Up to Speed Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer From the rugged dust bowl that was the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt circuit to the narrow, flat quarter-mile bullring known as Meridian Speedway in Idaho will be the 12th stop for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West tour as the championship battle has narrowed down to just a few contenders with three rounds remaining. History was made in the last round on Sept. 13 when rookie Hailie Deegan became the first female driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series pole, where she led 13Read More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following a wild opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Las Vegas, the championship contenders head back to the East Coast this weekend to take on Richmond Raceway in their inaugural playoff date. Often described as the perfectly designed racetrack by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400,Read More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Viva Las Vegas…again? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the track’s history, Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be hosting a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this season as they kick off the 10-race Playoff stretch with Sunday’s running of the South Point 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 saw progressive bankingRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor INDIANAPOLIS – The 2018 calendar has reached September and with it comes one of the marquee events on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, the 25th running of the race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. First joining the circuit in 1994, the track has provided some classic moments and some that the powers that be would rather forget. The track’s relatively flat surface, combined with narrow corners and high speeds, makes passing a premium on theRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Thunder Valley this weekend for the annual Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, a showdown under the lights on the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” that is sure to leave sheet metal twisted and tempers flaring once these drivers get done battling for 500 laps. Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race each August, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness that theRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After last weekend’s race at Watkins Glen saw Chase Elliott score his first career win, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Michigan for the second time this season to race on one of the biggest and fastest tracks on the circuit, Michigan International Speedway and Sunday’s running of the Consumers Energy 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning this race for bragging rights, especially this weekendRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West returns to action Saturday for the running of the NAPA Auto Parts 175 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, and its championship battle has heated up with only six races remaining. Bob Bruncati Racing drivers Derek Thorn and Ryan Partridge are tied in first. Both drivers have a win to their name, but Thorn owns the tiebreaker because of his four runner-up finishes to Partridge’s two. The 2013 series champion captured his latest runner-up effort in the combination raceRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip to Pocono last weekend that saw Kyle Busch score his sixth win of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stays in the Northeast as they go road course racing this weekend in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. The Cup Series raced at Watkins Glen in 1957, 1964, and 1965 before returning to the track full-time in 1986, utilizing the “short course” layout initially, but after a series of violent crashes at the end of the long back straightaway, the trackRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Seven weeks after their first trip to the “Tricky Triangle,” the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s running of the Gander Outdoors 400. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree banking modeled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn 2 and itsRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season rolls on as they head from last weekend’s race on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway to the flat, one-mile oval that is New Hampshire Motor Speedway. First joining the Cup Series circuit in 1993, the 1.058 mile oval that has progressively banked turns from two to seven degrees is one of the more difficult tracks on the schedule as the flat nature of the track makes track position key with passing at a premium. After getting to enjoy twoRead More