Denny Hamlin Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Michigan, the impetus for all three manufacturers to run well is accelerated as two of the three, Ford and Chevrolet, are located down the road in Detroit, while Japanese based Toyota always looks to steal the show from the hometown favorites. On Friday, the manufacturer wars heated up ahead of Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 as all three manufacturers were well represented in the top-three of the lineup for the race. Though Toyota gained the upper hand inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – For most of the final 200 laps of Sunday’s rain-interrupted Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick was where he needed to be – out front and in control of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Behind Harvick, who took the checkered flag 1.933 seconds ahead of runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the race was often out of control, as the essence of traditional Bristol made an emphatic appearance at the .533-mile concrete short track. Harvick’s victoryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Bristol Motor Speedway teased its race fans with a brief taste of side-by-side action on Saturday night, before persistent storms halted the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race after 48 laps and forced postponement of the finish until Sunday afternoon. The race will resume at 1 p.m. ET Sunday and will be broadcast on CNBC. Carl Edwards led the field to green on Saturday but surrendered the top spot to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin on the opening lap, asRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin owns a new track record, but Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards won the round that counted in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway. Edwards sped around the .533-mile high-banked concrete short track in 14.602 seconds (131.407 mph) to claim the top starting spot for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA night Race (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN), edging Hamlin (131.200 mph) by .023 seconds. Remarkably, Edwards earned his fifth Coors Light Pole Award of the season, hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Denny Hamlin, winner of Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen, entertained a sold-out grandstand with a celebratory burnout that trailed a plume of smoke the entire length of the frontstretch at Watkins Glen International. But Hamlin’s smoke show—with a bad back, no less—paled in comparison to the fireworks that preceded the checkered flag, Hamlin’s first at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road course. The race was in doubt until the final corner, with Martin Truex Jr. pressuring Hamlin, who ledRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Throughout the history of NASCAR, there have been stories of drivers continuing to race even while injured, never giving up the pursuit of victory lane. In 2011 at Pocono, Brad Keselowski added his name to that list. For that reason, the 2011 Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono is the focus of this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater.” The week prior to NASCAR’s second trip of the season to Pocono, Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 team, along with Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team and Dale Earnhardt,Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Is there a sport filled with more conspiracy theories than NASCAR? In a sport where life and death are merely inches apart, many people still believe that drivers would be willing to fix outcomes of events, just because. After Denny Hamlin nudged past Tony Stewart for the lead in turn seven on the final lap this past week in Sonoma, then went wide left in the final hair-pin turn, which gave Stewart plenty of room to force his car to the inside for the win,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Is Tony Stewart having fun yet? In his last year of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, Stewart came to Sonoma Racing asserting on Friday he wasn’t having much fun driving a Sprint Cup car. That all changed in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile road course, where Stewart bulldozed Denny Hamlin into the outside wall in Turn 11, executing a dramatic last-lap pass for his first victory since June 2, 2013 at Dover. In the three years since that victory,Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Recently, road courses have not been kind to Denny Hamlin. In the last 12 road course races, Hamlin has had an average finish of 29.1. However, the weekend started promising after Hamlin qualified in sixth for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Hamlin slid back to ninth after the first caution, but never fell out of the top ten. Hamlin then settled into the ninth position until the second caution waved on lap 46. On the restart, Hamlin worked his way into the lead.Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor No team has been stronger in 2016 than the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Led by reigning champion, Kyle Busch, the team sports seven victories through the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ first 15 races of the year. However the team has a huge problem shaping, and it’s one that many other teams probably wish they had to deal with — they have too many talented drivers, and not enough cars to put them in. Currently the Sprint Cup Series team is packed-full with Busch, Carl Edwards, DennyRead More