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Matt Kenseth snatched the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 13 laps to go and cruised to victory in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway on Saturday night. Busch, who dominated the NASCAR Nationwide race the night before, dominated the Sprint Cup race leading 265 laps, but he ended up in sixth.

Kenseth, won with interim crew chief Wally Brown, who stepped in while Jason Ratcliff served a one-race suspension from when the No. 20 failed post race inspection at Kansas Speedway last month.

“This is a dream come true,” Kenseth shouted on his radio. “Thank you guys very much.” Read the rest of this entry »

She’s called “The Lady in Black”  and the track “Too Tough To Tame” and on Saturday night, NASCAR fans will find out why.

Last Sunday afternoon, NASCAR fans saw David Ragan get his second Sprint Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway after a three hour and 46 minute rain delay as well as two huge wrecks. It was a true David vs. Goliath story!

Darlington Raceway is a 1.366 mile track located near Darlington, South Carolina. The track has a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design. Darlington has 25 degrees of banking in turns 1 and 2 and 23 degrees in turns 3 and 4. There is 6 degrees of banking on both the frontstretch and backstretch. The lengths of both straightaways are 1,229 feet. Read the rest of this entry »

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In a surprising victory, Joe Gibbs Racing won their appeal against NASCAR on Wednesday. JGR was able to convince a three member panel regarding their penalties for an illegal engine were too harsh.

The penalties come from the STP 400 from Kansas Speedway in which Kenseth and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team went on to victory. In case you forgot, NASCAR said the connecting rod was 2.7 grams too light, though the other seven rods in the engine were well over the minimum.

The three-member appeal panel consisted of Dover president Denis McGlynn, Stafford Motor Speedway track operate Mark Arute, and former team owner Jack Housby.  Read the rest of this entry »

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It was one of the wildest and craziest races in NASCAR history at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday as David Ragan was able to pull the upset.

Ragan got a huge push from his Front Row Motorsports teammate, David Gililand, to win the Aaron’s 499 that ended seven hours after it began.

Sunday afternoon’s victory is Ragan’s second Sprint Cup victory and came after a three-hour and 46 minute red flag for rain.

“This is a true David vs. Goliath moment,” said Ragan in victory lane. “This is special to get Front Row Motorsports their first win.” Read the rest of this entry »

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The pack is back!

Last Saturday night, NASCAR fans saw Toyota dominate at Richmond International Raceway for the first part of the race but Chevrolet ended up in Gatorade Victory Lane. This is the second restrictor plate track race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and just like the Daytona 500, anything can and probably will happen.

Talladega Superspeedway is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base, just north of Talladega, Alabama. Dega, has it is referred to by fans, is the longest oval in NASCAR with a length of 2.66 miles and is known for its steep banking and unique location of the start/finish line. Read the rest of this entry »

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The three-person panel overseeing the Penske Racing appeal against sanctions imposed by NASCAR after the Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway last month has unanimously found against the team and upheld the penalties.

As you may recall, NASCAR issues penalties when officials confiscated parts from the rear suspensions of the Fords of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski after the cars failed a prerace inspection.

The panel included Brandon Igdalsky, President of Pocono Raceway, Paul Brooks, former NASCAR senior vice president, and  Bowman-Gray Stadium operator Dale Pinilis. The panel took about five hours to hear arguments form both sides and deliberate on the decision. Read the rest of this entry »

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When the dust finally settled on Richmond International Raceway Saturday night, ‘Ol Happy Harvick was all smiles yet again.

Harvick plowed through traffic in overtime, driving from seventh to Gatorade Victory Lane. He did it with one of those “Where did he come from?” moves.

“Just shifted gears, hit the pedal and hoped for the best,” Harvick said. “They all went high and I went low. The seas kind of parted there. They didn’t get a very good restart, and my car launched.

The win, Harvick’s first of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, will probably stop the questions on whether the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet is a lame-duck at Richard Childress Racing, RCR. In case you’ve been living under a rock and have forgotten, Harvick has already announced he will leave RCR at season’s end and head to Stewart-Haas Racing. However on Saturday evening, Harvick showed the NASCAR nation that he still has some winning left to do in the No. 29.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Last week at Kansas Speedway, we saw the race winner get stripped of everything but his STP 400 trophy. Will we see excitement of a different kind this weekend at Richmond International Raceway? This is after all the second night race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and tempers have been flaring since the last short track.

Richmond International Raceway, or RIR has it is known, is a 3/4-mile, D-shaped, asphalt track located just outside of Richmond, Virginia.

And since we have seen the last three qualifying sessions break track record, I guess I should point out that Brian Vickers holds the qualifying record of 20.722 seconds, 129.983 mph from 2004.

Read the rest of this entry »

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NASCAR has reminded teams, drivers, and crews repeatedly DO NOT MESS WITH THE ENGINES and on Wednesday afternoon, showed everyone in NASCAR what happens when you do.

After winning the STP 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon, Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 car failed inspection at the NASCAR Research and Developmental Center after the race and the governing body dropped the hammer down on Kenseth, Joe Gibbs, and crew chief, Jason Ratcliff.

Credit: John Harrelson/NASCAR via Getty Images

While Matt Kenseth may have changed teams, but he continues to own Kansas Speedway, even after the recent repave of the 1.5-mile track.

Kenseth took the lead from former teammate, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and held off Kasey Kahne to win his second race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racings. The win was Kenseth’s 26th in his career and JGR’s 104th victory.

He became the third straight Sprint Cup winner to win from the pole, following Kyle Busch last week at Texas and Johnson the previous week at Martinsville.

“It’s a dream come true to drive this stuff,” said Kenseth. ”These guys are contenders; they’re an awesome race team. I’m glad to be wheeling this thing.” Read the rest of this entry »