Ryan Blaney Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Daniel Hemric may be out of the Playoffs and out of his ride at Richard Childress racing next year, but that didn’t stop the driver of the No. 8 RCR Chevrolet from winning the pole position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In Saturday’s time trials for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race, Hemric covered the 1.5-mile distance in 30.329 seconds (178.047 mph) to earn the topRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Two factors threw the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs into chaos on Monday afternoon—Talladega and Ryan Blaney. By .007 seconds—the sixth closest finish in series history—Blaney edged Ryan Newman to win Monday’s rain-delayed 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, which took a big bite out of most other Playoff contenders and set up a scramble for the six remaining spots in the Round of 8 next Sunday at Kansas Speedway. With his first victory of the season, his first at TalladegaRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a helter-skelter finish at the end of Lap 55, William Byron held the lead to win Stage 1 of Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway to advance his cause in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The winner of Stage 2 and the race, however, won’t be decided until Monday. Rain arrived during the first stage break and sent fans in the frontstretch grandstands scurrying for cover. A subsequent break in the rain wasn’t long enough to dry theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Led by pole winner Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports reasserted its domination of superspeedway qualifying on Saturday at Talladega. The winner at Talladega in April, Elliott toured the 2.66-mile track in 46.692 seconds (192.707 mph) to win his second Busch Pole Award at Talladega, his fourth of the season and the eighth of his career. Hendrick Motorsports swept the top four starting spots for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Alex Bowman qualified second atRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Round One of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs had the Charlotte ROVAL as the big wild card and this weekend the wild card race of the second round of the Playoffs looms large as the series rolls into Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s running of the 1000Bulbs.com 500. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard Brickhouse scoring hisRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service It was a friendly golf wager made good on the race track. Denny Hamlin began marking his 500th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race start this weekend with a record pole-winning speed Saturday afternoon at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. And Hamlin earned his – and Toyota’s – second pole of the season by a mere .003-seconds over the very guy he made that all-in-fun wager with – Kyle Larson. “I got him, I got him,’’ Hamlin said smiling after qualifying for Sunday’s DrydeneRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Defending race winner Ryan Blaney didn’t have a smooth afternoon in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, but he salvaged an eighth-place finish-with the help of two timely cautions—and advanced to the second round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Blaney made hard contact with the wall on Lap 58, and crew chief Jeremy Bullins contemplated bringing the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to pit road immediately, but opted against that courseRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Moments after taking the checkered flag in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, race winner Chase Elliott revisited the site of his biggest mistake. Elliott drove his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to the tire barrier in Turn 1 of the 2.32-mile, 17-turn course and began a burnout that bordered on the sarcastic. Early in the final stage of the 109-lap event, after a restart on Lap 65, Elliott locked upRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Ahead of the second running of the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitors took to the track for two practice sessions on Saturday as they looked to get their cars dialed in for the first elimination race of the Playoffs. Ryan Blaney, who was victorious in this race one year ago, topped the board in the morning session with a lap of 1 minute, 21.977 seconds (101.882 mph). Ryan PreeceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – If the smile on Josef Newgarden’s face when he climbed from the cockpit of his car after running laps at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL is any indication, the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series champion approved of the road course/oval hybrid that has been on the NASCAR circuit since last season. A week after scoring his second championship in the open wheel ranks, Newgarden and Team Penske announced earlier in the week it would be heading to Charlotte for a demonstration with NewgardenRead More