Erik Jones Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – It has been a long wait for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to make his return to Victory Lane in a NASCAR Cup Series race, but he’ll have to wait no longer after Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Despite starting back in 32nd place, Stenhouse channeled his previous superspeedway luck in working his way forward, finishing the first stage in second-place and hanging around in the lead pack for much of the day until it came down to go time. After battling with AustinRead More

By Holly Cain and Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C.— The margin between the last driver currently eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and the first driver out is a mere 21 points. But that could change as quickly as a Cup car can pick up a “Darlington stripe” in Sunday night’s regular-season finale, the Cook Out Southern 500 at historic Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). At the conclusion of Sunday’s race, 16 drivers will have claimed Playoff spots. Heading into the race, 13 have wonRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NEWTON, Iowa – Build it and they will come…. eventually. After nearly two decades in existence, Iowa Speedway finally gets the call for a NASCAR Cup Series date this weekend, marking the latest track to host NASCAR’s premier series. The 0.875-mile oval in Central Iowa, a brainchild of NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, has hosted three of the lower-level NASCAR series – Xfinity, Trucks, and ARCA – over the years, which only amplified the calls for the Cup Series to visit and the fans inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C.— Driving a No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota with a paint scheme reminiscent of the late Tim Richmond’s 1982 Buick, Tyler Reddick emulated the driver he was honoring, winning the pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 NASCAR Cup Series race (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Turning a lap at Darlington Raceway in 28.906 seconds (170.124 mph) in the final round of qualifying, Reddick edged Brad Keselowski (170.018 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.018 seconds. The BuschRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service First out for final qualifying and first on the scoring chart, Kyle Busch earned his first pole position of the season Saturday with a lap of 162.191 mph in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet around the one-mile Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. It’s the 34th career pole position for the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and he’ll start on the front row for Sunday’s Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) alongside Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, whose fast lap (161.951Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Erik Jones will not be racing in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Dover, following his hard crash at Talladega last Sunday. Corey Heim will take up the relief driver role in the No. 43 Toyota, Legacy Motor Club said in a statement Tuesday. Jones was involved in a four-car pileup at the 2.66-mile superspeedway on lap 157, in which his car was sent head-on into the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 3. Though Jones was able to climb from his car under his ownRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Like a Michael Jordan drive to the basket, Tyler Reddick channeled his 23XI Racing co-owner on the final lap at Talladega, weaving his way through the chaos to get to the finish line first and score the win in Sunday’s GEICO 500. Heading into the final lap, it was shaping up to be a battle of the Fords and Toyotas, with pole-sitter Michael McDowell and six-time Talladega winner Brad Keselowski leading the Blue Ovals on the bottom lane, with Reddick leading what wasRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 and 4 remain banked at 24 degrees and 60 feetRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. — Denny Hamlin was convinced he had to improve his performance at Phoenix Raceway, and on Saturday afternoon, he took the first step in that direction. Touring the one-mile track in 27.138 seconds (132.655 seconds) in the final round of qualifying, Hamlin put his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin, who hasn’t won at Phoenix since 2019, beat JGR teammate Ty Gibbs (132.227Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor It had been a long wait for Hendrick Motorsports to return to Daytona 500 victory lane, but at the end of Monday’s rain-delayed running of the Great American Race, it was a 1-2 finish for one of the winningest organizations in NASCAR Cup Series history. Not since Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 2014 victory had a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet captured a win in the season opening spectacle, but 26-year-old William Byron was the driver to get it done at the World Center of Racing – capturing his firstRead More