NASCAR Wire Service Tag

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Ben Rhodes took the lead on the final restart and held off Christopher Bell to capture his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career win in Saturday night’s Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Rhodes, who earlier in the season lost what appeared to be a sure victory at Kansas Speedway when a piece of debris punctured his Toyota’s radiator, blocked Bell’s last-gasp effort by going all the way to the track’s apron to take the checkered flag.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – Once Ryan Blaney got the lead in Saturday’s Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway, it was “game over” in the second NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff race of the season. After Playoff driver William Byron led every lap of the 60-circuit first stage and banked a playoff point, Blaney took the lead off pit road under caution on Lap 64. Blaney kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front the rest of the way, except for one lapRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch didn’t need a smokescreen to win Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – he simply had to survive one. Driving unscathed through a cloud of smoke on the backstretch on the final lap of the second stage, Busch, the polesitter, took control of the race at the halfway point and beat Kyle Larson to the finish line by 2.641 seconds. In winning for the third time this season, the third time at Loudon and the 41stRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Remember all those playoff points that were supposed to carry regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs? He didn’t need them—not after what turned out to be a dominating victory in Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400, the Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway. Truex’s fifth victory of the season, his second straight at Chicagoland and the 12th of his career was hardly a cakewalk, even though the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing ToyotaRead More

NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – A caution on Lap 397 of a scheduled 400 in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 turned what looked like a coronation for Martin Truex Jr. into an unexpected overtime victory for Kyle Larson, as the field of 16 drivers was set for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Truex, the regular season winner, had a comfortable lead over Larson when Derrike Cope brushed the outside wall with three laps left in regulation. Larson won the race off pit road after the lead-lap carsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin made a huge mistake on Sunday night. Then the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made an even bigger comeback to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious races. Running down race leader Martin Truex Jr. from 20 seconds back after missing the entrance to pit road on Lap 313 of 367, Hamlin won the Bojangles’ Southern 500 for the second time, finishing off a sweep of the throwback Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series/NASCAR XFINITY Series weekend atRead More

By Stephanie Wallcraft, NASCAR Wire Service BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has a knack for hosting dramatic finishes, and Austin Cindric created one of his own in today’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. A dramatic last-lap incident saw Cindric push his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford into the back of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet of Kaz Grala to push his way past and punch his ticket into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs by claiming his first victory of the year. CindricRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – On a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, with a move he termed “a throwback to Dale Earnhardt,” Denny Hamlin won his fifth NASCAR XFINITY Series event at the Lady in Black—all from the pole. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota grabbed the lead from Joey Logano after a restart on Lap 147 of 148—one beyond the scheduled distance—and when Logano got inside position on the final circuit and surged ahead into Turn 3, Hamlin responded with aRead More

By Reid Spencer. NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – In a race fraught with tension, and with a pack of drivers with desperate agendas chasing him to the finish line, Kyle Busch held off Erik Jones to complete a sweep of all-three NASCAR touring series with Saturday night’s keystone victory in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series main event at the .533-mile concrete track, Busch capped a long weekend that saw him win Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping WorldRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – No one else had a chance. Other NASCAR XFINITY Series competitors in Saturday night’s 36th Annual Food City 300 might have brought fast race cars—runner-up Daniel Suarez certainly did. But polesitter Kyle Busch had a checkered-flag-seeking missile, and after a restart with eight of 300 laps left, he crossed the finish line 1.181 seconds ahead of Suarez, notching his record 91st victory in the series, his fifth in nine starts this season and his ninth in 25 events at Bristol. The race’s secondRead More