NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tag

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Until the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Ryan Newman had yet to finish in the top five in 2016. Before Saturday night’s race, Newman’s best finish this season was seventh at Kansas Speedway, seven races ago. Newman was 14th fastest in the opening practice, but hung around the middle of the speed charts the rest of the weekend. Newman also started 14th on the newly repaved and reconfigured track after qualifying was rained out. Newman was able to keep his nose clean through theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway was rough on several drivers throughout the field, from champions on down, but for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies, the track really had it out for them on Saturday night, as four of the five rookies would run into major trouble. The rookies were holding their own in the early going, but on lap 89, the first set of rookies would suffer Kentucky’s wrath. Ryan Blaney’s car got loose in Turn 3 on lap 89, makingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway, there were a lot of unknowns with the newly repaved and reconfigured track surface, but it didn’t take long for the track to claim its first victims. Jimmie Johnson, who had never won at Kentucky in five previous starts, had troubles with the track from the time his No. 48 team unloaded, spinning out and crashing his primary car in practice and having to break out his backup car for the race. Though Johnson would be ableRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Ky. – Sometimes it pays extra dividends to be the points leader. That was certainly the case on Friday afternoon, when rains earlier in the day constricted the on-track schedule at Kentucky Speedway. Because practice time was more important to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams than time trials, the sanctioning body opted to cancel qualifying for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) in favor of an evening practice session at the recently repaved and reconfigured 1.5-mile track. This weekendRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With Brad Keselowski’s dominant win at Daytona in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 and his Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, coming home fourth, team owner Roger Penske had nothing but good things to say about the duo that has combined for four wins on the season. Keselowski proved he would be a threat for the win at Daytona early on, taking the lead for the first time on lap nine and staying in the lead for 115 of the 161 laps in the race. TheRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer This time one year ago, Austin Dillon finished in seventh in the Coke-Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway after getting airborne and slamming into the catch fencing as the field came to the checkered flag. Dillon’s car was torn in half, flopped back onto the racetrack, where it was then hit by a spinning Brad Keselowski. Multiple pit crews including Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s and Casey Mears’ immediately ran out to check on the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chervolet SS. Fast forwardRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega, there is always a chance that a driver might get caught up in a crash that ends their night prematurely and for the 2016 Sprint Cup Series rookie class, that is exactly what happened in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Throughout the first 89 laps of the race, three of the four rookies (Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Chris Buescher) had made their way through the field intoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After two uncharacteristically poor finishes in the first two restrictor plate races of the 2016 season that resulted in the loss of his beloved car nicknamed “Amelia”, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. heads into Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 hoping to make a return to Daytona’s famed victory lane. Heading into Daytona, Earnhardt has been close to victory lane throughout the season, but his first win in 2016 has eluded him thus far. Sitting 12th in points with 10 races remaining until the start of the Chase,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a barn burner of a finish last weekend at Sonoma, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads back to where it all began in Daytona for Saturday night’s running of the Coke Zero 400. With Tony Stewart returning to victory lane at Sonoma before rolling into Daytona, we’ll throw it back to the last time this happened with the running of the 2005 Pepsi 400 and Stewart finally scoring his first win at the famed superspeedway. Throughout his career, a victory at Daytona had eludedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor In the midst of celebrating his first win in three years, Tony Stewart took a moment at Sonoma Raceway to look ahead to the future once he steps out of the driver’s seat for the final time when the checkered flag flies at Homestead in November. Stewart’s departure at season’s end marks the second top tier driver to step away from the cockpit in as many years with Jeff Gordon vacating the No. 24 car at the end of 2015. With both Stewart and GordonRead More