Denny Hamlin Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service The race statistics will show that Denny Hamlin led a dominating 138 of the 267-laps in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 but the truth is he had to earn every fraction of a second that he paced the field. It was a thrilling chase for the checkered flag, lap-after-lap among the front-running cars. Hamlin ultimately took the lead for good – passing Chase Elliott with 29 laps remaining after a series of green flag pit stops swapped the two cars’ positions in front of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For nearly two decades, Homestead-Miami Speedway has been intertwined with championship weekend, but for the first time since 2002, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to South Florida without a title on the line as it prepares for Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400. In addition to the different environment that the drivers will face on the variable banked 1.5-mile oval without the pomp and circumstance of championship weekend, they will also have to deal with a complete 180 when it comes to the weather and how the trackRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Mid-week racing is back on the docket tonight as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville for a short track showdown under the lights in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. 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. This go around will be an even bigger test than normal. No practice, no qualifying, just line up and turn ‘em loose. Since being announced last year,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick has had an exceptional relationship with Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion showed that again Sunday afternoon winning the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, his third victory at the historic track. Harvick led a race high 151 of 325 laps en route to his 51st career win, prevailing in a valiant contest with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who finished second and third. Truex led 62 laps, won the opening two stages of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Back in mid-March, NASCAR found itself heading into Atlanta for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 when the COVID-19 pandemic started to take hold across the sports world and the race weekend was postponed. Fast forward to this weekend and the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the epicenter of where it all began for another shot at the 1.5-mile quad-oval. With a track surface that is old and worn, having not been repaved since its reconfiguration in 1997, Atlanta always gets rave reviews from drivers whoRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NASCAR’s comeback tour rolls on this weekend as the Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the Supermarket Heroes 500. The track, which carries the “Last Great Colosseum” moniker, 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 is more accurate than it would seem. Drivers race two and sometimes three-wide throughout the event and when troubleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Lightning struck near Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday night. Bad luck didn’t, where Chase Elliot was concerned. After two crushing defeats since the re-opening of NASCAR’s 2020 season May 17 at Darlington, Elliott got to the checkered flag without incident and won the rescheduled Alsco Uniforms 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile intermediate track. In an event contested at 500 kilometers (312 miles), Elliott passed fading Kevin Harvick for the lead on Lap 181 of 208 and cruised to a 2.208-second victoryRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a successful week to reopen the 2020 season at Darlington, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to home base at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 61st running of the Coca-Cola 600. Sunday should have been a day full of racing with the Formula 1 race at Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 preceding Sunday night’s race, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only NASCAR will be in the spotlight, with both qualifying (2:00 pm ET) and the race (6:00 pm ET) taking place in oneRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin became the season’s second multi-time winner, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earning the rain-abbreviated Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway. This year’s Daytona 500 winner Hamlin took the lead during a late race caution – opting to stay on track while most of the other front-runners pitted for fresh tires. Hamlin held off the field on the ensuing restart with 29 laps remaining and was out front when the final yellow flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor A staple of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule since 1950, Darlington Raceway has served as a lifeline to help the sport get back on its feet in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Just three days after the 2020 season restarted with the running of the Real Heroes 400 at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval, the stars of NASCAR’s top division head back to South Carolina for another dance with the Lady in Black in Wednesday night’s Toyota 500. With no practice or qualifying heading intoRead More