Joe Gibbs Racing Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The wait is over. The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season kicks off this weekend with the annual Busch Light Clash exhibition race. After being held at Daytona International Speedway as the opening salvo to Speedweeks throughout its existence, the race moved away from the birthplace of NASCAR out to the West Coast in 2022, into the confines of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For the third year in a row, the purpose-built quarter-mile track plays host to NASCAR’s premier division and will give all of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. — 35 races down, one to go. Sunday afternoon, the NASCAR Cup Series will hit the track at Phoenix Raceway for the 2023 season finale, bringing this season to a close and crowning a champion. Heading into this year’s championship race, it will be a battle between a former champion in Kyle Larson and three other drivers making their first appearance in the Championship 4 to see who will be hoisting the Bill France Cup when the checkered flag falls. Joining Larson in theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. — For the second straight year, Christopher Bell will have a chance of winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway. In fact, Bell is the only driver who has made the Championship 4 a year ago and return to the big dance. Similar to last year, coming in clutch was the name of the game for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Only this time, he didn’t need to win the cutoff race as he punched his ticket to Arizona by winning atRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – The field is now set for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway, with title contender William Byron on pole for Sunday’s season finale. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and most recent winner on the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert jumped to the top of the board with a lap of 27.150 seconds, 132.597 mph mid-way through the final round and held off the remaining drivers to bank a crucial championship pole. “We were right thereRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Day two at Phoenix Raceway will be highlighted by NASCAR’s second highest division, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series wraps up its 2023 campaign by crowning its newest champion – all of which would be a first-time champion. Twelve championship hopefuls started the six-week march to the Valley of the Sun, with only four drivers left standing to duel it out in the Arizona desert on Saturday night. It all comes down to a battle between the JR Motorsports duo of Justin Allgaier andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Aric Almirola announces retirement from full-time NASCAR Cup racing MARTINSVILLE, Va. – At roughly 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, readers of the “X” app got the long-awaited answer to Aric Almirola’s plans for 2024—a partial answer, at least. Almirola announced his retirement from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing, indicating he will not be back in the No. 10 Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing next year. “After much prayer, consideration and conversations with my family, I’m ready for the next adventure,” Almirola posted, along with expressionsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Likely needing a victory in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, Martin Truex Jr. took the first step in the right direction on Saturday, winning the pole position for the Round of 8 elimination race (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Truex turned a lap in 20.112 seconds (94.153 mph) in the final round of time trials to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs (94.115 mph) for the top startingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Coming into this year’s version of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin were among the favorites to make it through to the Championship 4, but now that appears to be in doubt following late trouble in Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin was fighting for the lead in the late stages of the race on the 1.5-mile oval, having amassed a 12-point gap over the cut-off line and looked to be in good shape heading toward the finish, but withRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – In one of the most thrilling NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races of the season, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell rallied from a frustrating race start to lead the final 16 laps of Sunday’s 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn a second straight appearance into the Championship 4. Bell, who only made his first appearance inside the top five on track with less than 50 laps remaining, got around a pair of the day’s front runnersRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It’s hard to imagine Martin Truex, Jr., one of the heavy favorites to win this season’s NASCAR Cup Series title when the playoffs began, had yet to score a single top-10 finish in the playoffs. That all changed when he finished eighth during Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ending an alarming skid for the time being. At the same time, the result left a lot to be desired. “We left some on the table,” said Truex on PRN. “We took a bigRead More