NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a sense, Chase Elliott comes to Talladega Superspeedway with the greatest amount of freedom, simply because he has the largest challenge to overcome and the narrowest path to do so. After unfortunate results at Charlotte and Kansas, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year points leader is 12th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 25 points behind Joey Logano and Austin Dillon, who are tied for eighth. After the Hellman’s 500 on Sunday (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN),Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor In the late 1980’s, Bill Elliott and his Harry Melling owned Ford Thunderbird was a dominant force at the restrictor place tracks, with his brother Ernie Elliott serving as engine builder and supplying a powertrain that was unmatched throughout the NASCAR Winston Cup Series garage. Elliott had won the season opening Daytona 500 in 1985 and tacked on additional wins at Atlanta and Darlington in the weeks that followed, but when the series rolled into Talladega in May, Elliott and his team would leave everyoneRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the NASCAR Xfinity Series taking a couple of weeks off before getting back in action at Texas in November, Roush-Fenway Racing driver Ryan Reed will be taking the opportunity to test the waters in the Sprint Cup Series this weekend as he will be making his debut in NASCAR’s premier series by attempting to make the field for Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Reed will bring the No. 99 car back to the Sprint Cup Series for the first time since Carl EdwardsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Round of 12 all comes down to this. After races at Charlotte and Kansas to set the stage for Sunday’s elimination race, the 10 drivers not locked into the next round will battle the massive 2.66 mile superspeedway for the right to be able to advance to the Round of Eight when the checkered flag falls on Sunday. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that ledRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – He did it again. Last in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and faced with an uphill struggle to make the Round of 8, Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team did what they do best—win with their backs to the wall. Moments after a restart on Lap 238 of 267, Harvick cleared Carl Edwards for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 at Kansas Speedway and pulled away to win Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 byRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In the first race of the Round of 12 last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott led 103 laps before a wreck on Lap 258 ended his day and put the rookie driver three points behind the final transfer spot to the Round of 8 heading to Kansas Speedway. Elliott qualified 13th for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 and was one of just three Chase drivers that started outside the top-12. Elliott cracked the top-three at Lap 121 and passed KevinRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Near the mid-point of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, 11 of the 12 Chase drivers were running in the top-12. That changed for Brad Keselowski at Lap 190 of the 267-lap race when he slid his No. 2 Ford in front of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Keselowski got loose and a tap from Hamlin sent Keselowsi’s Ford spinning into the infield grass. The spin did a number on the Miller Lite Ford as the front-end looked as ifRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Kenseth turned a lap at 192.089 mph in the final round of knockout qualifying to earn the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. The pole was the first of the season for Kenseth and the 18th of his career. Kenseth has two victories at Kansas and will look to clinch his spot in the Round of 8 with a third victory at the 1.5-mile track. “Our cars are pretty fastRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a weekend at home in Charlotte for the Bank of America 500 that left some Chase contenders scrambling, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to America’s Heartland to take on the fast, treacherous 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for this Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the second race of the Round of 12 in the Chase. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for this weekend’s running of the Hollywood Casino 400, it’s time again for another edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” researching a race from the track’s past. With Kansas only being on the schedule since 2001, the track hasn’t built up the numerous memorable races like other tracks have, but in 2004, Joe Nemechek provided one of the more memorable moments in the track’s short history. Much like he did for a good portion of hisRead More