practice Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driven by Kyle Larson led the way during Friday morning’s pre-qualifying practice session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson ran five laps at the 1.5-mile circuit, eking out last week’s winner Kevin Harvick by 0.037 seconds with a lap time of 28.323 seconds, 190.658 mph. “This year, after having the test and after having the year we had last year that really helps your confidence,” said Larson ahead of the 55 minute session. “We know comingRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Trevor Bayne comes into this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 15th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings. It has been a great start to the season for the 26-year old Roush Fenway Racing driver. However, if Bayne is going to get his fifth top-15 finish of 2017 on Sunday, he will have to overcome a lot of adversity. In Saturday’s final practice session, Bayne, who was 10th fastest in the session, just pushed theRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Carl Edwards, one of four drivers left in the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup, is still seeking his first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. After Saturday’s two practice sessions for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, it really looks like Edwards could be in a great position to finally add a huge piece of hardware to his mantle. Edwards, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, was third-fastest in the first practice session of the day, and he followed that up by recording the second-fastest lapRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Elliott Sadler’s week started off bad before he even got to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Following last week’s Galaxy Ticket 200 at Pheonix, Sadler’s car was busted for a lug nut violation. Missing lug nuts in post race inspection meant that Sadler’s crew chief, Kevin Meendering would be suspended for this weekend’s Championship finale race in South Beach. In Meendering’s absence, Mike Bumgarner steps in to turn the wrenches on the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro. Once practice fired away for the NASCAR Xfinity SeriesRead 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 — Rain washed out a pair of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice sessions on Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway, which meant Friday morning’s session would be the only chance drivers and teams would have to get their trucks tuned in for Friday night’s Striping Technology 350. Christopher Bell, one of the six remaining Chase contenders, paced the session with a laptime of 29.580 seconds, which equates to 182.556 miles-per-hour. Tyler Reddick was second-fastest, while Matt Tifft was third-quick in the session.Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Ultimately, it means very little, but with a lap of 199.349 mph Brian Scott paced Friday morning’s final practice session for the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night. Scott, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports, has had a lackluster rookie season, so perhaps leading the speed charts in the drafting session can provide a confidence boost that will lead to results on the track. Scott enters this weekend 30th in the championship standings, and he has yet to record a top-10 finish through 16 starts.Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor With less than 10 minutes remaining in final practice for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Kyle Busch had a severe impact. The right rear tire on Busch’s No. 18 Toyota blew causing him to veer right, head on into the wall. The hit was into a SAFER barrier, but it did catastrophic damage to the car. Luckily Busch walked away unscathed. NASCAR Tweeted footage of the accident: Here’s why we’re under red. #CokeZero400 pic.twitter.com/nFF9wNLMHN — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 1, 2016 Busch, who wonRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Over the course of his Sprint Cup Series career, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s biggest Achilles Heal had been Sonoma Raceway. Through his first 14 starts at the track, Earnhardt had never recorded a top-10 finish. He even once threatened to blow the track up with dynamite to demonstrate his frustration with the weaving and winding track in the land of wine. However things began to take a turn for Earnhardt at Sonoma two seasons ago. That year he qualified a lackluster 17th, but when the raceRead More

James Hinchcliffe has suffered an injury to his upper thigh, but is in stable condition after a hard crash during practice for the Indianapolis 500 and is undergoing surgery at Methodist Hospital.  Something appeared to break on the right front suspension car as it suddenly veered to the the right and smashed into the Turn 3 SAFER Barrier. The car then spun down the track and briefly flipped onto its side and came back right side up before sliding to a stop. The Holmatro Safety Team extricated Hinchcliffe out of hisRead More