Austin Dillon Tag

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

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – It took a controversial full-contact finish but Austin Dillon claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in two seasons in Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway – vaulting from a 32nd place in the points standings before the race to an automatic Playoff berth with the win. Coming to the checkered flag during the final lap of overtime, Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevy hit the rear bumper of the race-leading No. 22 Team Penske driven byRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NEWTON, Iowa – Iowa’s partial repave was the talk of the NASCAR Cup Series garage area coming into Iowa Corn 350 weekend, but after Friday’s lone practice session, tires have become the main concern. By the time all was said and done, more than a handful of drivers had issues with their tires being unable to cope with the mix-and-match between the old and new Iowa pavement. Noah Gragson finished the 63-minute practice session at the top of the board with a lap of 22.828 seconds,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill. – Surprise and elation were the watchwords for Team Penske driver Austin Cindric, who won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at the expense of teammate Ryan Blaney. The race was Blaney’s to win—until the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion ran out of fuel on the next-to-last lap and handed the lead to his teammate. Cindric charged past Blaney at the start/finish line and completed the checkered-flag lap as Blaney rolled agonizingly slowly to a 24th-place result. The victoryRead More