Erik Jones Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – A driver without a signed contract for 2018 won the pole position for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN) with a record lap — giving a timely birthday present to his crew chief. In the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session, Kurt Busch covered the 1.5-mile distance in 26.877 seconds (200.915 mph) to top the previous record lap of 200.111 mph posted by Tony Stewart in 2014. In a third round thatRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Erik Jones is hungry for that elusive first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. A rookie this season while driving for Furniture Row Racing, Jones is poised to move to Joe Gibbs Racing as he replaces Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Toyota Camry in 2018. While teammate Martin Truex Jr. has enjoyed a banner season with seven wins en route to the overall points lead with three rounds to go, Jones has put together a roller coaster campaign ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 may have been the opening race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff, but the real drama involved two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates outside the championship battle. On Lap 197 of 200 at Kansas Speedway, Christopher Bell caught and passed Erik Jones for the lead, clearing Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a slide job and drifting up to the outside wall right in front of his JGR teammate. Under aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the first round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs 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 Sunday’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 Talladega and Kansas in the next two weeks. The 1.5-mile quad-ovalRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Two races into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and the first round comes down to the Monster Mile to determine which 12 drivers move on with their shot at the title still intact. Dover began its life as an asphalt track back in 1969, but in 1995 the track was converted to concrete, making it one of only two on the circuit. The one mile high banked oval has always drawn similarities to Bristol and is often referred to as “Bristol on steroids”.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Each week NASCAR Editor David Morgan will break down who’s hot and who’s not after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. Today, we break down the ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. WINNERS Kyle Busch – Busch has been on a roll in the second half of the season, only finishing outside the top-10 once since picking up his first win of the season at Pocono in late July. After stumbling last weekend at Chicago to finish 15th, Busch and hisRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch didn’t need a smokescreen to win Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – he simply had to survive one. Driving unscathed through a cloud of smoke on the backstretch on the final lap of the second stage, Busch, the polesitter, took control of the race at the halfway point and beat Kyle Larson to the finish line by 2.641 seconds. In winning for the third time this season, the third time at Loudon and the 41stRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Heading into Saturday night’s regular season finale at Richmond, it was win or go home for the drivers sitting outside of the top-16 prior to the Federated Auto Parts 400. Ultimately, none of those drivers on the outside looking in were able to capitalize by the time the checkered flag flew and will head home without a shot at the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship and wondering what they could have done over the first 26 races to change their fortunes. Among theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin made a huge mistake on Sunday night. Then the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made an even bigger comeback to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious races. Running down race leader Martin Truex Jr. from 20 seconds back after missing the entrance to pit road on Lap 313 of 367, Hamlin won the Bojangles’ Southern 500 for the second time, finishing off a sweep of the throwback Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series/NASCAR XFINITY Series weekend atRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – On a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, with a move he termed “a throwback to Dale Earnhardt,” Denny Hamlin won his fifth NASCAR XFINITY Series event at the Lady in Black—all from the pole. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota grabbed the lead from Joey Logano after a restart on Lap 147 of 148—one beyond the scheduled distance—and when Logano got inside position on the final circuit and surged ahead into Turn 3, Hamlin responded with aRead More