NASCAR Winston Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ahead of the 60th running of the Daytona 500, two members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame – Richard Petty and Ray Evernham – looked back at their memories of the Great American Race and expressed just how much this track and race means to them and the sport as a whole. Richard Petty, one of the members of the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2010, is on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR, both in terms of championships and DaytonaRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As we head into the 60th running of the Daytona 500 this coming Sunday, we pause to take a look back on this “Throwback Thursday” at one of the most memorable Daytona 500’s in history, the 1998 Daytona 500. For 20 years, Dale Earnhardt had come to Daytona International Speedway to capture glory in the “Great American Race” only to suffer defeat in every way possible. Earnhardt had won nearly every other event held at the famous 2.5 mile superspeedway, but the Daytona 500 stillRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series drivers get back to work this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, it’s time once again for “Throwback Thursday Theater”. In this week’s edition and in honor of his final trip to the Lone Star State, we look back at the first wins for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in both series, which both came at Texas in 1998 and 2000. Through the first six races of Earnhardt’s rookie season in the Xfinity Series in 1998, Earnhardt had reboundedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 2001 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season started off with profound loss, but also ushered in an era of unprecedented growth for the series as they made their way to new markets and new tracks later in the year. One of those new tracks/markets was Kansas Speedway, a 1.5-mile intermediate oval just outside of Kansas City that would make its debut in September 2001. Jason Leffler and points leader Jeff Gordon would start on the front row, but it wouldn’t take long for thingsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway is often overshadowed by the Coca-Cola 600 and the All-Star Race, but there have been a few occasions when the second race date at the track provides a memorable finish. The 1972 National 500 was one of those races. David Pearson would put his Wood Brothers Mercury on the pole, with Buddy Baker joining him on the front row. In what would be the final race that the Wood Brothers entered two cars, A.J. Foyt qualified third, followedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Dover International Speedway has always been a treacherous track since its inception in 1969, but the “Monster Mile” really earned its nickname when the asphalt surface was converted over to concrete in 1995, making Dover the first concrete track on the circuit and really giving “Miles the Monster” some teeth. Our Dover edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” will focus on that first race on the concrete surface – the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500. The new concrete surface brought worries about the tires being ableRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since returning to Watkins Glen in 1986, the 2.45 mile, 11 turn road course in upstate New York, has provided some of the most exciting racing on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule and the 1988 Budweiser at The Glen was no exception. As one of two road courses on the calendar at the time, Rusty Wallace entered the 90 lap race as the favorite as he had won the year before at Watkins Glen, as well as the two previous road course racesRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Last July at Pocono, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was postponed to Monday wound up getting shortened by fog, leading to Chris Buescher scoring his first career win in NASCAR’s premier division. Turns out that wasn’t the first time a race at Pocono has been shortened by fog and visibility issues. The first race shortened by fog came 31 years ago in the 1986 Summer 500 at Pocono, leading to not only a shortened race, but one of the closest finishes everRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since 1994, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has been racing on the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the past 23 years producing some memorable moments and some that were, well, not so memorable. For this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater,” we’ll jump back to the 2002 running of the Brickyard 400 that resulted in NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott finally adding an Indianapolis win to help end his career on a high note. Between 1982 and 1994, Elliott won 41Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend for the running of the Overton’s 301, but before we look forward to Sunday’s race, we’ll take a step back in the past to the 1996 Jiffy Lube 300, a race that marked Ernie Irvan’s emotional return to victory lane. After the loss of Davey Allison in 1993, Robert Yates Racing tapped Irvan to take over the No. 28 Ford, with the team scoring five wins between the end of 1993Read More