justin haley Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – Denny Hamlin will lead the field to green for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series street race on Sunday after snagging the pole for the Grant Park 220. Noting that the first day on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn course in downtown Chicago was “my single best day at the race track in all of my career”, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the top spot in the waning moments of qualifying with a lap of one minute, 28.435 seconds. Tyler Reddick,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain smiled and conceded, he had no idea how having the No. 1 pit box selection would be for Sunday’s Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. “I’d never had it before,’’ he said smiling. Chastain certainly earned it with honors on Saturday, claiming the Busch Light Pole in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet with a blazing fast 160.687 mph lap in qualifying – a full 1 mph better than the field – earning the right toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service William Byron took full advantage of a late on-track incident between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson to triumph in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 Darlington Raceway and become the first three-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.  For Byron, the victory was sweet redemption for last season’s spring race at the Lady in Black, where Joey Logano’s bump-and-run denied Byron his first victory at the fabled speedway.  “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” said Byron, who earned the 100th victory for the No. 24 team. “My granddadRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  BRISTOL, Tenn. – Before Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell lamented that a “dirt guy” hadn’t won the NASCAR Cup Series’ only race on the red clay in Thunder Valley.  Bell fixed the problem—in a race that also saw hard feelings between pole winner Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece boil over.  Holding off charging Tyler Reddick in the final stage of the 250-lap race, Bell held a slim lead over Reddick when NASCAR called the 14th caution with 200Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – In a race that started in chaos and ended in bedlam on the last lap, Austin Hill won his third NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season, beating Daniel Hemric to the checkered flag in Saturday’s RAPTOR King of the Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With his family in attendance, the Winston, Ga., native, led three times for a race-high 103 laps and dominated an event that featured a record 12 cautions for 68 laps.  NASCAR called the final yellowRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — William Byron won the most important race of Sunday afternoon—by inches off pit road.  Quick work by Byron’s pit crew enabled the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to beat teammate Kyle Larson off pit road for an overtime restart in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and that was the decisive factor in Byron’s fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory.  When Aric Almirola spun into the Turn 4 wall with four laps left of a scheduledRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After Sam Mayer spun on the roof of his Chevrolet on the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway, trailing a shower of sparks, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek sat in their cars and waited. And after what must have seemed an eternity to the drivers, NASCAR reviewed video of the final lap of overtime and declared Hill the winner of his second straight season opener at the World Center of Racing in front of the largest crowd toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Brad Keselowski is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard on a superspeedway and that’s exactly where he found himself in Saturday’s final practice session for the 65th running of the Daytona 500. Piloting his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford around the 2.5-mile track in 47.071 seconds, 191.201 mph, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion staked his place at the top and would not be moved for the remainder of the 50-minute session. “We made some really good improvements,” Keselowski said.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a turn of events that bordered on the unbelievable, Christopher Bell found his only path to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. On fresh tires, thanks to a strategic pit stop under caution on Lap 105, Bell passed Kevin Harvick to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 111 and pulled away to win Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. With the victory, BellRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas — They say everything is “bigger” in Texas and certainly NASCAR’s Round of 12 Playoff opener at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the billing. From Playoff consequences to a red flag delay to bumper-banging aggression, tire fall-off and record statistical marks, there was no shortage of competitive drama in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Ultimately Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick prevailed as race winner – taking the green flag by 1.190-seconds over Penske Racing’s Joey Logano in a final 24-lap green flagRead More