NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series heads off to Richmond Raceway, but this time with Playoff implication on the line when the green flag flies for Sunday’s running of the Federated Auto Parts 400. After serving as a race in the first round of the Playoffs the last four years, Richmond Raceway was moved up nearly a month for the second race at the track in 2022, making it a crucial step in determining the 16-driver Playoff field. Often described as theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service On a blustery Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Kevin Harvick saved his season. Grabbing the lead and pulling away after a restart on Lap 166 of 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick won the FireKeepeers Casino 400 by 2.903 seconds over pole winner Bubba Wallace and leap-frogged bubble-riding Martin Truex Jr. in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings. Harvick’s victory ended a 65-race drought for the 46-year-old former series champion from Bakersfield, California. The win was his sixth at Michigan and his fifth in the lastRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After turning a blistering lap on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, Bubba Wallace had no idea he had won the pole for Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Moments after completing his final-round lap in 37.755 seconds (190.703 mph), Wallace continued through Turns 1 and 2 to dead silence on his team radio. “I felt really good about the lap, and I was on the wrong channel, and so it was quiet all the way toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The end of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season is in sight with just four races remaining before the Playoff field is set. After a visit to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, the series heads north to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the Firekeepers Casino 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning here for bragging rights. Especially this year with the track debutRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – When all of the dust settled at the end of Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, a trio of NASCAR Cup Series rookies drove like veterans to bring home a top-five finish. For all three of the rookies — Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, and Todd Gilliland — it came down to being in the right place at the right time on the final restart as the race on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was pushed into overtime. The feat by Cindric, Burton,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPEEDWAY, Ind. – The NASCAR Cup Series has a new road course conqueror. Tyler Reddick survived a wild overtime battle against Ross Chastain—who, as it turned out, was under penalty for finagling the first corner—to win Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.  Reddick’s NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course was his second this month, the second of his career and his second at a road course. There was one fundamental difference between Reddick’s win at the BrickyardRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – Tyler Reddick picked right up where he left off on the road courses, scoring the pole for Sunday’s Verizon 200 at The Brickyard. Reddick piloted his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with a lap of one minute, 28.354 seconds (99.378 mph) to jump to the top of the board in the final round of qualifying, holding off all comers to take his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole. “It actually didn’t,” Reddick said ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – Another week has passed in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season without Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing cementing a deal for him to stay put as the driver of the No. 18 Toyota next season. And the two sides don’t seem to be any closer to an agreement than they have been in recent weeks. Addressing the issue ahead of practice and qualifying Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch noted that he has looked at the landscape of the sport and is willingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – It’s that time of the year again, when NASCAR invades open wheel territory for a weekend at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For the second year in a row, the Cup Series will be joining their counterparts from the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NTT IndyCar Series in running on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile infield road course in what will be an action-filled tripleheader weekend, culminating in Sunday’s Verizon 200. In the first race on the road course last year, carnage ensued, leading to flared tempersRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second week in a row, Kurt Busch will be watching from the sidelines as he continues to recover from concussion like symptoms sustained in a qualifying crash last weekend at Pocono. Busch was reevaluated this week leading into Sunday’s Verizon 200 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, but was not cleared to race, paving the way for Ty Gibbs to once again climb behind the wheel of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. With his win at Kansas earlier this season, Busch hasRead More