Austin Dillon Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since the end of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, the entire industry has been waiting on pins and needles to see what the sanctioning body’s reaction would be to the apparent race manipulation undertaken by 23XI Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and Trackhouse Racing in the closing laps. On Tuesday, we got our answer. NASCAR took a deep dive into the data following the race and determined the No. 23 of 23XI Racing, the No. 1 from Trackhouse, and the No. 3 from RCRRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va.— He did it again. For the second straight year, defending series champion Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4. And as Blaney took the checkered flag to win Sunday’s Xfinity 500, Christopher Bell made a kamikaze move into the final corner in a futile attempt to deprive William Byron of the final spot in the next Sunday’s title event at Phoenix Raceway. Bell drove hard into Turn 3Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the second year in a row, Kyle Larson endured an unfortunate event at Homestead-Miami Speedway while chasing down Ryan Blaney. Only this time, Larson was able to take the checkered flag in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, finishing 13th and still on the outside looking in as far as the Championship 4 is concerned. Larson’s all-around agonizing day sees him sitting fifth in points, trailing teammate William Byron by seven points heading to the cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway next Sunday. With the day LarsonRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – It has been a long wait for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to make his return to Victory Lane in a NASCAR Cup Series race, but he’ll have to wait no longer after Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Despite starting back in 32nd place, Stenhouse channeled his previous superspeedway luck in working his way forward, finishing the first stage in second-place and hanging around in the lead pack for much of the day until it came down to go time. After battling with AustinRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Déjà vu. Michael McDowell continued his reign as king of superspeedway qualifying in 2024, blasting around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford in 52.310 seconds, 183.063 mph to capture his fifth straight superspeedway pole and sixth overall this season. “Talladega qualifying there’s not a tremendous amount to it, but we knew coming here that we would have a shot at the pole. It was a priority for us,” McDowell said.  “A lot of effort went into it, soRead 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 Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Poor weather interrupted NASCAR Cup Series practice and forced a cancellation of qualifying on Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway with Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin being awarded the pole position for Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) based on a metric analyzed by NASCAR factoring in the previous race outcome among other factors. It’s the second pole position start in as many weeks for Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway, Austin Dillon appeared to be Playoff bound for the first time in two years. On Wednesday afternoon, that all changed. The factors of Dillon’s victory, which saw him intentionally spin out leader Joey Logano and then hook Denny Hamlin over the course of the final half a lap to take the victory for himself, has had the sport embroiled in controversy ever since, leading many to wonder if Dillon had stepped over the line with hisRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Congratulations, nobody won Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Austin Dillon might be declared the official race winner, but when the dust settles, it’ll go down as one of the more hollow and crass finishes of all-time. Worsened by the fact there’s evidence that dire ordeals like the need to wreck a driver are essential to saving an otherwise miserable season. Worsened by the fact that lives were endangered once again this season when you mix a damaged car and a defeated man seeking forRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Don’t count on Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to be applying for membership in the Austin Dillon fan club. In Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, Dillon was racing for his Playoff life, having gone from a near lock to win in the closing laps of regulation to having to battle it out amongst two of the best in overtime. For Dillon, it was win or bust, with his current points position making it that his only path to the Playoffs would have to comeRead More