Kurt Busch Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The story of the season has been about Stewart-Haas Racing’s winning ways. For pole sitter Kurt Busch, it appeared he had the car to finally snap a 54-race winless streak and give the team its eighth win of the season. That all ended when a pit miscue cost him several track positions and he ultimately wound up eighth in Sunday’s Foxwood Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. With 74 laps to go, Busch relinquished second and made his penultimate pit stop under green.Read More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer For the first time since joining Stewart-Haas Racing, Aric Almirola has earned a top-five finish. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver once again appeared to have a chance to record his first victory since 2014 in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Prior to the final caution on lap 258, Almirola had been leading in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion. Under yellow, a slow pit stop dropped the Ford Performance driver from the lead to third on the runningRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – Early bird Kurt Busch ran his best lap of the day in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s Foxwoods 301 (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The first driver on the track for decisive Round 3, Busch covered the one-mile distance in 28.511 seconds (133.591 mph) to edge reigning series champion Martin Turex Jr. by .019 seconds. Truex willRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season rolls on as they head from last weekend’s race on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway to the flat, one-mile oval that is New Hampshire Motor Speedway. First joining the Cup Series circuit in 1993, the 1.058 mile oval that has progressively banked turns from two to seven degrees is one of the more difficult tracks on the schedule as the flat nature of the track makes track position key with passing at a premium. After getting to enjoy twoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip down to Daytona Beach, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is just past the halfway mark of the 2018 season as they head up to Kentucky Speedway for race No. 19 on the schedule, under the lights on Saturday night for the running of the Quaker State 400. Kentucky first joined the Cup Series schedule in 2011 and has played host ever since, with just four different drivers claiming victory in the seven races held at the track so far. The track wasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following last Sunday’s instant classic in the Windy City, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to where it all began, Daytona International Speedway, for this weekend’s 59th running of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the third restrictor plate 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 in 1988, the raceRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Paul Menard had the hottest shoe on the hottest day of the NASCAR season. Torching Chicagoland Speedway with a lap at 180.102 mph (29.998 seconds) in the final round of Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Menard won the pole for Sunday’s Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Nearly 10 years had passed since Menard last claimed a Busch Pole Award. His only previous top qualifying effort cameRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Using a contrarian strategy that included bluffing Kevin Harvick onto pit road earlier than planned in the final stage of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a convincing victory in the 16th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. On Lap 73, during the final stage of the race, Truex’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, ordered the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to pit road. On the spur of the moment, Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, optedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Kurt Busch wasted no time during Friday’s final practice at Sonoma Raceway, scorching the fastest time of the session at 76.163 seconds (94.061 mph), edging Denny Hamlin by 0.040 seconds. Martin Truex, Jr., Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Aric Almirola, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10. Bayne, who was in the bottom eighth during morning practice, drastically improved this session and ended up eighth quickest. Sonoma marks Bayne’s his first start since Dover in May. WithRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR 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 the 1.990 mile 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 110 laps, which calculates out to 218.9 miles, or 350 kilometers. Over the years, the course at Sonoma Raceway has goneRead More