Circle Tracks

Denny Hamlin is locked into the Championship 4 after a big win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and now his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe has done the same with a big win at Talladega Superspeedway, taking the lead on the final lap. The battle around the final two transfer spots will be wild. Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have a large margin over the elimination zone, but there is just ...Keep readingView the full article

By every definition, Derek Kneeland is a racer. He is a racer when he climbs the ladder each week to serve as spotter for Kyle Busch and Austin Hill at Richard Childress Racing. He is a racer when he gets behind the wheel of a Pro Late Model several times a year as his schedule permits. And to wit, the 36-year-old will be a racer on Saturday, March 28 when he makes his ARCA East debut at ...Keep readingView the full article

Due to storms moving through the area, NASCAR was forced to cancel Cup Series qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway. As a result, championship leader Tyler Reddick will start from pole position with Kyle Larson joining him on the front row. This will be the fifth time in 2026 that the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota will start from pole, and the second due to a rainout (Atlanta). The field will be ...Keep readingView the full article

As Sunday’s race wound to a finish, Blaney and Harvick found themselves swapping pushes and the lead. With two of 188 laps remaining, Stewart-Haas driver Harvick – looking for his first win in his last full-time season – appeared to have control of the race but saw Blaney edge past him for the lead thanks to help from Riley Herbst. Blaney and Harvick raced side-by-side for virtually ...Keep readingView the full article

Last weekend, Carson Hocevar earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega. A few days later, he led a Spire 1-2 to win Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas. And now, he just earned pole position for the Texas Cup race in another Spire 1-2, beating teammate Daniel Suarez by just 0.003s. This is the first time Spire Motorsports locked out the front row for a Cup Series ...Keep readingView the full article

The grid is set for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. Defending winner Shane van Gisbergen earned pole position -- his first at the Glen but fifth at the Cup level. The impressive qualifying effort also comes on the Kiwi's 37th birthday! Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell will start from the outside of the front row, a full 0.259s off of SVG's fast lap of ...Keep readingView the full article

Longtime NASCAR executive, and formerly Daytona International Speedway president, Chip Wile is taking over as Drivers’ Advisory Council executive director. Wile assumes the position previously held by Cup Series veteran Jeff Burton, who is remaining with the group as an advisor.  From the press release announcing the organizational structure for 2026, ‘the move is part of a broader effort ...Keep readingView the full article

At a Monster Jam event in Spokane, Washington, NASCAR driver Ryan Vargas was taking part for the very first time. He took the wheel of the famous monster truck, El Toro Loco, and you could say it went pretty well. Vargas scored seven points in the racing competition, the freestyle competition, and the two-wheels skills challenge. That was enough for him to secure the overall event victory on ...Keep readingView the full article

The return of The Chase for the Championship has immediately been pitched to NASCAR fans as a return to civility. This of course doesn’t mean a loss of intensity or consequence but those who were part of the announcement on Monday at NASCAR Productions believe that points racing will result in a product that is a little more professional. And in the process, everyone involved ultimately ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR is in a season of change. Some of it is the result of self-reflection and the changing tides of sport and entertainment, and some of it will eventually be the results of the lawsuit brought against the Sanctioning Body, but things are changing in the Cup Series and around it. That is a broad summary of the annual state of the sport press conference held every year before championship ...Keep readingView the full article

Kyle Busch, one of the most prolific NASCAR drivers of all-time, a husband and father of two, died on Thursday at the age of 41. At press time, no cause has been disclosed, but the two-time Cup Series champion was hospitalized earlier in the day. A joint statement was issued by the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing, who he had driven for since 2023 and the Sanctioning Body on Thursday ...Keep readingView the full article

Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Larry Phillips will soon be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On Tuesday, members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met for an in-person closed session at the Charlotte Convention Center to debate upon the 15 nominees. This Class of 2027 was determined by votes cast from the 50-member panel. The panel includes current living members of the Hall of ...Keep readingView the full article

Chastain became an instant Cup Series cult hero when he deliberately drove his car flat-out into the Martinsville wall at the final turns, to ‘video game’ his way to the transfer spot that he required to challenge for the title at Phoenix this Sunday. His wall-riding exploit has since gone viral on social media, as well as being played on news shows around the world. Marks, who founded ...Keep readingView the full article

Richard Bowman has been named NASCAR's first director of Artificial Intelligence.  "Excited to share that I’m now Director, AI at NASCAR," Bowman said in a Linkedin post. "Even in my relatively short time here, it has been clear that this is an organization willing to engage seriously with both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with AI. I’m grateful for the chance to help ...Keep readingView the full article

After years of Cup drivers ransacking the lower divisions for race wins and championships, NASCAR introduced a policy limiting Cup drivers to a maximum of five races in Xfinity and five in Trucks, while also forbidding drivers from racing for multiple championships. On Saturday, NASCAR revealed that they will actually double the number of races from five to ten for the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto ...Keep readingView the full article

Even before the NASCAR Cup Series began utilizing the single source supplied NextGen car, Chase Elliott was waving a red flag urging the community to consider the perils of spec racing. He said that passing in the previous generation car became an increasingly more challenging proposition because the tighter rule book kept teams in a tighter box. In short, the more cars are the same, the closer ...Keep readingView the full article

This week, NASCAR notified crew chiefs about the Sanctioning Body's updated rules for cleaning pit boxes during the race weekend. Previously, teams would use all manner of tactics and chemicals to ensure as much grip as possible in their assigned stall, looking for any possible advantage while aiming to prevent cars from sliding through their boxes. But as of March 12th, cleaning of pit box ...Keep readingView the full article

In real time, upon leaving the infield care center at Darlington Raceway on Friday night, Ben Rhodes wanted to find Tyler Ankrum after the NASCAR Truck Series race to express some displeasure with some fisticuffs but quickly thought better of it. “So, yeah, I would love to go get myself a penalty and fight right now, but that's $75,000, so we won't be doing that,” Rhodes said. “Yeah ...Keep readingView the full article

Yarborough was one of the best to ever get behind the wheel of a stock car. In 560 starts, he won 83 races and sits sixth on the all-time wins list. His many victories including four in the Daytona 500 and five in the Southern 500. Yarborough won his three Cup titles consecutively from 1976 to 1978. "Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest competitors NASCAR has ever seen," said Jim France ...Keep readingView the full article

After historic snow postponed the Clash at Bowman Gray several days into the week, NASCAR has enjoyed optimal weather for Speedweek at Daytona. However, there is a real threat of thunderstorms on Sunday, and it's all about when -- not if -- the bad weather will arrive. In a proactive move, NASCAR has moved up the start of the 68th running of the Daytona 500 a full hour to 1:30pm EST. The NASCAR ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR's decision to move Watkins Glen to the spring will not last, as the historic road course confirmed plans to move the Cup date to the fall in 2027.  WGI will be part of the Chase for the Championship, and unless there is a dramatic change to the schedule, it will likely be the only road course in the Chase. This year, there are no road courses in the ten-race Chase after the Charlotte ...Keep readingView the full article

On Lap 194 of the 300-lap NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the caution flew for an engine failure back in the pack. Mason Maggio was limping his car around the apron in the No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet, white smoke billowing from underneath. He quickly turned behind the pit wall and came to a stop in the garage. Just as he did that, flames erupted from ...Keep readingView the full article

In qualifying ahead of Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham, Corey Day put the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on pole with a 27.717s lap. He will share the front row with reigning series champion Jesse Love in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, who fell 0.064s short of the top spot. "I felt really good," said Day. "We got a really good car, so thanks ...Keep readingView the full article

Brad Moran, NASCAR’s managing director for the Cup Series, detailed the thought process behind race control not calling for a caution for a crash involving Cody Ware that left a significant dent in the Turn 7 railing. Ware was able to keep the car under power, drove down pit road, and attempted repairs but the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 ultimately chose to park it afterwards. This became a ...Keep readingView the full article

It wasn't the loudest point of contention, but some in the NASCAR community did try to suggest after the Advent Health 400 on Sunday that race control should not have thrown the caution for a Cody Ware spin that set-up overtime and figuratively turning the race upside down. Denny Hamlin was the leader at the time, having led the most laps and just retaken the lead from eventual winner Tyler ...Keep readingView the full article