Kurt Busch Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – The first thing Denny Hamlin did after winning Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night race at Bristol Motor Speedway was apologize to the man he beat to the finish line in the 24th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. With 11 laps left in the grueling 500-lap event, Hamlin drove to the inside of Matt DiBenedetto and cleared him from the lead. Roughly three minutes later, Hamlin crossed the stripe .502 seconds ahead of the No. 95 LeavineRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson played a late game of King of the Mountain in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series time trials at Bristol Motor Speedway. After 38 drivers made qualifying runs, it was Hamlin who was left at the top of the peak. Larson was the 34th driver to take to the track, and his impressive lap at 129.004 mph (14.874 seconds) put him on the provisional pole for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (7:30 p.m. ETRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent BRISTOL, Tenn. – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch has gifted military veterans with opportunities of a lifetime. Since the Daytona 500 earlier this year, the 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion has partnered with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix) to send both active and retired military veterans, 100 veterans total, to NASCAR races throughout the season. 2,500 veterans minimum have attended races so far. Busch praised the program and its’ success. “It’s been fabulous. It’s a gift that keeps on giving with vettix.org helping manageRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Thunder Valley this weekend for the annual Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, a showdown under the lights on the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” that is sure to leave sheet metal twisted and tempers flaring once these drivers get done battling for 500 laps. Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race each August, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness thatRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Bristol Night Race is always a race that is circled on the calendar each year for the sheer entertainment value the event provides and the classic moments that have occurred in the race over the years. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started on the front row for the August 2002 running of the famed race in front of a packed house. When all was said and done, the fans would be sure to remember what would transpire in the 500Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent William Byron had just enough fuel to score a top-10 finish at Michigan International Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver restarted inside the top-10 in the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the edge of the fuel mileage window. Byron battled Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, as well as his teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver also managed his fuel while battling for position. In doing so, Byron lost positions to Busch and Preece in the closing laps.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After last weekend’s race at Watkins Glen saw Chase Elliott go back-to back on the upstate New York road course, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Michigan for the second time this season to race on one of the biggest and fastest tracks on the circuit, Michigan International Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Consumers Energy 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning this raceRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chase Elliott isn’t racing differently on road courses. He’s just racing better. And on Saturday, Elliott returned to Watkins Glen International with a vengeance, taking a giant step toward another victory at track that gave him his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win last year. Elliott covered the 2.45-mile layout in 69.287 seconds (127.297 mph) to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a trip to Pocono last weekend that saw Denny Hamlin score his third win of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stays in the Northeast as they go road course racing this weekend in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. The Cup Series raced at Watkins Glen in 1957, 1964, and 1965 before returning to the track full-time in 1986, utilizing the “short course” layout initially, but after a series of violent crashes at the end of the long back straightaway, theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven weeks after their first trip to the “Tricky Triangle,” the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s running of the Gander RV 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 andRead More