Jimmie Johnson Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – In a race that was as wild as advertised in the closing laps, Ryan Blaney sped past crashing Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. in the final corner to win Sunday’s inaugural Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. With his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and the second of his career, Blaney advanced to Round of 12 in the Playoffs. Johnson wasn’t as lucky. The seven-time series champion was pressuring TruexRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Day two at the new Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course has been just as eventful as the first, with Jimmie Johnson putting up the fastest time on the board, while others found themselves ensnared by the 17-turn, 2.28-mile layout. Daniel Hemric led the way for the majority of the session before Johnson took over the No. 1 spot with a lap of 1 minute, 18.043 seconds at 105.173 mph. Hemric finished the session in second place, followed by Martin Truex, Jr., Brad Keselowski,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. Once thing is for sure as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ventures into the unknown, it’s going to be a hell of a ride. In an effort to spice things up this season, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mile oval to creating what they are calling the ROVAL, incorporating both the high banksRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a wild opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Las Vegas, the championship contenders head back to the East Coast this weekend to take on Richmond Raceway in their inaugural playoff date. Often described as the perfectly designed racetrack by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When looking at the 10 races that make up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway would not have been the one many circled to give the drivers competing for the championship the most issues, but by the time the checkered flag flew, more than half of the 16 playoff drivers ran into problems of some sort. Kyle Larson kicked things off with a blown tire early in Stage 1, but luckily for him, he was ableRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Jimmie Johnson made a lot of eye contact with the reporters eager to gauge his Playoff expectations Thursday afternoon at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. The sincerity in his voice and the passion of his words left no doubt. He is as motivated as he has ever been to end a first of its kind season-long winless streak. A championship run now would certainly change the narrative. Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman have qualified forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Viva Las Vegas…again? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the track’s history, Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be hosting a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this season as they kick off the 10-race Playoff stretch with Sunday’s running of the South Point 400. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5-mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that saw progressive bankingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Now that the checkered flag has flown following Monday’s rain-delayed Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, the regular season for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is complete and the 16-driver field for the playoffs is set. Starting next week in Las Vegas, the playoff contenders will begin a 10-week grind toward crowning a champion at the season finale at Homestead-Miami, but how do they really stack up against each other? Kevin Harvick (2050 Points) – Harvick and Kyle Busch can be ranked as 1A andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor INDIANAPOLIS – To say that the 2018 season has been a disappointment for Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports would be an understatement, but as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads into Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, Johnson remains hopeful that he can muster up some of his Indianapolis magic from days gone by. The seven-time series champion is riding a winless streak dating back to June 2016 at Dover, the longest of his career, and sits on the cusp of possibly missingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor INDIANAPOLIS – The 2018 calendar has reached September and with it comes one of the marquee events on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, the 25th running of the race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. First joining the circuit in 1994, the track has provided some classic moments and some that the powers that be would rather forget. The track’s relatively flat surface, combined with narrow corners and high speeds, makes passing a premium on theRead More