NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Johnny Sauter did a celebratory burnout. He collected the checkered flag from the flag stand at Talladega Superspeedway. But Sauter didn’t win Saturday’s Sugarland Shine 250 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoff race at the 2.66-mile track. A penalty for blocking Riley Herbst below the yellow line in the final 200 yards of the event cost Sauter the victory and made an unlikely winner of Spencer Boyd. “It’s Talladega,” the driver of the No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet exulted in VictoryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – More than 18 years ago, Kevin Harvick was thrust into a career change he could not have anticipated a week earlier. After Dale Earnhardt’s death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Harvick took over Earnhardt’s vaunted Richard Childress Racing ride the following week at Rockingham—albeit in a Chevrolet sporting the No. 29 in lieu of the trademark No. 3. In his third start in the car, Harvick won at Atlanta, the first of 48 career victories to date.Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson celebrated his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in two years Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, taking the checkered flag in the Drydene 400 by a convincing 1.578-seconds over Martin Truex Jr. and securing himself and his Chip Ganassi Racing team their first ever berth in the upcoming Playoff Round of 8. Larson’s friend and polesitter Denny Hamlin finished fifth after leading a race best 218 laps. But perhaps the two golf buddies would agree, on this Sunday, Larson’s longRead More

By Zach Sturniolo, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – In his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series start, Cole Custer conquered the Monster Mile. Custer held off a hungry field of Playoff contenders on a restart with seven laps to go and pulled away from Justin Allgaier to win the Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Custer, who claimed the victory as Dover celebrates its 50th anniversary, is the fifth Xfinity Series driver to win in their 100th start. “I’ve wanted to win here soRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service It was a friendly golf wager made good on the race track. Denny Hamlin began marking his 500th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race start this weekend with a record pole-winning speed Saturday afternoon at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. And Hamlin earned his – and Toyota’s – second pole of the season by a mere .003-seconds over the very guy he made that all-in-fun wager with – Kyle Larson. “I got him, I got him,’’ Hamlin said smiling after qualifying for Sunday’s DrydeneRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Bowman focused on top performance at Dover Last weekend Alex Bowman earned headlines for his determined work behind the wheel of his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – rallying to a dramatic runner-up finish at the Charlotte ROVAL to earn a spot in the second round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, which begins with Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But he’s also getting plenty of attention for an incident on pitRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Defending race winner Ryan Blaney didn’t have a smooth afternoon in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, but he salvaged an eighth-place finish-with the help of two timely cautions—and advanced to the second round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Blaney made hard contact with the wall on Lap 58, and crew chief Jeremy Bullins contemplated bringing the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to pit road immediately, but opted against that courseRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Clint Bowyer had to restrain himself from his typically aggressive approach to driving in the monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and it paid off on Sunday with a berth in the Round of 12 of the series Playoffs. After a disappointing 25th-place finish—from the pole, no less—in the opening Playoff race at Las Vegas two weeks ago, Bowyer came to the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course four points below the cut line for advancementRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Moments after taking the checkered flag in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, race winner Chase Elliott revisited the site of his biggest mistake. Elliott drove his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to the tire barrier in Turn 1 of the 2.32-mile, 17-turn course and began a burnout that bordered on the sarcastic. Early in the final stage of the 109-lap event, after a restart on Lap 65, Elliott locked upRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – AJ Allmendinger stole the thunder from a series of intense battles among NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff drivers to win Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Allmendinger muscled his way past series leader Christopher Bell as the cars climbed from the infield section onto the banking on Lap 48 of 67 and held the top spot through three subsequent restarts in the action-filled second race of the Xfinity Round of 12. The road course aceRead More