Steve O’Donnell Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – In the annual state-of-the sport press conference on Friday at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR president Steve Phelps anticipated the two questions of greatest interest to the broad range of NASCAR stakeholders and fans. Phelps gave an update on negotiations for media rights, with current agreements with FOX Sports and NBC ending after the 2024 season. NASCAR already has secured a stand-alone deal for its Xfinity Series broadcasts with the CW Network. “Our media rights, the amount of interest in attaining our mediaRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ahead of the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR president Steve Phelps and Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell took to the stage to for the annual State of the Sport address, which recapped the sport’s 74th year of existence and looked ahead to the future. First and foremost was the safety of the Next Gen car, which Phelps discussed was designed to be a stronger car to protect against the massive hits, like the ones sustained by Ryan Newman at Daytona and JoeyRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The revival is complete. North Wilkesboro Speedway, which has sat dormant for many years and only recently shown signs of life, will make its return to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule next year as host to the annual NASCAR All-Star Race on the weekend of May 19-21, 2023. First joining the circuit in 1947, the 0.625-mile oval served as a mainstay on the schedule for nearly 50 years before being shutdown following the 1996 season, as its race dates were shipped off to Texas Motor SpeedwayRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The Winston from 20 years ago was replicated in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Unlike that night at Charlotte, backup cars won’t be allowed. Much to the chagrin of both Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr., who were the most impacted from Mother Nature. On Lap 6, Busch and Truex were running 1-2 until rain in Turn 1 caused the track to lose grip. Consequently, both lost control and stuffed into the wall. They weren’t alone as their Joe Gibbs RacingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service New tracks, road courses and a dirt race—NASCAR fulfilled its mission of expanding its sphere of influence with the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, announced Wednesday afternoon. With the addition of road course races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Tex., and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., NASCAR has doubled the number of road-course events on the schedule—retaining the races at Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and the Charlotte Roval. For the first time sinceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Two weeks ago, NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway announced the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race would be moving from Charlotte to Bristol for the first time in the history of the event. Now we know the format for the July 15 extravaganza under the lights. The 140-lap race will be divided into four stages, with lengths of 55 laps, 35 laps, 35 laps, and 15 laps. All of the laps will count in the first three stages, while the final stage will only count green flagRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It’s Bristol baby, All-Star edition! The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race will have a whole new vibe as President and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. Marcus Smith announced on NASCAR Race Hub Monday that Bristol Motor Speedway will now host the million-dollar event, replacing Charlotte Motor Speedway. Bristol becomes only the third-ever track to host the All-Star Race and the first since Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986. The race date remains in tact, taking place on Wednesday, July 15 with FS1’s live coverage beginning at 7 p.m.Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR’s return to real-time action Sunday afternoon was a resumption of the close-quarter, high-action brand of racing that fans have long expected at historic Darlington Raceway, culminating with Kevin Harvick claiming his first trophy of the season in front of a robust television and radio audience eager to welcome sports back. The Real Heroes 400 was the first on-track activity in nearly two months after NASCAR suspended competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The return to track included specific guidelines unique to this unprecedentedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer More encouraging news from NASCAR were announced Thursday as the second batch of races were realigned. They’ll be racing at five tracks in a span of 23 days across all three national touring series and the ARCA Menards Series. The sport will start their odyssey at Bristol Motor Speedway, beginning with Xfinity Series action at Bristol Motor Speedway May 30. The Cup Series will race the following day with both races being held at 3:30 pm EST on FS1. Following Bristol, it’s off to Atlanta MotorRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since the sports world went dark due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, it has been a waiting game to see which sport would be the first to make its return. As of Thursday afternoon, it appears NASCAR will be the first out of the gate to start competing again, as the sanctioning body announced races, without fans, are scheduled to begin on May 17 with a visit to Darlington Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series. Over the next 11 days, all three NASCAR national seriesRead More