NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  AVONDALE, Ariz. — High school senior Sammy Smith made the most of the fastest car in Saturday’s United Rentals 200, becoming the youngest NASCAR Xfinity Series winner Phoenix Raceway at age 18.  In a race that featured 11 cautions for 69 laps, Smith held off teammate Ryan Truex after a restart with 15 of 200 laps left to give Joe Gibbs Racing its 16th victory at the 1.0-mile track.  Smith led a race-high 92 laps, including the last 52, taking the lead from KyleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — William Byron won the most important race of Sunday afternoon—by inches off pit road.  Quick work by Byron’s pit crew enabled the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to beat teammate Kyle Larson off pit road for an overtime restart in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and that was the decisive factor in Byron’s fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory.  When Aric Almirola spun into the Turn 4 wall with four laps left of a scheduledRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Austin Hill ran down rookie pole winner Chandler Smith from three seconds back, passed him as the cars approached the white flag and held on to win Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The victory was the second of the year for Hill, who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet won for the first time at Las Vegas and for the fourthRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano, winner of three of the last eight NASCAR Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will start from the pole position in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube after topping 186 mph Saturday in the final round of qualifying.  Logano toured the 1.5-mile track in 29.024 seconds (186.053 mph) to earn his first Busch Pole Award of the season, his second at Las Vegas and the 27th of his career.  Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford was .141Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Kyle Busch revels in changing circumstances.  Five days after winning at Auto Club Speedway in his second NASCAR Cup Series race in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Busch powered his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevy to victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.  Despite a couple of twitchy moments in traffic, Busch dominated Friday night’s Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 84 of 134 laps and beating runner-up Zane Smith to the finish line by 4.981 seconds. Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – After the sun set on Auto Club Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory in Sunday’s Production Alliance Group 300 in the final race at the 2.0-mile track. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers were scheduled to race on Saturday, leaving the speedway’s swan song to the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, but rain and snow—yes, snow in Southern California’s Inland Empire—forced postponement of the race until Sunday.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – The Kyle Busch era at Richard Childress Racing began three weeks ago at the Los Angeles Coliseum, but the coronation was reserved for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 in the last NASCAR Cup Series race at 2.0-mile Auto Club Speedway. Busch grabbed the lead from Ross Chastain on Lap 165 and regained it on Lap 180 at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops, as the race ran under green for the final 55 laps. He crossed the finish lineRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On the fifth try, rain finally got the better of Daytona International Speedway—and that was perfectly all right with reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Zane Smith. NASCAR called Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 after 79 of a scheduled 100 laps, making Smith the winner when the fifth rain shower of the evening thwarted track-drying efforts.  In front of the largest crowd for a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Daytona since 2011, Smith won the season opener for theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Florida native Aric Almirola each won their Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night – the event setting the starting order for Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It was a Ford sweep at Daytona, but the two races played out very differently. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 25 of the 60 caution-free laps in the openingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LOS ANGELES – In front of a large, enthusiastic crowd in one of the most iconic venues in sports, Martin Truex Jr. earned his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in more than a season in a rough-and-tumble all-thrills Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum Sunday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota held off Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet by a mere .786-second leading the final 25 laps of the 150-lap annual non-points exhibitionRead More