Christopher Bell Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Saving his best performance for the last round of qualifying, Christopher Bell sped to the pole position for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Bell covered the 2.0-mile distance in 37.232 seconds in Saturday’s money round, translating to a top speed of 193.82 mph—the fastest qualifying lap at any track since the 2020 Daytona 500.  Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was .027 secondsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The end of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season is in sight with just four races remaining before the Playoff field is set. After a scorcher in Richmond last weekend, the series heads north to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the FireKeepers Casino 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning here for bragging rights. Especially this year with the track debut for the Next Gen car, whichRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin prevailed in a tight door-to-door bump-and-go pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining to claim a historic all-time best seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – the win in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 also marking Hamlin’s 50th career trophy and second of the 2023 season.  The race ended under caution for a last lap incident elsewhere on track, and the Pocono crowd voiced its displeasure, booing loudly as Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the field to pit road atRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron earned his series best fourth pole position of the year Saturday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to green in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron’s time of 57.746 (170.235 mph) in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was .122-second quicker than his championship rival Martin Truex Jr. in Busch Light Pole Qualifying at the unique three-turn, 2.5-mile Pocono track and places the current two title leadersRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service In what was both a thrilling and historic afternoon at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Kyle Busch earned a hard-fought win in Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 with a last lap pass for his Kyle Busch Motorsports team’s milestone 100th series victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Busch made a daring move low on series championship leader Corey Heim in Turn 2 “The Tunnel Turn” of the iconic 2.5-mile track, got around cleanly and motored off to a .604-second win in the No. 51 KBM Chevrolet toRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott smiled and bristled a bit when asked if he returns to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway this week feeling like the reigning track champion after being declared last year’s Pocono race winner after the drivers who finished ahead of him on track – apparent winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up Kyle Busch – were disqualified following post-race inspection. “He actually gave me the trophy, but he kept the flag – his little girl was kind of married to the flag and itRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell will start Sunday’s Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway exactly where he finished his last start at the 1.058-mile New England track: in position No. 1. Bell, 28, won Saturday’s pole qualifying session for the Crayon 301 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap of 124.781 mph in the No. 20 JGR Toyota – just a tick faster – .007-seconds – than his teammate, Martin Truex Jr., who willRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor New England here we come. A week removed from a thrilling rain-shortened event in Atlanta, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to a flat oval this weekend for Sunday’s running of the Crayon 301, as the march to the end of the regular season continues on. First joining the Cup Series circuit in 1993, the 1.058-mile oval that has progressively banked turns from two to seven degrees is one of the more difficult tracks on the schedule as the flat nature of the track makes trackRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – Denny Hamlin will lead the field to green for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series street race on Sunday after snagging the pole for the Grant Park 220. Noting that the first day on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn course in downtown Chicago was “my single best day at the race track in all of my career”, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the top spot in the waning moments of qualifying with a lap of one minute, 28.435 seconds. Tyler Reddick,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO — The NASCAR Cup Series is heading into the unknown this weekend in Chicago. While other racing series have had street course races in their lineup for years, NASCAR is taking its first crack at racing on a non-purpose-built course on Sunday with the running of the Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago, Illinois. The 2.2-mile, 12-turn course will wind its way around Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan as the series hopes to capture the imagination of a whole newRead More