Circle Tracks

Ryan Blaney won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway but it was also a victory for the NASCAR industry at large. That was inarguably the best race in the five-year, nine-event history of the seventh-generation car at the one-mile track in Avondale, Arizona. Goodyear’s continued efforts combined with NASCAR’s first race using the 750-horsepower package with this car on an oval ...Keep readingView the full article

All told, the NASCAR and IndyCar Series combined event over the weekend at Phoenix Raceway was a television ratings victory for all involved. The Cup Series race on Sunday drew 1.841 million viewers on FS1. This is up from the 2.82 million that watched the same race in the same television window and network last year. The race peaked at 3,516,000 viewers during the 7:00-7:15 p.m. quarter hour ...Keep readingView the full article

At least for the time being, NASCAR’s identity is internal combustion engines that making loud noises and relate to a majority of the American consumer. While the Sanctioning Body continues development on a prototype race car that can adapt to any alternative fuel or power source, all four manufacturers that compete across the three national tours are content with the internal combustion ...Keep readingView the full article

In its first year being held at Dover Motor Speedway, the NASCAR All-Star Race now has a format to be contested under the shadow of Miles the Monster. And this one is going to be a marathon that requires a good bit of arithmetic. First and foremost, there will no longer be an ‘open’ race for drivers not already locked-in to race their way into the decisive segment of the event. With ...Keep readingView the full article

Practically every data point suggests a drastically different NASCAR Cup Series racing product at Darlington Raceway on Sunday and it’s a direction that drivers have encouraged for quite a bit. The first four years of this car being used at ‘The Track Too Tough to Tame’ came under the same rules package used at intermediate style tracks. That meant a 4” rear spoiler and a more ...Keep readingView the full article

The most unfortunate part of how everything went down on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is that the bitter defeat of Denny Hamlin superseded any kind of celebration for Kyle Larson. Hamlin led 208 laps of a race that was scheduled for go 312 but was extended to 318 due to overtime as a result of William Byron crashing after suffering a tire failure. Larson ...Keep readingView the full article

Carson Hocevar has been quite busy in recent weeks. At Talladega Superspeedway, Hocevar became the 208th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race in the sport's history, and celebrated with one of the most memorable burnouts in years -- hanging out of the car while driving along the frontstretch.  One week later, the 23-year-old rising star won the Texas Truck race and earned pole ...Keep readingView the full article

Overall, year-to-year, the NASCAR Cup Series experienced a 14 percent drop in television ratings for the 2025 season. To wrap up this season, the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway drew 2.77 million viewers on NBC, down from the 2.9 million it drew last year. Last year, overall, the NASCAR Cup Series drew 2.892 million, which was a one percent increase from the 2023 season, while ...Keep readingView the full article

Maybe it’s ‘hell yeah,’ and maybe it’s something else but Tim Clark is working tirelessly to reintroduce the Sanctioning Body and simultaneously remind the world what its sporting values are in an ever-changing landscape. That was part of a conversation held last week in New York City as part of the Autosport Business Exchange that invited leaders of various global motorsports entities ...Keep readingView the full article

On the whole, the 2025 NASCAR season was a memorable one for a lot of reasons. There was pretty good competition on the big tracks during the summer months, continued progress on short tracks with the fourth year NextGen and the culmination of a 15-month legal process that made it all the way to trial. Kyle Larson emerged the champion for the second time in his career, while the entire ...Keep readingView the full article

The battle over the future of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway property continued this week with a pair of noteworthy developments from the coalition assembled to preserve motorsports in Downtown Music City. Most notably, a lawsuit was filed by former racer Neil Chaffin challenging an anti-speedway group's efforts to put a de facto motorsports ban on the ballot on November 3. Specifically ...Keep readingView the full article

A new five-part documentary series looking behind the scenes of the 2023 NASCAR season is coming to Netflix. The streaming platform has announced the release of NASCAR: Full Speed following the increasing success of its Formula 1 documentary series Drive to Survive. The series follows the action of the NASCAR Cup Series, which has been described as one of the most challenging and dangerous ...Keep readingView the full article

In a unexpected announcement on Monday morning, Nick Sanchez revealed that he will not return to the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet in 2026. "Over the weekend, I was informed hat I will not be driving the No. 48 for Big Machine Racing in 2026," Sanchez said in a statement. "I'm grateful to Scott Borchetta, Patrick Donahue, everyone at Chevrolet and the whole team. I am proud of all we have ...Keep readingView the full article

Both AM Racing and Nick Sanchez are in a place they didn't expect to be entering 2026. After a solid first year with Big Machine Racing, winning a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Atlanta, Sanchez was suddenly let go in the middle of the off-season in a decision that left him and many watching surprised. "Unfortunate timing and circumstances, but it's strictly business," said Sanchez ...Keep readingView the full article

For three of the four drivers racing for the NASCAR Cup Series championship this weekend, braggadocio is not inherent to their personalities. Kyle LarsonWilliam ByronChase Briscoe Sure, Larson is good for what those within the industry call #BluntLarson zingers every now and then but he doesn’t go out of his way to give other teams bulletin board material. Briscoe and Byron are generally ...Keep readingView the full article

Last weekend, Ryan Blaney was in position to win his way into the the Championship 4, but he had to settle for second and playoff elimination after getting muscled out of the way by William Byron. One week later, he went out and won the season finale at Phoenix with a last-lap pass on Brad Keselowski. You might think being so close to a title will haunt the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske ...Keep readingView the full article

To win the NASCAR Cup Series championship in less than two weeks, Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team will need to be perfect at Phoenix Raceway. On one hand, they executed last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to become the first driver to lock into the final four but this past month has also seen the team experience power steering and stuck throttles at Kansas and Talladega ...Keep readingView the full article

Chase Briscoe ‘dipped my toes the bald community’ last month but it was a hoax, online fake news and AI rubbish. With all the attention and focus on the new look three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano has received since taking a trimmer and razor to his dome, Briscoe decided to respond to his well-documented follicle situation by shaving his own head. However, it wasn’t real, and ...Keep readingView the full article

The 25-year-old, who was competing as a rookie in the Cup Series with the Legacy Motor Club team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson, was suspended by the team and later NASCAR itself on 5 August. It was deemed that Gragson violated the sport's code of conduct after liking a meme that mocked the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. A few days later, he officially ...Keep readingView the full article

In every superspeedway race of the Next Gen era, NASCAR Cup drivers can be seen placing their hands against the opening between the A-pillar and window net in an effort to find every possible aero advantage. Drivers have gone as far as manipulating their gloves, including the infamous case where Joey Logano was penalized for illegal webbed racing gloves. To avoid the situation entirely, NASCAR ...Keep readingView the full article

The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary findings after a 43-day investigation into the aviation incident that killed NASCAR veteran Greg Biffle, his immediate family, two pilots and one other associated individual at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina. A full report will still take 12 to 18 additional months to complete. NTSB preliminary reports do not ...Keep readingView the full article

There are 39 entries for the 67th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway -- NASCAR's longest race. Of note, with up to 40 cars allowed to take part in every race, this means Katherine Legge will be locked in as she attempts to become the sixth driver in history to run the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 on the same day. With sponsorship from e.l.f. Cosmetics, she will drive the No ...Keep readingView the full article

Cars were crashing all over the place on the final lap, but NASCAR kept it green as Tyler Reddick used a push from 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbst to take the lead and win NASCAR's biggest race. This follows a 2025 season where he wentas winless, but he more than made up for it as he hands team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin's NASCAR's most coveted trophy. Former Daytona 500 winners ...Keep readingView the full article

Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta featured a record number of lead changes with over a dozen different drivers taking a turn out front. For the first time since 2009, a driver opened the season with back-to-back wins as Tyler Reddick surged ahead in double overtime to win the race. It was an improbable comeback after being collected in a mid-race wreck and losing his right-front ...Keep readingView the full article

After 12 cautions in a wreck-filled race, Ryan Blaney emerged victorious in the #12 Team Penske Ford. He had to overcome two loose wheels, and passed Ty Gibbs late in the race to secure his 18th career win and second consecutive at Phoenix. Christopher Bell led 176 of 312 laps, and finished second while Kyle Larson placed third. Tyler Reddick's quest for the four-peat ended with a solid ...Keep readingView the full article