NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Talladega this weekend for the GEICO 500, it will be a bit of a throwback to the days when the 2.66-mile superspeedway was a mainstay on the summer schedule. Originally scheduled for late April, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the race to June and the heat of the Alabama summer. Since opening its doors in 1969, Talladega has been a wild card on the schedule with the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing on full display over the past half-century,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Multi-time Indianapolis 500 starter James Davison’s much talked about NASCAR Cup Series debut will have to wait another time. The Australian confirmed Thursday that he’ll no longer pilot the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports for this Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Instead, the ride will now be piloted by B.J. McLeod, who forgoes his own No. 78 Chevrolet to make the switch possible. Due to this, Garrett Smithley will run McLeod’s own car after getting the okay from Rick Ware Racing. Wow! This wasRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame class was officially announced on Tuesday, with a trio of drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Stefanik, and Red Farmer, getting the call to have their names enshrined among the greats of the sport. Since the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s first class in 2010, each subsequent class has comprised of five inductees, but starting with this year’s class, only three will now make the cut and will be joined by the Landmark Award winner. The ballot is broken down intoRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It’s Bristol baby, All-Star edition! The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race will have a whole new vibe as President and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. Marcus Smith announced on NASCAR Race Hub Monday that Bristol Motor Speedway will now host the million-dollar event, replacing Charlotte Motor Speedway. Bristol becomes only the third-ever track to host the All-Star Race and the first since Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986. The race date remains in tact, taking place on Wednesday, July 15 with FS1’s live coverage beginning at 7 p.m.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “Hallelujah! A clean day!” That was the immediate thought by Aric Almirola’s No. 10 pit crew as a clean yet frantic ending to their Dixie Vodka 400 resulted in a fifth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Finally, woo! Thank you boys! Just a nice clean day. I appreciate that,” Almirola replied over the radio. The sigh of relief was a direct result of Almirola saving his tires, but trying to dodge lapped traffic and avoid letting the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Kyle Busch and Erik JonesRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service The race statistics will show that Denny Hamlin led a dominating 138 of the 267-laps in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 but the truth is he had to earn every fraction of a second that he paced the field. It was a thrilling chase for the checkered flag, lap-after-lap among the front-running cars. Hamlin ultimately took the lead for good – passing Chase Elliott with 29 laps remaining after a series of green flag pit stops swapped the two cars’ positions in front of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For nearly two decades, Homestead-Miami Speedway has been intertwined with championship weekend, but for the first time since 2002, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to South Florida without a title on the line as it prepares for Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400. In addition to the different environment that the drivers will face on the variable banked 1.5-mile oval without the pomp and circumstance of championship weekend, they will also have to deal with a complete 180 when it comes to the weather and how the trackRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Justin Haley is simply focused on competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as there’s no sign of him running in the Cup Series anytime soon, including next month’s All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. When I asked about Haley’s plans of running the race due to last July’s upset victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, he confirmed during Thursday’s video conference the sport’s top level is not on his radar. “There’s no talk of any kind of Cup starts for me,”Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Ryan Blaney had an interesting Wednesday night at Martinsville Speedway to say the least. The pole sitter rallied from both falling a lap down and a pit road penalty to score a runner-up finish in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Although Blaney led the 39-car field to the green flag, he wouldn’t lead a lap up until Lap 272 as fellow Ford driver Aric Almirola took the lead right away. From there, Blaney regressed in the running order that he even fell a lap downRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. won his second consecutive Martinsville Speedway race Wednesday night, ultimately cruising to a 4.232-second victory over a super competitive Team Penske trio of cars in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Compared to his dominating victory at the half-mile track last Fall (he led 464 of 500 laps), Truex had to negotiate and muscle his way to the front this time. “We’ve been working a long-time on trying to figure this place out and just been chipping away at it,” saidRead More