Aric Almirola Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Brad Keselowski made good on a confident Babe Ruth-like prediction earlier this week when he said he expected to dominate and win Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 Playoff race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Dominate, he did. After leading a race best 192 of the 400 laps at the three-quarter mile track, Keselowski scored an impressive 2.568-second victory over Martin Truex Jr. to guarantee his position in the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. It’s Keselowski’s fourth win of the season inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Race No. 2 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is here as the championship contenders get set to take on the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway. After a barn burner in last weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington to kick off the first round of the Playoffs, the traveling circus moves north to Virginia for its first visit to Richmond this season after the first race, originally scheduled for this spring, was moved elsewhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, this year’s raceRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pending who you ask among the NASCAR Cup Series playoff contenders, they’ll likely say Aric Almirola is the true dark horse contender for this year’s 10-race championship odyssey. Who can blame them as Almirola has had a career year with a career-high five top-fives and 14 top-10s in just the regular season alone. Due to him being more consistency than last season, it was good enough for both Stewart-Haas Racing and long time sponsor Smithfield re-upping their deals for next season on Tuesday. Almirola said thatRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Stewart-Haas Racing will have all four of its cars competing for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, occupying 25% of the post-season grid. That hasn’t stopped Vice President of Competition Greg Zipadelli from discussing about the team’s future. During Monday morning’s video conference, two highly touted drivers were brought up to “Zippy” as to whether or not he’d be interested of having them in the Ford camp. Those being Xfinity Series star Chase Briscoe and the currently suspended Cup racer Kyle Larson. Even if its current lineupRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service There was no drama in Kevin Harvick’s victory in the Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway, an old-fashioned thrashing in the back end of a Saturday/Sunday NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader. There was more than enough suspense, however, in the battle between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and William Byron for the final position in the Cup Playoffs. After winning the first stage at the high-banked concrete Monster Mile, Harvick had already clinched the regular-season Cup championship and the 15-Playoff-point bonus that goes with it,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick’s victory in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway gave the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team a weekend race sweep and a whole lot of momentum as the NASCAR Cup Series closes out its regular season schedule at the end of this month. Harvick’s win is a series-best sixth of the season and 55th of his career – placing the 44-year old Californian 10th on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service With two wins in his pocket heading into Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski was already in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but it was this third win of 2020 that came in the sort of dominating style the championship contender hoped would show his team’s readiness to challenge for the season title. Keselowski, 36, led a race best 184 of the 301 laps around the “Magic Mile” and held off runner-up Denny Hamlin by 1.647-seconds to hoistRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In what could be a sneak preview of the Championship 4 race later this year, Denny Hamlin outdueled Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. to win the Super Start Batteries 400 presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts Thursday night at Kansas Speedway. After a wild restart on Lap 246, Hamlin passed Harvick for the lead on Lap 255 of 267 and held off a late charge from Keselowski to score his NASCAR Cup Series-best fifth victory of the season, his third at KansasRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Austin Dillon held a hard-charging field off three times on restarts in the closing laps to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2020 season in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. It was a 1-2 finish for the Richard Childress Racing team with Dillon’s rookie teammate Tyler Reddick finishing a mere .149-seconds behind. Before the Texas green flag, Dillon was 24 points outside the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff top-16 and now the Texas winner has an automatic berth.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A multi-car crash on the 219th lap of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway brought out the 14th red flag this season. The race had just restarted a lap before with Brad Keselowski, who was running on a two-tire strategy, leading the way. Things got wild once his Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano came into the picture. Keselowski and Blaney had a tremendous battle for the lead, but Blaney got very loose in Turn 3, giving Keselowski the clear advantage.Read More