Up to Speed Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – It appears the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will be full of wild card races. Following a chaotic race at Texas last week, the gauntlet continues this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway with Sunday’s running of the Yellawood 500. Since opening its doors in 1969, the 2.66-mile track just off Interstate 20 in Alabama has been a wild card on the schedule with the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing on full display over the past half-century, leading to some of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway to kick off the second round of the Playoffs with Sunday’s running of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After running on the dirt at Bristol earlier this year, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track we all know and love this weekend for Saturday night’s running of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race and the first elimination race of the Playoffs. Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness that the drivers will show on the high-banked bullring that is called “The Last Great Colosseum” to takeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday. Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points. It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had fiveRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a wild weekend in Daytona to wrap up the regular season and set the 16-driver field for the Playoffs, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of the crown jewels on the circuit, Darlington Raceway, for Sunday’s running of the Cook Out Southern 500. A staple of the Cup Series since 1950, there are many elements to Darlington that make it a special track. From the egg-shape of the track that features one end narrower than the other as a result of building the trackRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season is winding down, with just two races remaining to set the field for the Playoffs heading into the annual trip to upstate New York for the 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 track underwent changes with the additionRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After a grueling, love-hate drama string of races, the NTT IndyCar Series had a much needed week off from the madness. Now they’re getting ready for the final three rounds of the championship trail, beginning with the final oval of 2022 at Gateway. A popular circuit amongst fans, the main headline involves the two protagonist from the crash fest at Nashville. In the closing laps, last year’s Gateway winner Josef Newgarden and the race’s media darling Romain Grosjean, tangled and it ended the latter’s afternoon. ThereRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor For the second time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series heads off to Richmond Raceway, but this time with Playoff implication on the line when the green flag flies for Sunday’s running of the Federated Auto Parts 400. After serving as a race in the first round of the Playoffs the last four years, Richmond Raceway was moved up nearly a month for the second race at the track in 2022, making it a crucial step in determining the 16-driver Playoff field. Often described as theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The end of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season is in sight with just four races remaining before the Playoff field is set. After a visit to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, the series heads north to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s running of the Firekeepers Casino 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning here for bragging rights. Especially this year with the track debutRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The NTT IndyCar Series heads back to the vibrant streets of Nashville for the second annual Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Entering this weekend, weather is a huge concern with threatening skies all weekend. Already, the tension is there at a circuit that’ll be different from last year. Among those changes being the restart zone not being a start/finish, but driving on the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge. The same spot where the green flag waved for the start of the 80-lap contest. The circuit willRead More