Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Taking charge of Sunday’s Pocono 400 by staying out under caution on Lap 140 of 160, reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. pulled away after a restart with seven laps left to win the race and inject himself emphatically into the title conversation. The outcome was all about control. Five-time winner Kevin Harvick had it for most of the event, leading a race-high 89 laps. Four-time winner Kyle Busch had it late, winning the race off pit roadRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor A week after Kyle Busch completed the cycle by winning at every track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Kevin Harvick looked to be in good shape to knock another track off of his winless list, but it was not to be for the five-time winner in 2018 as he finished fourth at Pocono after leading the most laps. “We just lost our track position of being in the lead and lost control of the race,” said Harvick. “That is what did us inRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer An early miscalculation left Joey Logano out of fuel at Pocono Raceway. This forced the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver to climb his way back through the field for the rest of the Pocono 400. On the final restart, Logano found himself outside the top-10 in his No. 22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford Fusion. As the field fanned out three, four, and five wide entering turn one, the Team Penske driver squeezed past his competitors. Logano followed seven-time Premier Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson throughRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Just as he had done in winning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race last June, Ryan Blaney kept Kevin Harvick behind him at Pocono Raceway when it mattered most. Blaney sped around the 2.5-mile triangular track in 50.877 seconds (176.897 mph) in Friday’s knockout qualifying session to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s Pocono 400 (2 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In winning his first Busch Pole Award at the Tricky Triangle,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Entering last June’s race at Pocono Raceway, Darrell Wallace, Jr. was in new territory, making his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start with Richard Petty Motorsports with his driving future still up in the air. A year later, Wallace returns to the “Tricky Triangle” as the full-time driver for RPM, his future secure behind the wheel of the No. 43 car as both driver and team have their sights set on improving their performance thus far in 2018. “I was thinking about it in theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After two weeks at home in Charlotte, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is back on the road this weekend as Pocono Raceway and the Pocono 400 are calling. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14 degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 and its nine degree banking modeledRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor While Pocono doesn’t always produce the greatest racing, with the field getting strung out more often than not, there are a few exceptions to the rule. The 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 was one of them. Though the race began much like every other race at the “Tricky Triangle”, as the laps wound down, the action cranked up. After the start of the race was delayed by rain, three drivers, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Clint Bowyer, asserted themselves as the cars to beat, leading allRead 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

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Unable to contain himself, Kyle Busch let out an elated scream as his car entered Turn 3 on the 400th and final lap of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And now, for the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, you’re going to need a bigger broom. From start to finish, Busch fashioned a dominating victory at the only active Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series track at which he had never won a points event. That makesRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the third time this season, Denny Hamlin crossed the line in third during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, dominated by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. After the race, Hamlin felt he could’ve battled with his teammate, but needed more speed during short runs. “I wish we would’ve won. I wish we had a little bit more speed. We were just a little bit off the 18 (Kyle Busch). It seemed like a half a tenth a lap or so,” HamlinRead More