NASCAR Winston Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway has always been a special race for those in NASCAR, with a win in the 500-mile slugfest on the track “Too Tough to Tame” residing on the bucket list for nearly every driver and team that has ever turned a lap around the 1.366-mile oval. Entering the 1985 edition of the Southern 500, the pressure of winning at the storied track was ratcheted up even more for Bill Elliott, as a $1 million payday awaited him at the end ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Four years after Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte had their infamous run-in at the end of the 1995 Goody’s 500 at Bristol, resulting in Labonte’s crumpled Chevrolet rolling into Victory Lane following a last lap bump from Earnhardt, the two were at it again in the closing stages of the 1999 running of the Bristol night race. What followed were more fireworks from the two NASCAR Hall of Famers. Through the majority of the first half of the race, it was the TonyRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Pocono Raceway has always been hit or miss when it comes to action, but back in June 2000, the late race battle between Jeremy Mayfield and Dale Earnhardt resulted in an instant classic. After all activity was washed out on Sunday due to rain, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series returned to the “Tricky Triangle” the following day ready to do battle on the three-turn 2.5-mile track. Rusty Wallace started on pole and had the dominant car of the day, leading 107 laps, but on a lateRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After the tragic passing of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin in separate incidents earlier in the year due to stuck throttles at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR made the decision to implement horsepower robbing restrictor plates that are normally used at Daytona and Talladega for the September 2000 race on the flat one-mile oval. Broadcaster Dick Berggren set the scene prior to the race, highlighting the unknown territory that teams and drivers were venturing into that day. “In the wake of two fatal accidents here, NASCARRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With an aggressive on-track persona, Jimmy Spencer was given the nickname of “Mr. Excitement” early in his racing career, but it wasn’t until the 1994 Pepsi 400 at Daytona that he really lived up to it. Entering the Independence Day classic, four drivers had been the class of the field all season long, with Ernie Irvan leading the way ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Mark Martin, but by the time the checkered flag flew, it was Spencer who stole the show. Earnhardt and LoyRead More

By: David Morgan, NASCAR Editor If there were a Mount Rushmore of NASCAR, Jeff Gordon would certainly be one of the drivers included. With 93 wins and four championships over his illustrious career, Gordon was sure to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. On Wednesday, that came true as Gordon was among the five legends to be chosen as a part of the 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame class. So, it is only natural that we’d take a step back to where it all began for the driver of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When the Cup Series made it to Charlotte for the 1987 all-star race, Dale Earnhardt had absolutely dominated the season up to that point, winning six of the nine races that had taken place thus far in the season. His rival, Bill Elliott, had won the season opening Daytona 500. With the two going at it week in and week out, it would all come to a head in The Winston. Earnhardt, the hard-charging North Carolina native versus Elliott, the mild-mannered Georgia boy. Elliott hadRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When it comes to dark moments in NASCAR history, the April 1993 weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway ranks right up near the top. With the tragedy of losing Alan Kulwicki far too soon reaching its 25th anniversary this year, we look back at the weekend that was at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile. Kulwicki was on top of the world after the 1992 season, having beaten the odds to hoist the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship trophy following a thrilling season finale. As both the ownerRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor This weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads into Phoenix for the second race of the West Coast swing. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we take a look back to the race that started it all in the Valley of the Sun, the 1988 Checker 500. As the series headed into Phoenix in November of 1988, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace were locked in a championship battle that had seen Wallace gaining on Elliott’s lead over the last quarter of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The start of the 2001 season started off with a dark cloud hanging over the sport following the death of Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500, but as the series rolled into Atlanta, little did they know that the healing would start just 500 miles later. Kevin Harvick, who had taken over the seat left vacant by Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing following his passing, was making his third start of his Cup Series career in the renumbered white No. 29 car and it did notRead More