NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – As Chase Elliott was driving his way toward winning the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship last season, Hendrick Motorsports’ newest hire was keeping a keen eye on the proceedings back at the shop in North Carolina. That driver was Kyle Larson. Signed by Hendrick after losing his ride with Chip Ganassi Racing just four races into 2020 due to the use of a racial slur on iRacing, Larson’s path to redemption also became a path toward becoming a Cup Series champion. After watchingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Long runs were Denny Hamlin’s superpower on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix, but instead he just got kryptonite. Coming into the weekend as fired up as ever to finally win a NASCAR Cup Series championship of his own, Hamlin knew that if he was going to make that happen, he needed a long run for his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to come to life and propel him to the front of the field. Just as Hamlin started closing ground on the leaders and lookedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz — 35 races down, one to go. Sunday afternoon, the NASCAR Cup Series will hit the track at Phoenix Raceway for the 2021 season finale, bringing this season to a close and crowning a champion. After being held at Homestead-Miami Speedway from 2002 to 2019, the championship race moved to the Arizona desert starting last season, giving the four drivers competing for the title a whole new challenge in their pursuit of the Bill France Cup. Heading into this year’s championship race, it willRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor PHOENIX – After winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship last year at Phoenix, Chase Elliott is hoping he’ll be able to hit repeat this weekend on the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert. As one of two drivers in the Championship 4 that have previously won a championship, Elliott noted that having the experience of winning the title last season will help his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team improve their performance this time around as they once again look to end the day atop theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor PHOENIX – Embrace the chaos. Denny Hamlin has found himself wrapped up in a social media firestorm after his actions following last weekend’s race at Martinsville, but as he heads into the NASCAR Cup Series championship weekend in Phoenix, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is enjoying being the bad guy, turning the hate into motivation. “I live in chaos,” Hamlin said. “My life is chaos and I thrive under chaos. I mean, honestly, you can probably ask Kyle (Busch), the moreRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Denny Hamlin may be moving on to the Championship 4 to fight for a NASCAR Cup Series championship next week, but after Sunday’s race at Martinsville, it’s clear his focus is currently on Alex Bowman and the late race contact between the two. As the two drivers battled for the lead with less than 10 laps to go, Bowman got into Turn 3 too hot, moving up the track into Hamlin’s left-rear quarter panel, sending him for a spin into the outside wall. While Hamlin wasRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Denny Hamlin provided the perfect capstone to a day of banged-up stock cars, hurt feelings and crushed dreams. Alex Bowman took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway after sliding up into Hamlin’s race-leading Toyota on Lap 494 of 501 and knocking Hamlin’s car up the track and into the outside wall. As Bowman tried to start a burnout to celebrate his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and his first at the .526-mile short track,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven drivers enter Martinsville Speedway with a shot at moving on to next week’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race, but only three will leave Sunday’s Xfinity 500 with those title hopes still intact. The Round of 8 in the Cup Series Playoffs all comes down to the half-mile bullring in southern Virginia, where bent sheet metal and hurt feelings are all but inevitable. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic track, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven drivers entered Kansas Speedway looking to punch their ticket to the championship finale and after the checkered flag fell on the Hollywood Casino 400, those same seven drivers are still looking. Kyle Larson remains the only driver locked into the Championship 4 after sweeping the first two races of the Round of 8, paving the way for a showdown next weekend in Martinsville to fill the three remaining spots. Among the drivers still vying for the championship, defending Cup champion Chase Elliott and Denny HamlinRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson did the heavy-lifting on Sunday, leading nine different times for a race-high 130 laps, ultimately crossing the finish line a hefty 3.619-seconds ahead of the field to earn a NASCAR Cup Series-best ninth win of the season (15th of his career) in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. It is the third consecutive race win for the 29-year old Californian and the second time this season he’s won three in a row. The last time a driver won three straight racesRead More