NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – The first thing Denny Hamlin did after winning Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night race at Bristol Motor Speedway was apologize to the man he beat to the finish line in the 24th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. With 11 laps left in the grueling 500-lap event, Hamlin drove to the inside of Matt DiBenedetto and cleared him from the lead. Roughly three minutes later, Hamlin crossed the stripe .502 seconds ahead of the No. 95 LeavineRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Tyler Reddick’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet had the word “BEAST” in big block letters on its hood Friday night. The car was aptly named. Even though Reddick had to come from the rear of the field twice in his Tame the Beast Camaro—once the result of a stiff penalty and once after a spin—he still needed a bit of luck to win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. A bit of luck—and large measure of heartache forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson played a late game of King of the Mountain in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series time trials at Bristol Motor Speedway. After 38 drivers made qualifying runs, it was Hamlin who was left at the top of the peak. Larson was the 34th driver to take to the track, and his impressive lap at 129.004 mph (14.874 seconds) put him on the provisional pole for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (7:30 p.m. ETRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Top-seeded Brett Moffitt held off determined 17-year-old Chandler Smith after a restart with three laps left and took home the trophy in Thursday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. With the victory in the first event of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs, Moffitt, the defending series champion, gained an automatic berth in the Round of 6, as other Playoff contenders either overcame adversity or succumbed to it. “It was tough,” Moffitt said in Victory Lane. “Our (No. 24)Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs get underway Thursday night with the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – the first of seven races that will crown the 2019 series champ. Brett Moffitt will begin defense of his 2018 Gander Trucks title as the No. 1 seed for this year’s edition of the Playoffs. The driver of the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet SilveradoRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Recovering from a punctured right front tire that cost him track position early in the race, Kevin Harvick passed Joey Logano on Lap 183 of 200 and cruised to a 1.595-second victory in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. During a closing 48-lap green-flag run that began with a restart on Lap 153, Harvick charged from seventh to first, recording his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, his third at the 2.0-mile track and the 47th of hisRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LEXINGTON, Ohio — Austin Cindric claimed his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in as many weeks – earning an impressive 3.78-second win over Christopher Bell and former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger Saturday afternoon at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The 20-year old Cindric had just celebrated his career first win last week at the iconic Watkins Glen International road course and with a huge smile, effusively wondered what may be next for his No. 22 Team Penske FordRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Austin Hill’s victory in Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan International Speedway provided sweet relief for two-time NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Matt Crafton. With Hill’s second victory of the season, Crafton has a chance to run for a third title, having cliched the final spot in the series Playoffs on points. The outcome—and Crafton’s fate—weren’t decided until the final moments of a race that went five laps beyond its scheduled distance of 100 laps. For two nail-biting laps ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – The last qualifier in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series time trials at Michigan International Speedway will be first to the green flag on Sunday afternoon. The final driver to make an attempt, after shadows started to shroud the track, Brad Keselowski covered the 2.0-mile distance in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford in 37.801 seconds (190.471 mph) to knock Kevin Harvick off the provisional pole for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Jimmie Johnson weathers collision, sees Playoff position improve WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Nineteenth wasn’t what Jimmie Johnson wanted in his first race with Cliff Daniels as his crew chief, but solid runs in the first two stages of Sunday’s GoBowling at The Glen were enough to lift the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion into a tie for 16th in the series standings, the last spot eligible for the postseason Playoffs. Johnson started the race eighth and finished sixth in the first stage.Read More