Hendrick Motorsports Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – A collision with Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet ruined a promising afternoon for Danica Patrick in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Patrick started 31st and had worked her way up to 19th before wrecking hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 121 after contact from Kahne’s Chevy. Kahne was a lap down at the time, thanks to an earlier unscheduled pit stop. “We were on a restart, and I had a run on him so I went down low,”Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400, two drivers in the field would be going to battle with each other in what would be dubbed the #HeroFaceOff in promotion of the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson each sported a superhero paint scheme, with Earnhardt carrying the Batman colors on his No. 88 Chevrolet and Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet adorned with the familiar red and blue colors of Superman. “The greatest gladiator match in theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Jimmie Johnson won the battle between hometown heroes on Sunday, outdueling Kevin Harvick in overtime at Auto Club Speedway. “Awesome teamwork, boys!” Johnson shouted on his radio after taking the 77th checkered flag of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, breaking a tie with the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time victory list. “There’s nothing like winning at home.” The six-time series champion from El Cajon got the chance he needed when Kyle Busch blew a tire and hitRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer After Friday’s bizarre qualifying session for the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway left Dale Earnhardt Jr. starting in the 26th position, Jimmie Johnson in a back up car, and Kasey Kahne needing a new engine, all three drivers needed to rebound in Sunday’s Good Sam 500. Both Johnson and Kahne relinquished their starting positions and started in the rear per the NASCAR rulebook. When the green flag waved, both Johnson and Kahne quickly worked their way up through the field. Within 30 laps,Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz – Jimmie Johnson met with the media early this morning to clarify the accident he had in qualifying, which forced the team to go to a backup car for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. The accident happened in Turn 2 during the final round of knockout qualifying. In an interview yesterday, Johnson could not confirm what happened, only saying “I don’t know for sure.” Johnson, 40, would later confirm through Twitter that the steering wheel came off. This morning the six-timeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz –  Qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday afternoon turned into one of the more odd sessions of the early season, and it became all the more interesting after Jimmie Johnson wrecked in Turn 2 during the final round. The six-time Sprint Cup Series champion put down a lap that ended fifth best on the timesheets, but following the hard crash Johnson will have to start the Good Sam 500 in a backup car at the rear of the field. Johnson, 40, spoke aboutRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With one win under his belt in 2016 already, Jimmie Johnson heads into Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix looking to break his winless streak at the desert mile since the track underwent a reconfiguration during the 2011 season. Johnson tops the board statistically among active drivers when looking at career wide numbers, but the six-time series champion has been absent from victory lane in Phoenix over the past six years. Overall, Johnson has four wins (2007, 2008 sweep, and 2009), as well as 15Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz. – With a race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway on the horizon, Kevin Harvick met with the media Friday morning ahead of this Sunday’s Good Sam 300. Harvick, 40, won last year’s event at Phoenix International Raceway. In fact, the California native has won four of the last five, dominating the 1-mile oval since the repave a few seasons ago. Harvick is in the midst of his third season with Stewart-Haas Racing, but recently the team announced that it is moving away from ChevroletRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Overcoming a pit road speeding penalty with daring late-race strategy, Brad Keselowski broke a 33-race drought with a victory in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Keselowski passed Las Vegas native Kyle Busch with five laps left to win for the first time since the fifth race of 2015 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion beat Team Penske shopmate Joey Logano to the finish line by .675 seconds, as Busch lostRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With one of the best rookie classes in recent memory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series occurring during the 2016 season, each week we’ll take a look at the five rookies battling for Rookie of the Year and track their progress throughout the season. In this week’s edition of the “Rookie Report,” the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is on deck and in true Las Vegas fashion, some of the rookies had a much better roll of the dice than the others. LeadingRead More