Denny Hamlin Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Harvick, nicknamed NASCAR’s “Closer,” earned his moniker on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, passing reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. on the next-to-last lap to add the KC Masterpiece 400 to his collection of victories this season. Charging from sixth place and chasing race leader Martin Truex Jr. after a restart on Lap 259 of 267, Harvick found speed in the top lane with five laps left and passed Truex on the outside through Turns 3Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a visit to the Monster Mile last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series sets up shop at Kansas Speedway for Mother’s Day weekend and Saturday night’s running of the KC Masterpiece 400. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into a much more treacherous track with variable banking ranging from 17 to 20 degrees in the turns. Since then, the track hasRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – The only thing that could have stopped Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Dover International Speedway was a sudden rainstorm. And even that failed. Eight laps after Sunday’s AAA 400 restarted from a rain delay of more than 40 minutes, Harvick passed Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead and pulled away to win his fourth race of the season by a whopping 7.450 seconds. All told, Harvick led 201 of the 400 laps, swept all three stages and reestablished hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor TALLADEGA, Alabama – Stewart-Haas Racing has served notice that they will be contenders when it comes to Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega after teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch laid down the fastest times in qualifying to secure the front row. Harvick was fastest in the first round and backed it up in the final round with a lap of 49.247 seconds, 194.448 mph to put his Ford at the top of the board. The fast laps weren’t without issue though as Harvick had startedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor While short tracks have been the order of much of the month of April, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series now turns its attention to the biggest and baddest track on the 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 the Cup SeriesRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Take a bow, Kyle Busch. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota got what he needed late in Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway—cautions and short runs in the final 40 laps—to win his third straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, matching Kevin Harvick’s feat from earlier in the season. Busch streaked away from the rest of the field on a series of late restarts, ultimately beating Chase Elliott to the checkered flag in overtime to record his fifthRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a rain delayed race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend produced one of the best races of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads to another short track, the third in the last four weeks, with Saturday night’s running of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Following a three-year experiment of running the spring Richmond race on Sunday afternoon, this race will return to Saturday night under the lights this year following an uproar from the fans andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In the spring of 2016, Carl Edwards entered Richmond looking for his second win in a row, while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, was looking for his third win in the last four races. By the time all was said and done, the win would come down to those two drivers. Taking the lead from Edwards with 35 laps to go, Busch looked to have a clear path to victory on the 0.75-mile oval, but as his tires began to give up overRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Texas Motor Speedway has not been kind to drivers that have found themselves in contention for a decent finish in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. After blown tires ended the day early for Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Larson, a handful of other contenders saw their races come to a close just as the final stage began. When the green flag flew at lap 177, Kyle Busch, who was up near the lead got loose and started backing up through theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor While the Blue Oval Brigade ruled on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing made their presence known in the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session of the weekend on Saturday morning. The JGR duo of Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin would come out on top during the frigid 55-minute practice, as Suarez turned in the fastest speed of the weekend at 27.136 seconds, 198.998 mph. Hendrick Motorsports also turned some heads in practice as William Byron and Jimmie JohnsonRead More