NASCAR Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — If Kyle Busch goes on to win his second-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, likely the AAA Texas 500 weekend at Texas Motor Speedway will be remembered as a huge reason why. On possibly the most trying week of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s season, Busch dug deep and showed the tenacity of a champion as he gutted out a top-five finish. Busch’s week went sour before it even started. In the first practice of the weekend, Busch slammed intoRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Brad Keselowski is a Sprint Cup Series champion, and he is one of the best drivers in the sport today. He is also usually one of the most outspoken drivers when it comes to doctors deciding whether drivers will be able to race. After Matt DiBenedetto was not cleared to race in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 after a crash in Saturday’s Xfinity Series event, Keselowski took to Twitter to question NASCAR’s concussion protocol. Keselowski’s lashing out all began when DiBenedetto tweeted that heRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — After a crash on lap 130 of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt DiBenedetto has been placed in concussion protocol. As a result, DiBenedetto will sit out Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, while he recovers from injuries sustained Saturday. BK Racing has announced via Twitter, that Jeffrey Earnhardt, who drove for the team a few weeks ago at Talladega, will be behind the wheel of the No. 83 ZAK ToyotaRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – Grabbing the lead after a restart on Lap 171 of 200, Kyle Larson moved to the top of the track just in time to hold off polesitter Brad Keselowski for the victory in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. In a race that saw Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez open some breathing room in the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase with respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes, Larson got a push from sixth-place finisherRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Daniel Suarez lined up fourth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, and on the initial start of the race he made a bold three wide move for the lead. Suarez would not get the lead, but the bold move cemented the fact that he was going to be a driver to deal with all day long. But around the mid-way point of the event, Suarez — who is one of eight drivers still in Chase contention —Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Usually race car drivers are a selfish lot. However when it comes to Justin Allgaier and Blake Koch there is nothing selfish about their friendship. The two drivers faced uncertain futures after the 2015 seasons, but they each landed new gigs in the Xfinity Series. Fast forward eight months and Allgaier and Koch are locked tight in a battle for the final transfer spot to the Xfinity Series championship race in Homestead. Heading into Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at TexasRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s been a frustrating season for Team Penske in the Xfinity Series. After an eight-win explosion a year ago, the team has only recorded two victories with just three races remaining in 2016. However, Texas will start with their car on the pole after Brad Keselowski grabbed his first pole of the year in the Xfinity Series in the closest possible margin. In the third and final round of qualifying, Keselowski actually tied Erik Jones for the top spot in the qualifyingRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Usually with three races remaining in the season, the remaining Chase drivers dominate every practice session, every qualifying round and every race. In Saturday morning’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway though, Ryan Blaney led a slew of unexpected drivers who topped the speed charts. Blaney turned a lap of 188.515 mph, and he was followed by AJ Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Casey Mears and Paul Menard. The fastest single lap any ChaseRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — On an extremely busy day for Austin Dillon, he surprised everyone by capturing the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. “I don’t know about the lap. I changed my line a little bit, looking at dart fish. It worked out for me,” said a stunned Dillon after his run. “I thought I hurt myself cause I changed my line, but it actually made me faster through one and two. I was watching Harvick’s line and I changed it to kindRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Over the past couple of seasons, Kyle Busch has been arguably the best driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage. Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch and his No. 18 team had one of their most trying days in recent memory. In the opening minutes of the first practice session of the weekend, Busch got loose coming off of turn four on his warm up lap and slammed into the outside wall before ever completing a timed lap. The contactRead More