NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tag

Josh Farmer, IndyCar reporter & NASCAR Contributor Austin Dillon may have been the second luckiest driver in Las Vegas on Sunday as he claimed his first top five of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Dillon put himself in a good position for the race on Friday as he qualified in sixth place and once the green flag flew, he proved that his Friday performance was no fluke. Dillon ran inside the top five for the entire opening stint before NASCAR threw a competition caution on lap 30. He continued runRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A contender for a possible win, misfortune struck Matt Kenseth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Following a restart on lap 224 of Sunday’s Kobalt 400, heavy winds and aggressive racing took shape as the field jockeyed for position. Kenseth was running on the inside of Martin Truex Jr.’s when the backend of his No. 20 began to spin around in Turn 1. As a result, rookie Chase Elliott collided with Kenseth. Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch made contact as well, but the damage was too severeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Ahead of Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the debut of the low downforce package at the track, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers took to the track for two test sessions on Thursday. The first test session went incident free, with Jimmie Johnson laying down the fastest lap at 192.981 mph (27.982 seconds), followed by Daytona 500 winner, Denny Hamlin, just .020 seconds behind in second. Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, and Danica Patrick rounded out the top-five in the first sessionRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Atlanta Motor Speedway saw the dawning of a new competition package in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and after all was said and done it was Jimmie Johnson taking a late lead en route to winning and tying Dale Earnhardt with his 76th career victory. Without any more delay, here are some of my key takeaways from Sunday’s race. 1) Phenomenal Racing If you didn’t like what kind of racing was on display then there’s something wrong. The package complemented by lower downforce and greater tireRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After a disappointing start to the season at Daytona last Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports rolled into Atlanta for the first intermediate track race of the season and showed just how strong they could be with three of their four cars bringing home top-10 finishes. Jimmie Johnson led the way for the organization, taking the lead on the final round of green flag pit stops and holding off all comers to score his fifth win at Atlanta, as well as his 76th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – One of the most outspoken advocates for removing downforce from the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, Carl Edwards expects the sanctioning body’s move in that direction with the 2016 rules package to have a profound effect in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX). The combination of low downforce and a bumpy, abrasive racing surface should be a recipe for exciting, strategic racing in the first open-motor event featuring the 2016 rules. “I thinkRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Kurt Busch fell just short of beating brother Kyle Busch on the track during Friday’s time trials at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch covered the 1.54-mile distance in 28.925 seconds 191.668 mph) in the money round of knockout qualifying for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET on FOX), beating his older brother by .013 seconds. But the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-qualifying inspection, and his time was disallowed. ThatRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Stewart-Haas Racing’s blockbuster announcement of its impending move from Chevrolet to Ford in 2017 affects another NASCAR powerhouse — Hendrick Motorsports. Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is confident team owner Rick Hendrick will make the adjustment in the 10 months between Tuesday’s announcement and SHR’s departure from the engine and chassis deal that has been in place since Tony Stewart partnered with Gene Haas in 2009. “It was certainly a shock,” Johnson said on Friday at Atlanta MotorRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Ty Dillon’s work load tripled this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With Dillon tabbed as the substitute driver for injured Tony Stewart for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event (1 p.m. ET on FOX), Dillon will be battling for 500 miles in addition to the 250 he’ll run in Saturday’s Heads Up Georgia 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1). But to Dillon, the opportunity to race in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas RacingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After last Sunday’s barn burner of a finish in the Daytona 500, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series packs up and heads to Georgia for this weekend’s running of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. As we head to Atlanta, we’ll take a statistical look at the track and which drivers should perform the best based on their past finishes in this edition of “Crunching the Numbers.” Track Facts Track Size: 1.54-mile quad-oval Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 24 degrees Banking/Turn 3 & 4:Read More