Ryan Blaney Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Justin Allgaier popped a tire during his celebratory burnout after Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. But you can forgive the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet if he was a trifle rusty with his donuts—Allgaier hadn’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since August in 2012 at the road course in Montreal. On a blistering afternoon that brought emotions to a boil at the one-mile race track in the Sonoran Desert, Allgaier sailedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Apparently unfazed by last week’s controversy at Las Vegas, Joey Logano put his No. 22 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Camping World 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX). In winning his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Phoenix and the 18th of his career, Logano saved his best lap for the third and decisive round, streaking around the one-mile track in the SonoranRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After the kickoff to the West Coast swing last weekend in Las Vegas culminated in a victory by Martin Truex, Jr. to mark the third different winner in the first three races of the season and also featured a post-race pit road brawl, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Valley of the Sun this weekend to take on the Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely differentRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Brad Keselowski blew the first and second corners on his money lap in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Then he blew away the rest of the field. Perhaps “blew away” is a bit of an exaggeration. Keselowski covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.881 (193.680 mph) to edge Martin Truex Jr. (193.458 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX) by .003 seconds. The Coors Light Pole AwardRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Viva Las Vegas! After spending the first two weekends of the 2017 season on the East Coast, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads west for the first leg of “NASCAR Goes West” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Sunday’s running of the Kobalt 400. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5 mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that sawRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – His car damaged in a wreck on the backstretch and held together with tape, Kurt Busch grabbed the lead on the final lap of the 59th Daytona 500 on Sunday and took the checkered flag in the Great American Race as a capstone to a checkered career that has trended upward since Busch joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. In a race that featured the first test of a new three-stage race format in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series—and featuredRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer At restrictor plates races, including the Daytona 500 always expect the unexpected. That’s exactly what most Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers, including Kyle Larson, were thinking as they were about to experience stage racing for the first time. In qualifying, Larson put his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS 16th on the grid. This put Larson eighth on the grid in the second Can-Am Duel. He finished ninth in a relatively uneventful race. Larson started his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the 16thRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Close, but no cigar….again. After a stellar rookie season in 2016, Ryan Blaney and the Wood Brothers entered the 2017 season looking to improve on last season’s results as well as getting Blaney his first career win. In Sunday’s Daytona 500, the team nearly accomplished that feat, but fell just short as they had to settle for a runner-up finish instead. Although it wasn’t a win, the second-place finish for Blaney marks the best career finish for the 23-year old, besting his three fourth placeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For much of the second Can-Am Duel at Daytona, it looked like it would be Dale Earnhardt, Jr following the lead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott to score the win after qualifying on the front row for the Daytona 500, but Denny Hamlin had other plans as he was able to execute a late race pass to take the lead and the win. “It was great. Great car. Got a great push there for Austin (Dillon). We worked really well together that entireRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 23 Years in Cup: 1 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: Led 252 laps en route to winning Xfinity Race at Iowa in 2015 Ryan Blaney flashed signs of brilliance throughout his rookie campaign in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but overall his first year was wildly inconsistent. Blaney’s best finish on the season was fourth,Read More