chase elliott Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor While short tracks have been the order of the month of April, the calendar now turns to May and with it comes the biggest and baddest track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard Brickhouse scoring his one and only win in theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – A week off and an extra day at Bristol did nothing to break Jimmie Johnson’s momentum. Grabbing the lead from Kevin Harvick on Lap 480 of 500 in Monday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson stayed out front for the final 21 laps and beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by 1.199 seconds. The checkered flag was Johnson’s second at the .533-mile short track, his second straight this season and the 82nd of his career in the Monster EnergyRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As expected for much of the week leading up to Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol, the rains that were forecasted for race day came with full force, drenching the half-mile bullring and postponing the race until Monday. The 40 car Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field will now get ready to race at 1:00 PM ET on Monday afternoon, with the race being shown on FOX and broadcast on PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “It’s Mother Nature and we saw it coming on the radar forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – For the third time this season, Kyle Larson will start a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from the pole. And for the second time this year, he gained the top starting spot not through qualifying in time trials, but with an assist from Mother Nature. Because of intermittent rain at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR canceled qualifying in favor of necessary practice for teams in the Cup, XFINITY and K&N Pro Series East Series. With the field for Sunday’s Food CityRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s Bristol baby! After the first off weekend of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business in a big way as they head back to a short track with this weekend’s stop at Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500. Bristol always brings out the excitement from fans and competitors alike as packing 40 cars into the half-mile high banked bullring can only be explained by the phrase “flying fighter jets in a gymnasium”, which isRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed to the newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott was riding a wave of momentum. Elliott has yet to finish worse than 14th all season, and earned his fourth Top 10 of the season last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. In the first practice for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Elliott placed his No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS 20th on the charts. He improved to fifth fastest in the second practice. However, Elliott drifted wide offRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Nine drivers were unable to take a qualifying lap on Friday for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. All nine were stuck in the technical inspection line after failing on their first pass through. Among the nine drivers were some really big names like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne. Saturday morning, those drivers got their first shot to prove how fast their cars really are, and spoiler alert someRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer Many people have argued for years that 1.5-mile tracks are too cookie cutter. Well, they can’t claim that about Texas Motor Speedway anymore. This offseason, the track underwent a massive repaving and re-profiling which flattened the banking four degrees on one end of the track, which now gives crew chiefs a dilemma of what end of the speedway to adjust their cars for. In opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, the new track layout bit several of the sport’s top drivers. In all three driversRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip to the smallest track on the circuit for some great racing 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 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5 mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the surface wore down as each season passed. However, this go around, the track will be a completely different animal as theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – When it came to Chase Elliott’s performance in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was suffering from a severe lack of self-esteem. After Sunday’s STP 500 at the .526-mile short track, Elliott will have to reevaluate. Starting on the outside of the front row after rain washed out Friday’s time trials, Elliott ran in the top five for the bulk of the afternoon and rolled home third, by farRead More