Sprint Cup Series Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service To say 2016 will be a year of enormous change in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing is to understate the issue. NASCAR is rolling out a new competition package in its foremost division, one that features lower downforce. The aim is to make the Sprint Cup cars more difficult to drive, which in turn will put more control in the hands of the drivers. You’ll see dramatic changes on the track. Chase Elliott, a 20-year-old rookie, succeeds icon Jeff Gordon behind the wheel ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Finishing off one of the most remarkable comebacks in NASCAR history—indeed, in the annals of sport—Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and, with it, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Absent from the first 11 races of the season because of a broken right leg and left foot sustained in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona in February, Busch pulled away from fellow Championship Round driver Kevin Harvick after a restart with seven laps left and crossedRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Busch has continued to overcome the long odds this season and following a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, is just one race away from qualifying for the Championship Four in Homestead. The 30-year-old missed the first 11 races of the year following a horrific crash at Daytona International Speedway during an XFINITY Series race in February.  When Busch returned NASCAR required he win a race and be among the top 30 in points in order to qualify for the Chase.Read More

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Yes, Jeff Gordon celebrated his 93rd career victory in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Yes, Gordon will compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Yes, there were tears of joy in Victory Lane for Gordon, who’s at the tail end of his final season in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But Sunday’s race at Martinsville had so much more — most notably, “Matt Kenseth’s Revenge.” Long before Gordon held off Jamie McMurray in aRead More

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Denny Hamlin tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, but is expected to race the remainder of the season and postpone the surgery until after the season finale in Homestead. Hamlin suffered the injury playing basketball Tuesday night, with confirmation coming following an MRI Wednesday morning. The 34-year-old previously tore his ACL in his left knee January 2010, also while playing basketball. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond this weekend for the final race before the Chase for theRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – With two races left before the start of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski got the momentum builder he needed with Saturday’s pole-winning effort at Darlington Raceway. “Boy, this feels good,” said Keselowski, who toured the treacherous 1.366-mile Lady in Black in 27.492 seconds (178.874 mph) to edge Kurt Busch for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET on NBC). The Coors Light Pole Award was Keselowski’s first of the season, his first at Darlington and the ninthRead More

Four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon is enjoying the race package at Darlington ahead of the Bojangles’ Southern 500. On a weekend when NASCAR is celebrating the days of old with retro-themed throwbacks to the 1970’s, Gordon is more focused on breaking into Victory Lane for his first win of the year and securing a spot in the Chase for the Championship. Gordon has seven wins at the historic ‘Lady in Black’ with the last one coming in 2007. Through much of the season (or the last several) GordonRead More

BRISTOL, Tenn. – With Kevin Harvick hounding him mercilessly for 63 laps, Joey Logano kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front after taking the lead on a Lap 438 restart and held on to win Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Successfully defending last year’s victory at Thunder Valley, Logano won his third race of the season, his second at the .533-mile short track and the 11th of his career. Harvick recovered from two pit road speeding penalties to finish second, a mere .220 secondsRead More

Michael Waltrip Racing and Clint Bowyer have mutually agreed to part ways at the conclusion of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, MWR announced early Wednesday morning. MWR also announced it will no longer field a full-time entry in 2016. The team, which has fielded full-time cars at NASCAR’s premier level since 2007, currently owns cars driven by Bowyer (No. 15) and David Ragan (No. 55). Both will continue to run full-time for the remainder of this season. “This decision was made after weighing several different options and scenarios,”Read More

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Danica Patrick, who was so instrumental in elevating the visibility of the GoDaddy brand, will have the opportunity to do the same with another relatively new company—and she’ll have years to do so. Patrick has signed a multi-year extension with Stewart-Haas Racing, which in turn revealed a new sponsorship deal with Nature’s Bakery, whose paint scheme will adorn the hood of Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet as primary sponsor for 28 races per year, starting in 2016. With the exception of GoDaddy, all the existing partners in Patrick’sRead More