Martin Truex Jr. Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The final race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season was held at Phoenix Raceway for the fifth straight year last Sunday. Ryan Blaney was looking to retain the championship, but had to deal with his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, William Byron, and Championship 4 debutant Tyler Reddick. The finale was also noteworthy for being pole sitter and 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex, Jr.’s swan song as a full-time competitor, and the final race for Stewart-Haas Racing before they closed doors after the 312-lapRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. — A full-time career that began in 2006 has come to a close for Martin Truex, Jr. after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. The 2017 Cup champion began the weekend by scoring his 25th career pole and led the opening nine laps. However, he only got to lead one green flag lap in that window as a crash involving Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs slowed down the race. Once the race resumed, an old foe from the 2018 title battleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In the closest finish in NASCAR history, Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher to the checkered flag by roughly one inch to win Sunday night’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. After Kyle Busch’s spin on Lap 261 of a scheduled 267 sent the race to overtime, Buescher took the lead on the restart of the two-lap shootout, only to have Larson pull even on the backstretch on the final lap. Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet and Buescher’s No. 17 Ford banged doorsRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It’s hard to imagine Martin Truex, Jr., one of the heavy favorites to win this season’s NASCAR Cup Series title when the playoffs began, had yet to score a single top-10 finish in the playoffs. That all changed when he finished eighth during Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ending an alarming skid for the time being. At the same time, the result left a lot to be desired. “We left some on the table,” said Truex on PRN. “We took a bigRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. One thing is for sure, Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 is going to be a hell of a ride, with four drivers getting cut from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs when the checkered flag waves. In an effort to spice things up back in 2018, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mileRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – The little team that could did it again. Michael McDowell took the fight to the rest of his competitors Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, winning the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard to secure his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. After posting the fastest time in practice and turning in a fourth-place qualifying run, McDowell and his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team made it known that they would be a threat on Sunday – and delivered. “Oh, man, this is such aRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain smiled and conceded, he had no idea how having the No. 1 pit box selection would be for Sunday’s Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. “I’d never had it before,’’ he said smiling. Chastain certainly earned it with honors on Saturday, claiming the Busch Light Pole in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet with a blazing fast 160.687 mph lap in qualifying – a full 1 mph better than the field – earning the right toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The future is indeed now in the NASCAR Cup Series. Not because it’s the first-ever regular season race with the current car (known as NextGen), but it also saw another first-time winner in the Daytona 500. In just his eighth career Cup start, Austin Cindric brought Team Penske its third win in “The Great American Race.” While the No. 2 team celebrated, other drivers were either heartbroken or collected in wrecks that’ll prove costly to team’s due to the supply shortage of the current car. DespiteRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It was quadruple championship weekend at Phoenix Raceway where the three NASCAR national touring divisions and ARCA West crowned its season champion. Needless to say, all four title-deciding races ended up being unforgettable. Here’s my latest “Race in Pictures” gallery featuring all four races as Kyle Larson (Cup), Daniel Hemric (Xfinity), Ben Rhodes (Trucks) and Jesse Love (ARCA West) left Arizona as champions.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. – Martin Truex, Jr. was again denied a second NASCAR Cup Series championship. Instead of hoisting the Bill France Cup, Truex had to settle for second in Sunday’s Cup Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. When the laps were winding down, Truex appeared to have the title in the bag. That’s when debris from David Starr changed the outcome of the race, bringing out the caution flag on Lap 282. Erasing Truex’s lead, the caution flag would bring the field down pit road for theRead More