NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Saturday night in America’s Heartland, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies had their hands full with the treacherous 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway, but when the night ended, all four found themselves within the top-25, one of the best races overall for the rookies this season. Leading the way for the 2016 rookie class was Ryan Blaney, who started the night in seventh place and only found himself outside the top-10 once during a round of green flag pit stops during the middle of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, Kansas Speedway has had its share of races that have both been exciting and those that have been, well, not so exciting. The 1.5 mile track, which boasted 15 degree banking in its turns when added to the Sprint Cup Series schedule in 2001, underwent a facelift in 2012 to increase the banking to progressive banking ranging from 18 to 20 degrees. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a look back atRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Thursday, NASCAR unveiled the schedules for the 2017 season for all three national series months earlier than normal thanks to the five-year sanctioning agreements that NASCAR and the tracks entered into starting in 2016. For the most part, the schedules do not vary much from the current 2016 slate to the schedule for the 2017 season, but there are a few notable changes on the docket for next season. Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway will swap their fall race dates next season, making KansasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Talladega always is a mayhem filled race, with rookies and veterans alike not immune to the carnage that could await any of them at any point in the race. On Sunday afternoon in the GEICO 500, two of the four rookies entered in the race would come away with top-10 finishes, while the others wouldn’t be as fortunate. Chase Elliott started on pole and showed that he would be a force to be reckoned with for much of the race, putting his No. 24 ChevroletRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Taking control in the final three laps of Sunday’s wreck-filled GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski claimed his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at the 2.66-mile race track and solidified his spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Choosing the top lane for a restart on Lap 186 of 188, Keselowski powered his No. 2 Team Penske Ford past Kurt Busch with two laps left and crossed the finish line as a gaggle of cars wrecked behindRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Carl Edwards has long advocated for NASCAR implementing a lower downforce aerodynamics package for it race cars. Lowering the downforce on a car makes it harder to control, which causes more passing and emphasizes driver skill over engineering expertise. His wish was granted this year. Unsurprisingly, Edwards has excelled under NASCAR’s new lower downforce aerodynamics package. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver tops the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings on the strength of two wins, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes. He’s finished lowerRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Talladega Superspeedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500, we’ll take a step back in time to the 1981 Talladega 500 for this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” to showcase one of the most infamous finishes in Talladega history. For the first 13 years of the Talladega 500, no driver had ever repeated, paving the way for longshots and underdogs to make their way to victory lane. In the 1981 running of the race, that very thing wouldRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After a spectacular afternoon at Richmond International Raceway, it was a Carl Edwards shove to move teammate Kyle Busch out of the way en route to claim his second consecutive victory of the season. Without any further delay, here are my takeaways from Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at the short track oval. 1) Back to Sunday’s a win for NASCAR For the first time in nearly two decades NASCAR returned to a daytime spring race (last year’s race was run on Sunday due to aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – The honeymoon at Joe Gibbs Racing may be over. Yes, on Sunday at Richmond International Raceway, Carl Edwards won his second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in the Toyota Owners 400 and the fourth in a row for JGR, but he did so with a last-lap bump-and-run on teammate Kyle Busch, who was seeking his third victory in four events. “We did everything right – be smart,” Busch was told on his radio, after Edwards moved the No. 18 ToyotaRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer There must be something in the water in Virginia. Just like Martinsville three weeks ago, the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies all struggled at some point in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond. With the spring Richmond race reverting to a day race for the first time since 1997, the bright sunshine beating down on the 0.75 mile short track created handling difficulties for all of those in the field, rookies and veterans alike. Falling a lap down early with an ill-handling car, ChaseRead More