round ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – Kevin Harvick took the first step toward getting back on the right side of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff cut line, winning the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Harvick, who trails fourth-place Joey Logano by 14 points entering the second race of the Round of 8, toured the 1.5-mile track in 28.465 seconds (189.707 mph) to win his second Busch Pole Award atRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — The bottom groove was the preferred lane for both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series competitors during Friday’s practice sessions at Texas Motor Speedway. With the addition of the PJ1 traction compound, few attempted to run in the area, but it became apparent that come race day, whether or not the top groove will be utilized isn’t a topic worth ignoring. “I’m not really sure that it changes a whole lot,” Kyle Busch on the track changes. “The track does lookRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Two factors threw the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs into chaos on Monday afternoon—Talladega and Ryan Blaney. By .007 seconds—the sixth closest finish in series history—Blaney edged Ryan Newman to win Monday’s rain-delayed 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, which took a big bite out of most other Playoff contenders and set up a scramble for the six remaining spots in the Round of 8 next Sunday at Kansas Speedway. With his first victory of the season, his first at TalladegaRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Led by pole winner Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports reasserted its domination of superspeedway qualifying on Saturday at Talladega. The winner at Talladega in April, Elliott toured the 2.66-mile track in 46.692 seconds (192.707 mph) to win his second Busch Pole Award at Talladega, his fourth of the season and the eighth of his career. Hendrick Motorsports swept the top four starting spots for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Alex Bowman qualified second atRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The latest piece of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series puzzle has been placed as Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday that Aric Almirola will continue piloting the No. 10 Smithfield Foods Ford Mustang in 2020. After a biggest breakthrough campaign of his career in 2018 where he scored a win at Talladega last October and finished a career-high fifth in points, it has been a rather quiet 2019 campaign for the 12-year veteran. Although Almirola scored a pole at Atlanta and making the playoffs for the third timeRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service It was a friendly golf wager made good on the race track. Denny Hamlin began marking his 500th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race start this weekend with a record pole-winning speed Saturday afternoon at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. And Hamlin earned his – and Toyota’s – second pole of the season by a mere .003-seconds over the very guy he made that all-in-fun wager with – Kyle Larson. “I got him, I got him,’’ Hamlin said smiling after qualifying for Sunday’s DrydeneRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – In a battle of late qualifiers at Richmond Raceway, Brad Keselowski knocked Kevin Harvick off the provisional pole for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 to claim the top starting spot for the second race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 36th of 38 drivers to make a qualifying run, Keselowski covered the .75-mile distance in 21.229 seconds (127.185 mph) to beat Harvick (126.559 mph) by .105 seconds. TheRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor From the bright lights of Las Vegas to Saturday night short track racing under the lights in Richmond. Race No. 2 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is here as the championship contenders get set to take on the 62nd annual Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway Often described as the perfectly designed racetrack by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-sideRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Clint Bowyer won the pole position for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway turning a fast lap of 178.926 mph in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. It is only the third pole position he’s earned in 14 years of full-time Cup Series competition and the first, coincidentally, since this same date – Sept. 14– at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2007 – a race he won. There have been 431 races since hisRead More