William Byron Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill. — Kyle Busch collected his 63rd NASCAR Cup Series victory on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, but the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet had to work hard for the first-place money. Busch, the pole winner, survived five restarts in the last 40 laps of the Enjoy Illinois 300 and beat Denny Hamlin to the finish line by .517 seconds after Bubba Wallace’s broken brake rotor caused the 11th caution on Lap 236 and sent the race toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MADISON, Ill. — Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway broke a long dry spell for two-time series champion Kyle Busch. Rocketing around the 1.25-mile irregularly shaped speedway in 32.802 seconds (137.187 mph), Busch won his first Cup pole position since Nov. 10, 2019, when he was first on the grid at Phoenix Raceway. Earning his first Busch Light Pole Award for Richard Childress Racing, Busch edged Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 winner Ryan Blaney for the top starting spot by .008Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Finally.  Breaking a 59-race drought in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney gave team owner Roger Penske his first same-year sweep of IndyCar’s biggest race and NASCAR’s longest. With a dominant No. 12 Team Penske Ford that gained long-run speed as the race progressed, Blaney led a race-high 163 of 400 laps and held off polesitter William Byron for his first victory on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career. A day after JosefRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — It’s been a long time since the NASCAR Cup Series has raced on a surface this old. “Never,” says Corey Lajoie. Yeah, that’s probably true, but certainly true from a modern standpoint where the highest levels generally compete on the most pristine surfaces and still state-of-the-art facilities. With all due credit to Marcus Smith and Steve Swift, North Wilkesboro Speedway looks incredible all things considered, but this place is neither state-of-the-art nor pristine. That’s generally a good thing in advance of theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The rebirth is nearly complete. North Wilkesboro Speedway, which had sat dormant for many years until a groundswell of support emerged to bring the track back from the dead, officially makes its return to the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend with the running of the NASCAR All-Star Race. 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 Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service William Byron took full advantage of a late on-track incident between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson to triumph in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 Darlington Raceway and become the first three-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.  For Byron, the victory was sweet redemption for last season’s spring race at the Lady in Black, where Joey Logano’s bump-and-run denied Byron his first victory at the fabled speedway.  “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” said Byron, who earned the 100th victory for the No. 24 team. “My granddadRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Undeterred by any supposed disadvantage facing Group B qualifiers in Saturday’s final round, Martin Truex Jr. put down an enviable lap in winning the pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Truex covered the 1.366-mile distance in 29.028 seconds (169.409 mph) to edge fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace for the top starting spot in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race. Wallace was .012 seconds behind Truex at 169.339 mph.   In theory, theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After five weeks of frustration, Christian Eckes got the rebound he needed on Friday night at Darlington Raceway.  Leading a race-high 82 of 158 laps, Eckes scored a convincing two-overtime victory in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, the ninth event on the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule.  The win was Eckes’ second of the season and third of his career. It followed a string of five races in which the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet had finished 30th three times andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Denny Hamlin didn’t tap-dance around the tap that helped him to a much-needed victory at Kyle Larson’s expense in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. On the final lap, after an intense chase that began with a restart on Lap 221 of 267, Hamlin closed in on Larson’s Chevrolet and further loosened an already loose race car. Slight contact from the right front of Hamlin’s Toyota turned Larson into the outside wall as Hamlin streaked pastRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service You could say NASCAR’s stop at Dover (De.) Motor Speedway was “All in the Family;” a kin-to-win kind of weekend.   Martin Truex Jr. answered his younger brother Ryan’s NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Saturday with a win in Monday’s rain-delayed Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race – the fourth win of his career at the one-mile oval he considers his “home track.”  Truex, who started 17th in the 36-car field after qualifying was cancelled due to weather, methodically worked his way forward in the No.Read More