Michael McDowell Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain won his first pole position of the 2024 season – and second of his career – Saturday afternoon at the historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course. Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet turned in a fast lap of 122.279 mph around the 2.45-mile, seven-turn course in upstate New York to edge former race winner Martin Truex Jr. for the top position by a mere .134-second. Ranked 15th of the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers, it was an importantRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Michael McDowell continued his superspeedway qualifying dominance on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, capturing his fifth pole of the season with a lap of 30.926 seconds, 179.267 to lead the field to green in Sunday’s Quaker State 400. “I don’t think you ever go into it like, ‘Oh, we’ve got this.’ I knew that we would have a shot at it, but I knew when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths, you knowRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This one has been a long time coming. Harrison Burton, driving the famous No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers, took matters into his own hands in overtime Saturday night at Daytona, powering his way into the lead on the final lap and holding off the charge of Kyle Busch to claim his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory and punch his ticket into the Playoffs. The win also marks the 100th career win for the legendary Wood Brothers team, which hasRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael McDowell has qualifying on superspeedways figured out this year. For the fourth time in 2024, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford will start at the front of the grid for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 after a lap of 49.136 seconds, 183.165 mph, setting a new Next Gen track record at Daytona. McDowell is one of several drivers not yet locked into the Playoffs and counts Daytona as an opportunity race for both he and hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – The Beast is most definitely Unleashed. For the second day in a row, Tyler Reddick and his No. 45 Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry has found its way to the top of the timing sheet, this time Reddick’s lap of 49.469 seconds, 181.932 mph was enough to earn him the pole for the Brickyard 400. “I was one of the last cars to go in Group B, so I watched a lot of drivers in Round one have issues in Turn 4 and a couple ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – Bowman is back. It has been a long road for Alex Bowman since he last visited Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he’ll have to wait no more after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Chicago Street Race to break a winless streak dating back some 80 races. Since that win in March 2022 at Las Vegas, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet has been through a lot, including a concussion that sidelined him for a number of races that same year, as wellRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – All of the preliminaries are complete, it’s time to go racing. Kyle Larson completed a clean sweep of both practice and qualifying on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s running of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. Prior to the green flag dropping on Sunday afternoon for the NASCAR Cup Series to take over the streets of the Windy City, here are some of the storylines of the weekend. Study Time A year after Shane van Gisbergen shocked the NASCAR world by winning the inaugural ChicagoRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO – Kyle Larson made everyone stand up and take notice on Saturday in Chicago, scoring the pole for Sunday’s second-annual running of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. After posting the fast time in practice, Larson rolled that speed right into qualifying, leading his group to advance to the final round, where he was fast once again, rocketing around the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course in one minute, 27.836 seconds to claim his fifth pole of the season. Larson, who currently leads the Cup Series points standings, willRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CHICAGO — Back to Chicago. After the NASCAR Cup Series stepped off into the unknown last year with the first ever street course race in series history, the drivers and teams are back for Round No. 2 with their eyes open wide to all of the pitfalls of racing on city streets. The 2.2-mile, 12-turn course that comprises the layout for the race will once again wind its way around Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan as the series hopes to continue capture theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – The hometown hero Kyle Larson executed as he needed to, making a pass for the lead with eight laps remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 to claim his second win at the Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway road course and third trophy of the season. It was a frantic start to the day on the newly-repaved 1.99-mile course through the rolling Northern Californian hills with seven caution flags falling before the 110-lap race’s halfway point – more yellow flags thanRead More