Kevin Harvick Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A lightning delay at Daytona International Speedway forced cancellation of qualifying for Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because it prevented timely completion of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series inspection before time trials. Accordingly, with the field ordered according to owner points, Joey Logano will start from the pole position in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Busch, who thought he would have qualified mid-pack if time trials had beenRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Following last Sunday’s battle in the Windy City, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to where it all began, Daytona International Speedway, for this weekend’s 60th running of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the third superspeedway race of the season. From 1959 until 1987, the 160 lap, 400 mile shootout at the World Center of Racing, then called the Firecracker 400, was held on July 4th, even if the holiday fell in the middle of the week. Beginning inRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Austin Dillon earned his third Busch Pole Award of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season Saturday evening at Chicagoland Speedway, his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet posting a speed of 176.263 mph around the 1.5-mile track. Kevin Harvick will start second, his fifth front row start of the season in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Dillon’s RCR teammate Daniel Hemric was third fastest, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth and KurtRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The countdown to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is on, with just 10 races remaining in the regular season to set the field of contenders that will fight for the championship later this fall. Kicking off the summer stretch will be Chicagoland Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Camping World 400, which returns to its mid-summer roots for the second year in a row after several years as the Playoff opener. The track, which joined the circuit in 2001, only hosts the CupRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — In 223 NASCAR national touring starts, with 155 in the Cup Series, Matt DiBenedetto has never scored a top-five. That all changed Sunday as a fourth-place result in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway capped off a career-defining afternoon. Through tremendous strategy and a solid all around car, DiBenedetto and the entire Leavine Family Racing kept working on the No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry all afternoon, and it paid off as he’s now 25th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standingsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After getting to enjoy a much needed week off, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is back in business with a little road course racing. This week, the series makes the trek out to California wine country to take on Sonoma Raceway, a 12-turn technical road course situated about 30 miles north of San Francisco. This week’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 consists of 90 laps, which calculates out to 226.8 miles, or 365 kilometers. Over the years, the course at Sonoma Raceway has gone through aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Given the statistics, you might think Joey Logano ran away with Monday’s rain-delayed Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Yes, Logano led 163 of 203 laps at the two-mile track in the Irish Hills. He had the fastest car in qualifying on Saturday and the fastest car in the 15th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event of the season. But after a late caution for Erik Jones’ spin into the infield grass below Turn 2, Logano needed overtime to seal the win. He neededRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – The Ford drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series apparently took the words of Edsel Ford II to heart. At a dinner with Ford drivers on Thursday night, the member of the Ford Motor Company board of directors emphasized the importance of putting a Mustang in Victory Lane after Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). On Saturday morning at the 2-mile track, Joey Logano took the first stepRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick freely admits a transformation, an aging-up of sorts. There was a time in his 19-season Monster Energy NASCAR Cup career when the 2014 champion would be visibly frustrated during a race and fully prepared to settle a score with another driver on pit road or in the garage later. But having children, earning a Cup title and the art of aging have mellowed the 43-year old champ, by his own admission. It has not dampened his motivation to win races and championshipsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Eastern Pennsylvania comes calling this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaves the comfort of home in Charlotte for Pocono Raceway and Sunday’s running of the Pocono 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 and its nine-degree banking modeledRead More