chase elliott Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season will roar to life with a Sunday doubleheader on February 10 at Daytona to signal the start of Speedweeks. Once again this year, Cup Series qualifying and the Advance Auto Parts Clash exhibition race will kick off a week of action leading up to the 61st annual Daytona 500 the following Sunday. On Thursday, the sanctioning body released the eligibility requirements and drivers that have met those requirements for the two-segment, 75-lap event. This year’s eligible drivers will conformRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor HOMESTEAD, Fla. – To no one’s surprise, the Championship 4 drivers were at the top of their game when the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session of the weekend began Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Though it might be their final race before closing up shop, Martin Truex, Jr. and Furniture Row Racing came out with guns ablazing, setting the fastest speed of the session with a lap of 31.035 seconds, 173.997 mph. “A lot of emotions talking with the guys, but they’re fired up,Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series prepares for their season finale as four drivers battle it out for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. For Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., this is a chance to further their legend with a second title, while Joey Logano attempts to capture his maiden championship. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid produced an overview on the playoff journey to the final race of the 2018 campaign.Read More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer  A pit road speeding penalty ultimately sealed Chase Elliott’s fate in the Can-Am 500. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver’s Championship hopes came to an end following a late wreck. On a restart with 32 laps to go, Elliott found his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 mid-pack following a pit road speeding penalty. Like many others, he was in the middle of a hornet’s nest. Contact between Denny Hamlin’s Toyota and Kurt Busch’s Ford saw both spinning on the narrow backstretch.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Kurt Busch entered Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway with just three points separating him from a berth in the championship finale, but for the 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, it just wasn’t his day. After finishing the first stage in fifth place, taking the lead on the ensuing restart and holding onto the top spot for the next 52 laps, things went awry for Busch and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing team when Busch was penalized for passing the pace car entering pitRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Resilient Kevin Harvick bounced back at his best track, winning the pole position for Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway and putting behind him a penalty that threatened his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship chances. Harvick, a nine-time Phoenix winner, toured the newly configured one-mile track in 25.386 seconds to run the fastest lap in the three-round knockout qualifying session at 139.340 mph to edge fellow Playoff driver Chase Elliott (139.152 mph) for the top starting spot in Round of 8Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Round of Eight all comes down to this. After last week’s race at Texas, the stage is set for the final race of the round in Phoenix to determine which drivers will move onto Homestead and which drivers will see their championship hopes vanish in the Arizona desert. Three of the four spots in the championship race are still up for grabs after the penalty news that came out on Wednesday. Of the drivers still eligible, only Joey Logano is safe, having locked up hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a barnburner of a finish at Martinsville last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AAA Texas 500 and the second race of the playoff semi-finals. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5-mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the original track surface wore down over the years. Prior to the 2017 season, Texas went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Joey Logano provided his own interpretation of the Golden Rule in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, as in “Do unto others as others didn’t do to you.” With a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4 Round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at stake, Logano moved the Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. out of the way in Turns 3 and 4 of the final lap to win for the first time at the .526-mile short track and claim hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip out to America’s Heartland, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back east this weekend and straight to the final short track race of the season, with Sunday’s running of the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. Sunday’s race will mark the start of the three-race playoff semi-finals that will trim the eight-driver playoff fieldRead More