NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early-race brush with the wall and took the lead on the final restart with 25 laps remaining to earn his first victory of 2021 and first in 31 career starts at Phoenix Raceway. Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ultimately held off Joey Logano’s No. 22 Penske Racing Ford by a convincing 1.698-seconds for the win in the Instacart 500. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex took the race lead from the outside on a bold restartRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor This time last year, Phoenix served as the last race before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the sports landscape, sending all of us, NASCAR included into our new normal. A year later, with the effects of the pandemic still being felt, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Arizona desert to take on Phoenix Raceway and Sunday’s Instacart 500, in what could be a preview of the championship race when the 2021 season wraps up at the one-mile oval in November. Through the first fourRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Last Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a race to forget for Stewart-Haas Racing. This includes Kevin Harvick, who was the highest-finishing SHR entry with an appalling 20th. Harvick’s teammates Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer and Aric Almirola also struggled, finishing 21st, 25th and 38th respectively. When it’s a race where no SHR car led a lap nor end up on the lead lap, questions pile up. More so for Harvick, who led the field to the green flag. Even with the concerns, heplansRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Compared to most races since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Kyle Busch had a progressive afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing third in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400. Busch’s road towards his first top-five of 2021 was a grind as he battled a super tight No. 18 Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry. Things began finally clicking was the final stage where he was on the move making progress while others struggled gaining ground. It certainly paid dividends with his result, but there’s still significant room for improvement. “WeRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson left little to chance Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway leading a race best 103 laps and pulling away to a convincing 3.156-second win over former NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski to win the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube – his first victory in two years. Larson, 28, of Elk Grove, Calif. became the quickest winner in Hendrick Motorsports long and esteemed history, taking the checkered flag in only his fourth start in the team’s famous No. 5 Chevrolet. ItRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Homestead-Miami Speedway once again proved to be Kyle Larson’s natural habitat in NASCAR. Only this time, he was navigating the 1.5-mile circuit for Hendrick Motorsports. In his third start with the team, Larson finished fourth in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 for his fourth career Homestead top-five. While it wasn’t a race win yet again, Larson rebounded from a disappointing 30th place finish at the Daytona Road Course last Sunday. In the closing laps, Larson was running in the top-three but the shot of catching teammate WilliamRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In a No. 24 Chevrolet that steadily improved its performance as the sun went down, William Byron streaked to a decisive victory in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. With Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. battling for second place behind him, Byron cruised to a 2.777-second victory over Reddick, who charged through the field late in the final 60-lap green-flag run to the finish. Truex ran third, with Larson coming home fourth. The victory was Byron’s first of the season,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After two weeks in Daytona Beach, the NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads south on I-95 for Sunday’s running of the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 1.5-mile oval came into existence in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in the early 90’s, with the Cup Series making its first appearance at the track in 1999. Since undergoing a reconfiguration in 2003, Homestead has provided some great racing on its progressive banking on one of the true ovals on the circuit and that has onlyRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Brad Keselowski had quite an extraordinary day in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 235. Even saying that about the fifth-place finisher could be viewed as an understatement. “It was just one of those never-give-up kind of races. We just fought and fought and fought and just made some mistakes, caught some bad breaks, kind of all threw together,” said Keselowski. “But, in the end, just a lot of perseverance, a lot of heart, a lot of will from the entire team and put us in a good spotRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The last two weeks, Joey Logano has found himself in contention for the win at Daytona International Speedway with a few laps to go, but will leave with a goose-egg in the win column. Logano was leading the pack into Turn 3 on the final lap of the Daytona 500 before a run-in with his Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski, saw him getting swept up in a fiery, multi-car crash. Fast forward to Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 on the Daytona road course and once again,Read More