Denny Hamlin Tag

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 races, with Sunday’s running of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75 mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – A week off and an extra day at Bristol did nothing to break Jimmie Johnson’s momentum. Grabbing the lead from Kevin Harvick on Lap 480 of 500 in Monday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson stayed out front for the final 21 laps and beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by 1.199 seconds. The checkered flag was Johnson’s second at the .533-mile short track, his second straight this season and the 82nd of his career in the Monster EnergyRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business this weekend with the running of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, we’ll take the opportunity to look at race from Bristol’s not too distant past, the 2008 Food City 500, for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” A year after Bristol underwent a repave and reconfiguration to add a new layer of concrete and progressive banking in the turns, drivers were still getting acclimated to the new surface as wellRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s Bristol baby! After the first off weekend of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business in a big way as they head back to a short track with this weekend’s stop at Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500. Bristol 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 isRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the 2017 running of the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race just weeks away, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway gathered on Tuesday afternoon to unveil the format for this year’s race, which differs a bit from years past. This year, the race will consist of 70 laps, broken down into four stages, with the first three stages running 20 laps each and a final 10 lap dash for the $1 million prize. Winners of the first three stages will automatically advance to the final stageRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip to the smallest track on the circuit for some great racing at Martinsville last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5 mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the surface wore down as each season passed. However, this go around, the track will be a completely different animal as theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After completing the Western swing, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back east this weekend and straight to the first short track race of the season, with Sunday’s running of the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. 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. The track has basically one groove, meaning the only way to pass will be the move we all know andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – The driver who has finished second in the last three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races will start first on Sunday. Moving up the track for his final run, series points leader Kyle Larson navigated rough, bumpy Auto Club (Fontana, California) Speedway in 38.493 seconds (187.047 mph) on Friday to win the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX), the fifth race of the season. The 24-year-old Larson edged Denny Hamlin by .014 seconds, as Hamlin coveredRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix to kick off the Western swing, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wraps up their venture to the West Coast this weekend as they roll into Southern California to do battle on the two mile Auto Club Speedway in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Built on the site of an old steel mill featured in the movie “Terminator”, the two mile oval has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since opening in 1997. The track has gone throughRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets set to head to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for the second stop of the West Coast Swing and the Camping World 500, we’ll take a step back in time for this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater” to the 2007 running of the Subway Fresh Fit 500. This time last year, fans, drivers, and media alike were all talking about Jimmie Johnson winning at Atlanta, tying the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. at 76 wins on the all-time winsRead More