NASCAR Cup Series Tag

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

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Wednesday, June 10, 2020 will go down as a day both NASCAR and Bubba Wallace will remember. On a night the Cup Series ran its first full night race at Martinsville Speedway, the sport shifted into the right direction by banning confederate flags in their events and Wallace was sporting the Black Lives Matter “Compassion, Love and Understanding” livery on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Wallace’s ride garnered tremendous praise from fellow black athletes like NBA star LeBron James and NFLRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Mid-week racing is back on the docket tonight as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville for a short track showdown under the lights in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. This go around will be an even bigger test than normal. No practice, no qualifying, just line up and turn ‘em loose. Since being announced last year,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A sense of normalcy will begin to unfold at both Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway as NASCAR announced Tuesday they’ve approved those tracks to bring guests at the races under strict guidelines. Beginning with the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead June 14, invites will be given up to 1,000 South Florida service members as honorary guests who can see the race from the grandstands. Notably, representing the Homestead Air Reserve Base and U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida. “The ability to host these esteemed guests forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kurt Busch extended his top-10 streak to four straight following a valiant sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The road towards a top-10 finish began well before the 325-lap race began when Kurt’s No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE had to give up the 12th starting position due to his car failing pre-race inspection three times. Not only Kurt had to start at the rear of the field, but he had to serve a pass-thru penalty onceRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick has had an exceptional relationship with Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion showed that again Sunday afternoon winning the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, his third victory at the historic track. Harvick led a race high 151 of 325 laps en route to his 51st career win, prevailing in a valiant contest with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who finished second and third. Truex led 62 laps, won the opening two stages of theRead More