Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a stirring duel for the win in the spring 2012 race at Kansas Speedway, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that was completed by the time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returned to the track in October. With the facelift, the track turned from a tame 1.5 miler to a treacherous beast that did its best to chew up and spit out as many race cars as possible in its opening weekend. Mark Martin and Aric Almirola would be the two cars to getRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a visit to the Monster Mile last weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series sets up shop at Kansas Speedway for Mother’s Day weekend and Saturday night’s running of the KC Masterpiece 400. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into a much more treacherous track with variable banking ranging from 17 to 20 degrees in the turns. Since then, the track hasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s penalty day again in the world of NASCAR and Wednesday was a doozy, with the sanctioning body handing down a wide range of penalties to teams across all three national series. The first teams to be hit by the NASCAR penalty hammer were those of Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon. Bowyer and Suarez, who finished second and third in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism, were found to have violated rules surrounding the rear window of their respective cars. Bowyer’s car didRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Ever since Clint Bowyer moved to Stewart-Haas Racing last year, he has been undergoing a career renaissance and Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway was just another example of that as he brought home a runner-up finish behind teammate Kevin Harvick. With one win already under his belt this year, Bowyer was looking for more when his No. 14 team rolled into the Monster Mile. Starting the day in 12th, Bowyer quickly climbed into the top-10, where he would remain for the majority of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s been an up and down few days for Kyle Larson and his Chip Ganassi Racing team at Dover, but when the checkered flag flew on Sunday, Larson brought home a top-10 despite all of the setbacks. On Friday, Larson rocketed to the pole with a lap of 22.770 seconds, 158.103 mph, and things were looking up for the No. 42 team heading into race day. However, multiple pre-race inspection failures would put the team behind the eight-ball to start the race. Due to theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The “Monster Mile” is unforgiving, no matter who much experience a driver has in NASCAR. For sophomore Daniel Suarez, it has treated him exceptionally well, scoring a sixth and eighth-place finish in his two previous trips. During Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, Suarez embodied a solid performance, equaling his career-best finish from Watkins Glen last season of third-place. It’s Suarez’s first career top-5 on an oval, and second overall in his young career. Not only he accomplishedRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – The only thing that could have stopped Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Dover International Speedway was a sudden rainstorm. And even that failed. Eight laps after Sunday’s AAA 400 restarted from a rain delay of more than 40 minutes, Harvick passed Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead and pulled away to win his fourth race of the season by a whopping 7.450 seconds. All told, Harvick led 201 of the 400 laps, swept all three stages and reestablished hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Kyle Busch has had a decent amount of success at Dover International Speedway during his career, but over the last few years, the spring race at the concrete mile has been the bane of Busch’s existence. On Sunday, that bad luck streak in the spring race continued. After qualifying in fourth, Busch was strong early on despite complaints of a vibration that started almost as soon as the green flag dropped. Even with the vibration, Busch finished the first stage in second place and theRead More

By: NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – In a sport where differences are often measured in thousandths, Kyle Larson was in firm control of Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at Dover International Speedway-after an adjustment between the first and second rounds at least. Larson charged around the high-banked one-mile concrete track in 22.770 seconds (158.103 mph) to earn the pole position for Sunday’s AAA 400. Saving his fastest lap for the third and final round, Larson was the only driver to top 158 mph during theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a wild Talladega weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hits the road back toward the mid-Atlantic as they set their sights on Dover International Speedway and Sunday’s running of the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. Dover began its life as an asphalt track back in 1969, but in 1995, the track was converted to concrete, making it one of only two on the circuit. As one of the two concrete tracks on the NASCAR schedule, the one-mile high banked oval that is DoverRead More