Up to Speed Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following a marathon Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the short tracks starting with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track 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. Though the track has lost some of its luster in recentRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Serving as the United States home for Formula 1 since opening in 2012, the Circuit of The Americas plays host to some good ol’ American Muscle this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series comes to town for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. The 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course sitting just outside of Austin, Texas is the first of six road courses for the Cup Series to visit in 2023 and will give drivers and teams their first look at some new rules for the road courses thisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a three-week stint out west, the NASCAR Cup Series is much closer to home this weekend as it heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second superspeedway race of the season – Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400. Atlanta’s aging racing surface, which had been in place since 1997, held together as long as possible, but the 260 laps around the 1.5-mile track in July 2021 were the last on that particular surface as the track underwent a repave and reconfiguration for the 2022 season. The 24-degreeRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The West Coast Swing reaches its final leg this weekend in the Arizona desert as the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Phoenix for Sunday’s running of the United Rentals Work United 500. Though the drivers and teams have two races with the Next Gen car under their belt at the one-mile oval, a new aerodynamic package that debuts this weekend will make Sunday a key race to help formulate a game plan for when the series returns in November with a title on the line. TheRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The brave men of the NTT IndyCar Series are back this weekend in one of sport’s traditional venues — the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Over the last 14 seasons, the 1.8-mile circuit have kicked off the season for 11 of those campaigns. Per usual, a lot of unknowns with racers moving to new places and others looking to make their names in INDYCAR. Among the major headlines are Arrow McLaren’s ongoing quest of pursuing that elusive Astor Cup and become the first team sinceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor It’s that time of the year again. Two weeks after the season kicked off with the Busch Clash exhibition race at the L.A. Coliseum, the 2023 campaign shifts into high gear with Sunday’s 65th running of the Daytona 500. The Great American Race has seen many attempt to conquer it, but only a select few have been able to hoist the Harley J. Earl trophy in victory lane at the end of the day. Some go their entire careers without being able to accomplish that feat.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The wait is over. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series kicks off this weekend with the annual Busch Light Clash exhibition race. After being held at Daytona International Speedway as the opening salvo to Speedweeks throughout its existence, the race moved away from the birthplace of NASCAR out to the West Coast last year, into the confines of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For the second year in a row, the purpose-built quarter-mile track plays host to NASCAR’s premier division and will give all of the teamsRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Seven drivers. Three transfer spots into the Championship 4. One race. The Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs all comes down to Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, a half-mile bullring in southern Virginia where bent sheet metal and hurt feelings are all but inevitable. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic track, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. The track has basically one groove, meaning the only wayRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After spending the past two seasons bouncing around to different dates on the schedule, Homestead-Miami Speedway is back in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the Dixie Vodka 400. From 2002 to 2019, Homestead served as the season finale and once again this season, it will serve a pivotal role in the championship as the midway point of the Round of 8. Should any of the seven drivers not yet locked into the Championship 4 win on Sunday, they will claim their chanceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – There are numerous adjectives that can be used to describe this weekend’s race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course: unpredictable, volatile, treacherous, chaotic, etc. One thing is for sure, Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 is going to be a hell of a ride, with four drivers getting cut from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs when the checkered flag waves. In an effort to spice things up back in 2018, Charlotte officials elected to switch from running another race on the 1.5-mileRead More