NASCAR Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Daniel Suarez enters Sonoma Raceway looking to turn things around this season after finishing outside the top-15 in three out of the last four races, some involving unfortunate circumstances which have put him 21st in points. Suarez told Motorsports Tribune that good results on road courses, such as Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 are important because it’s one of only three road courses on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series calendar. “We don’t have a lot of (road course) races throughout the year,” said Suarez.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — In a sport where a driver’s words can come out the wrong way from the eyes of the fans, Kyle Larson discussed his comments regarding his passion for sprint car racing such as the World of Outlaws during Friday morning’s press conference before the first of two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices at Sonoma Raceway. Known to be one of the last pure versatile drivers in the states, Larson opened up about fans criticizing him for being avid for sprint carRead More

By Matt Tifft, Driver Columnist Editor’s note: Matt Tifft, driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, shares his 2018 campaign with Motorsports Tribune as he aims for a shot at the championship.  This past weekend we had our first standalone weekend of the year as we headed to Iowa Speedway. This was a track I felt like I excelled at last year, so I was really looking forward to getting back there this year. Standalone weekends are always special to Xfinity regulars. AsRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The first five races of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West were all contested at tracks that are 1/2 mile or less. That’ll change Saturday as 31 cars are scheduled to compete in the Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. It’s the tour’s only road course of the season, and certainly a wild card on the series calendar. More so that five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers are added into the mix. The five are Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman and WilliamRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Sunday didn’t get off to the start that Christopher Bell would have hoped, as his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota didn’t make it through pre-qualifying inspection in time to make a lap in the first round of knockout qualifying at Iowa Speedway. As a result, Bell started the NASCAR XFINITY Series Iowa 250 from the 39th position. It was only a matter of time before Bell would become a factor in the race, cracking the top-10 by Lap 28 and running sixth byRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — The NASCAR XFINITY Series at Iowa Speedway typically produces great racing and more often than not good story lines of drivers making their series debuts. With the standalone weekend, NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series regulars typically don’t make the trip to Iowa. Riley Herbst got the opportunity to pilot the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the Las Vegas, Nevada native took full advantage. Making the final round of knockout qualifying for Sunday’s Iowa 250, Herbst rolled off from the ninth positionRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Austin Cindric turned a lap at 131.409 mph in the final round of knockout qualifying to put the No. 22 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Iowa 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway. It was the first pole of Cindric’s NASCAR XFINITY Series career in his 15th start. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Elliott Sadler and Cole Custer rounded out the top-five. Hemric starts from the outside of the front row for the second week in a row in the No.Read More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Heading into the 2018 NASCAR season, it wasn’t the plan for Justin Haley to make any starts in the XFINITY Series. But with the suspension of Spencer Gallagher in April for a violation of the sport’s substance abuse policy, it allowed the opportunity to present itself and Haley is set to take advantage. “I had intentions to run XFINITY, I always wanted to but it wasn’t something that we talked too deeply about. It was a last minute type deal. I’m thankful toRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — After taking the checkered flag in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway, Christian Eckes climbed from his No. 46 Toyota and immediately sat down beside the truck. Saying it was hot on Friday in Iowa would be an understatement and temperatures inside the truck were well into the triple digits. Eckes was provided water and Gatorade by his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates as well as NASCAR officials. After several minutes, Eckes rose and headed back toRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — On Saturday morning at Iowa Speedway, Brett Moffitt told the assembled media that a win at the track located just over 40 miles from his hometown of Grimes, Iowa would be huge. Moffitt indicated his No. 16 Hattori Racing Toyota had speed this season, but they just haven’t put the whole race together to compete with the likes of Johnny Sauter, who has four victories in 2018. Before the sun set over Newton less than eight hours later, Moffitt returned to that sameRead More