Circle Tracks

You have to separate Cleetus McFarland from Garrett Mitchell to see it sometimes but whatever name you call him is a deeply motivated albeit very inexperienced high-level racer with incredibly large ambition. But literally everyone who has worked with Cleetus says the 30-year-old has the resolve needed to successfully navigate his way towards the Daytona 500. This includes everyone at Richard ...Keep readingView the full article

In 2026, the grueling NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be punctuated by just two off-weekends. However, both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) and NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) will be racing on Easter weekend at the historic Rockingham Speedway. They will be joined by the ARCA Menards East Series. The track has a tumultuous recent past, going dark for several years and ...Keep readingView the full article

Surprisingly, Am Racing has withdrawn from this weekend's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham. Nick Sanchez was set to drive the No. 25 Ford Mustang, as he has for the entire 2026 season. The team has ran every O'Reilly race so far this year. Sanchez earned an impressive third-place finish at Atlanta, but beyond that, they have just one other finish higher than 25th in the ...Keep readingView the full article

Beard Motorsports has reached an agreement with Casey Mears for him to run five NASCAR Cup races this year, driving the No. 62 Chevrolet.  Mears' first race with the team will come on April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway. He will also compete in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the second Daytona race, the second Talladega race, and the season finale at Homestead-Miami ...Keep readingView the full article

Daniel Dye was suspended by both NASCAR and Kaulig on March 17 after he was recorded making homophobic remarks about Team Penske IndyCar Series driver David Malukas over a live stream. During the Whatnot live stream, Dye made an imitation and said, “As soon as I start doing a David Malukas gay voice, I get a gold so let’s keep it going.” He made other comments as well, and later ...Keep readingView the full article

There has been a considerable amount of debate over the past week about who should be eligible for the NASCAR Hall of Fame and now Denny Hamlin has weighed in with his opinions as well. The debate centers around drivers who have had tremendous success at levels lower than the Cup Series and if they should continue to be enshrined alongside the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR on FOX has a stage break caution length issue and detailed those frustrations on Monday during his latest Actions Detrimental podcast episode. "Apparently, what's happening is Fox feels they need to see the pit stops," Hamlin said. "So, the end of the stage break happens, green-checkered (stage break flag0 and boom, we're under caution. The pace car comes out, they ...Keep readingView the full article

The Team Penske No. 12 pit crew had a really competitive afternoon on Sunday at Martinsville. While a generally uneventful race typically would not be a newsworthy development, it is right now because the group that works alongside driver Ryan Blaney has been a work-in-progress this year. It has objectively been a rough month and a half until this past weekend where their combined team ...Keep readingView the full article

Actor-turned-racer Frankie Muniz is already competing full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but he also added GT4 America to his busy 2026 schedule. Driving a Ford Mustang for TechSport Racing in the season-opener at Sonoma Raceway, Muniz and co-driver Tyler Stone finished second in the Am class, and 19th overall. They finished fourth in class in the second race of the weekend, just ...Keep readingView the full article

While Denny Hamlin absolutely dominated Sunday's NASCAR Cup race, it was Chase Elliott who emerged victorious through a great restart and a strategy gamble. NASCAR's Most Popular Driver earned his 22nd career win and Hendrick Motorsports' 31st at Martinsville Speedway. Tyler Reddick finished 15th in his worst result of the 2026 season, and only lost 13 points in his massive championship ...Keep readingView the full article

The bad news for Denny Hamlin is that he came up one position short of pulling off a perfect race on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The good news is that he scored the most points in an era where that suddenly matters again. Hamlin led a race high 292 laps in the Cook Out 400, including the first and second stage, plus the fastest lap bonus, but was denied a seventh Ridgeway Grandfather ...Keep readingView the full article

There were three key moments that delivered Chase Elliott his earliest victory to start a NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Combined, it was a masterclass between Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson, a combination that doesn’t generally seem to get the respect everyone around them says they should. Gustafson (surprisingly) intends to two-stop the final ...Keep readingView the full article

Entering this race, Tyler Reddick had a 95-point lead over Ryan Blaney, who is now 82 points behind after Reddick's worst finish of the 2026 season so far -- which is only 15th. Reddick's 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace had a DNF, making him the biggest loser in the points as he fell from third all the way to 11th. However, he is currently locked into a four-way tie for eighth, so it's not ...Keep readingView the full article

For the first time in 2026, a Hendrick Motorsports car went to Victory Lane. Chase Elliott earned the team's 31st win at Martinsville Speedway, taking the lead from Ross Chastain on the final restart. He then held off a charging Denny Hamlin, who had dominated most of the race and swept the stages, collecting his 22nd career win. Behind Elliott and Hamlin, Joey Logano finished third, Ty ...Keep readingView the full article

Chase Elliott collected his 22nd career win on Sunday, earning Hendrick Motorsports' first win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season. Denny Hamlin led 292 of 400 laps, and also won both Stage 1 and Stage 2, but he ended the day half-a-second shy of the checkered flag. Joey Logano led the way for Ford in third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and William Byron fifth. Read Also: NASCAR CupStrategy ...Keep readingView the full article

In the entire history of the NASCAR, only 34 of the nearly 3,000 drivers who have started a Cup race have reached that milestone. Brad Keselowski is about to become the 35th at Martinsville Speedway. The 42-year-old champion and RFK Racing co-owner is nursing a leg injury early in the 2026 season, but he's still fully capable of competing at a high level, finishing fifth in the Daytona 500 ...Keep readingView the full article

It's not everyday a 37-year-old Late Model star gets his shot on the national stage in NASCAR, but Lee Pulliam did on Saturday. Making his debut at the secondary level of NASCAR, Pulliam started 12th after qualifying was rained out. He was quiet for the first part of the race, and JR Motorsports team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on the No. 9 pit box, coaching him via the radio. The first ...Keep readingView the full article

After taking the lead on a late-race restart, Justin Allgaier held on to win for the 31st time in his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts (NOAPS) career, and the third time this season. His victory at Martinsville means that JR Motorsports has managed to win the last five consecutive races. Corey Day finished second, Sammy Smith third, Sheldon Creed fourth, and Lee Pulliam fifth in his O'Reilly Series ...Keep readingView the full article

Lee Pulliam was making his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts debut on Saturday, driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. He was very impressive, leading some laps and restarting second inside 20 laps to go. However, he proceeded to miss a shift from the outside of the front row, triggering a massive chain-reaction crash on the frontstretch. His teammate Carson Kvapil ran directly into the back of ...Keep readingView the full article

For Denny Hamlin, winning another pole on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, is just another sign that he still as it. It, of course, is the much-discussed pure speed that often fades away in the mid-40s but the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 driver now has two poles in addition to a win while sitting fourth in the championship standings. “Really, with age, the hardest part is actually still ...Keep readingView the full article

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. The Virginia native now has five poles at the half-mile short track, and 49 total in his career. "The car is good today," said Hamlin. "We did a lot of really good things in practice. I was hoping to get somewhere in that top eight for qualifying, but ...Keep readingView the full article

Over the past few months, Michael Jordan and 23XI Racing have taken NASCAR leadership to trial, secured a settlement that changed the way the pay structure for race teams (through the Charter system), and that's before we even get to what's been happening on the track. Tyler Reddick has won four of the first races races of the 2026 season for the team co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin, and ...Keep readingView the full article

Tyler Reddick continues to lead the championship standings, a stunning 95-points clear of Ryan Blaney after his fourth win in just the first six races of the 2026 season. NASCAR now heads to one of its oldest and most historic tracks with 400 laps around the Martinsville half-mile. Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the spring race here.  In this story, you can find all the information ...Keep readingView the full article

Judge Susan C. Rodriguez of the Western District of North Carolina heard arguments from all parties involved in the Joe Gibbs Racing vs Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports case on Thursday but ultimately did not render a preliminary injunction ruling. Specifically, Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking an injunction from the court that would prevent Gabehart from working for Spire in any function ...Keep readingView the full article

In a Wednesday night legal filing, Joe Gibbs Racing says Chris Gabehart was not able to entirely comply with the expedited discovery order issued by the Western District of North Carolina due to text messages he deleted prior to the lawsuit brought against him. Additionally, JGR believes it has been able to construct a narrative that shows its former competition director ‘immediately ...Keep readingView the full article