NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – It was superspeedway racing with all the trimmings. “New” Atlanta Motor Speedway produced a fifth different 2022 winner—William Byron, who managed to keep an angry pack of drafting cars behind him for the final 10 laps of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. In a race that produced 46 lead changes among 20 drivers—both track records—Byron crossed the finish line .109 seconds ahead of Christopher Bell and .145 seconds ahead of Ross Chastain. Bell, however, was penalized for passing below the boundaryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice answered a lot of questions about the nature of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With NASCAR’s superspeedway competition package in place for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at the 1.54-mile track  (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)., Cup drivers quickly gravitated toward drafting in large, organized packs. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. topped the speed chart with a lap at 186.616 mph, edging Kyle Busch (186.390 mph) and Christopher Bell (186.321 mph). “WhatRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the NASCAR Cup Series takes the green flag in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta, it will also be taking a step off into the unknown. Atlanta’s aging racing surface, which had been in place since 1997, held together as long as possible, but the 260 laps around the 1.5-mile track last July were the last on that particular surface as the track underwent a repave and reconfiguration for the 2022 season. Almost as soon as Kurt Busch crossed the line to takeRead More

By Jeff Olson, NASCAR / IMSA Wire Service SEBRING, Fla. – It’s been nearly 46 years since a NASCAR entry competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jim France remembers talking to driver Dick Brooks shortly afterward. “He said, ‘No. 1, the fans love the car,’” said France, NASCAR’s chairman and CEO. “‘No. 2, it was a fantastic experience. No. 3, it’s a hell of a challenge.’”  NASCAR is about to relive that Le Mans challenge. In conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet, IMSA and Goodyear, NASCAR intends to fieldRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pole sitter Ryan Blaney had an up and down afternoon during Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Despite leading a race-high 143 of 312 laps, Blaney wound up fourth. When things appear to go well for the Penske driver, a few setbacks plagued the veteran from being a contender for the win. During the first 25 laps, Blaney was in control but once the competition caution came out, his day became challenging. Although Blaney had a solid pit stop, he was caught speeding on pitRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service There was no shortage of motivation as three drivers all vying for their first-career victory in the marquee NASCAR Cup Series decided the dramatic outcome at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe had to hold off the field on not one, not two, but three late race restarts on the one-mile desert oval, including the final restart with three laps remaining to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the Ruoff Mortgage 500. The 27-year-old Briscoe is the 200thRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney earned his third career Phoenix Raceway pole position on Saturday afternoon and will line up alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to lead the field to green in Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 (3:30 p.m., FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It is the best race start of the season for both drivers, who are eager to rebound after uncharacteristic tough luck in the opening three races of 2022. Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford has only aRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has seen the Next Gen car put through its paces on a variety of tracks, now it heads to Phoenix Raceway and Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 for what could be its most important race yet. The one-mile oval in the Arizona desert played host to a two-day test in late January, but there is still a cloud of uncertainty about how the car will race come Sunday, making the very limited track time available like gold forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Aric Almirola is off to his best season start of his NASCAR Cup Series career following a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He’s the only driver to finish in the top-10 in all three races this year which puts him sixth in the championship standings. In the closing laps, Almirola was barely hanging onto 10th place until the race went into overtime after Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace crashed on the frontstretch. When the race boiled down to a two-lapRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kyle Busch started the weekend in Las Vegas rolling a pair of snake eyes, with a crash in the opening minutes of practice forcing him to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend. Despite the setback, Busch nearly came back to win at his home track, but a late race caution while Busch was leading would ultimately see him end the day in fourth-place. Following his practice crash, Joe Gibbs Racing went to work on readying the backup car and after thrashing all nightRead More