Danica Patrick Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Ahead of Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the debut of the low downforce package at the track, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers took to the track for two test sessions on Thursday. The first test session went incident free, with Jimmie Johnson laying down the fastest lap at 192.981 mph (27.982 seconds), followed by Daytona 500 winner, Denny Hamlin, just .020 seconds behind in second. Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, and Danica Patrick rounded out the top-five in the first sessionRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A huge domino has just fallen for the 2017 season, and beyond. Stewart-Haas Racing, which has been one of the most dominant team in recent year, and has always been a Chevrolet team, will swap to Ford cars and engines for next season according to a Ford press release. The release states that the Stewart-Haas Racing team has a multi-year agreement with Ford. Stewart-Haas Racing currently fields the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars for Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick. Stewart, the teamsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick has 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts to her credit. She has no victories, no top fives. But as Patrick starts her fourth full season in Sprint Cup, paired with new crew chief Billy Scott, she points to her ability to get up to speed more quickly in practice as a source of confidence that the results will be better this year. “I’m far more confident,” Patrick said on Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway during NASCAR Media Day,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service To say 2016 will be a year of enormous change in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing is to understate the issue. NASCAR is rolling out a new competition package in its foremost division, one that features lower downforce. The aim is to make the Sprint Cup cars more difficult to drive, which in turn will put more control in the hands of the drivers. You’ll see dramatic changes on the track. Chase Elliott, a 20-year-old rookie, succeeds icon Jeff Gordon behind the wheel ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas—As a driver who likely must win one of the next two races to keep his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title prospects alive, Brad Keselowski took a giant step in the right direction during Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway. The 2012 series champion covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.929 seconds (196.929 mph) in the money round to win the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC), the second of three races in the Eliminator RoundRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A day after NASCAR announced the suspension of Matt Kenseth for two races following his collision with Joey Logano at Martinsville, I’m left wondering if Brian France and company made the right call. The decision to suspend the former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion has sent a message to fans and drivers alike, but also created division on the severity of the punishment. Many look to the Kevin Harvick incident during the green-white-checkered finish at Talladega as intentional and point to the fact that the sanctioning bodyRead More

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Danica Patrick, who was so instrumental in elevating the visibility of the GoDaddy brand, will have the opportunity to do the same with another relatively new company—and she’ll have years to do so. Patrick has signed a multi-year extension with Stewart-Haas Racing, which in turn revealed a new sponsorship deal with Nature’s Bakery, whose paint scheme will adorn the hood of Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet as primary sponsor for 28 races per year, starting in 2016. With the exception of GoDaddy, all the existing partners in Patrick’sRead More

SPARTA, Ky. – Adapting adroitly to a new competition package for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars, Kyle Busch sped to victory in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, taking a giant step toward the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with his second victory since returning from an 11-race injury absence. Busch won for the 31st time in his career and the second time at the 1.5-mile track. Race runner-up Joey Logano was the only interloper in a top five that also included all four Joe Gibbs RacingRead More

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Starting 24th in a backup car, Kurt Busch fought his way to the front of the field through intermittent rain showers and won Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway when a deluge halted the race after 138 of a scheduled 200 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second when NASCAR red-flagged the event for the fourth time. Martin Truex Jr. was credited with third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. The victory was Busch’s second of the season. He wonRead More

LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr. knew that his third career victory would come – eventually. Enjoying easily the finest season of his NASCAR career, Truex raced to a convincing win in Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400, leading 97 of 160 laps, including the final 27 at Pocono Raceway. His victory marked the third consecutive Sprint Cup race in which Truex led the most laps. He’d led 131 laps at both Charlotte and Dover, only to come home fifth and sixth in the last two weeks. “We finallyRead More