Denny Hamlin Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After last weekend’s race at Watkins Glen saw Chase Elliott go back-to back on the upstate New York road course, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Michigan for the second time this season to race on one of the biggest and fastest tracks on the circuit, Michigan International Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Consumers Energy 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning this raceRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Both Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones, two drivers in subject of silly season rumors all season, continue their string of top-five runs this summer after Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. Despite all talks involve on Kyle Busch being erased off both William Byron and Bubba Wallace’s Christmas list due to separate incidents and Martin Truex, Jr.’s second attempt of chasing down race winner Chase Elliott coming up short. The other two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates had a quiet afternoon at Watkins Glen International in NewRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – It was a striking case of déjà vu. In a replay of Last year’s GoBowling at the Glen, Martin Truex Jr. chased pole winner Chase Elliott lap after lap around the 2.45-mile road course, using everything in his arsenal to try to deprive Elliott of his second straight victory at the track. Nothing worked for Truex, who crossed the finish line in the wake of the winning No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, .454 seconds in arrears. Elliott logged his secondRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chase Elliott isn’t racing differently on road courses. He’s just racing better. And on Saturday, Elliott returned to Watkins Glen International with a vengeance, taking a giant step toward another victory at track that gave him his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win last year. Elliott covered the 2.45-mile layout in 69.287 seconds (127.297 mph) to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Thanks to a fast No. 11 Toyota, a feel for fuel economy and a first-ever application of traction compound to the asphalt at Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin rediscovered the magic at the Tricky Triangle that marked his spectacular debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2006. Leading a 1-2-3 finish by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers—none of whom, surprisingly, was Kyle Busch—Hamlin passed teammate and race runner-up Erik Jones on Lap 144 and saved enough fuel to last through an overtime that carriedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven weeks after their first trip to the “Tricky Triangle,” the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s running of the Gander RV 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – The drought is over. Blanked for 21 straight races, Kevin Harvick was winless in 2019 until he held off Denny Hamlin on older tires to win Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The victory was Harvick’s fourth at the Magic Mile, most among active drivers and tied with Jeff Burton for most all-time. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang won his second-straight race at the one-mile flat track and his third in theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season rolls on as they head from last weekend’s thrilling race on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway to the flat, one-mile oval that is New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. 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 track positionRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denied victory at Daytona by an inopportune pit call last Sunday, Kurt Busch drove like lightning in a two-lap overtime dash to the finish to win Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Swapping sheet metal with brother Kyle Busch as the siblings battled for the victory throughout the overtime, Busch collected his first victory of the season in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. The 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion won for the first time at Kentucky and theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With 42 laps remaining in Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, dark clouds closed in on the 2.5-mile superspeedway and as it always happens when weather threatens, the intensity ratcheted up and the inevitable “Big One” struck. Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer had hooked up in the draft to find their way to the front of the field when Bowyer ducked low from second place to try and take the lead for himself. Dillon threw an untimely blockRead More