NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Since the Next Gen car made its debut in the NASCAR Cup Series earlier this year, drivers have been concerned with the severity of the impacts they have been feeling in the cockpit. This week, those concerns were amplified even further when it was announced that Alex Bowman would have to sit out of Sunday’s Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway while he recovers from concussion-like symptoms following a crash last weekend at Texas. Bowman’s absence marks the second driver in the last 10Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – It appears the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will be full of wild card races. Following a chaotic race at Texas last week, the gauntlet continues this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway with Sunday’s running of the Yellawood 500. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Alabama has been a wild card on the schedule with the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing on full display over the past half-century, leading to some of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The temperatures in Texas weren’t the only things that were heated after Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, so were Denny Hamlin and William Byron after their run-in during the marathon race. It all started as the two were battling off Turn 2 with 73 laps to go, when they touched coming off the corner, causing Byron to sideswipe the wall. Hamlin took the position as a result, while Byron was able to recover quickly to slot in behindRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas — They say everything is “bigger” in Texas and certainly NASCAR’s Round of 12 Playoff opener at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the billing. From Playoff consequences to a red flag delay to bumper-banging aggression, tire fall-off and record statistical marks, there was no shortage of competitive drama in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Ultimately Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick prevailed as race winner – taking the green flag by 1.190-seconds over Penske Racing’s Joey Logano in a final 24-lap green flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Out of the three races in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Texas Motor Speedway was supposed to be the least chaotic, but it was anything but for those still in the title fight. Drivers had hoped to bank a good finish in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 to kick off this stretch of races on a high note, but for some of them, they will have a hole to dig out of over the course of the nextRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – To reconfigure or not to reconfigure, that is the question. With the NASCAR Cup Series in town this weekend for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the attention has focused on the 1.5-mile track and what the future of the facility should be. While the drivers have a myriad of opinions on what they would like to see happen, the consensus is that it should be anything other than what it is now. Texas first joined the circuit inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Daniel Suarez comes into the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs already at a points deficit, but that hasn’t tempered the expectations he has for himself and his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team starting this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Winning his way into the Playoffs via his first career Cup win at Sonoma earlier this season, the 30-year-old Mexican-born driver comes into Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 sitting 11th in points out of the 12 remaining Playoff drivers, sixRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – It’s been quite the week for RFK Racing. A week after Chris Buescher broke a six-year long winless streak by scoring the win at Bristol a week ago, team co-owner Brad Keselowski kept the party going as the NASCAR Cup Series rolled into Texas Motor Speedway, putting his No. 6 Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Keselowski streaked around the 1.5-mile track with a lap of 28.573 seconds (188.990 mph) to take the top spot and then hadRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway to kick off the second round of the Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Bristol Motor Speedway hosted the first elimination race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, marking the end of the road for four drivers and their championship aspirations. Several drivers entered the night within striking distance of the top-12 in points, but when Saturday night’s wild outing in Thunder Valley ended, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, and Kevin Harvick were the unlucky drivers to be on the outside looking in. For all four, it would be a combination of mechanical issues, on-track incidents, and justRead More