NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – In a scene that has become all but routine this season, Christopher Bell won Saturday’s Bar Harbor 200 at Dover International Speedway, collecting his sixth victory in his rookie year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. What was not routine was the desperation battle for the final spot in the Round of 8 of the Xfinity Playoffs. In the closing moments of the race, after a restart on Lap 184 of 200, Matt Tifft and Ross Chastain dueled for the right to moveRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – A sudden rain shower in the afternoon of an otherwise dry day soaked the concrete racing surface at Dover International Speedway and forced cancellation of Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session. As a consequence, with the field set according to owner points, Kyle Busch will lead the 39 Cup drivers to the green flag in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at the Monster Mile, the opening race in the Round of 12 of the Playoffs. Kevin Harvick will start onRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – In a race that was as wild as advertised in the closing laps, Ryan Blaney sped past crashing Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. in the final corner to win Sunday’s inaugural Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. With his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and the second of his career, Blaney advanced to Round of 12 in the Playoffs. Johnson wasn’t as lucky. The seven-time series champion was pressuring TruexRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Chase Briscoe made the most of pit strategy that put him out front during Saturday’s inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Leading the last 24 of 55 laps in the Drive for the Cure 200 at the challenging 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course—thanks to a pit stop on Lap 26, before the end of Stage 2—Briscoe held off Justin Marks after the last restart on Lap 45 and took the checkered flag 1.478 seconds ahead of Marks’Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford crashed the Chevrolet party at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Friday, winning the pole for a race in which the word “crash” could be commonplace. Running late in the final round, Busch toured the 2.28-mile, 17-corner course in 76.805 seconds (106.868 mph) to edge road course ace AJ Allmendinger (76.846 seconds at 106.811 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET on NBC,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – On a night of important milestones, in a car hastily repaired after a brush with the wall during qualifying, Kyle Busch held off Kevin Harvick to win Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway to advance to the second round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. After a pitched battle against Brad Keselowski that lasted 21 laps, Busch made the winning pass for the lead on Lap 364 of 400 at the .75-mile track. Busch’s first victory in aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – A short run at the end of Friday night’s GoBowling.com 250 was just what pole winner Christopher Bell needed to charge into the second round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. In a race that saw regular-season champion Justin Allgaier end his night with a hard crash into the Turn 3 wall with 24 laps left, and in a race that saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead the most laps in his only scheduled race of 2018, Bell surged past race leader MattRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – It’s been a mixed bag of emotions for NASCAR Playoff driver Chase Elliott this week. He received fantastic news that one of his major corporate sponsors, Hooters, would be re-upping with his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet team through 2021. He also arrived at Richmond Raceway on Friday with a more immediate task at hand – righting his 2018 playoff ship. Elliott, 22, who crashed out and finished 36th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Las Vegas MotorRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Brad Keselowski makes no apologies for hoisting the last three trophies in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, despite not dominating any one of the races – at Darlington, S.C., Indianapolis or the playoff opener at Las Vegas last week. A win is a win. Is a win. …in Keselowski’s case. And that last win, at Vegas, moves the veteran Team Penske driver into the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs. It’s high confidence and big expectations for the 2012 CupRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – In a war of attrition that caused a multitude of problems for the majority of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders, Brad Keselowski emerged unscathed with his third straight victory in the series and the 500th triumph for Team Penske in all forms of racing combined. Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Playoff opener for NASCAR’s foremost series, went to overtime, lasting five laps longer than the scheduled 267. But Keselowski held the top spot through threeRead More