Kurt Busch Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In an event fraught with pit road mistakes and mechanical issues, Kurt Busch ran an impeccable race. In an intensely competitive run to the finish of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, Busch nosed past leader Kyle Larson at the finish line on Lap 259 of 267 and completed the pass two corners later off Turn 2, as Larson scraped the outside wall.  Seven laps later, Busch’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota crossed the finish line 1.413 seconds ahead ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Christopher Bell became his own self-fulfilling prophecy in winning the pole position for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  “I think it’s a great track for me,” Bell said in a question-and-answer session with reporters before NASCAR Cup Series qualifying. “I got my first Xfinity win here. Cup cars haven’t been great to me here, but I’ve ran really well.  “The top is going to be the place to be.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a thrilling end to last weekend’s throwback race at Darlington, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season rolls on as Kansas Speedway and Sunday’s running of the AdventHealth 400 is next up on the docket. Kansas has come into its own in recent years, following a repave and reconfiguration back in 2012. The track first joined the circuit in 2001 as a relatively tame 1.5-mile track with 15-degree banking in the turns, but the reconfiguration transformed it into the track we know today with variable bankingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service It was easy to hear the relief and elation in Joey Logano’s voice after the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford put his car on the pole for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Oh, it was so much needed for all of us here,” said Logano, who struggled to a 29th-place finish last Monday at Dover. “The last couple of weeks were pretty rough, getting in a couple of crashes andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Like Doc Brown and Marty McFly in Back to the Future, the NASCAR Cup Series is time traveling this week, making the jump from the future with the Darlington Raceway debut of the Next Gen car to celebrating the past with Throwback Weekend. A staple of the Cup Series since 1950, there are many elements to Darlington that make it a special track. From the egg-shape of the track that features one end narrower than the other as a result of building the track around theRead More

By NASCAR NASCAR and Texas Motor Speedway today announced the format and eligibility for the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday, May 22, that features four stages and 125 laps of on-track competition for a $1 million payday, stage winner incentives, amplified roles for the pit crews, and a distinctive head-to-head elimination qualifying format. The NASCAR All-Star Race returns to Texas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive season and this 38th edition brings some unique twists for the eligible Cup drivers pursuing the winner-take-all $1 million payday. The most prominent twist willRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – A pair of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas will lead the field to the green in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega after flexing their muscles in qualifying on the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Christopher Bell led the way with a lap of 52.927 seconds (180.928 mph) to clinch his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole, edging out teammate Martin Truex Jr by .081 seconds. “There is not much to say about the lap, just a lot to say about Toyota, TRD, the engine package they broughtRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a rare Easter race date playing in the dirt at Bristol, the NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads to Talladega Superspeedway, where Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500 awaits. The first nine races of the season have embodied unpredictability, with eight different winners in the first quarter of the season. That trend is likely to continue this weekend as superspeedway racing, especially at Talladega, is all about unpredictability. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Eastern AlabamaRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The first night race for the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway was a cakewalk for Hendrick Motorsports—until a late caution sent the race to overtime, that is.  But William Byron survived a final restart and a mistake on the white-flag lap to win Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at the .526-mile short track.  Byron led 212 of the 403 laps. Teammate and pole winner Chase Elliott led the first 185 circuits, as Hendrick Motorsports surpassed 10,000 laps ledRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second week in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series stays in the State of Virginia, as it heads down to Martinsville Speedway for Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over the course of the evening. Martinsville marks the smallest track the Next Gen car has raced on since the exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to kickRead More