Denny Hamlin Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a weekend at home in Charlotte for the Bank of America 500 that left some Chase contenders scrambling, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to America’s Heartland to take on the fast, treacherous 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for this Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the second race of the Round of 12 in the Chase. 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 aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – After Sunday’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson can proclaim justifiably “The Boys are Back in Town.” But for five other Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, all of whom finished 30th or worse in the rain-delayed Bank of America 500, the race ended in a medley of dire straits. Taking the lead from Matt Kenseth after a restart on Lap 317 of 334, Johnson pulled away to win by 1.474 seconds over the driver of the No. 20Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup complete after last weekend’s race at Dover, NASCAR’s premier division heads home to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend to kick off the Round of 12 with Saturday night’s running of the Bank of America 500. As the first race in the Round of 12, Charlotte will play a big role in setting up how the remainder of the round will play out at Kansas and Talladega in the next two weeks. The 1.5Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After taking on Chicagoland Speedway to kick off the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s premier division heads to New England for the second time in 2016 to take on the flat one mile oval that is the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in this weekend’s Bad Boy Off Road 300. 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 theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – When rain forced cancellation of Friday’s knockout qualifying session for Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), Kyle Busch was the primary beneficiary. As the top seed in Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and with his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota seeded first in the corresponding owners’ standings, Busch will start on the pole at the 1.5-mile track for the first of the 10 playoff races that will decide the 2016 champion.Read More

It’s that time of the year again. After the 16 driver field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was set last weekend at Richmond, the intensity of the season is about to ramp up over the final 10 weeks of the season as we’ll whittle the championship field down to four at Homestead to see which driver will walk away with the title at season’s end. As a refresher, there will be three rounds of eliminations before the Championship Four is set. The Round of 16 will includeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicking off this weekend at Chicago, the time has come to take a look back at a race from the past for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” This week, we’ll go back to 2009, when Chicago was a mid-summer night race instead of the first race of the Chase and the wild finish of the Lifelock.com 400. Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Scott Speed would lead the field to green under the lightsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Chase is on. After 26 regular season races to set the 16 driver field for the 2016 edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the opening salvo of the Chase and Sunday’s 16th annual running of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, having joined in 2001, the 1.5 mile Chicagoland Speedway finds itself front and center as the Chase begins. The track, which onlyRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Denny Hamlin won a wild race at his home track, and the top four Chase hopefuls entering Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 all held serve at Richmond International Raceway in an event that ended in overtime after a record 16 cautions. Jamie McMurray locked up a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a seventh-place finish, and Austin Dillon did likewise with a 13th-place run. Sunoco rookies Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher both weathered some tense momentsRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Entering Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, winning was the only thing on Kasey Kahne’s mind. After 25 races, Kahne entered the race outside the Top 16 in points, without a win, and with only one more chance to qualify for the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Kahne’s hopes looked promising in Friday’s two practices, as he was fourth fastest in practice one, and 13th fastest in the second practice. Kahne ultimately qualified his No. 5 Farmers Insurance ChevroletRead More