NASCAR Cup Series Tag

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
By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Alex Bowman won in a dramatic overtime ending in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday – gambling on a two-tire final pit stop for his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and holding off the field in a two-lap sprint to decide the NASCAR Cup Series race. Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson made up the front row on the restart – the pair along with teammate William Byron took two tires on the final pit stop whileRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a thrilling race in Southern California last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will make the trip up Interstate 15 to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week, with Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 marking the second leg of the West Coast swing. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5-mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that saw progressive banking put in place with the new banking rangingRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Erik Jones came out to play in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, finishing a hard fought third after leading six times for 18 of 200 laps. Thanks to two runner-up outings in the opening two stages, it was also a massive points day for Jones, who racked up 52 points. He equaled race winner Kyle Larson with the most points scored after the grueling 200-lap contest concluded. As several of the top contenders afternoon went south in Stage 3, notably Tyler Reddick whoRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor With the laps winding down in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, Daniel Suarez found himself in the catbird seat, with his No. 99 Chevrolet at the front of the field. Unfortunately, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson had other plans, powering past Suarez with two laps to go, causing him to fade to fourth place by the time the checkered flag flew and leaving the Trackhouse Racing team wondering what could have been. Starting the day in 15th, Suarez found himself allRead More
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson waited until late in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 to flex his muscles. But in the end, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet held off a charging Austin Dillon by .195 seconds at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., to notch his first victory of the season, his second at the 2-mile track and the 17th of his career. In a race that featured 12 cautions for 59 laps, Larson, who started from the rearRead More

Posted On February 26, 2022By Motorsports TribuneIn Breaking News, Cup, Headline News

Saturday Auto Club Speedway Notebook

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric stays on top with Fontana pole In a qualifying session that should have merited hazard pay for the 10 final-round drivers, Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric backed up his victory in the Great American Race with a pole-winning run on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Cindric will start where he finished the 500 in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 NASCAR Cup Series event at the 2-mile track (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).Read More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the first time in two years, NASCAR is back at Auto Club Speedway. After missing out on racing in 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunday’s Wise Power 400 marks the Cup Series return to the two-mile D-shaped oval and the kick-off to NASCAR’s West Coast swing. Built on the site of an old steel mill featured in the movie “Terminator”, the two-mile oval has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since opening in 1997. During its 20+ years on theRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The future is indeed now in the NASCAR Cup Series. Not because it’s the first-ever regular season race with the current car (known as NextGen), but it also saw another first-time winner in the Daytona 500. In just his eighth career Cup start, Austin Cindric brought Team Penske its third win in “The Great American Race.” While the No. 2 team celebrated, other drivers were either heartbroken or collected in wrecks that’ll prove costly to team’s due to the supply shortage of the current car. DespiteRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Austin Cindric once asked Mario Andretti if he had any advice for the Team Penske rookie and the legendary driver had just six words for him. “Whatever you do, stand on it.” If Cindric’s performance in the 2022 running of the Daytona 500 is any indication, the newest driver to climb behind the wheel of the No. 2 Ford took those words to heart, streaking across the finish line first Sunday night to claim not only his first NASCAR Cup Series win,Read More