By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Several Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series teams were issued penalties by NASCAR Wednesday, notably impacting Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team. Elliott’s team received an L1-level penalty for a rear suspension violation following Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, where he finished a season-high third. The team was found to have violated Section 20.14.2, which deals with rear suspension and trailing arm angles/pinion angle shims. Elliott’s car didn’t meet the requirements as the Rule Book states it must be in complete
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s the end of an era. Lowe’s Home Improvement, which has sponsored Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team at Hendrick Motorsports since the team came into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2001, announced on Wednesday that they would not be returning to adorn Johnson’s Chevrolet in 2019. “Working with Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie, Chad (Knaus) and the entire No. 48 team has been an incredible journey,” said Michael P. McDermott, Lowe’s chief customer officer. “Rick Hendrick and his organization have been exceptional partners,
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wraps up their venture to the West Coast this weekend as they roll into Southern California to do battle on the two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Built on the site of an old steel mill featured in the movie “Terminator”, the two mile oval has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since opening in 1997. The track has gone through ownership changes throughout its history, as well
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After going without a sponsor for the pole award over the first four weeks of the season, NASCAR announced on Wednesday that the sanctioning body has reached a multi-year agreement with Anheuser-Busch to return as the sponsor for the fastest qualifier award for the first time since 2007. The company’s Busch brand will serve as the pole award sponsor, beginning this weekend at Auto Club Speedway, as well as taking over the “Official Beer of NASCAR” moniker. “We are continuing to evolve our presence in
Read More By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Rookie phenom William Byron hasn’t had the results fans, critics and the team would’ve hoped for after three races, but that all changed after scoring a career-best 12th in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. More importantly than a top-15 effort, Byron led his first-ever laps in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. The collegiate driver put his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on top of the scoring pylon for 15 laps. Byron’s road to the lead started on Lap 190, when the
Read More By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After an early exit at Las Vegas last week, Kurt Busch had a competitive car in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, crossing the line in 10th for his second top-10 finish of the season after leading six of 312 laps. Busch consistently worked his way through the field in his No. 41 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion after starting 23rd, reaching up to 16th on Lap 23. His crew made no changes during early pit stops and ended stage one in eighth. Busch continued to
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor If there’s one constant four races into the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, it is that Chase Elliott has been the standard bearer for Hendrick Motorsports. On Sunday at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Elliott led the way for the organization once more, bringing home a third-place finish, the best of the season for both Elliott and HMS as a whole. “We had a good car,” said Elliott. “It was solid, you know? Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made a good call there at the
Read More By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. finally found the extra speed he needed at ISM Raceway. Saving his best lap for the final round of knockout qualifying on Friday at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert, Truex sped around the circuit in 26.288 seconds (136.945 mph) to win the pole position for Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 (3:30 ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Truex beat Kyle Larson (136.643 mph) by .058 seconds to earn his first
Read More By Luis Torres, Staff Writer ISM Raceway isn’t just Alex Bowman’s home track, but the site where his racing career positively changed after capturing his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole at Phoenix in November 2016. Bowman returned to the site of his career-defining weekend on Friday and looks to improve from his career-best sixth-place finish in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500. In his last Cup trip to the “Valley of the Sun,” Bowman was a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who sat out the final 18 races of the
Read More By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor New name, still the same old Phoenix. For now. After the kickoff to the West Coast swing last weekend in Las Vegas culminated in a second straight domination by Kevin Harvick, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Phoenix this weekend to take on the TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely different than it did 30 years ago, having undergone a reconfiguration back in 2011. The reconfiguration added progressive banking
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