William Byron Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The start of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is officially here and with it comes the biggest race of the season, the Daytona 500. For 61 years, drivers have been making the pilgrimage to the Daytona high banks to win the sport’s most prestigious race and write themselves into the record book as Daytona 500 champion. Many have attempted it, but only a select few have been able to hoist the Harley J. Earl trophy in victory lane at theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Paired for the first time with crew chief Chad Knaus, sophomore driver William Byron put his No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the pole for the Feb. 17 Daytona 500 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), leading a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top four spots and extending that organization’s dominance in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Daytona International Speedway. Byron edged last year’s pole winner, Alex Bowman, by .036 seconds for theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars were amply endowed with speed for Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway. Kurt Busch was just glad he got the pick of the litter. “Four Stewart-Haas Fords—I’m really happy that I got the fast one,” Busch quipped after winning the pole for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and lead an SHR sweep of the top four starting spots for the second race in the Monster Energy NASCARRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Talladega may not be the Round of 12 elimination race any longer, but the mammoth 2.66-mile superspeedway is still a huge wild card and will go a long way toward determining which drivers will be in position to move on to the next round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard BrickhouseRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “I have to say ultimately, it’s Rick’s call. It’s Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve had a lot of very open conversations and discussions but in the end, Rick is the one that makes the decisions,” Jimmie Johnson said on who made the call to split up a 17-year partnership with crew chief Chad Knaus. A day removed from the bombshell news of the NASCAR season took place, both Johnson and Knaus spoke for the first time about the announcement Thursday. It’s no secret the legendary duo has hadRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer What fans expected to be a career-long partnership will no longer be as the legendary duo of seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus will split at the end of the season after 17 seasons together. Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that changes were made in both the No. 48 and No. 24 teams for the 2019 season. Knaus will now make the calls for William Byron, while current Xfinity Series crew chief Kevin Meendering has been promoted to becomeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Final practice seemed to be going exactly as planned for 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, but things went awry for him just minutes after blazing around Charlotte Motor Speedway with the fastest lap of the session. Keselowski toured around the Charlotte road course with a lap of 1 minute, 17.730 seconds at 105.596 mph, but as the session neared its final moments, the frontstretch chicane became the bane of his existence. The lap looked to be going just fineRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Day two at the new Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course has been just as eventful as the first, with Jimmie Johnson putting up the fastest time on the board, while others found themselves ensnared by the 17-turn, 2.28-mile layout. Daniel Hemric led the way for the majority of the session before Johnson took over the No. 1 spot with a lap of 1 minute, 18.043 seconds at 105.173 mph. Hemric finished the session in second place, followed by Martin Truex, Jr., Brad Keselowski,Read 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 Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Larson, a close second to Kyle Busch in the 2018 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, took the first step toward avenging that loss—and a handful of others—with a pole-winning effort in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at the .533-mile short track. In the final round, Larson covered the distance in 15.015 seconds (127.792 mph) to complete a sweep of the three rounds in the session. In winning his first Busch Pole Award at Thunder Valley, hisRead More