Mike Wheeler Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the rain started to fall Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, the racing that came in the early laps of the EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix was entertaining, but quickly devolved into chaos. A number of cars had made off-track excursions during the first stage, but as the second stage began, things took a turn for the worst as the rain piled up and visibility was reduced to nearly zero. The high-speed backstretch at COTA leading into the breaking zone at Turn 12 became calamityRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 25 Years in Cup: Rookie Career Wins: Seven Truck Series wins, 16 Xfinity Series wins Accomplishments: 2017 Truck Series championship Welcome to the big show, Christopher Bell. After working his way through the Toyota driver development pipeline over the past five years, the Norman, Oklahoma native finally gets his shot in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, taking over theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Leavine Family Racing and Matt DiBenedetto continue to be the ‘little team that could.’ As the final stage of the Drydene 400 went caution-free at Dover International Speedway, DiBenedetto’s No. 95 Dumont Jets Toyota Camry restarted outside the top-10. While others made mistakes on pit road, the Mike Wheeler-led team had a mistake-free, disciplined run. DiBenedetto inched forward, passing both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid drivers and those not in the playoffs. As green flag pit stops took place in the final stage,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After over a month of speculation, Leavine Family Racing finally confirmed Tuesday that NASCAR Xfinity Series star Christopher Bell will move up to the the sport’s premiere series in 2020. The Norman, Oklahoma native will replace Matt DiBenedetto in the No. 95 Toyota Camry and he’ll have familiar names joining him. Calling the shots will be his Xfinity Series crew chief Jason Ratcliff as Mike Wheeler will become the team’s Competition Director. Bell’s long-time partner of Rheem, who will also move up with the versatile driverRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent After a quiet but strong run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Matt DiBenedetto walked away with a top-five finish. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver lined up inside the top-10 on the final restart for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. DiBenedetto’s No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry picked off car after car during the final 32 lap run. He battled fellow Toyota Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch, as well as Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman. DiBenedetto slipped by both TruexRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Through the carnage and smoke, Matt DiBenedetto emerged unscathed on his way to a Top-10 finish at Daytona International Speedway. With weather in the area, the intensity increased dramatically in the final stage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. DiBenedetto attempted to stay in line with his fellow Toyota Racing drivers. His No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry was shuffled out of line and he found himself in the middle of the hornets’ nest. On lap 118, contact between Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer at theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – With the first off weekend of the season in the rear-view mirror, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets back to business in grand fashion as they get set to take on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard Brickhouse scoring his one and only win in theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into next month’s 61st running of the Daytona 500. Age: 38 Years in Cup: 13 Career Wins: 31 Biggest Accomplishment: 2016 Daytona 500 Winner Despite having speed throughout the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin saw his worst results since 2013. For the first time in his full-time career, he went winless in the No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry. Twice, the Joe Gibbs RacingRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into next month’s 61st running of the Daytona 500. Age: 27 Years in Cup: Four Career Wins: Zero While Matt DiBenedetto joins a growing list of NASCAR drivers taking a chance of themselves, his journey will come full circle in 2019. DiBenedetto will move from Go Fas Racing, his home since 2017, to Leavine Family Racing. The move also marks a return to Toyota Racing, and anRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Pit road speeding penalties seem to have been a thorn in the side of Denny Hamlin’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career in recent years. Some of the speeding penalties have cost the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry victories and top-10 finishes, while some have also kept Hamlin out of trouble. It has been reported that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has accumulated 51 speeding penalties since his debut in 2005. The statistics show that Hamlin is penalized in 11.4 percent ofRead More