NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Dominant in defense of last year’s victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. held off Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to win Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway. With three-lap fresher tires after the final set of green-flag pit stops at the 2.52-mile road course—which for the first time since 1997 featured use of the carousel connecting Turns 4 and 7—Busch closed an 8.269-second gap to slightly more than a second over theRead More

By Chris Knight, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill. – A week after having their NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series win stripped due to a post-race technical inspection failure at Iowa Speedway, Ross Chastain and his Niece Motorsports rebutted the disqualification with a thrilling victory in Saturday night’s CarShield 200 presented by CK Power at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. While a contender for the win throughout the event’s third stage, it was a gutsy fuel only call by crew chief Phil Gould on Lap 133 that allowed Chastain toRead More

By Robert Gray, NASCAR Wire Service NEWTON, Iowa — Christopher Bell knows a lot about long, dominant runs. The seasoned open-wheel racer’s won the last three Chili Bowl Nationals in his native, Oklahoma — and Sunday led an astounding 186 laps of Sunday’s CircuitCity.com 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race while cruising to a commanding victory at Iowa Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing/Ruud Toyota pulled away from Cole Custer on the final restart with 10 laps to go and powered to his series-leading fourth victory ofRead More

By Robert Gray, NASCAR Wire Service NEWTON, Iowa — Brett Moffitt shed his race suit. He simmered silently in street clothes, sipped on a beer, and stewed over what seemed to be a missed opportunity at his home state track. Then strange, but welcomed news arrived — and that brew tasted somewhat sweet rather than extremely bitter. Ross Chastain’s No. 44 truck, which he apparently wheeled to a much-needed victory, had failed post-race inspection because of being too low in the front. Suddenly, a sense of second-place dejection transformed intoRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Triple Truck Challenge got off to a fast-paced, fully-dramatic start last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway with absolutely every reason to believe NASCAR’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series drivers will bring that same frenetic pace to Iowa Speedway for Round 2 of the three-race incentive program. There was certainly no shortage of motivation nor effort as the drivers raced for the first $50,000 bonus last weekend and with another $50,000 bonus available in Saturday’s M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s GeneralRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Given the statistics, you might think Joey Logano ran away with Monday’s rain-delayed Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Yes, Logano led 163 of 203 laps at the two-mile track in the Irish Hills. He had the fastest car in qualifying on Saturday and the fastest car in the 15th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event of the season. But after a late caution for Erik Jones’ spin into the infield grass below Turn 2, Logano needed overtime to seal the win. He neededRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – A persistent drizzle foiled track-drying efforts on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway and forced postponement of the Firekeepers Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event until Monday afternoon. The race has been rescheduled for 5 p.m. ET Monday and will be broadcast on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. With pole winner Joey Logano and second-place starter at the head of the field, the Cup drivers got the one-to-go signal at 3 p.m. Sunday, but as the cars circled theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – “Three” was the magic number in Saturday’s LTI Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway, and that was just fine with Tyler Reddick. The NASCAR Xfinity Series leader—one of the so-called “Big Three” in the series this year—saved enough fuel over the closing 44-lap green-flag run to win for the third time this season, matching fellow Big Three members Christopher Bell and Cole Custer for most so far this year. After Custer and Bell pitted for fuel from the top two positionsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – The Ford drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series apparently took the words of Edsel Ford II to heart. At a dinner with Ford drivers on Thursday night, the member of the Ford Motor Company board of directors emphasized the importance of putting a Mustang in Victory Lane after Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). On Saturday morning at the 2-mile track, Joey Logano took the first stepRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kevin Harvick freely admits a transformation, an aging-up of sorts. There was a time in his 19-season Monster Energy NASCAR Cup career when the 2014 champion would be visibly frustrated during a race and fully prepared to settle a score with another driver on pit road or in the garage later. But having children, earning a Cup title and the art of aging have mellowed the 43-year old champ, by his own admission. It has not dampened his motivation to win races and championshipsRead More