Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Though Kevin Harvick has made ISM Raceway in Phoenix his own personal playground over the last several years, the March 2016 running of the Good Sam 500 came down to a matter of inches for him to be able to continue his dominance in the desert. As the laps wound down, Harvick looked to have the win within his grasp for the eighth time on the one-mile oval, holding a decisive lead over second place Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with just six laps remaining. However, a blownRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since Furniture Row Racing announced they would be shutting down at the end of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the dynamic duo of Martin Truex, Jr. and Cole Pearn have been rumored to be moving in house to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2019. After months of speculation, the move is now official as the team announced that Truex and Pearn would be taking over the No. 19 Toyota next season. “Anytime you have an opportunity to bring two people of this caliber intoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Kevin Harvick’s bid for a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship took a detour on Wednesday after the sanctioning body handed down penalties stemming from last Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Harvick had locked himself into the Championship 4 at Homestead with his Texas win, which was his eighth victory of the season, but his No. 4 Ford was found to have an illegal spoiler in post-race inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center. Because of the infraction, which violates Section 20.4.12 of the NASCARRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “When Homestead comes around if I am not in, he will know it,” said a disgruntled Aric Almirola who laid down the law towards Joey Logano. For the second race in a row, Logano is the center of criticism from a Round of 8 competitor after Almirola voiced his displeasure of how hard he raced him in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth. Struggling matching race winner’s and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick’s dominant pace, Almirola was in excellent position withRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASCAR’s headlines all week has been on the dramatic finish from last Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville, involving Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr., where Logano’s bump on Truex in Turn 3 to get the win, angering him as another bid of a short track victory vanished in front of him. During Friday’s press conference at Texas Motor Speedway however, Truex did reflect on his hasty post-race comments on Logano through texting, but his eyes have already shifted from anger to game mode as hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a barnburner of a finish at Martinsville last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AAA Texas 500 and the second race of the playoff semi-finals. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5-mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the original track surface wore down over the years. Prior to the 2017 season, Texas went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For the first eight years of its existence, Texas Motor Speedway had just one race weekend a year, but starting in 2005, the track was granted a second date in the playoffs and the racing at the 1.5-mile track certainly didn’t disappoint the first time out. Heading into the race, Tony Stewart led the points standings by 43 points over Jimmie Johnson, with Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Ryan Newman rounding out the top-five championship contenders. Newman may have won the pole, but he had toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor “He may have won the battle, but he ain’t winning the damn war,” Martin Truex, Jr. said after the conclusion of Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville. Minutes earlier, Truex, who had driven from the back of the pack to the lead on the last lap, found himself at the receiving end of Joey Logano’s bumper in Turn 3, dropping him from a chance at a win and a berth in the Championship 4 at Homestead to a third-place finish. While Logano was celebrating his winRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In the midst of an instant classic battle between Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr., Denny Hamlin snookered his way to finish second in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. After taking out fan favorite Chase Elliott out of the race lead last year, Hamlin was introduced in front of his home state fans with loud jeers. 500 laps later, the jeers lessened after Logano’s bump on Truex that could’ve been disastrous for their championship aspirations. As both were sliding, Hamlin charged his way byRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Joey Logano provided his own interpretation of the Golden Rule in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, as in “Do unto others as others didn’t do to you.” With a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4 Round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at stake, Logano moved the Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. out of the way in Turns 3 and 4 of the final lap to win for the first time at the .526-mile short track and claim hisRead More