NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A day removed from the sad and alarming news of Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra testing positive for COVID-19, the race must go on without the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion for the first time since Loudon in November 2001. Filling in the prestigious role for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports, looking to make the absolute most out of driving the No. 48 Ally Financial Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after getting the call fromRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will miss out on competing in Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after testing positive for COVID-19. After learning Friday morning that his wife Chandra had tested positive following allergy-like symptoms, Johnson, who has been asymptomatic, was tested as well, with the test returning a positive result. Per NASCAR’s guidelines, Johnson will not return to competition until being cleared by a doctor and will have to remain symptom-free and have two consecutive negative test resultsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor There have been many memorable moments in the history of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a native Hoosier capturing the checkered flag on his native soil, makes the 2005 running of the race one of the most special in the event’s history. In his first six starts at Indianapolis, Tony Stewart had come close to winning at the Brickyard, with two top-five finishes and a top-10 finish, but a win still eluded him. Stewart was on a roll when the 2005 edition ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Two weeks ago, NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway announced the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race would be moving from Charlotte to Bristol for the first time in the history of the event. Now we know the format for the July 15 extravaganza under the lights. The 140-lap race will be divided into four stages, with lengths of 55 laps, 35 laps, 35 laps, and 15 laps. All of the laps will count in the first three stages, while the final stage will only count green flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers played the strategy game to perfection en route to the win Saturday at Pocono Raceway and came into Sunday looking to make it a clean sweep, but came up one spot short of making that a reality With 325 miles of experience from Saturday under his belt, Harvick started the day in 20th place due to the invert and the strategy game was once again afoot between him and Denny Hamlin, who finished runner-up in Saturday’s race. Harvick ledRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A 24-hour turnaround does come a long way in the NASCAR Cup Series. That was the case for Erik Jones who went from having a disastrous 38th place result Saturday to finishing a quiet yet strong third-place in Sunday’s Pocono 350 at Pocono Raceway. The man entering 17th in the regular season standings was six markers behind Tyler Reddick for the 16th and final playoff spot. However, Jones had his worked cut out for him due to running a backup car after crashing on Lap 71Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin turned the tables on Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Staying out on old tires and building a lead while Harvick battled traffic late in the Pocono 350, Hamlin won the second race of the historic NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader by 3.068 seconds over Harvick, reversing the finishing order of the two drivers from a day earlier. For the first time in its history, NASCAR ran two Cup events on the same weekend at the same track. Hamlin achieved several milestonesRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Denny Hamlin’s bid of a fourth win of 2020 wasn’t meant to be as he came up short of capturing a sixth Pocono Raceway victory during Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325, leading 10 of 130 laps. Hamlin made his front-running presence at the very end of the race after opting for a two-tire stop (right sides) over four which impacted then race leader Aric Almirola’s (who finished third) shot of winning his first non-superspeedway win. The strategy worked as Hamlin was slowly catching Kevin Harvick, who alsoRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Separated by just a single point for the 16th and final playoff spot, both Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones had rough outings following the two tangling in Turn 3 on the 71st lap of Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 at Pocono Raceway. The accident will certainly shake up the standings as they got together following Jones checking up as both Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski made things difficult as they were battling for the 13th spot. Reddick didn’t lift and ran into Jones’ left rear, sending themRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Benefiting from a two-tire pit stop with 36 laps left, Kevin Harvick held off charging Denny Hamlin over the final green-flag run to win for the first time at Pocono Raceway. Harvick crossed the finish line in Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 .761 seconds ahead of Hamlin to post his third victory of the season – tying Hamlin for the NASCAR Cup Series lead – and the 52nd of his career, 12th most all-time. “We weren’t where we needed to be to start the raceRead More