NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell had a stellar third-place result in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Although the day was owned by the big three teams of Penske, Gibbs and Hendrick, McDowell held his own tremendously. As seen with his stage finishes of eighth and third, the Front Row Motorsports veteran had a fast machine. When the race came down to overtime, McDowell had a shot of getting another victory this year. Like at Daytona, he had to deal with a couple Ford driversRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega was déjà vu all over again for Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team. In a repeat of the race last Fall at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, DiBenedetto was leading on the final lap in overtime only to see another driver snatch victory from his grasp, leaving him wondering what else he could have done to turn the tide in his favor to finally break through and win a NASCAR Cup Series race. DiBenedetto was a constant fixture atRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Despite sustaining damage in an early wreck, and despite leading only one lap in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski nailed down an opportunistic overtime victory in the 10th event of the NASCAR Cup Series season. Surging to the front on the final lap, after fellow Ford driver Matt DiBenedetto abandoned the bottom lane and gave Keselowski a clear run to the front, Keselowski claimed his first victory of the season, the 35th of his career and his sixth at Talladega, tyingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the NASCAR Cup Series goes superspeedway racing at Talladega, it’s not a matter of if someone is going to get turned and sent for a ride, it’s just a matter of when. In the closing laps of the first stage of Sunday’s GEICO 500, the inevitable crash broke out, with Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford getting the worst of it with an airborne tumble in Turn 3. Running in third place behind leader Matt DiBenedetto and teammate Ryan Blaney, Logano was biding hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a three-race stretch of short tracks, the second quarter of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule begins with a visit to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s running of the GEICO 500. The first nine races of the season have embodied unpredictability, with eight different winners in the first quarter of the season. That trend is likely to continue this weekend as superspeedway racing, especially at Talladega, is all about unpredictability. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Eastern AlabamaRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor As the Beatles’ song goes, “I get by with a little help from my friends.” If there was one line from a song that illustrated the final laps of the 1991 Winston 500 at Talladega, it would be that one after a controversial push from teammate Rick Mast helped ensure teammate Harry Gant had enough fuel to make it to the finish and claim the victory. As the second half of the 188-lap race played itself out, fuel mileage would be the name of the gameRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service An emotional Alex Bowman could only shake his head and give kudos to the crew of his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet following a dramatic victory over Denny Hamlin Sunday in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Bowman took the lead for the first time all race on a restart with 10 laps remaining and easily pulled away from Hamlin, who had been the day’s most dominant driver. Bowman’s .381-second winning margin earned the 27-year old his first victory of the season, thirdRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The last month of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule has been all about the short tracks, with Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway wrapping up a three race stretch at tracks under 1 mile in length. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. After missing out onRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Last year’s Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year Harrison Burton will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday. He’ll be piloting the No. 96 DEX Imaging, Inc. Toyota Camry for Gaunt Brothers Racing. The 20-year-old broke the news to NASCAR Race Hub on FS1 Thursday, saying the deal had just came together. Already he has visited the race shop and interacted with the No. 96 team, who are running a partial schedule this season. The game plan is slowly being built onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor A bridesmaid no more. Kasey Kahne had come so close to capturing his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2004 and early in the 2005 season only to agonizingly fall short over and over again, but when the series rolled into Richmond Raceway in May 2005 for the Chevy American Revolution 400, everything changed. After a rookie season that saw him rack up 13 top-five finishes, 14 top 10 finishes, four poles, and five runner-up finishes – some by the slimmest of margins –Read More