kyle larson Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Most of the time, when an athlete talks about a “team victory,” it’s nothing more than a sports cliché. But Denny Hamlin’s win in Sunday’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway—by the closest margin in the history of the Great American Race—was a testament to the strength and solidarity of the Toyota teams of Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing, a JGR affiliate. In a wild last lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Hamlin moved into the outside lane inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was a noon practice on the day of the Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway, and there was six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, doing his thing. The regular routine for Johnson and No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus is a succession of single-car runs at Daytona, staying out of the draft and out of trouble, looking for speed. Based on Thursday’s practice, Johnson may be poised to add a third Daytona 500 title to his resume. The six-time NASCAR SprintRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It had to happen eventually. Wednesday’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice brought the first major accident of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. Ty Dillon’s No. 95 Chevrolet spewed oil on the track, the result of an oil cooler cracked along the weld. Cars running behind Dillon’s in Turn 2 checked up, and Michael Waltrip’s No. 93 Toyota tapped the back of Ryan Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet, spinning the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. That started a chain reaction that sawRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With the Sprint Unlimited now in the books and Denny Hamlin its victor, it is time to look at some key takeaways from Saturday night’s event. 1) NASCAR overtime rules prove insignificant The field was set after a late race caution with Hamlin leading Joey Logano, Paul Menard, and a charging Kyle Larson. They passed the overtime line on the backstretch of Daytona International Speedway, and after taking the white flag several cars ended up in the wall in Turn 2. NASCAR had a chance toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway ended with a mere handful of cars undamaged—and race winner Denny Hamlin’s Toyota wasn’t one of them. But Hamlin got his wreck out of the way early in a two-car incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Ford on Lap 13 and won the race in overtime with a large swatch of silver tape on the right side of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry. Hamlin triumphed in the season-opening non-points event for theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season looming, it’s time for a new star to be born and that star is Kyle Larson. The timing just seems right. The 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year is coming off of a strong performance in the season finale at Homestead last season. Larson was poised for his first win on NASCAR’s premier tour, but a late caution left the team’s strategy in shambles, losing the lead and falling to fifth at the finish. Larson fell victimRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service The No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Daytona Prototype was running an extremely competitive race until brake failure in the eighth hour forced the car to the garage for repairs. The “Star Car” piloted by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson and IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan was vying for a second straight Rolex 24 at Daytona title before the brake pedal went to the floor with Kanaan behind the wheel. The No. 02 lost five laps whileRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Driving a brand new Prototype developed and built in his native Russia, IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin won the top starting spot for the Rolex 24 at Daytona — with the ninth fastest time of Friday’s qualifying sessions at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. Englishman Nick Tandy had the afternoon’s fastest lap, leading a Porsche sweep of the top two starting spots in the highly competitive GTLM Class, touring the course in 2:01.408 (105.561 mph) and edging fellow PorscheRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Kyle Larson knows that his career is on the clock. At 23 years young, the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates isn’t outwardly expressing complete urgency to win his next race. But that pressure to not only win, but make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is building. “There were really no expectations when I first got into Cup,” said Larson, speaking at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. “Then,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Finishing off one of the most remarkable comebacks in NASCAR history—indeed, in the annals of sport—Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and, with it, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Absent from the first 11 races of the season because of a broken right leg and left foot sustained in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona in February, Busch pulled away from fellow Championship Round driver Kevin Harvick after a restart with seven laps left and crossedRead More