NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second year in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the banks of the Mississippi River to take on World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for Sunday’s running of the Enjoy Illinois 300. Located just across the river from St. Louis, the 1.25-mile oval resembles the layout of Darlington Raceway from overhead, with different radius corners on either end of the track. Turns 1-2 are also banked differently than Turns 3-4, providing a unique challenge for the drivers to tackle. The massive demandRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the NASCAR Cup Series takes the green next Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Chase Elliott will not be a part of the field after he was handed a one-race suspension on Tuesday. The penalty comes a day after he and Denny Hamlin had a run-in on lap 185 of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in which Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet bounced off the Turn 4 wall and then drove down the track into the right-rear quarter panel of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Finally.  Breaking a 59-race drought in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney gave team owner Roger Penske his first same-year sweep of IndyCar’s biggest race and NASCAR’s longest. With a dominant No. 12 Team Penske Ford that gained long-run speed as the race progressed, Blaney led a race-high 163 of 400 laps and held off polesitter William Byron for his first victory on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career. A day after JosefRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Auto racing’s long day’s journey into night begins on the European continent and ends with NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s a feast for the motorsports enthusiast, from the Grand Prix of Monaco to the Indianapolis 500 to the Coke 600, which provides a perfect nightcap to the Sunday before Memorial Day. The Charlotte race is a welcome home game for the race teams, in that it takes place in theRead More

There is more work to be done but NASCAR is back at its oldest venue after a 27 year hiatus.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Kyle Larson’s third victory in the Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race was a case of absolute dominance. It was also a case study in strategy at revitalized North Wilkesboro Speedway, with the eventual winning move made on Lap 18 of 200. That’s when Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels called his driver to the pits under caution for a fresh set of tires. Even though Larson incurred a speeding penalty exiting pit road and restarted from the rear, he charged through theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – On wet-weather tires, Daniel Suárez fashioned a convincing victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the first of two qualifying heats for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). With the win in damp conditions on Saturday night, Suárez earned the pole position for the 200-lap All-Star Race, which pays over $1 million to win. Chris Buescher won Heat 2 wire-to-wire in a race that started on slick tires before switching to the wet-weatherRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The pit crew of Ty Gibbs busted off a 13.012-second stop to win Friday night’s Pit Crew Challenge and the $100,000 winner-take-all prize that goes with it. With his team’s victory, Gibbs will start on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Open as he tries to qualify for the NASCAR All-Star Race that follows (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team earned the pole position for the first ofRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — It’s been a long time since the NASCAR Cup Series has raced on a surface this old. “Never,” says Corey Lajoie. Yeah, that’s probably true, but certainly true from a modern standpoint where the highest levels generally compete on the most pristine surfaces and still state-of-the-art facilities. With all due credit to Marcus Smith and Steve Swift, North Wilkesboro Speedway looks incredible all things considered, but this place is neither state-of-the-art nor pristine. That’s generally a good thing in advance of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The rebirth is nearly complete. North Wilkesboro Speedway, which had sat dormant for many years until a groundswell of support emerged to bring the track back from the dead, officially makes its return to the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend with the running of the NASCAR All-Star Race. First joining the circuit in 1947, the 0.625-mile oval served as a mainstay on the schedule for nearly 50 years before being shutdown following the 1996 season, as its race dates were shipped off to Texas Motor SpeedwayRead More