Sprint Cup Series Tag

*Editor’s Note: The Motorsports Tribune NASCAR staff got together for a round table discussion about the upcoming Ford EcoBoost 400 (Sprint Cup Series Championship Race) in Homestead. They weigh in on three questions about the penultimate race. QUESTION 1: Which non-Chase competitor could steal the show Sunday at Homestead? JOEY BARNES, (Editor-in-Chief): Chase Elliott. He has been fast all weekend and it would be a fitting end to see him finally take that next step in the final race of his Sprint Cup Series career. TOBY CHRISTIE, (NASCAR Editor): HeRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Don’t tell Denny Hamlin his first pole of the season isn’t significant. In the money round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota toured .75-mile Richmond International Raceway in 22.069 seconds (122.344 mph) to earn the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), the final race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season. “I thought for sure we had too many laps on ourRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Martin Truex Jr.’s luck changed. Kevin Harvick’s didn’t. And that was the difference in Truex’s unexpected victory in Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Truex led 28 laps, all after passing Ryan Newman for the top spot on Lap 339 of 367. Harvick led a race-high 214 laps, bringing his career total to 10,068. But where Truex’s much-maligned pit crew performed its finest stop when it counted most—under caution on Lap 351—Harvick’s crew experienced the sorts of problems thatRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JIMMIE JOHNSON ENCOURAGED DESPITE PIT ROAD SNAFU BROOKLYN, Mich. – Despite a pit road problem that ruined his winning chances, Jimmie Johnson was surprisingly chipper after his sixth-place run in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan Speedway. Johnson led 37 laps, four fewer than race winner Kyle Larson, but the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion lost 10 seconds on pit road when his second can of fuel failed to engage properly with the intake during a green-flag stop from the lead on LapRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – In the last few laps of Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway, tears began to well up in Kyle Larson’s eyes. When Larson subsequently took the checkered flag to win the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of his career, the emotion was all but overwhelming—and for good reason. The victory came in Larson’s 99th start in the series, long after most observers expected Larson to record his first win. It also broke a 99-race drought for Chip GanassiRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer No one wishes for weather-shortened races, but in small doses the wild card aspect of these events can add excitement and intrigue to an otherwise predictable NASCAR tour. Chris Buescher’s upset victory at Pocono Raceway in Monday’s Pennsylvania 400 isn’t likely to carry the same praise that other weather-shortened races have provided in the past after mother nature literally rained on the parades of Kyle Larson in his search for his first Sprint Cup Series win. However, what the win does do is offer storylinesRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr. found a lot more than light at the end of the Tunnel on Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Gaining time on the rest of the field through Turn 2—the Tunnel Turn—at the 2.5-mile triangular race track, Truex put his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 400 (on NBCSN at 1:30 p.m. ET), knocking fellow Toyota Camry driver Carl Edwards out of the top starting spot. It’s not that Truex and hisRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Sprint Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick will be without his crew chief Rodney Childers this weekend at Pocono Raceway after a suspension from NASCAR. NASCAR announced Wednesday that Childers has been suspended from NASCAR competition through Aug. 3 and fined $20,000 after Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet was observed with improperly installed lug nuts following Sunday’s Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Childers, 40, has also been placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31. Stewart-Haas Racing has elected not to appeal the decision. InRead More

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Mission accomplished, a record set, and a torch passed to the next generation. Kyle Busch set a Brickyard record for laps led and became the first driver to sweep both a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series race from the pole in the same weekend, but the real symbolism of Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t come until the event was over. As Busch spun his No. 18 Toyota in a celebratory burnout and took his customary bows near the yard ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Carl Edwards ran a lightning-fast lap in the first round of Saturday’s knockout qualifying at Sonoma Raceway—and it worried him. “After that first lap—I have to be honest—I sat here and thought, ‘Man, I’m really going to screw this up on the second one,’ ‘cause the first one was really good, but it held on for the pole, and so I’m really excited.” Edwards toured the 1.99-mile road course in 1 minute, 14.392 seconds (96.301 mph) in the first round andRead More